Top 10 Games of the Decade: CFB-2006 Rose Bowl

We've saved the best game for last. In truth, we really could do an entire Top 10 Games countdown with the sport of college football. There have been so many all-time great games this decade (see our list at the bottom) that it's excruciatingly hard to pick one for the top of the list. However, there is one game that we can pick for its significance, drama, and absolute quality of football on display. We're all about taking stands here at RSS, and simply put, this is the single greatest game that I have ever seen. Texas. USC. The national title on the line in the Rose Bowl.

Who: USC Trojans vs Texas Longhorns

What: Rose Bowl (AKA BCS National Title Game)

Where: Pasadena, CA

When: January 4, 2006

How It All Unfolded: If you'll remember, this was the year that ESPN ran that series comparing this USC team to the greatest teams of all-time. USC was on a 34 game winning streak (4th longest ever). USC had just tore Oklahoma to pieces in the previous year's national title game 55-19, a year after winning the AP national title. Yes, we still had split national champions this decade... They brought back perhaps the best set of talent in NCAA history. They featured the last 2 Heisman winners in Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush. USC was an unstoppable force. Leading up to the Rose Bowl, all of the focus was on this USC team that was on the Mount Rushmore of the all-time greatest college football teams.

Meanwhile, the Texas Longhorns, led by Vince Young, were the unquestioned 2nd best team in college football. They had won 19 straight games including a dramatic win in the Rose Bowl the year before when VY ran for 4 TDs and had 372 total yards. Here's those highlights...

Young would need even more heroics to down the almighty Trojans. The first quarter featured both defenses standing tall, USC had the 7-0 lead off of a 4 yard Lendale White run. The second quarter was the story of two laterals: Reggie Bush's one that didn't work and created a turnover... and Vince Young's that did and led to a Selmon Young TD (even though VY's knee was down, replay didn't catch it). After another Texas TD it was 16-10 Longhorns going into the break. Lendale White had 2 more rushing TDs (including one on 4th down) sandwiched around a Vince Young score to give USC the lead 24-23 going into the 4th quarter in what was shaping up to be a classic.

But, it's the 4th quarter that makes this the greatest game I've ever seen. Yes, I just described the first 3 quarters in a paragraph, but there were so many great plays all over the field that it was hard to keep track. 18 players on the field were drafted the next year including 4 Top 10 picks. Unquestionably, this game featured the greatest collection of college football talent we've ever seen, and it was all on display in the final 15 minutes.

First, Reggie Bush took the spotlight (305 total yards) with an iconic dive into the endzone for his only TD to extend the USC lead to 8. A Leinart strike (folks forget he was 29/40 for 365 yards) to Dwayne Jarrett with 6:42 left gave the Trojans a 12 point lead. Now, it was up to VY to make another dramatic Rose Bowl comeback.

Young first led an 8 play, 69 yard drive that was capped off with a dramatic 17 yard run, then Texas' D had to shine. When they stopped White on 4th down at the Texas 45 with just over 2 minutes left, Young stepped on to the field to etch his name into the history books. Think back to that moment, when the Texas D ran jubilantly off the field to give VY the ball back, I dare you to tell me that you weren't as captivated as you have ever been watching a sporting event. You knew what would happen next...

I was getting goosebumps on Texas' final drive, and I'm no Texas fan, but the moment was so grand that you had to be on the edge of your couch, barstool, or whatever. VY drove Texas to the 8, and on 4th Down Young raced to the corner of the endzone to give Texas the national championship, complete the greatest single championship performance in history, and cap off perhaps the greatest game ever played. Here's the streamlined version from after the fact, but if you have extra time, you really should check out the extended 3 part highlights below because they feature the legendary Keith Jackson's commentary in his final game, Part 3 features the last 8 minutes and Young's comeback.

Keith Jackson's call and extended highlights...

Why We'll Remember It: There's not much else you can say except that it is the greatest game of the decade, and in all of college football history. Not only that it was a national championship game, but that it featured absolutely everything you can ask for in an all-time classic: great players, great plays, classic moments, and drama till the end.

In some aspect, the numbers tell the story: 79 combined points and 1130 total yards of offense, and not 1, but 2 Heisman winners being thwarted by Texas' #10. Vince Young, in the best title game performance in sports history, had these numbers:

30/40 267 yards passing, 19 carries 200 yards 3 TDs

Think about that, against the already coronated Trojans, Vince Young put up 467 yards of offense, and led Texas on 2 TD drives in the last 6:42. With Leinart on the bench in Arizona, Bush in a supporting role for the 11-0 Saints, and Young only now looking like a successful NFL QB, it's easy to forget just how great they were in college. These are all legends of the college game.

In this here and now society, the Twittering age, it's easy to get caught up in the latest Tiger Woods drama or this year's BCS and forget the unforgettable moments in sports. That's why RSS is celebrating these classic moments in our Decade Series, to remember what why we love sports so much. If you watched the game, you know the legendary status of what happened that night in Pasadena, whether you were on USC's side, Texas's side, or just a plain old fan. We wait for nights like the 2006 Rose Bowl, because each game has the ability to give us something that we'll remember throughout the generations.

We watch sports for nights like January 4, 2006.

Other Games Considered

-2003 Fiesta Bowl - #2 OSU 31 #1 Miami (FL) 24 F/2OT

-2005 Rose Bowl - #6 Texas 38 #13 Michigan 37

-2005 - USC 34 Notre Dame 31

-2006 - #1 Ohio State 42 #2 Michigan 39

-2007 Fiesta Bowl - #9 Boise State 43 #8 Oklahoma 42 F/OT

-2007 - Appalachain State 34 Michigan 32

-2007 - LSU 28 Florida 24