Group29.com - What did you expect? - Texas defeats USC in the 2005 Rose Bowl and wins BCS championship

The University of Southern California Trojans (12-1) finally had their 34 game winning streak broken last night in what will be remembered as one of the greatest college football games. SC and The University of Texas Longhorns ran #1 and #2 all year in the polls, with Texas actually gaining the #1 spot in the combined BCS polls at one point. Both teams were undefeated. Texas managed to score 41 points and hold USC to 38, with a field goal being the margin of victory. Texas now is the owner of the longest winning streak in the nation at 20 games, having last been defeated by Oklahoma in 2004.

This game had a whole season to be hyped. And it did not disappoint. It was high scoring, with a combined total of 79 points. The game of the season really came down to the play of the season where USC was 4th and 2 yards on the Texas 45 yard line. Pete Carroll made a decision that was sensible. He went for it. Lendale White had been plowing through the Texas line up until that time. And Texas was going to move the ball no matter what. So it did not seem like a bad play. But the Longhorns stopped White and that was the end of it.

There was a controversial play that was not reviewed where Texas quarterback Vince Young threw away the ball on the 12 yard line to Selvin Young who scored a Texas touchdown. However Vince’s knee was down on the ground. It also appeared to me that the ball was pitched forward, not laterally. Texas quickly attempted the extra point and missed. That 1 point looked like it could have been a back breaker for most of the game. Most likely, Texas would have scored a touchdown anyway, so only the controversy remains.

There was a pre game segment featuring actors Will Ferrell and Matthew McConaughey that was funny. McConaughey starts in with an arrogant pitch for Texas football, while dressed in western clothes and hanging out at a ranch. The camera cuts to Ferrell poolside in the Hollywood hills. He is wearing SC running gear and an SC baseball cap. He says, “I can’t hear you Matt, I have a Heisman (Matt Leinart’s trophy) in my ear!”, while holding the trophy next to his ear. Cut back to McConaughey who blathers on about Texas football. Cut back to Ferrell, “I can’t hear you Matt, I have a Heisman (Reggie Bush’s trophy) in my other ear!” McConaughey points to Bevo the bull as the representative of the whole State of Texas. Ferrell’s comeback? “Hey, SOUTHern CALIFornIA TROJANS man!” Once the game started, the focus was completely on the game. There is reason that Keith Jackson was brought out of retirement and is regarded as one of the greatest play-by-play television announcers of college football. He knows when to talk and when to shut up. One of the best moments in the broadcast came when the camera focused on James Denton (who stars as Mike Delfine in ABC TV’s Desperate Housewives). There was dead air, as if Keith wanted those in the truck to know, “This is a damn good football game, keep these people the HELL out!”

The game was spectacular in High Definition. Switching between the ABC NTSC and HD coverage, I was disgusted at how poor the regular signal was. The Rose bowl in High Def is the reason I threw down money for an LCD TV. At the end of the game, the ESPN college game day crew appeared, obviously on ESPN cameras. They looked cheap and amateurish compared to the ABC crew. At halftime, I could see a Tau Beta Sigma pin on the lapel of one of the Texas Longhorn band clarinet players. Both the Texas Band and the USC Spirit of Troy marching band were shown for a couple of minutes. The sound was a bit rough with mixed microphones.

Anyone who has ever participated in bowl game pageantry and can compare will realize that outside of TV, the Rose Bowl game is the best of them all. On TV, the cameras remain in the stadium, so you really do not see much besides the field and close in spectators.

Why the Rose Bowl is the greatest of all the bowl games:

It is the first and oldest bowl game, The granddaddy of them all
It usually matches the best teams from two great football conferences, the PAC TEN and the Big Ten. There are no second place teams in the Rose Bowl. No team ever gets the Rose Bowl as a consolation prize.
It is played in Southern California in what is typically beautiful weather
The Rose Bowl stadium is picturesque holds more than 90,000 fans; and is always sold out. The TV directors do not have to frame shots in order to make sure that empty seats are not shown. The Rose bowl is not an anonymous concrete pile or dome.
Participants get to go to Disneyland BEFORE the game
It is usually played on New Years day in the afternoon so that the sun perfectly lights the field, not 10:00am on a weekday
It has the most pageantry of any sporting event, bar none and is associated with the Tournament of Roses parade, a great event unto itself. No other bowl game parade even comes close to matching the Rose parade.
It draws the biggest college football TV ratings next to the BCS championship game
The marching bands from each school are shown during the half time show. This rarely happens in any college football game, and is unheard of in an era of studio game analysis shows and half million dollar per minute advertising rates.
Each school and conference gets a 30 second advertisement
The focus is on the game. Although the announcers will plug the network TV lineup, you do not get interviews with the stars of the shows, which just happen to be at the game.
The team’s posse and bandwagon jumpers have to stay in the stands, they do not get to stand with the team on the field.
The Rose Bowl stadium is in a beautiful location, the Arroyo Seco in Pasadena.
The blimp providing aerial shots for covering the game is the real Goodyear blimp, not some cheap imitation