#2 Texas 41, #1 Southern California 38
Wednesday, January 4, 2006
BCS National Championship Game
Rose Bowl (Pasadena, Calif.)

Texas entered their second consecutive Rose Bowl riding a 19-game winning streak and set to play for
its first National Championship since 1970.

Despite coming into the game as an underdog to the defending National Champion USC Trojans, who
were on a 34-game winning streak, Texas won its fourth National Title with a thrilling
come-from-behind 41-38 victory in what many people have called the greatest college football game of
all time. Vince Young was named the Offensive MVP for the second consecutive year, becoming only
the fourth player in Rose Bowl history to do so, after posting a Rose Bowl record 467 total yards,
scoring three TDs and recording the sixth fourth-quarter comeback victory of his career. It was a
back-and-forth affair that saw Texas lead by as many as nine and trail by 12 with just under seven
minutes left.  With 6:42 left in the game, the Horns title hopes were in jeopardy after USC's Matt Leinart
hit Dwayne Jarrett to give the Trojans a 38-26 lead.

But, on the very next possession, Young drove the Longhorns 69 yards in 2:39, completing 5-of-6
passes and rushing twice for 25 yards, to cut the lead to five. On its ensuing possession, USC moved
the ball to the Texas 45 and found itself facing 4th-and-2 with the game hanging in the balance. The
Trojans decided to go for it, but the Texas defense, which had already forced a turnover on downs
earlier in the game, came up with a huge stop, giving Texas the ball back with 2:09.  

The game would then come down to 4th-and-5 at the USC eight-yard line with Texas trailing 38-33 and
just 26 seconds remaining on the clock. With his receivers covered Vince Young saw an opening on the
right side and took off. With the help of a crushing block by right tackle Justin Blalock, he raced passed
the USC defense and scampered into the right corner of the end zone to give Texas a 39-38 lead with
only 19 seconds remaining. Young capped the scoring with a two-point conversion to produce the final
margin of 41-38, giving Texas its 4th National Championship.


(Summary from MackBrown.com)