USC’s mistakes- Young’s magic give Texas the title

By Sean Quinn

Vince Young’s game-winning 9-yard touchdown run with 19 seconds left in the game wasn’t just great, it was clutch. That run, though, as impressive as it was, didn’t win the game for the Longhorns. Young’s game, which accumulated in a BCS game record 467 yards of total offense, only contributed to Texas’ 41-38 win over USC in the Rose Bowl. It was USC’s unprecedented unforced errors and coaching that snapped the Trojans’ 34-game winning streak and gave the Longhorns’ lone star the brightness of sunny Pasadena.There were mistakes on both sides of the ball, both early and late in the game, that cost the Trojans more than momentum. Pete Carroll all but physically extended the index finger of Vince Young into the air to make the Longhorns No.1 with some of the calls he made.

His USC players are just as guilty as their gutsy coach.

Here are some of the unforced errors that prevented USC from repeating as national champions:

First Quarter – USC 7, Texas 0
The Trojans had all the momentum early after causing a turnover and going 46 yards on five plays to take an early lead. After stopping the Horns on a fourth-and-one from midfield, the Trojans came back out on offense and slammed on the accelerator. A great call by Pete Carroll almost made it a two-score game, but Dwayne Jarrett’s pass was just out of the reach of Steve Smith. The Trojans still drove down to the Texas 17-yard line and faced a fourth-and-one. Pete Carroll calls a quarterback sneak and Texas comes up with a huge stop that gives them life when USC could have really taken the air out of them early. Carroll either needed to kick a field goal or run to the outside. Texas had four down lineman and four linebackers right up on the line of scrimmage. Mack Brown had to be thinking it was a sneak because that is what USC had done several times on short distances, highlighted by the last play of the Notre Dame victory. Once Reggie Bush went in motion, leaving the backfield empty the Texas defense was 110 percent certain of the play call.

Second Quarter – USC 7, Texas 0
Vince Young still wasn’t in a groove, as his team was shutout in a first quarter for the first time all season. The USC defense, not extraordinary by any means, contained Young brilliantly in the first quarter. Carroll knew that wouldn’t last very much longer and already missing a chance to add to his lead, he had to feel good about his team’s third drive of the game. Bush broke out of the backfield for a quick screen and made the most athletic play of the game to that point before he made the stupidest decision of the game. After gaining 35 yards, Bush decides to pitch the ball back to a teammate at the Texas 18-yard line, but the ball is bobbled and Texas’ Michael Huff recovers the loose ball. Bush is a phenomenal, out of this world athlete, but he just tried to do too much on this play. The offense was cruising and would have found a way to put the ball in the end zone and put Texas on the ropes.

Second Quarter – USC 7, Texas 3
After surrendering a field goal to Texas, USC is still in the driver’s seat and is running the ball well up the middle of the Longhorns’ defense. The Trojans are once again in Longhorn territory, with a second-and-nine from the 25-yard line. Leinart, who took a while to warm up in the first half, throws and interception at the goal line. Leinart had recognized a little bit of rust on his armor early in the game and did a good job of not forcing throws up until this point in the first half. He made a bad decision to throw this ball. Dwayne Jarrett wasn’t tightly covered, but safety Michael Griffin was able to come over and jump to intercept the ball after Leinart hung it up there. Griffin made a heck of a play to come up with the interception, but there was no reason for Leinart to make this throw, he was not pressured.

First Half – USC 10, Texas 16
Pete Carroll couldn’t ask much more from his defense in the first 20 minutes of the game. The latter part of the second quarter, though, showed just how mediocre USC’s defense was. The tackling was atrocious. Vince Young is a large athlete, at 6-foot-5 and 233 pounds, but you have to tackle the guy, if not slow him down. The Trojans’ poor effort was highlighted on Ramonce Taylor’s 30-yard touchdown run to give Texas its second touchdown. The Texas offense is going to score points, but you have to make them work for it and you have to wrap up.

Fourth Quarter – USC 38, Texas 33
With less than seven minutes remaining in the game, USC had a 12-point lead thanks to Matt Leinart’s accuracy in the second half. UT came down and scored too quickly to cut the lead to five with less than four minutes remaining. There was no reason to believe that Vince Young would touch the ball again, unless it was a two-possession game. USC gets a first down after a completion to Jarrett and give the ball to LenDale White, who had been torching UT’s interior defense in the second half, setting a second down. The clock is running and Texas has all three of its timeouts remaining. Carroll calls a screen pass instead of running ball straight up the gut. The pass falls incomplete to Brandon Hancock after Texas breaks through the line. The clock is now stopped and USC has a third-and-seven. After a five-yard run, it’s now fourth-and-two from the Texas 45-yard line. Texas calls a timeout. If you’re Pete Carroll you have to go for the first down and end the game with your offense on the field. That’s the kind of no-fear coach Carroll is. The run came up inches short. The problem with the play calling here, is the second-down pass that stopped the clock. That gave Texas 40 more seconds to work with when they took over the ball. Should have USC punted? Probably. You have to understand that Carroll is a no-fear kind of coach, but Vince Young has yet to throw a long pass in the game. With two minutes left, Young may be more intimidated if a 80-yard field is staring at him instead of a 50-yard field. After all, Young did have his worst passing performance of the year against the worst passing defense in the country in Texas A&M in the last game of the regular season.

Fourth Quarter – USC 38, Texas 39
Young has just scored with 19 seconds left and Texas is lined up for a two-point conversion. It appears the Trojans are set defensively, but not to the liking of Carroll, he calls USC’s last timeout. This is just plain dumb. It’s more important to give up two points and have a timeout to set up a tying field goal, then to burn it defending a conversion. Plus, Young had been running a draw and scrambling for more than 200 yards during the game, there wasn’t any sign that he wouldn’t do that again on the conversion. USC gave up the two points following the timeout. The Trojans then made it to the Texas 43-yard line with eight seconds remaining. If they had a timeout they could have sent Bush up the middle on a draw to get 10 more yards to set up a tying field goal. You never know what this USC offense could do with 19 seconds and one timeout, but it’s pretty clear it would take a miracle to tie the game up with 19 seconds and no timeouts.

Final – USC 38, Texas 41
Matt Leinart said it best when called Vince Young a freakishly good athlete. Young’s 467 offensive yards in the championship game outperform Reggie Bush’s 513 yard effort against Fresno State. It would have been a good idea to consistently put a linebacker to spy Young in the second half. Young is too quick and physical for most defenders, but this would have at least slowed him down and taken away the QB draw, which constantly burned the USC defense. Had Young ran for 10 less yards, it would be Leinart, who went 16-for-19 for 218 yards and one touchdown in the second half, who would be the game’s MVP. Leinart’s second-half effort was the best he has played in four years. The Longhorns ability to contain Reggie Bush and USC’s unforeseen early mistakes enabled Young to lead the Horns to their first outright national crown since 1969.