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1/04/2006

BEST ROSE BOWL EVER

Hook 'em horns. Best Rose Bowl ever. That is, after the 24 minutes of opening frivolity. I'm glad I time-shifted it. Nothing better than flying through vapid "features" and the pregame hype. Keith Jackson summed up my feelings when he said something to the effect of "Hooray, we are finally going to play football!"

As for KJ, he's not as spry or sharp as he used to be. But can you think of anyone else you would rather have calling big NCAA football games? I can't. With the possible exception being Eric Dickerson.

I thought Craig James proved that live TV can be a rough gig when postgame he said that Reggie Bush was not really a factor. 194 yards rushing and receiving and an incredible touchdown run and jump and dive factored in quite a bit, I thought. No he didn't take over the game, but he certainly was a factor.

But the story was Vince Young. Think maybe Bush and Leinart got shoved to the 2nd and 3rd picks in the draft last night? I do. I can't think of a play where Young couldn't find an option to gain yards. The guy is amazing.

Leinart was a bit of a baby after the game, looking as if he wanted to get off the field without talking to any media. When they asked him about Texas' last drive he commented that "we didn't tackle anybody." He prefaced that by saying it was a good win then realized they lost. Leinart should heed the words of USC alum Will Ferrell and just try to stay classy. That said, some team will be lucky to get him in the draft.

My son Luke became a Longhorns fan early on when he saw their helmets. He's partial to Bulls being from Chicago. Luke scored about 62 touchdowns last night and we were on hand to catch some of the action. On the last play before bed, he got owned by mommy, who promptly pulled his pants down.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

While I didn't have the smarts to time-shift the pre-game and halftime dead air, I sure as hell stayed to the end of one awesome game. So glad it was everything it was supposed to be.

Aside from Young's adjective defying performance--really, you just can't play any better and be more dominant in a game, so how do you describe?--I was totally blown away by his poise, demeanor and determination. He had just had THAT LOOK last night, he was just not going to be stopped--he never looked frazzled or hurried, even when they were down 12 with 6-and-ticking to go. And his accuracy was a revelation, consistently throwing underneath and across the middle--didn't TE David Harris look pro-worthy as well?--taking what was there, not forcing it downfield. I don't care too much about his mechanics with that kind of accuracy. That last image of him standing before the crowd as the confetti fell, completely triumphant, was goosebump inducing stuff, a classic picture for a classic game.

And in a night when all the star players --White, Bush, Young-- acted like they'd been to the endzone before, and just handed the ball to the ref, and the hitting was hard, the competition intense, it was disappointing to hear Leinart look and sound like a sore baby loser. Too bad, he played a great game. But Young was better.

PV

The Zoner said...

I thought the same about Harris. Great hands and a desire to get extra yardage. I like USC's TE too althugh his name escapes right now. Michael Griffin impressed me too. But I guess most of the players did. The refs sure didn't though. Man, have a coffee before the game.

Young looked so poised, like a veteran NFLer, not a junior. I remember them saying the same thing about David Carr's mechanics. But give him time and he makes the correct decision, much mor eimportant than how the ball gets there, I think. While admirable, I think it would be career foolish to stay in school. I don't see anything left for him there and they are losing 3 OLmen.

"And in a night when all the star players --White, Bush, Young-- acted like they'd been to the endzone before, and just handed the ball to the ref, and the hitting was hard, the competition intense..." Agreed.

Anonymous said...

The SC TE was Maurice (?) Byrd, and yeah we'll be seeing him on Sundays, too. And Dwayne Jarrett. And Tex safety Michael Huff etc. etc.

Let's play Match Game '06!: 'Mel Kiper was prolly so aroused by the array of NFL talent during the BCS Championship Game that he got BLANK stuck in his pompadour!'

PV

Anonymous said...

After Young's final score, my wife even said, "Geez, show some emotion". I told her that he reacted pretty well for a college athlete, and all coaches love to see their players "act like they've been there before". Very good to see, and she felt more relieved that Young was human when she saw him celebrating after the game. :)