Welcome to Special Teams, a production of I Heart Radio. Greetings and welcome inside the Special Teams podcast. We're your genial host Jason Smith and Mike Harmon. You'd hear our radio show Monday through Friday on Fox Sports Radio seven pm to eleven pm Pacific, ten pm to two am on the East Coast. And it is our pleasure to bring you Special Team to look back at a very special year for one team in the history of sports. Maybe because they won it all, maybe because they got so close and couldn't win at all, maybe because they were windless, or they were just controversial. Today we look back at the national champion two thousand and five Texas Longhorns, one of those teams with the stars that went into the NFL. Big performance is big stats and one of the greatest finishes to a season. That's it. Mac Brown, head coach, was looking to validate his career. He got it. Some of the guys on this Texas team would go play in the NFL. Colt McCoy was the backup on this team and he went on to have a very big, illustrious career with Texas. Jamal Charles, who went on to star in the NFL for many years, averaging like eleven yards and carry was a freshman running back on this team. Brian A. Rackpo was a freshman. Michael huff w was a first round draft pick. There was a ton of talent on this Texas team, and a lot of it was young, and they still wind up winning the national side. Well, that's funny. You go through the the roster and and you remember the name is I. No, no, I did the whole thing. I did Young. That's where you go speaking of, And I did the whole thing. You wanted me to just talk about Vince. I gave you because I wanted to talk about my guy Henry Melton. Okay, because he was a running back that then got drafted as a defensive end. Yes, well, because he went to the training table and he bulked up. And you had Jamal Charles. But the thirds and fourth and fifth and I'll be a defensive end. Well, I mean, you want playing time, you're gonna do what you're gonna do. But for Vince Young, no, no, no, we got no hang on, hang on, wait wait wait, we gotta do it the right way. And most of the guys on this team, we're young. Dence Young. Of course, that's how you do it the highlights. See that, you know, way I gave I gave it was a fast ball down the middle, I gave you well, you know I followed it back straight back. How do you foul that? I tried to keep the broadcasters engage. You stole the signs, knew what was coming and still fouled it off. Well, I got over the top of it. What do you want, I got over the top of the foul ball. You're only you're only five seven. Yeah, I can't see you getting over the top on a foul on this side of Eddie Goodell. I mean, that's what we got. But Vince Young, look, this was the making of a superstar. It would transform him into a top pick into the NFL, where he had great success for a short period of time, Rookie of the Year and some big moments there, but oftentimes it was Hey, end the ball to Jamal Charles and watch him run for ninety hurts. His evolution was really interesting because when he came in as a freshman with Texas, he was the running quarterback. He barely threw. It was like it was like watching back to the eighties when you would see the quarterbacks in Nebraska and Oklahoma only throw the ball like a dozen times of games, but they'd run for a hundred and seventy five yards on the ground because of the wishbone. That was what it was like watching Finnce Young so fast and I think he's untapped. He was untacklable in college, which I just made up a word. That's a good word, unlikeackable in college. And he read he was so fast, I thought, he's never gonna throw the football, never have to throw the football at all because he just runs by everybody. And as a freshman, what's his gonna what's he gonna be? What's his ceiling gonna be? Is he gonna get to the point where he's a dual threat quarterback or he's just gonna be a running quarterback. And it was fun for a while because, like I said, it was back to the nineteen eighties, like like what you see with Oklahoma Nebraska by run the run, the option and and get out in space. You say, untacklable is a big boy. Two thousand three. As he came out into the scene only a hundred forty three attempts, he had a hundred thirty five rushing attempts for nine yards, almost matched the yardage there as well, with eleven touchdowns as opposed to six passing touchdowns. Then follow up year eighteen forty nine twelve touchdown passes, one thousand, seventy nine rushing yards in fourteen touchdowns, and then finally, finally the breakthrough in this historic two thousand five season. They come into the season Texas ranked number two, so there was a lot of high hopes for them because they were expected to have an electric offense. This was Vince Young, this was when he becomes a superstar. And that's exactly what they got right out of the gate, because Texas was this This was no rags to riches. Hey, what a great move. No, No, they came in number two and it was can they beat USC. You know, it's almost like we thought these two teams were on a collision course all year long. Thirty four game winning streak for USC. Uh know when they finally meet as we get to but certainly you look at Texas nineteen wins in a row as well, so they were rolling things up, and a lot of times in sports you said, all right, these are the teams that are going to compete for a title and you throw out a lot of other I mean, we do at the NBA all the time. Here's your six teams that could win a title. For college football, we usually have a good idea here was can we just get to a national title game? Can we just get to cut to the chase. Let's take the stats. We like the preliminaries, but here's the heavyweight fight at the end of it all. So as Texas was getting set for a season that would live in history, what was two thousand and five like for the rest of us? In two thousand and five, that was the year that Hurricane Katrina hit, which New Orleans took years they're still recovering from. And that was a very big storyline. Joe horn In the New Orleans Saints, the block punt Steve Gleisa, and it was a very big moment that we still talk about. And you're getting on, you know, almost fifteen years later past that, right, I mean just huge for me. I was watching all football games with a kid in my arm. So my elder daughter was born in September uh six weeks later, was out of flight to go to Chicago, so I can go watch a World Series game, but college football was me literally passing out on a couch with her cradled your two thousand and five Chicago White Sox World Series champions thanks to Doug Ttings. I mean you should send him a note every day, Jeff Blum with a big home. Yeah. No, I don't have to celebrate the entire entirety all these years later. I mean they're still near and dear to my heart, the bobble heads, the autograph baseballs that I've collected. And we got a nice message from Paul Knerico for my birthday. Aco. We did. We did get him to call in on your birthday. Our producer at Fox, Justin Frostburg, called him up and say, hey, will you come on for uh Mike's birthday is a huge White Sox fan, and Canerico actually told Justin I don't do stuff like that. So he said, well what what what? Can you just wish him a happy birthday? Said sure, so he wished you a happy birthday. We recorded it and we played it back on the show. It was like eight seconds, but the number. I'm not retired. I don't do this anymore. I don't wish happy birthday. I don't have to do this anymore. And now he's an ambassador, so I think he probably does. And broadcasters, so I think he does a little more of that again. Lance Armstrong one his seventh straight Tour de France before retiring and then becoming Oh boy did he have to do? I was a year Tom Cruise jumped on Oprah Winfrey's couch, very excited about the relationship, the new one he had with Katie Holmes too. Really that far back, I don't get why people went crazy. So we guy jumped on a couch. He was was excited the Office debut on NBC. Not the Ricky your Face but the Steve Carrell one. Yeah, well, no, we'll come on Steve Carrell. Yes, I know we do have we do love Rain Wilson, but Steve Carrell made the show. I was just kidding with you. Low ratings first year, but NBC said, no, we're bringing it back, and it could go down by the time everything is all said and done. Has the greatest comedy in television history because of the way it has continues to catch new audiences on Netflix. It's an office comedy. It's never gonna go out of style. It's not gonna be something that's dated and new people are picking up the Office all the time. And because you have Netflix where people binge watch all every single season of it, these people are all stars now. John Krasinski is the stars, Steve Carrell is a star, Ed helps the Star. Alright, Creed was Creed, but like Creed was awesome, still a legend. I mean, this is gonna go that more people are gonna watch The Office than have watched basically any other comedy ever. No, and then look, everybody works in an office place at some point. You've got all those characters in your lives, a lot of great one liners, the stuff you do with your siblings, the stuff you do with your co workers. They just like it. It's pictured there. And they took chances. They took a lot of chances with storylines like I don't I don't know that some of the early episodes could well. The shot episode was word for word the the premiere of the English version, and it was well, and then it was I know, we're going to differentiate with a differential and then Steve Carell really turned Michael Scott into his own. But think about some of the catchphrases that remain so popular said, you know, people cringe at some of some of those old scenes and interactions, so uh, it's certainly stands the test of time. The biggest money maker in two thousand five YouTube debuted Welcome on Boring. Three guys who they worked at they worked at a um Uh. They all worked together at a much smaller company doing something and they decided, Hey, let's start something where people can share videos across the Internet. And then what years later it was sold for like two billion dollars. Yeah, a big deal. If I could go back to two thousand and four, I'd invent that I have a lot of a lot of things that from my time when I was working at Yahoo, things that we were supposed to be doing, and deals that were supposed to be made that didn't get made. Over time, some of the urban legends as to why, and you'd find out there was some truth to what seemed like absurd urban legends. You and I should be podcasting from a drift on an island in somewhere. We're tethered, you know, on a little skiff. Hey is lunch ready yet? I mean, that's that's that's what should have happened. But I mean, really, if if we're living that life? Are we doing podcasts? Sure? We still had a lot to say. That's true. Yeah, that's true. You know what, You're probably right about that. You you have your health, and you have your work and what drives you. And yes, I agree, but we would be doing it from an island and I would be hammered because I'd be drinking all kinds of crazy as well. And it is a podcast, so I mean, you can let the expletives fly. I never like such a see us next week when. So that's where things stood as late August early September approach for the Texas Longhorns coming up next their march to the National Championship Game, which resulted in a near Heisman trophy and a near return for Vince Young for his senior year. Keep it right here. The Incredible season the two thousand five Texas Longhorns continues on the Special Teams Podcast. Continually on the Special Teams Podcast, Our look at the two thousand five Texas Longhorns Jason Smith and Mike Harmon, the National champion Longhorns had a very big early season game look. They had Louisiana Lafayette Week one and the number two right team in the country. One pretty easily just laughed through that one, and I don't think they played eleven guys, Yeah, exactly. Game two, however, was Ohio State, the number two and number four teams in the country meeting in one of the most anticipated early season games of the year. Look, we usually don't get games like this that early the way the college football schedule is made years in advance. Okay, this could be a good game, but it might not be. But this was two verses four. No, that's the beauty of a day when you have the true road game for Texas as they go to Columbus and you're talking about the size of that crowd. I've been in that crowd a few times. Granted, my Northwestern teams weren't very good, so we didn't have that raucus uh come back at the time, but you go in and hostile is the kind way to say it as you roll through. So for Texas, a very big test off the jump and really one that set the tone. And they weren't particularly sharp, but one of those games where you know you're gonna have to grind it out, one of those final possession type efforts. This is a game in which Texas got out to attend nothing. Lead of Vince young touchdown pass was answered by a thirty six yard pass from Troy Smith to Santonio Home. Uh. You know, he was like the m v P of our team for like a six game stretch in two thousand and in ten. Let me just give me a second about Santonio Holmes. All right, now we're moving on. He had a couple of stretches like that in his career. A game that gets the fourth quarter in Ohio State has a six team lead, Texas scores the final nine points of the game, a touchdown pass from Vince Young to Lima Swede, and then Troy Smith is sacked for a safety. Texas has a three point lead. They hold on to win two. And the crazy part of this game was this was the lowest scoring game Texas had all season long, so much to this one. Right for Texas, they were the first team to go into the Horseshoe and win a night game. Right. That's one of the data points of all of this and and one of their signature wins of the recent you know, non conference schedules. It was. It was Ohio State's first loss to a non big ten team in fifteen years at home. They hadn't lost at home to a none. It's it's thirty six games in a row. They like, I want to go back and look at the rest of the schedules, see what kind of directional schools. Yeah, but still thirty six wins. Look, Kevin, you take them as they come in your life. Absolutely, you're gonna play somebody. I mean, that's that's just how it's gonna go there. Uh So, after the win over Texas, they beat right or after the win over Ohio State they beat Rice fifty one to ten, they beat Missouri fifty one to twenty, and you're thinking, oh my goodness, this is just gonna be a boat racing. Then you get to the game against Texas and you're thinking, Okay, the game against Oklahoma and then you're thinking, all right, Oklahoma Texas Red River shoot out, this is gonna be a close one. Uh No, forty five to twelve. Texas goes up twenty four six and a half time. They never look back. Oklahoma had won the previous five games against Texas, Texas getting all their revenge in one game thirty three point margin, the tied the biggest margin of victory ever in the rivalry, and we're talking what some ninety games at that time. While you're you're looking at this and again all the eyes of the nation because you're you're on that collision course. You got USC handling their business over here. And Texas had the one narrow game against Ohouse State, but putting up fifty a game, here's Oklahoma, who year after year and you know you're getting a top notch effort, and they just absolutely got bludgeoned, scored six points through three quarters, and Texas never looked back. At this point, Vince Young says, I'm coming back from my senior year, having such a good time, loving life. I'm coming back from my senior year. The week later, they played Texas Tech. He strikes the Heisman post. They win that game fifty two to seventeen. He later apologized for striking the Heisman post, not wanting to cause controversy, ruffle feathers, but at this point, when you're scoring fifty points the game and you're the quarterback of that team, pose whatever you want, do whatever you want. I have a little bit of swagger. I mean, in the NFL they take some of your money. You're you're obliterating teams. You're not just beating them, right. This is like every year when we watch college football teams. It's one thing to navigate a schedule, succeed and proceed the Calipari basketball analogy. But when you're going out in bludgeting teams and you have become the story, right, Because the USC guys had already had their run, right, they'd already been in the spotlight as big time stars. And what do we always say about college sports, You're looking for the next big thing. And Vince Young had had success, right, They've been winning games. But now was Vince Young putting up numbers as a passer and the obliteration Matt Brown getting his love, and all of that flowed through every game, Texas scoring at least two touchdowns in the first quarter, forty seven points against Oklahoma State, sixty two against Texas against Baylor, sixty six against Kansas. I mean, it's just a blowout after blowout. And while it's a fatal complete that Texas is gonna wind up in the big twelfth championship game, the big debate became the Heisman Trophy race because as much as you know, hey, we had seen USC do their thing. This is still U S C. S heyday, This is still Matt Liner Reggie Bush, and it was Matt Lionert won the Heisman the year before. Now this is Reggie Bush's turn. And it was really a race between the two of them. From the middle of the season on. There were no other names. We heard. It was Reggie, Vince, Reggie, Vince. What's Reggie doing, What's Vince Young doing during the day, What's Reggie Bush doing? Later at night? Vince Reggie Vince Reggie And as good as Vince Young was, Reggie Bush had the Fresno State game, had the big return where we stopped on a dime all the way back to the middle of the field, the highlight we saw a lot. That was where Reggie Bush really started to pull away from Vince Young. But that was a fun year. It was always, hey, here's Texas during the day and here's USC at night. That was a fun time. Well what USC, I mean the sex appeal of that team was able to push through the narrative that's lived for so many years of nobody watches back twelve football Pack ten. At the time, there were no close games for Texas as. They got to the Big twelve championship game, which was against Colorado, and that continued and boarded that continue. Texas peace Colorado in the Big twelve championship game. Seventy to three, not seventeen. Seventy to three. Colorado didn't give up a point in the fourth quarter. That well, that was good. That yelled to hang their head on that. And they did kick a field goal in the second quarter. But Texas got two touchdowns early. You're a man, Henry Melton, Jamal Charles score four touchdowns in the second quarter, four touchdowns in the third quarter, and it's are you kidding me? Seventy to three? This is this in a Big twelve championship games, seventy two three. This is not opening week against it. This is the Big twelve Championship. Yeah, they left Gary Barnett on the tarmac. That was the end of that. Outscored one twelve to twenty in the two games against Texas. Barnett fired the week after that. How do you how about that? You make it to the conference championship game, but you lose by sixties seven and get fired. But we made it there. We still lost and lost by US sixty seven. You know, and I remember at the time that was a very big deal because is when it came down to splitting hands between USC and Texas. Texas, it was, well, really, how good is the Big twelve If you're winning your conference title game seventy three? They're blowing every day that the win against Ohio State, But how good was the rest of your conference? When that's how the that's how the conference championship goes? Well, well, let's face it, that's been one of the critiques all these years, especially when you start talking about the pinball like numbers offensively and then you go play a team that can actually play some defense, right, So that that lived on far beyond that. But for Colorado, you know, they get to the the big game and they've lost the number of games during that season like they were they were a paper champion. Uh to get to that other side of the brackets. So uh, they get beaten up. Gary Barnett gets fired and Texas is still rolling. Texas earns their place in the Rose Bowl against USC. Before we get there, it's the hardware going to Reggie Bush, who beats Vince Young for the Heisman Trophy. Young is in second place by a arge margin so everybody who voted thought, well, Reggie's the best, but then it's Vince Young, and that's kind of how the votes played out. I mean, Vince Young had the rough go against SEXUS A and M where they held off forty to twenty nine win. He wasn't particularly magical and that one only a hundred sixty two yards of offense there, so the lowest of his years. So you've also got Reggie Bush still doing magical things. And again with the Hollywood push because the sex appeal of all those stars and the numbers that they were putting up pinball numbers on the West Coast kind of on their own feature game. As you say, during the day, you can get lost in a lot of football, but back twelve at night, you're the only game in town. You had a lot of star power getting set for the National championship game in the Rose Bowl. You had two Heisman Trophy winners in the same backfield and Leonar and Reggie Bush. You had Vince Young, and coming up was an absolute game for the age is the two thousand five Texas Long Horns continues on here as we spotlight the Rose Bowl on the Special Team's podcast. So here we are Texas Long Lawns USC Trojans the National Championship Rose Bowl Game for the Ages, and before we get into the details of the game, I still remember the opening tees for the game, which featured Will Ferrell USC alum and Matthew McConaughey Texas alum. And Will Ferrell comes on, He's, you know, the bombastic, crazy, out of control Will Farrell very excited, and he would say something, and Matthew McConaughey, very very button down, would say, but Will, did you know this about Texas? And he would say blah blah blah, and then would cut back to a shot at Will Ferrell with Heisman trophies, going, I can't hear you, Matthew at the Heisman trophies in my ears, and then Matthew McConaughey saying something very direct and brief about how good Texas was. This was the difference between the schools. Hey as big a star as Matthew McConaughey was, and biggest star as Vince Young is. USC and Will Ferrell were Hollywood. They were the rock stars of college football, and it was many people thinking, well, this is gonna be USC's Coronation is gonna be a tough game, but they should win because their USC. This game was back and forth the entire way, and I was very surprised that Vince Young was having the success he was against USC's defense. USC's defensive backfield wasn't the greatest, but I was still surprised he was having this much success. Both teams and both defenses got remarkably tired in the fourth quarter. This is a three game at the end of three and you had thirty two points scored in the fourth quarter between the two teams. This game comes down to the final minutes and Vince Young is in the middle of his greatest game, whether it was high school, college, the pros, in Madden wherever, it was a game in which Vince Young would wind up his stats for the game two d and sixty seven yards passing, two yards rushing, and three touchdowns four sixty seven total yards, a News Rose New Rose Bowl and BCS Championship record. But this game comes down to the final few minutes, and before we get to Vince Young's heroics, the crux of this game comes down to USC with the lead with a couple of minutes left to go. They decided to go for it on fourth and two. If they get the first down, the game is over and they're gonna kill the clock and they're gonna be the national champions. Pete Carroll runs a handoff to Lendale White because as good as Reggie Bush was, he split time with Lendale White, who was People forget what a good running basin was. It was thunder and lightning with Lyndal White and Reggie Bush. They run the play on fourth and two. Lendale White gets stopped. Texas gets the football. Now before we get to Texas with a football. This play was run with Reggie Bush on the sideline, and that night or the next day on the air on ESPN radio, my My show was on late at night. I could not believe that Pete Carroll ran a play on fourth and two. That is your season and you had your Heisman Trophy winning player on the bench, on the bench, not that you had to give the ball to Reggie Bush, but how is he not on the feet and how is he not one of your eleven even he's just running back and forth and doing callis tenics. The Texas defensive line players were asked about that after the game, and they said, oh, we knew when Reggie wasn't on the field, they were going to give it to Lendale went up the middle and they stopped him. When Pete Carroll was asked about it after the game, he said, no, that's how we did it all year long. That's how we did it. Fourth and two, Lendale, that's how he did it. He cost them the game. If you have Reggie Bush out there, the Texas defense has to adjust account for him. You can make at least came on, Yeah, you don't have the Heisman Trophy winner on the field. And that was just the biggest fopotom me for a guy that built a dynasty out of nothing when he took over us. Well, it's just the curiosity, right, you know, Hubris plays a role because you're also looking at Yeah, that worked in the Pac Pac ten right obviously expansion, but it worked because you were beating up on inferior teams and Lendale White was a great back. But you're also facing a team that is obliterated every opponent and their defensive interior matched up brilliantly. And on this play, you've taken half of your playbook and you burned it. Texas takes over and they need to get in the end zone. Field goal is not gonna do them any good. This final drive, it was one of those drives where I knew, there's no way USC is gonna stop Vince Young for four plays unless they get a tipped pass and it gets picked off. That that Vince Young was gonna it down the field because you could stop him for two plays, and they did. And there were players where Vince Young was throwing the football and I'm saying, where is he throwing that ball? But I just knew on third and ten he was gonna tuck it under and run for a first down because USC's defense was exhausted. And that's what he did. All the way down the field. They kept converting second and long, they'd get it third and long, they'd get it first and ten years a first down. Vince Young was unstoppable. Nineteen seconds left to go, he runs it in for a touchdown to give Texas the lead. The game is basically over, but still they got the two point conversion for good measure. They go up. USC gets one last play, Matt Liner throws it out of bounds, and Texas to the National champions. Vince Young in in a video that I will always see in my mind's eye with all the streamers coming down pointing number one up to the Texas Longhorn fans. It was some kind of game. It was that exciting, and it was weird to know how it was gonna end, because I knew Vince Young is getting into the end zone and he's making USC's defense look horrible, and they had never looked this bad. All season, all year long. On my radio show on ESPN, I would have on Frosty Rucker, remember him Defensive and NFL. He was on the show all the time, and I'd have him on once a week. We talked to USC, because look USC with a rock stars in college football. He was a great talker. He was a fun guest. And he came on the couple of days after the National Championship game and I said, all right, we guys. He goes, yeah, yeah, I know. I'm I'm ready, I'm ready. I said, dude, what happened? Man? I said, Vince Young just ran right by you guys. What happened? And he said, and I'll never forget this, he said, you know, they they the coach has told the same thing is that this guy is fast, and you watch him on tape and you realize he's fast, and you understand that. We all understood this going in, but on the field with him, it was a completely different story. It's we couldn't believe how fast he was, and that was something they couldn't catch up to. They could never catch up to how fast he went from game tape to what he was like on the field, and that was a huge reason for Vince Young's big and not throwing the football, but on the ground, like the guy ran for two yards. It was a game that many critics say, I've never seen a better National championship game in college football than that. You go back to the eighties and we go back to the eighties again to see some games. You had Nebraska Miami that was thirty one. Thirty was a great game. This was a game that had more than that. It had star power, It had talent, It had Hollywood. It had your big controversial moment with Pete Carroll, you had a heroic moment at the end with Vince Young running for that touchdown. The game had everything, and it was a shocking quote end to the USC dynasty because that wasn't how it was supposed to end. But for Texas it made all the sense in the world. They were this good all season long. Vince Young was phenomenal all season long. He was untacklable, and to win, they had congratulations with President and George Bush. They write books. Vince Young has books written about him, and he says farewell to Texas and heads to the National Football League. Even though he said he was coming back, nobody gave him flak because, well, dude, you just won the national title. Of course, coming off this National Championship game, you go to the National Football League, you go do what you want to do. I mean, no, you didn't sign it in blood. Uh, you don't have to come back. It's it's like one more year. You want to talk about the recruiting tool as well, Look, we just said this guy off. He was the m VP and hero of this Rose Bowl and everything flows from there. But just an amazing run by this squad, and I think to some degree it goes back to not only the Hollywood aspect, but are just a reminder of how you can dominate in college sports. And we do it with college buckets. We do it with college football, where you could be dominant and you get some buzz, but unless you have a player like a Vince Young that starts to pop in a whole other away as the season rolls on. Not that he wasn't putting up numbers early, but after the Ohio State win and then you start getting these fifties sixty point production and his numbers are off the charts, that you start to get a little bit of a push. But you can go eight no in relative anonymity because of the regionality and the number of things that are on your sports calendar. As college football gets into its prime season, right once you get into November, you got the NBA going, You've got the NFL at its halfway point, you've got college basketball starting, you just finished the World Series, all of these things where you know, things can get lost for those first couple of week, kids go back to school, all all of that, whereas like all of a sudden, you look up's like, hey, we got a new a new team here they can go and compete. And so the Hollywood story was nice, but it got up ended in this one. Uh Young said he probably would have gone back to Texas if they had lost to USC and it was a really hard decision. But back then it was the Texans had the number one pick in the draft, and that's where he was from, and he thought, boy, it may never line up for me again to go play for Houston. So I'm gonna go to the draft, and there was a lot of talk he could go number one overall. Remember that was a year where okay, well, Reggie Bush is gonna go to the Texas and then the Texans said, we're taking Mario Williams. Wait what what? Yeah, Reggie Bush goes second. I was at that draft to the New Orleans Saints and that was the day before. It was a very shocking storyline that wait a minute, they're really gonna pick Mario, like we knew the day before, they're really gonna pick Mary. They're not gonna take Reggie Bush. They're not gonna take Vince Young. They're gonna take Mary Williams. They're gonna really take a defensive end number one. When you have running back quarterback sitting there, that can remake your team. Even though we knew that was going to happen, Radio City Music Hall did not like, did not accept that. No I read checked that pink. It ended for Vince Young going number three. Overall to the Tennessee Titans. He had an NFL career that started out with as the Rookie of the Year. It looked like things were great, but it wasn't exactly as he expected. He still started for a long time, had his share of highlights, and then finished after six years in the league. I remember doing a podcast with him at NFL Network a few years ago, and you know, we we talked about his playing career and this is this was when the year when he was out and then he got signed by the Eagles, and he would remember him saying was I'm just gonna keep going. I want to keep going. I want to keep going, and I want to keep going. And it was tough because you know, we're we're interviewing a guy who came in to just do the rounds, who went from here's where I am at the end of the season. I have everything at my feet and now I'm still trying to to break in and and break through six years later, when I've had things like winning Offensive Rookie of the Year, having great chemistry with Chris Johnson. That Titans team was unstoppable when it was Vince Young and Chris Johnson Chris Johnson running for two thousand yards and they're running that Texas type offense like that, that's just so fast. How do they not take more advantage? And you had his buddy Lendale White, that two of them got to got to get it too. But yeah, I mean just shows how how quickly things changed, right. You talk about the athleticism and dominance both as a runner and passer in college, and then the NFL speed catch up, and it's all about adjustments after that first and second year as a quarterback. And unfortunately for Vince Young, he didn't get that extra shot, that extra long term starting gig that maybe you could have found his feet somewhere else, and then he was out of the league. All right, Let's take a look back now at the two thousand of five Texas Longhorns. Some of those players, where are they now? By Carmen Uh, Cedric Dockery, Cedric Diggory. Oh, he died. He was killed by Voltano. He was killed by worm tail. When he was in the graveyard, Harry told him to get to the port keyp et. Cedric wouldn't listen because Cedric, for some reason, as smart as he was before Twilight, Oh, get to the port key, Cedric, Oh, what's this? Get to the port key? And then he does he should have got to the poor kake. I just thought, you know, all the all name teams as we go through, there's another one here off this Texas roster. I don't have a where is he now? But on the roster you had an Eric Foreman. Okay, so that's seventy show. I'm sure Mac Brown called him a dumbass once or twice linebacker. Sorry Eric, if you hear this one. There was a meal tweety tight end. Uh. He does beer and wine distributorship. At one point was a coach and and did jim work. But now there you go. Robert Killebrew physical therapist in Austin. A lot of these guys stayed near Austin. Yeah, cash cow man, I don't have to pay for ever. Again, I'm saying in Austin, I got this card that says I was on the national title team. Uh. Frank o'camp defensive tackle. Uh, he is now a D line coach for the Baylor Bears. As we we sent Tully Jansen defensive to we're working in real estate. Notice that like the big tho you know big guys On the defensive, Interior point out that the big guys who do real estate, like that's a big thing for you. Well, I mean you're also talking about big expansive areas. So we're talking about Texas. I mean, we're not talking about many homes here. Man. It's not like here in southern California where you want a shoe box and you're having to come up with the Tucama. Well, the room is kind of small. It's a nine bedroommate, Beth, I know, it's the best we have right now. How about Jordan's Shipley played the league a little bit all right, Wide Receiver. Uh, he does real estate, but for ranches, oh like full rent, not ranch style homes like bulls and the whole night year that he does that. He also hosted a show on the Outdoor Channel about hunting called the Bucks of Techamte Wow that sounds like something you don't want to drink, Yeah, and then had a whole Facebook channel going on with it in the whole nine yarts Bucks of Techa Monte will kill you if you drink it. Now, you made it sound evil. I'm gonna have to go look into that a little more. It will just explode your esophagus and melt your heart and lungs. I sound like Edward James almost when I say that standard deliver. Hey, a lot of always and teachers, and if you I went through a lot of names, a lot of a lot of guys ended up just coaching. You may not take an advantage of that celebrity. Man. You're gonna have your wh when we see the billboards. I mean, look in your neighborhood as you drive as it comes up on football season, and he goes, hey, I could teach your kid how to play. I played at USC around this Rose Bowl era. Right, I have still had my celebrity. And you come out and you hang out at the beach for a week or two. I don't know that you've learned anything discernible except how to take a flag off a guy. But you know that's all good. You gotta make your cash. The two thousand five Texas Longhorns college football legends and national champions Jason Smith and Mike Harmon hit us up on two inter at how about a Fresca Mike at Swollen Dome. Some teams you might want to see featured on a future podcasts of Special Teams. Don't forget check out our radio show Monday through Friday, ten pm to two am on the East Coast, seven to eleven on the West Coast, Fox Sports Radio over four under affiliates nationwide. We'll talk to you next time on the Special Teams podcast. Before you go, rate and review the show. 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Welcome to Special Teams, a production of I Heart Radio. Greetings and welcome inside the Special Teams podcast. We're your genial host Jason Smith and Mike Harmon. You'd hear our radio show Monday through Friday on Fox Sports Radio seven pm to eleven pm Pacific, ten pm to two am on the East Coast. And it is our pleasure to bring you Special Team to look back at a very special year for one team in the history of sports. Maybe because they won it all, maybe because they got so close and couldn't win at all, maybe because they were windless, or they were just controversial. Today we look back at the national champion two thousand and five Texas Longhorns, one of those teams with the stars that went into the NFL. Big performance is big stats and one of the greatest finishes to a season. That's it. Mac Brown, head coach, was looking to validate his career. He got it. Some of the guys on this Texas team would go play in the NFL. Colt McCoy was the backup on this team and he went on to have a very big, illustrious career with Texas. Jamal Charles, who went on to star in the NFL for many years, averaging like eleven yards and carry was a freshman running back on this team. Brian A. Rackpo was a freshman. Michael huff w was a first round draft pick. There was a ton of talent on this Texas team, and a lot of it was young, and they still wind up winning the national side. Well, that's funny. You go through the the roster and and you remember the name is I. No, no, I did the whole thing. I did Young. That's where you go speaking of, And I did the whole thing. You wanted me to just talk about Vince. I gave you because I wanted to talk about my guy Henry Melton. Okay, because he was a running back that then got drafted as a defensive end. Yes, well, because he went to the training table and he bulked up. And you had Jamal Charles. But the thirds and fourth and fifth and I'll be a defensive end. Well, I mean, you want playing time, you're gonna do what you're gonna do. But for Vince Young, no, no, no, we got no hang on, hang on, wait wait wait, we gotta do it the right way. And most of the guys on this team, we're young. Dence Young. Of course, that's how you do it the highlights. See that, you know, way I gave I gave it was a fast ball down the middle, I gave you well, you know I followed it back straight back. How do you foul that? I tried to keep the broadcasters engage. You stole the signs, knew what was coming and still fouled it off. Well, I got over the top of it. What do you want, I got over the top of the foul ball. You're only you're only five seven. Yeah, I can't see you getting over the top on a foul on this side of Eddie Goodell. I mean, that's what we got. But Vince Young, look, this was the making of a superstar. It would transform him into a top pick into the NFL, where he had great success for a short period of time, Rookie of the Year and some big moments there, but oftentimes it was Hey, end the ball to Jamal Charles and watch him run for ninety hurts. His evolution was really interesting because when he came in as a freshman with Texas, he was the running quarterback. He barely threw. It was like it was like watching back to the eighties when you would see the quarterbacks in Nebraska and Oklahoma only throw the ball like a dozen times of games, but they'd run for a hundred and seventy five yards on the ground because of the wishbone. That was what it was like watching Finnce Young so fast and I think he's untapped. He was untacklable in college, which I just made up a word. That's a good word, unlikeackable in college. And he read he was so fast, I thought, he's never gonna throw the football, never have to throw the football at all because he just runs by everybody. And as a freshman, what's his gonna what's he gonna be? What's his ceiling gonna be? Is he gonna get to the point where he's a dual threat quarterback or he's just gonna be a running quarterback. And it was fun for a while because, like I said, it was back to the nineteen eighties, like like what you see with Oklahoma Nebraska by run the run, the option and and get out in space. You say, untacklable is a big boy. Two thousand three. As he came out into the scene only a hundred forty three attempts, he had a hundred thirty five rushing attempts for nine yards, almost matched the yardage there as well, with eleven touchdowns as opposed to six passing touchdowns. Then follow up year eighteen forty nine twelve touchdown passes, one thousand, seventy nine rushing yards in fourteen touchdowns, and then finally, finally the breakthrough in this historic two thousand five season. They come into the season Texas ranked number two, so there was a lot of high hopes for them because they were expected to have an electric offense. This was Vince Young, this was when he becomes a superstar. And that's exactly what they got right out of the gate, because Texas was this This was no rags to riches. Hey, what a great move. No, No, they came in number two and it was can they beat USC. You know, it's almost like we thought these two teams were on a collision course all year long. Thirty four game winning streak for USC. Uh know when they finally meet as we get to but certainly you look at Texas nineteen wins in a row as well, so they were rolling things up, and a lot of times in sports you said, all right, these are the teams that are going to compete for a title and you throw out a lot of other I mean, we do at the NBA all the time. Here's your six teams that could win a title. For college football, we usually have a good idea here was can we just get to a national title game? Can we just get to cut to the chase. Let's take the stats. We like the preliminaries, but here's the heavyweight fight at the end of it all. So as Texas was getting set for a season that would live in history, what was two thousand and five like for the rest of us? In two thousand and five, that was the year that Hurricane Katrina hit, which New Orleans took years they're still recovering from. And that was a very big storyline. Joe horn In the New Orleans Saints, the block punt Steve Gleisa, and it was a very big moment that we still talk about. And you're getting on, you know, almost fifteen years later past that, right, I mean just huge for me. I was watching all football games with a kid in my arm. So my elder daughter was born in September uh six weeks later, was out of flight to go to Chicago, so I can go watch a World Series game, but college football was me literally passing out on a couch with her cradled your two thousand and five Chicago White Sox World Series champions thanks to Doug Ttings. I mean you should send him a note every day, Jeff Blum with a big home. Yeah. No, I don't have to celebrate the entire entirety all these years later. I mean they're still near and dear to my heart, the bobble heads, the autograph baseballs that I've collected. And we got a nice message from Paul Knerico for my birthday. Aco. We did. We did get him to call in on your birthday. Our producer at Fox, Justin Frostburg, called him up and say, hey, will you come on for uh Mike's birthday is a huge White Sox fan, and Canerico actually told Justin I don't do stuff like that. So he said, well what what what? Can you just wish him a happy birthday? Said sure, so he wished you a happy birthday. We recorded it and we played it back on the show. It was like eight seconds, but the number. I'm not retired. I don't do this anymore. I don't wish happy birthday. I don't have to do this anymore. And now he's an ambassador, so I think he probably does. And broadcasters, so I think he does a little more of that again. Lance Armstrong one his seventh straight Tour de France before retiring and then becoming Oh boy did he have to do? I was a year Tom Cruise jumped on Oprah Winfrey's couch, very excited about the relationship, the new one he had with Katie Holmes too. Really that far back, I don't get why people went crazy. So we guy jumped on a couch. He was was excited the Office debut on NBC. Not the Ricky your Face but the Steve Carrell one. Yeah, well, no, we'll come on Steve Carrell. Yes, I know we do have we do love Rain Wilson, but Steve Carrell made the show. I was just kidding with you. Low ratings first year, but NBC said, no, we're bringing it back, and it could go down by the time everything is all said and done. Has the greatest comedy in television history because of the way it has continues to catch new audiences on Netflix. It's an office comedy. It's never gonna go out of style. It's not gonna be something that's dated and new people are picking up the Office all the time. And because you have Netflix where people binge watch all every single season of it, these people are all stars now. John Krasinski is the stars, Steve Carrell is a star, Ed helps the Star. Alright, Creed was Creed, but like Creed was awesome, still a legend. I mean, this is gonna go that more people are gonna watch The Office than have watched basically any other comedy ever. No, and then look, everybody works in an office place at some point. You've got all those characters in your lives, a lot of great one liners, the stuff you do with your siblings, the stuff you do with your co workers. They just like it. It's pictured there. And they took chances. They took a lot of chances with storylines like I don't I don't know that some of the early episodes could well. The shot episode was word for word the the premiere of the English version, and it was well, and then it was I know, we're going to differentiate with a differential and then Steve Carell really turned Michael Scott into his own. But think about some of the catchphrases that remain so popular said, you know, people cringe at some of some of those old scenes and interactions, so uh, it's certainly stands the test of time. The biggest money maker in two thousand five YouTube debuted Welcome on Boring. Three guys who they worked at they worked at a um Uh. They all worked together at a much smaller company doing something and they decided, Hey, let's start something where people can share videos across the Internet. And then what years later it was sold for like two billion dollars. Yeah, a big deal. If I could go back to two thousand and four, I'd invent that I have a lot of a lot of things that from my time when I was working at Yahoo, things that we were supposed to be doing, and deals that were supposed to be made that didn't get made. Over time, some of the urban legends as to why, and you'd find out there was some truth to what seemed like absurd urban legends. You and I should be podcasting from a drift on an island in somewhere. We're tethered, you know, on a little skiff. Hey is lunch ready yet? I mean, that's that's that's what should have happened. But I mean, really, if if we're living that life? Are we doing podcasts? Sure? We still had a lot to say. That's true. Yeah, that's true. You know what, You're probably right about that. You you have your health, and you have your work and what drives you. And yes, I agree, but we would be doing it from an island and I would be hammered because I'd be drinking all kinds of crazy as well. And it is a podcast, so I mean, you can let the expletives fly. I never like such a see us next week when. So that's where things stood as late August early September approach for the Texas Longhorns coming up next their march to the National Championship Game, which resulted in a near Heisman trophy and a near return for Vince Young for his senior year. Keep it right here. The Incredible season the two thousand five Texas Longhorns continues on the Special Teams Podcast. Continually on the Special Teams Podcast, Our look at the two thousand five Texas Longhorns Jason Smith and Mike Harmon, the National champion Longhorns had a very big early season game look. They had Louisiana Lafayette Week one and the number two right team in the country. One pretty easily just laughed through that one, and I don't think they played eleven guys, Yeah, exactly. Game two, however, was Ohio State, the number two and number four teams in the country meeting in one of the most anticipated early season games of the year. Look, we usually don't get games like this that early the way the college football schedule is made years in advance. Okay, this could be a good game, but it might not be. But this was two verses four. No, that's the beauty of a day when you have the true road game for Texas as they go to Columbus and you're talking about the size of that crowd. I've been in that crowd a few times. Granted, my Northwestern teams weren't very good, so we didn't have that raucus uh come back at the time, but you go in and hostile is the kind way to say it as you roll through. So for Texas, a very big test off the jump and really one that set the tone. And they weren't particularly sharp, but one of those games where you know you're gonna have to grind it out, one of those final possession type efforts. This is a game in which Texas got out to attend nothing. Lead of Vince young touchdown pass was answered by a thirty six yard pass from Troy Smith to Santonio Home. Uh. You know, he was like the m v P of our team for like a six game stretch in two thousand and in ten. Let me just give me a second about Santonio Holmes. All right, now we're moving on. He had a couple of stretches like that in his career. A game that gets the fourth quarter in Ohio State has a six team lead, Texas scores the final nine points of the game, a touchdown pass from Vince Young to Lima Swede, and then Troy Smith is sacked for a safety. Texas has a three point lead. They hold on to win two. And the crazy part of this game was this was the lowest scoring game Texas had all season long, so much to this one. Right for Texas, they were the first team to go into the Horseshoe and win a night game. Right. That's one of the data points of all of this and and one of their signature wins of the recent you know, non conference schedules. It was. It was Ohio State's first loss to a non big ten team in fifteen years at home. They hadn't lost at home to a none. It's it's thirty six games in a row. They like, I want to go back and look at the rest of the schedules, see what kind of directional schools. Yeah, but still thirty six wins. Look, Kevin, you take them as they come in your life. Absolutely, you're gonna play somebody. I mean, that's that's just how it's gonna go there. Uh So, after the win over Texas, they beat right or after the win over Ohio State they beat Rice fifty one to ten, they beat Missouri fifty one to twenty, and you're thinking, oh my goodness, this is just gonna be a boat racing. Then you get to the game against Texas and you're thinking, Okay, the game against Oklahoma and then you're thinking, all right, Oklahoma Texas Red River shoot out, this is gonna be a close one. Uh No, forty five to twelve. Texas goes up twenty four six and a half time. They never look back. Oklahoma had won the previous five games against Texas, Texas getting all their revenge in one game thirty three point margin, the tied the biggest margin of victory ever in the rivalry, and we're talking what some ninety games at that time. While you're you're looking at this and again all the eyes of the nation because you're you're on that collision course. You got USC handling their business over here. And Texas had the one narrow game against Ohouse State, but putting up fifty a game, here's Oklahoma, who year after year and you know you're getting a top notch effort, and they just absolutely got bludgeoned, scored six points through three quarters, and Texas never looked back. At this point, Vince Young says, I'm coming back from my senior year, having such a good time, loving life. I'm coming back from my senior year. The week later, they played Texas Tech. He strikes the Heisman post. They win that game fifty two to seventeen. He later apologized for striking the Heisman post, not wanting to cause controversy, ruffle feathers, but at this point, when you're scoring fifty points the game and you're the quarterback of that team, pose whatever you want, do whatever you want. I have a little bit of swagger. I mean, in the NFL they take some of your money. You're you're obliterating teams. You're not just beating them, right. This is like every year when we watch college football teams. It's one thing to navigate a schedule, succeed and proceed the Calipari basketball analogy. But when you're going out in bludgeting teams and you have become the story, right, Because the USC guys had already had their run, right, they'd already been in the spotlight as big time stars. And what do we always say about college sports, You're looking for the next big thing. And Vince Young had had success, right, They've been winning games. But now was Vince Young putting up numbers as a passer and the obliteration Matt Brown getting his love, and all of that flowed through every game, Texas scoring at least two touchdowns in the first quarter, forty seven points against Oklahoma State, sixty two against Texas against Baylor, sixty six against Kansas. I mean, it's just a blowout after blowout. And while it's a fatal complete that Texas is gonna wind up in the big twelfth championship game, the big debate became the Heisman Trophy race because as much as you know, hey, we had seen USC do their thing. This is still U S C. S heyday, This is still Matt Liner Reggie Bush, and it was Matt Lionert won the Heisman the year before. Now this is Reggie Bush's turn. And it was really a race between the two of them. From the middle of the season on. There were no other names. We heard. It was Reggie, Vince, Reggie, Vince. What's Reggie doing, What's Vince Young doing during the day, What's Reggie Bush doing? Later at night? Vince Reggie Vince Reggie And as good as Vince Young was, Reggie Bush had the Fresno State game, had the big return where we stopped on a dime all the way back to the middle of the field, the highlight we saw a lot. That was where Reggie Bush really started to pull away from Vince Young. But that was a fun year. It was always, hey, here's Texas during the day and here's USC at night. That was a fun time. Well what USC, I mean the sex appeal of that team was able to push through the narrative that's lived for so many years of nobody watches back twelve football Pack ten. At the time, there were no close games for Texas as. They got to the Big twelve championship game, which was against Colorado, and that continued and boarded that continue. Texas peace Colorado in the Big twelve championship game. Seventy to three, not seventeen. Seventy to three. Colorado didn't give up a point in the fourth quarter. That well, that was good. That yelled to hang their head on that. And they did kick a field goal in the second quarter. But Texas got two touchdowns early. You're a man, Henry Melton, Jamal Charles score four touchdowns in the second quarter, four touchdowns in the third quarter, and it's are you kidding me? Seventy to three? This is this in a Big twelve championship games, seventy two three. This is not opening week against it. This is the Big twelve Championship. Yeah, they left Gary Barnett on the tarmac. That was the end of that. Outscored one twelve to twenty in the two games against Texas. Barnett fired the week after that. How do you how about that? You make it to the conference championship game, but you lose by sixties seven and get fired. But we made it there. We still lost and lost by US sixty seven. You know, and I remember at the time that was a very big deal because is when it came down to splitting hands between USC and Texas. Texas, it was, well, really, how good is the Big twelve If you're winning your conference title game seventy three? They're blowing every day that the win against Ohio State, But how good was the rest of your conference? When that's how the that's how the conference championship goes? Well, well, let's face it, that's been one of the critiques all these years, especially when you start talking about the pinball like numbers offensively and then you go play a team that can actually play some defense, right, So that that lived on far beyond that. But for Colorado, you know, they get to the the big game and they've lost the number of games during that season like they were they were a paper champion. Uh to get to that other side of the brackets. So uh, they get beaten up. Gary Barnett gets fired and Texas is still rolling. Texas earns their place in the Rose Bowl against USC. Before we get there, it's the hardware going to Reggie Bush, who beats Vince Young for the Heisman Trophy. Young is in second place by a arge margin so everybody who voted thought, well, Reggie's the best, but then it's Vince Young, and that's kind of how the votes played out. I mean, Vince Young had the rough go against SEXUS A and M where they held off forty to twenty nine win. He wasn't particularly magical and that one only a hundred sixty two yards of offense there, so the lowest of his years. So you've also got Reggie Bush still doing magical things. And again with the Hollywood push because the sex appeal of all those stars and the numbers that they were putting up pinball numbers on the West Coast kind of on their own feature game. As you say, during the day, you can get lost in a lot of football, but back twelve at night, you're the only game in town. You had a lot of star power getting set for the National championship game in the Rose Bowl. You had two Heisman Trophy winners in the same backfield and Leonar and Reggie Bush. You had Vince Young, and coming up was an absolute game for the age is the two thousand five Texas Long Horns continues on here as we spotlight the Rose Bowl on the Special Team's podcast. So here we are Texas Long Lawns USC Trojans the National Championship Rose Bowl Game for the Ages, and before we get into the details of the game, I still remember the opening tees for the game, which featured Will Ferrell USC alum and Matthew McConaughey Texas alum. And Will Ferrell comes on, He's, you know, the bombastic, crazy, out of control Will Farrell very excited, and he would say something, and Matthew McConaughey, very very button down, would say, but Will, did you know this about Texas? And he would say blah blah blah, and then would cut back to a shot at Will Ferrell with Heisman trophies, going, I can't hear you, Matthew at the Heisman trophies in my ears, and then Matthew McConaughey saying something very direct and brief about how good Texas was. This was the difference between the schools. Hey as big a star as Matthew McConaughey was, and biggest star as Vince Young is. USC and Will Ferrell were Hollywood. They were the rock stars of college football, and it was many people thinking, well, this is gonna be USC's Coronation is gonna be a tough game, but they should win because their USC. This game was back and forth the entire way, and I was very surprised that Vince Young was having the success he was against USC's defense. USC's defensive backfield wasn't the greatest, but I was still surprised he was having this much success. Both teams and both defenses got remarkably tired in the fourth quarter. This is a three game at the end of three and you had thirty two points scored in the fourth quarter between the two teams. This game comes down to the final minutes and Vince Young is in the middle of his greatest game, whether it was high school, college, the pros, in Madden wherever, it was a game in which Vince Young would wind up his stats for the game two d and sixty seven yards passing, two yards rushing, and three touchdowns four sixty seven total yards, a News Rose New Rose Bowl and BCS Championship record. But this game comes down to the final few minutes, and before we get to Vince Young's heroics, the crux of this game comes down to USC with the lead with a couple of minutes left to go. They decided to go for it on fourth and two. If they get the first down, the game is over and they're gonna kill the clock and they're gonna be the national champions. Pete Carroll runs a handoff to Lendale White because as good as Reggie Bush was, he split time with Lendale White, who was People forget what a good running basin was. It was thunder and lightning with Lyndal White and Reggie Bush. They run the play on fourth and two. Lendale White gets stopped. Texas gets the football. Now before we get to Texas with a football. This play was run with Reggie Bush on the sideline, and that night or the next day on the air on ESPN radio, my My show was on late at night. I could not believe that Pete Carroll ran a play on fourth and two. That is your season and you had your Heisman Trophy winning player on the bench, on the bench, not that you had to give the ball to Reggie Bush, but how is he not on the feet and how is he not one of your eleven even he's just running back and forth and doing callis tenics. The Texas defensive line players were asked about that after the game, and they said, oh, we knew when Reggie wasn't on the field, they were going to give it to Lendale went up the middle and they stopped him. When Pete Carroll was asked about it after the game, he said, no, that's how we did it all year long. That's how we did it. Fourth and two, Lendale, that's how he did it. He cost them the game. If you have Reggie Bush out there, the Texas defense has to adjust account for him. You can make at least came on, Yeah, you don't have the Heisman Trophy winner on the field. And that was just the biggest fopotom me for a guy that built a dynasty out of nothing when he took over us. Well, it's just the curiosity, right, you know, Hubris plays a role because you're also looking at Yeah, that worked in the Pac Pac ten right obviously expansion, but it worked because you were beating up on inferior teams and Lendale White was a great back. But you're also facing a team that is obliterated every opponent and their defensive interior matched up brilliantly. And on this play, you've taken half of your playbook and you burned it. Texas takes over and they need to get in the end zone. Field goal is not gonna do them any good. This final drive, it was one of those drives where I knew, there's no way USC is gonna stop Vince Young for four plays unless they get a tipped pass and it gets picked off. That that Vince Young was gonna it down the field because you could stop him for two plays, and they did. And there were players where Vince Young was throwing the football and I'm saying, where is he throwing that ball? But I just knew on third and ten he was gonna tuck it under and run for a first down because USC's defense was exhausted. And that's what he did. All the way down the field. They kept converting second and long, they'd get it third and long, they'd get it first and ten years a first down. Vince Young was unstoppable. Nineteen seconds left to go, he runs it in for a touchdown to give Texas the lead. The game is basically over, but still they got the two point conversion for good measure. They go up. USC gets one last play, Matt Liner throws it out of bounds, and Texas to the National champions. Vince Young in in a video that I will always see in my mind's eye with all the streamers coming down pointing number one up to the Texas Longhorn fans. It was some kind of game. It was that exciting, and it was weird to know how it was gonna end, because I knew Vince Young is getting into the end zone and he's making USC's defense look horrible, and they had never looked this bad. All season, all year long. On my radio show on ESPN, I would have on Frosty Rucker, remember him Defensive and NFL. He was on the show all the time, and I'd have him on once a week. We talked to USC, because look USC with a rock stars in college football. He was a great talker. He was a fun guest. And he came on the couple of days after the National Championship game and I said, all right, we guys. He goes, yeah, yeah, I know. I'm I'm ready, I'm ready. I said, dude, what happened? Man? I said, Vince Young just ran right by you guys. What happened? And he said, and I'll never forget this, he said, you know, they they the coach has told the same thing is that this guy is fast, and you watch him on tape and you realize he's fast, and you understand that. We all understood this going in, but on the field with him, it was a completely different story. It's we couldn't believe how fast he was, and that was something they couldn't catch up to. They could never catch up to how fast he went from game tape to what he was like on the field, and that was a huge reason for Vince Young's big and not throwing the football, but on the ground, like the guy ran for two yards. It was a game that many critics say, I've never seen a better National championship game in college football than that. You go back to the eighties and we go back to the eighties again to see some games. You had Nebraska Miami that was thirty one. Thirty was a great game. This was a game that had more than that. It had star power, It had talent, It had Hollywood. It had your big controversial moment with Pete Carroll, you had a heroic moment at the end with Vince Young running for that touchdown. The game had everything, and it was a shocking quote end to the USC dynasty because that wasn't how it was supposed to end. But for Texas it made all the sense in the world. They were this good all season long. Vince Young was phenomenal all season long. He was untacklable, and to win, they had congratulations with President and George Bush. They write books. Vince Young has books written about him, and he says farewell to Texas and heads to the National Football League. Even though he said he was coming back, nobody gave him flak because, well, dude, you just won the national title. Of course, coming off this National Championship game, you go to the National Football League, you go do what you want to do. I mean, no, you didn't sign it in blood. Uh, you don't have to come back. It's it's like one more year. You want to talk about the recruiting tool as well, Look, we just said this guy off. He was the m VP and hero of this Rose Bowl and everything flows from there. But just an amazing run by this squad, and I think to some degree it goes back to not only the Hollywood aspect, but are just a reminder of how you can dominate in college sports. And we do it with college buckets. We do it with college football, where you could be dominant and you get some buzz, but unless you have a player like a Vince Young that starts to pop in a whole other away as the season rolls on. Not that he wasn't putting up numbers early, but after the Ohio State win and then you start getting these fifties sixty point production and his numbers are off the charts, that you start to get a little bit of a push. But you can go eight no in relative anonymity because of the regionality and the number of things that are on your sports calendar. As college football gets into its prime season, right once you get into November, you got the NBA going, You've got the NFL at its halfway point, you've got college basketball starting, you just finished the World Series, all of these things where you know, things can get lost for those first couple of week, kids go back to school, all all of that, whereas like all of a sudden, you look up's like, hey, we got a new a new team here they can go and compete. And so the Hollywood story was nice, but it got up ended in this one. Uh Young said he probably would have gone back to Texas if they had lost to USC and it was a really hard decision. But back then it was the Texans had the number one pick in the draft, and that's where he was from, and he thought, boy, it may never line up for me again to go play for Houston. So I'm gonna go to the draft, and there was a lot of talk he could go number one overall. Remember that was a year where okay, well, Reggie Bush is gonna go to the Texas and then the Texans said, we're taking Mario Williams. Wait what what? Yeah, Reggie Bush goes second. I was at that draft to the New Orleans Saints and that was the day before. It was a very shocking storyline that wait a minute, they're really gonna pick Mario, like we knew the day before, they're really gonna pick Mary. They're not gonna take Reggie Bush. They're not gonna take Vince Young. They're gonna take Mary Williams. They're gonna really take a defensive end number one. When you have running back quarterback sitting there, that can remake your team. Even though we knew that was going to happen, Radio City Music Hall did not like, did not accept that. No I read checked that pink. It ended for Vince Young going number three. Overall to the Tennessee Titans. He had an NFL career that started out with as the Rookie of the Year. It looked like things were great, but it wasn't exactly as he expected. He still started for a long time, had his share of highlights, and then finished after six years in the league. I remember doing a podcast with him at NFL Network a few years ago, and you know, we we talked about his playing career and this is this was when the year when he was out and then he got signed by the Eagles, and he would remember him saying was I'm just gonna keep going. I want to keep going. I want to keep going, and I want to keep going. And it was tough because you know, we're we're interviewing a guy who came in to just do the rounds, who went from here's where I am at the end of the season. I have everything at my feet and now I'm still trying to to break in and and break through six years later, when I've had things like winning Offensive Rookie of the Year, having great chemistry with Chris Johnson. That Titans team was unstoppable when it was Vince Young and Chris Johnson Chris Johnson running for two thousand yards and they're running that Texas type offense like that, that's just so fast. How do they not take more advantage? And you had his buddy Lendale White, that two of them got to got to get it too. But yeah, I mean just shows how how quickly things changed, right. You talk about the athleticism and dominance both as a runner and passer in college, and then the NFL speed catch up, and it's all about adjustments after that first and second year as a quarterback. And unfortunately for Vince Young, he didn't get that extra shot, that extra long term starting gig that maybe you could have found his feet somewhere else, and then he was out of the league. All right, Let's take a look back now at the two thousand of five Texas Longhorns. Some of those players, where are they now? By Carmen Uh, Cedric Dockery, Cedric Diggory. Oh, he died. He was killed by Voltano. He was killed by worm tail. When he was in the graveyard, Harry told him to get to the port keyp et. Cedric wouldn't listen because Cedric, for some reason, as smart as he was before Twilight, Oh, get to the port key, Cedric, Oh, what's this? Get to the port key? And then he does he should have got to the poor kake. I just thought, you know, all the all name teams as we go through, there's another one here off this Texas roster. I don't have a where is he now? But on the roster you had an Eric Foreman. Okay, so that's seventy show. I'm sure Mac Brown called him a dumbass once or twice linebacker. Sorry Eric, if you hear this one. There was a meal tweety tight end. Uh. He does beer and wine distributorship. At one point was a coach and and did jim work. But now there you go. Robert Killebrew physical therapist in Austin. A lot of these guys stayed near Austin. Yeah, cash cow man, I don't have to pay for ever. Again, I'm saying in Austin, I got this card that says I was on the national title team. Uh. Frank o'camp defensive tackle. Uh, he is now a D line coach for the Baylor Bears. As we we sent Tully Jansen defensive to we're working in real estate. Notice that like the big tho you know big guys On the defensive, Interior point out that the big guys who do real estate, like that's a big thing for you. Well, I mean you're also talking about big expansive areas. So we're talking about Texas. I mean, we're not talking about many homes here. Man. It's not like here in southern California where you want a shoe box and you're having to come up with the Tucama. Well, the room is kind of small. It's a nine bedroommate, Beth, I know, it's the best we have right now. How about Jordan's Shipley played the league a little bit all right, Wide Receiver. Uh, he does real estate, but for ranches, oh like full rent, not ranch style homes like bulls and the whole night year that he does that. He also hosted a show on the Outdoor Channel about hunting called the Bucks of Techamte Wow that sounds like something you don't want to drink, Yeah, and then had a whole Facebook channel going on with it in the whole nine yarts Bucks of Techa Monte will kill you if you drink it. Now, you made it sound evil. I'm gonna have to go look into that a little more. It will just explode your esophagus and melt your heart and lungs. I sound like Edward James almost when I say that standard deliver. Hey, a lot of always and teachers, and if you I went through a lot of names, a lot of a lot of guys ended up just coaching. You may not take an advantage of that celebrity. Man. You're gonna have your wh when we see the billboards. I mean, look in your neighborhood as you drive as it comes up on football season, and he goes, hey, I could teach your kid how to play. I played at USC around this Rose Bowl era. Right, I have still had my celebrity. And you come out and you hang out at the beach for a week or two. I don't know that you've learned anything discernible except how to take a flag off a guy. But you know that's all good. You gotta make your cash. The two thousand five Texas Longhorns college football legends and national champions Jason Smith and Mike Harmon hit us up on two inter at how about a Fresca Mike at Swollen Dome. Some teams you might want to see featured on a future podcasts of Special Teams. Don't forget check out our radio show Monday through Friday, ten pm to two am on the East Coast, seven to eleven on the West Coast, Fox Sports Radio over four under affiliates nationwide. We'll talk to you next time on the Special Teams podcast. Before you go, rate and review the show. 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