National Championship Game (or, How I Love Vince Young)
After a bowl season with many nail-biting finishes, Texas and USC provided us with the most exciting game in the grandaddy of 'em all. How great is Vince Young? He put the Longhorns on his back and singlehandedly won the game for them in the greatest offensive performance I've ever seen (267 yards passing and 200 rushing).
And, boy, was I happy to see it. After having to sit through weeks of hearing about the great USC and how they may "three-peat" as National Champions, I was glad to see them finally go down. You see, two years ago LSU won the BCS National Championship game, but USC was voted the champion in the AP Poll. The media apparently decided that LSU's title didn't count and that USC should receive all the glory and a chance to "three-peat" this year.
Carl Dubois, a sportswriter for Baton Rouge's The Advocate shares his thoughts here:
Congratulations to Texas for its Two-Peat. The Longhorns beat the Southern California Trojans 41-38 late Wednesday in the Rose Bowl, the BCS national championship game. That's two consecutive Rose Bowl victories for Texas, which should seize the opportunity to bill itself as repeat national champion.
Marketing is everything, you know. USC (and ABC and its sister network, ESPN) taught us in 2003 that the Rose Bowl can be the national championship game, even when it's not, if enough people decide it is. Go for it, 'Horns. Hook 'em if you can.
That's how USC entered Wednesday's game on a quest for what everybody called a Three-Peat (or a Three-Pete, for USC coach Pete Carroll).
Do the math, comedian and USC fan Will Ferrell said during ABC's pregame show. The Trojans are playing in their third national championship game in three years, he said.
Tell that to LSU, which has the ADT trophy, the crystal football signifying the BCS national championship for the 2003 season.Nick Saban held one aloft after the 2004 Nokia Sugar Bowl.
Pete Carroll held one aloft after the 2005 Fed-Ex Orange Bowl.
Mack Brown held one aloft after the 2006 Rose Bowl Presented by Keith Jackson.
Anybody see a repeat in there?
It's old news to remind you that every major conference in the country agreed to take the human element out of it as much as possible by following a system that picks two teams to play for Division I-A college football's national championship.
Carroll liked the system in 2003 before LSU passed USC in the standings and won the right to play and beat Oklahoma for the national championship. Before LSU made that jump, Saban said he would respect the system whatever the outcome.
Carroll changed his tune, declaring the 2004 Rose Bowl the national championship game. Jackson bought the hype and billed the game accordingly, despite the fact nobody in America suggested that a Michigan victory over the Trojans in that game would earn Michigan a national title.
USC quarterback Matt Leinart wore a T-shirt ripping the BCS with a thinly veiled obscenity, but he and Carroll embraced the system when the Trojans won the 2004 version of the BCS national championship.
