Many in the media anointed this Trojans team as one of, if not the greatest, college football team in history before the game.
This will mark the sixth time that USC enters a bowl game ranked No. 1 by the AP. They;ve won every time.
“USC is the best offense I have ever seen,” unless, he said, Texas wins. Then the Longhorns might get that title.
I have a funny feeling about this game.
The Texas players sound hungry. Not wild-dog hungry, yet they have a quiet resolve. Vince Young plays up the no-respect theme, his teammates aren’t so vocal. But privately they’re seething that ESPN is showing a fantasy feature on how USC would do against the greatest teams in history.
I’ve covered more than a dozen bowl games, and only once do I remember a team sounding like these Longhorns.
Moments before kickoff in the Rose Bowl, the referee’s microphone inadvertently picked up five salty words (from somebody) for all of America to hear. They aptly foretold the entire night:
“Do you believe that shit?”
But a Texas-sized contingent of Longhorns fans turned half the hallowed stadium burnt orange and was loud enough to force USC into at least one penalty for delay of game.
In the buildup to the Rose Bowl, the game had been hyped as perhaps the greatest college football game of all time and, managed to live up to expectations…
Believe it. Believe it all. Believe Texas 41, USC 38. And believe that this stunning reversal of form and fortune happened because of the gutsiest and most glorious six minutes in the gilded history of Texas football.
excerpted from various online articles
It was, one of the most amazingly surreal moments of my life–before, during, and after the game. More on the not-as-sporty side of the Rose Bowl later…
