Games - 2006 Rose Bowl

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	Games - 2006 Rose Bowl

The Rose Bowl Game presented by Citi, serving as the final game and national championship of the BCS series, was played on January 4, 2006, at the eponymous stadium in Pasadena, California, matching the two remaining unbeaten Division I-A squads, Big 12 champion Texas and two-time defending national champion and Pac-10 titleholder Southern California, and saw a back-and-forth contest ultimately won by the Longhorns, 41-38. Southern California entered the game with a 34-game winning streak, the longest active streak in Division I-A; Texas brought the second-longest active streak, having won 19 straight games, and also entered as Rose Bowl defending champion, having defeated Michigan in 2005. The game also featured 2004 Heisman Trophy-winning Trojans quarterback Matt Leinart and 2005 Heisman Trophy-winning Trojans running back Reggie Bush, as well as Longhorns quarterback Vince Young, who had finished second to Bush just weeks before the game, and was the first to have matched teams ranked first and second in every iteration of the BCS standings. The game often referred to as The Granddaddy of Them All took on extra significance, then, and in the weeks preceding the contest was widely referred to by analysts as "the greatest championship game ever", given both the talent of each team and the expected competitiveness of the game.

Southern California received the opening kickoff and managed just three yards against a Texas defense that was especially stout early in the game; Aaron Ross fumbled the ball on the ensuing punt return, though, committing the first of four Texas fumbles on the day (although the only one that would be lost), and the Trojans recovered. A 23-yard Leinart pass to senior wide receiver/running back David Kirtman, who caught three passes for 61 yards on the day, set up a four-yard touchdown run by running back LenDale White, a bruiser who outrushed his speedy counterpart, Bush, on the day, gaining 124 yards on 20 carries; a Mario Danelo extra point gave Southern California the early seven-point lead. The teams twice exchanged possessions to end the first quarter, as each defense held the opposing offense in check.

On the second play of the second quarter, Reggie Bush exploded for 35 yards off a Leinart pass, reaching the Texas 18-yard line before attempting to lateral the ball to an uncovered teammate; the loose ball was recovered by Texas strong safety Michael Huff, who would be awarded the game’s defensive most valuable player award. Young, the game’s offensive most valuable player, drove his team 53 yards on the ensuing possession, twice hitting senior tight end David Thomas, who finished the day as Vince Young’s leading receiver, having caught 10 passes for 88 yards, before the Trojans defense tackled sophomore running back Ramonce Taylor five yards behind the line of scrimmage, forcing a fumble recovered by Vince Young for an additional five-yard loss; a Texas field goal attempt was thus forced, and David Pino converted from 46 yards to cut the Texas deficit to four.

On USC's next possession, Leinart once more drove into his team into Texas territory, this to the 25-yard line, before throwing an interception to Texas free safety Michael Griffin, as a turnover ended a second Trojans drive with Southern California in scoring position. Vince Young connected with wide receiver Limas Sweed, who caught eight balls for 65 yards on the day, for a key first down in the forthcoming drive and, as he would often do in the game, led his team with his legs, capping the drive by running 10 yards before lateraling to open running back Selvin Young, who ran for 12 more and was credited with a touchdown. Television replays appeared to show that Vince Young's knee was down before he pitched the ball to Selvin Young; the play was not reviewed, however, and Pino missed the extra point attempt as Texas took just a two-point lead. Had the play been reviewed, Texas nevertheless would have maintained possession, getting a fresh set of downs at the USC 11-yard line.

After a defensive stop and 15-yard punt return gave Texas the ball near midfield, Vince Young found Thomas for 14 yards and Taylor atoned for his fumble, running 30 yards for a touchdown; the Pino extra point took the Longhorns lead to 16-7. A Leinart pass to wide receiver Dwayne Jarrett, the top Trojans receiver with 10 catches totaling 121 yards, a quarterback keeper of 14 yards, and a Bush 12-yard run took the Trojans to the Texas 13-yard line with 40 seconds to play in the half, but two sacks by defensive tackle Frank Okam pushed Southern California back 13 yards and forced the Trojans to use two timeouts; a Danelo 43-yard field goal was all the Trojans were able to muster, then, and the half ended with Texas ahead 16-10.

After the Trojans defense forced a Longhorns punt to open the third quarter, Leinart hit Jarrett for three passes totaling 35 yards before White added the final 17 yards over two carries, capping the seven-play, 62-yard USC drive with a three-yard touchdown run, his third of the game and Southern California-record 53rd of his career, to put the Trojans ahead by one. Behind the running of Jamal Charles, who finished the game having carried the ball five times for 34 yards, and Vince Young, who ran the ball 19 times for 200 yards in the game, Texas quickly answered, as Vince Young scored the first of his three rushing touchdowns, this from 14 yards out; Pino’s successful extra point attempt moved the Longhorns back ahead, 23-17. The lead once more changed hands with 4:07 to play in the third quarter, as Leinart hit wide receiver Dominique Byrd for two of his four catches and 21 of his 32 yards and White ultimately recorded his second rushing touchdown of the game, muscling in from 12 yards out. The Longhorns reached Southern California territory on the ensuing drive, with a Vince Young 45-yard run constituting most of the work, but the Trojans defense forced a field goal attempt from the USC 14-yard line, and, on the first play of the fourth quarter, Pino missed a 31-yarder that would have put his team ahead by two. Behind the precise throwing of Leinart, who, despite his interception, finished the day with sound numbers, having completed 29 of 40 passes for 365 yards and one touchdown, the Trojans drove 80 yards over nine plays in 3:36 as Bush recorded his only touchdown of the game on a 26-yard run; though he finished with 95 yards on just six catches, Bush was contained much of the day by the Texas defense, gaining only 82 yards rushing on 13 carries (he did average 20.2 yards over five punt returns). On the strength of two Vince Young throws to wide receiver Billy Pittman, who caught four passes for 53 yards on the day, the Longhorns drove to the USC 17-yard line; a Vince Young fumble on third down, however, stopped a Texas push to convert a first down, and Texas settled for a Pino 34-yard field goal that brought the Longhorns to within five, 31-26. A 33-yard Leinart pass to Kirtman, rendered 48 yards with the assessment of a roughing-the-passer penalty to Texas, set up a 22-yard scoring toss from Leinart to Jarrett, and a successful extra point attempt gave USC its biggest lead of the game, 38-26. As Texas took the ball trailing by two scores with just 6:42 to play in the game, Vince Young accounted for all 69 yards of a Longhorns scoring drive that took just 2:39 to complete, rushing for 25 (including 17 for the touchdown) and completing five passes for the rest; for the game, Young completed 75 percent of his passes (30-of-40) for 267 yards, with no passing touchdowns, but, as importantly, no interceptions; a successful Pino extra point brought Texas to within five with 3:58 to play. Though the Longhorns defense yielded one first down on the subsequent Southern California drive, it held the Trojans, who turned to LenDale White on a third down at midfield only to see him lose the ball—which was recovered by wide receiver Steve Smith—just two yards short of a first down; after a Texas timeout stopped the clock with 2:13 to play, Trojans coach Pete Carroll elected to give his offense, which had averaged 50.0 points on the year, an opportunity to convert a fourth down-and-two at the Texas 45-yard line, but White managed only one yard, and Southern California turned the ball over at the Longhorns 44-yard line with 2:09 to play in the game. Faced with a third down-and-twelve, Vince Young completed a pass for seven yards, but the Longhorns benefited from a Trojans face-mask penalty, getting a first down at the USC 46-yard line; from there, Vince Young hit little-used wide receiver Brian Carter twice for 26 yards and finally, notching his third rushing touchdown of the game, scored from eight yards out to give his team a precarious one-point lead; the quarterback successfully reached the end zone again on a Texas two-point try, and the 41-38 lead held up as Leinart took the ball with only eight seconds left and was unable to drive the Trojans past the Texas 43-yard line before time expired; the loss was only the second of Leinart’s college career. Though the Trojans converted 57 percent of third downs on the day (to only 27 percent for the Longhorns), they were unable to gain two yards on the Texas defense when such gain likely would have ensured a Trojans victory, and they also hurt themselves with two turnovers in Texas territory early in the game. Mack Brown, previously maligned for his inability to win big games, thus ended the fourth-longest winning streak in Division I-A history—and the longest since a 35-game streak by Toledo ended in 1971—and, behind Young, who accounted for 839 yards of total offense in his two Rose Bowl appearances, won the first national title for Texas since 1970. In winning the BCS national championship game, the Longhorns assured themselves of first-place in the USA Today coaches’ poll, but their achievement was confirmed when the AP writers’ unanimously voted Texas number one on January 5; Southern California finished second in each poll. On January 11, Vince Young would be announced as the winner of the Manning Award, given annually to the nation's top quarterback and based in part on bowl results, unlike any other major college football award.

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Games - 2006 Rose Bowl

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