40 Acres Sports

The Texas Longhorns winning a national title was one of the best moments of my life, hearing and reading all the so-called “experts” who thought we’d lose by 20 eat crow is a pretty damn sweet as well. Here’s some of the best Rose Bowl and national title links from around the web from the last couple of days…

CNNSI…

• Running his way into history – Sounds like Vince turned a lot of national media members into fans.
• Rose Bowl Gallery – Great set of photos from the game.
• The real surprise… Wasn’t that USC lost, it’s that it didn’t lose sooner – It’s pretty sad when Henry Winkler, Wilmer Valderrama, and Nick Lachey make your list of “celebrities.” I guess the other hangers on didn’t want to show up if they couldn’t be on the field.

ESPN.com (surprisingly didn’t implode when best team ever lost)…

• Longhorns, Brown finally knock down title door – Finally a win that no one can claim wasn’t a big one after the the Horns win.
• Trojans drop-kicked their chance at history – Gene somehow immediately forgets that the Horns also turned the ball over, had ref and replay calls go against them, missed a field goal, and blew scoring chances and claims USC blew the game.
• Tower lit orange as UT students celebrate title – Note to Michigan State fans, notice how nothing was set ablaze in celebration.
• Young turns in performance as big as Texas
• Longhorns bask in championship glow – George W. Bush calls Mack Brown, media pesters Vince Young, plans for next year’s offense if Vince returns.

FoxSports.com…

• Young’s performance can’t be topped – “It was not one of the best performances in college football history. It was two of the best performances in college football history.”
• Instant Analysis: Rose Bowl – “Vince Young is easily the greatest single player in the history of the Rose Bowl, and likely the owner of the greatest single-game performance in the 137-year history of Division I-A college football.”
• Five thoughts on the Rose Bowl – Questions, answers, and opinions on the game as well as next season for both the Longhorns and Trojans.
• Three Trojan blunders that led to defeat – Pressure, the big stage, and a great defense will force those kind of mistakes.

From the Blog-o-sphere…

• Hyperbole Machine Broken by Vince Young. Call Repairman. – EDSBS discusses the greatness of the Vince Young, the greatness of the game itself, and the greatness of calling things “the greatest EVER!!!”
• The Real Revolution – Will Vince’s size, mobility, and passing ability do what Mike Vick couldn’t? Change the quarterback position in the NFL.
• Texas earns a national title – When are bloggers going to realize that teams have tried spying Vince and it just doesn’t freaking work.
• In-Vince-able – How many times do you think that headline was used the day after the Rose Bowl?
• Rose Bowl Bonanza – I missed Keith Jackson’s tears, hopefully it means it was the legend’s last game.

USC hype machine can stop. BS about Mack Brown is over. Keith Jackson is great but senile.

Everybody say it with me now…

Texas Longhorns 2005 NCAA Football National Champions!

Looks like the Heisman Trophy went to the wrong guy and USC had the wrong team running the gauntlet of champions. Football and baseball national titles in the same calendar year.

Congrats to Mack Brown and the entire Texas Longhorn football family. You made us proud tonight and all season long.

It’s a great day to be a Texas Longhorn.

Let the celebration begin!! Stay, Vince, stay!!

Let’s see how this goes. I’ll post as often as I can stand to. Horns and Trojans are about to get underway.

BIG FREAKING GAME!

Did we win the coin toss, defer, and USC chose to kick? Will we receive to start both halves? Nevermind, the official said it wrong.

First Quarter

• Great deep kick and good coverage on Reggie Bush. Great start to the game for the Horns.
• Bush stopped for a loss on the game’s first play. Now let’s do that 60+ more times.
• Texas’ defense in the backfield with great penetration on the first 3 plays.
• Holy crap! [tag]Aaron Ross[/tag] fumbled the punt. Crap crap crap. Come on defense step up. Crap.
• Reggie Bush has no class. Hand the ball to the ref instead of flicking it up in the air after a 5 yard run. Let’s hope he actually gets ejected if he punches someone again this game.
• Too bad helmet-to-helmet contact isn’t illegal in college football. Plus [tag]Cedric Griffin[/tag] hit him in the chest.
• Stupid penalty by [tag]Robert Killebrew[/tag]. He seems to get one per game, let’s hope this is it. Come on D!
• Turnover costs the Horns 7 points. Game started off fantastically and then suddenly went downhill from there.

Texas 0, USC 7

• Let’s go Vince, get fired up.
• Looks like no huddle for the offense to start things off again this week. I like it.
• Poor spot on 2nd down leads to 4th and 1. [tag]Mack Brown[/tag] elects to go for it and Horns get nowhere. Turnover on downs at midfield. All the momentum is going USC’s way now. Defense has to make a big play here and get things back going Texas’ way.
• Apparently guy in charge of the clock doesn’t realize it should stop after incomplete passes.
• Freaking Rose Bowl and national championship and the clock breaks?
• Horns go to 3 down linemen on a 3rd and long. Interesting look.
• Texas makes the stop but a face mask on Michael Huff gives USC the necessary yards for the first down.
• [tag]Drew Kelson[/tag] in the game early instead of [tag]Rashad Bobino[/tag] (I think that’s who isn’t in there.) [tag]Gene Chizik[/tag] getting more speed on the field.
• [tag]Tarell Brown[/tag] has a pick go in and out of his hands.
• Reggie Bush gets about an extra 2 yards thanks to the generous spot. These simple plays need to be reviewed as much as any others.
• Another generous spot for Matt Leinart on the 4th down QB sneak but I still think they’re short. Come on!
• Horns stop them and get the ball back. Let’s go let’s go!
• Meanwhile ABC is on commercial break #26 after like two minutes of football.
• Bad play design or something as [tag]Billy Pittman[/tag] and [tag]Jamaal Charles[/tag] end up next to each other on pass routes. Complete to Pittman for the first though.
• Another freaking fumble. Charles bumps into David Thomas and just drops it. Crap. Lost 5 yards. Kills the offense’s momentum.
• Bud Light commercial featuring the “daredevil” are dumb.
• Lost takes such long hiatuses that they have to have recap shows by the time they come back.
• Interesting counter play from USC. Kind of a WR and FB counter instead of a GT counter.

(more …)

Rose Bowl
	#1 USC (12-0) vs. #2 Texas (12-0) Jan. 4, 7:22 p.m. (ABC) Favorite: USC by 7

Screw it, I can’t think straight. GO HORNS!!

Players to Watch: USC QB Matt Leinart, USC RB Reggie Bush, USC DE Frostee Rucker, Texas QB Vince Young, Texas RB Jamaal Charles, Texas DB Michael Huff

Prediction: Texas 37, Southern Cal 27

“Texas is the better team… Texas has no such noticeable flaws.”

Why not Texas?

After all the love ESPN is giving the Trojans there has finally been a little media backlash against their feature pitting the the 2005 USC team against some of the all-time greats. Jonathan Chait thinks it’s pretty ridiculous considering they haven’t even proved themselves to be the best team in the country this season.

“So far, at least according to ESPN, the Trojans have dispensed with history’s great football juggernauts with greater ease than they dispatched, say, the 2005 Fresno State Bulldogs.”

He even goes on to claim that USC is vastly overrated and that last year’s team was probably a much better all around football team.

“Overrated teams tend to share certain factors. USC has two of them in spades. First, they’re an offensive-oriented team with great skill-position talent. Teams with great offenses and shaky defenses tend to be overrated, while teams with great defenses and shaky offenses are usually underrated. Second, they’re piggybacking off the reputation of a predecessor.”

I don’t think anyone is trying to claim USC isn’t damn good, but it’s amazing how much better they’ve gotten in the media’s eyes since the season ended. This is a team that struggled at various times this season and didn’t play dominant football very often. Their best wins came against a Notre Dame team that was exposed on Monday in the Fiesta Bowl, a Fresno State team that lost it’s last four games, and Oregon who was easily handled by the third best team in the Big 12. Not exactly impressive.

We’ll finally find out how good both the Trojans and Longhorns really are tonight.

CollegeFootballNews.com has one of the better Rose Bowl previews I’ve read, and not just because they picked Texas to win. It’s that this is one of the few I’ve read that actually remembers that defense is important, that Vince Young can beat you with the pass if you want him too. It even manages to do it all without trying to claim the 2005 Trojan football team wouldn’t have let no damn horse surprise them and would have crushed the Greek army.