2006: Sports

Unfortunately, I didn’t have a real rooting interest in many of the great sports moments of the decade. Really I can only think of maybe a half dozen of them, however 2006 carried one of them.

I’ve been a USC fan since I started looking at colleges back in 9th grade, and admittedly a resurgent football program drew me in even more as in 2002-2003 season as they emerged as one of the best teams in the nation. As luck would have it they would follow that with 2 National Championships in a row and carried a 34-game win streak into the 2006 Rose Bowl against the also unbeaten Texas Longhorns.

This may have been the most hyped college football game in the last few decades and possibly the highest caliber of talent put on one field (USC by themselves carried 23 players who would eventually be taken in the first 3 rounds of the NFL draft).

What followed was no disappointment, as the teams were locked in a shootout the entire game with 6 lead changes and each team overcoming 11+ point deficits.

With 6:42 left in the 4th quarter, and Texas down 38-26, Longhorn quarterback Vince Young put the entire team on his back as he accounted for all 65 yards on a 2 1/2 minute drive that cut the deficit to 38-33. His defense would stop the Trojans on a pivotal 4th and 2 at midfield and give his offense back the ball with 2:13 to play.

What came next is what you see on every highlight reel for this decade. Young converted a 3rd and 12 and finally on a 4th and 5 on the Trojan 9, he won a footrace to the end zone that gave his team a 41-38 with only 8 seconds left and the final result.

That was the most gut wrenching loss I’ve ever experienced for a team I was rooting for. Truly, USC never recovered from the loss and has been fighting for national glory ever since. Texas is back in the championship for the first time since, as they take on Alabama on January 7th.