Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Quarterback gives Texas a new folk hero

By GARY SHELTON
Published January 5, 2006

PASADENA, Calif. - Someone call the Heisman Trophy Committee. It needs to check its math.

Someone call the Houston Texans. They need to alert their scouts.

Someone call the Historical Society. It need not concern itself any further with the Southern California Trojans.

Vince Young changed everything Wednesday. He darted around the invincibles and he flummoxed the incredibles. He performed the unimaginable, and he outran the unstoppables. He led a comeback, he reinvented a program and he toppled a dynasty.

Young is lore now. He is legend. There is no other state quite like Texas when it comes to honoring its own, and from now on, Young ranks somewhere between William Travis and Willie Nelson.

Someday, they will teach his name in schools. Someday, he may run for governor.

For now, he is a champion, and in a trophy-starved state, that's even better.

Young was terrific in Wednesday night's Rose Bowl, dashing and dodging and dazzling as his Texas Longhorns upset USC 41-38. College football has never seen a performance quite like it. Young hit 30 of 40 passes for 267 yards. He ran 20 times for 200 yards. Most importantly, he instilled a sense of belief in his team that it can win a game in which it seemed to be given little chance.

This was supposed to be USC's charge into the end zone. Instead, it was Young's. He was the best player on the field, better than Leinart the Heisman winner, better than Bush the Heisman winner, better than anyone in recent memory.

For years, Longhorn fans will talk of this night. They will talk of Young's careening sprints downfield. They will talk of the lateral he made at the Trojans 12, after a 10-yard run. They will talk of dazzling throws across his body.

Most of all, they will talk of fourth and 5, when a championship team was down to its final breath, when a program's last title seemed even longer than 35 years ago. They will talk of how Young dropped back, of how he saw traffic jams everywhere, of how he saw an open lane of grass to his right. They will talk of how fast he looked, of how slow the defenders seemed, of how wonderful the moment felt.

No one embraces their football celebrities quite like the state of Texas, and so understand how long they will talk about Young's play on fourth and 5. He dropped back, the game on his shoulders, and downfield, the receivers were in a traffic jam. So one more time, Young took off, moving past defenders who seemed to be in slow motion.

After all, this is the state of Darrell Royal and Tommy Nobis, of Earl Campbell and Freddie Steinmark. Few places embrace their football legends as long as Texas, a state that took its football seriously when everyone else was learning how to huddle.

It had been a long time, since 1970, when Texas had hoisted a national trophy. Since then, the perception had been that the Longhorns were an underachieving team playing for an underachieving coach in Mack Brown. In college football, it had been a long time since anyone's eyes were upon Texas. Young changed that, too.

"Without question, that was a phenomenal night by one guy," USC coach Pete Carroll said of Young. "That's an extraordinary player."

Carroll ought to know. By the end, he was quaking so much over the thought of Young that he lost his senses.

For much of the night, it was apparent the only real way USC had of stopping Young was to keep the ball out of his hands. With just over two minutes to play, with the ball at the Texas 45, Carroll attempted to go for a fourth-and-2 rather than punt the ball to Texas.

"How far are you going to kick it?" Carroll said.

Let's see: 44 yards? Maybe 40? Maybe you make it as hard on Young as possible?

Just a thought.

As it was, Young hardly hit a speed bump on the winning drive. He threw for 9. He ran for 7. He threw for 17. He ran for 5. Then he ran for 8 and immortality.

Say what you will about seasons and dynasties. The moment, the night, belonged to Young. The history lesson, too.

Remember, it was Young who was crestfallen that he finished second in the Heisman to Bush. Perhaps the committee would like to go over the ballots one more time. Perhaps there are a few hanging chads out there.

Also, it is Bush who is expected to be the top pick in the NFL draft, and Leinart to follow him, even if Young declares for the draft (he has said he will return). The Texans, with the No. 1 pick, might want to reconsider. Otherwise, there could be a statewide revolt.

Such is the prestige Young will bring with him back to Texas. It was not merely his arm, not merely his legs. It was the way he calmed his team, the way he led them, the way he claimed the night for his own.

For the night, college football belong to him.

For many nights to come, Young belongs to Texas.

[Last modified January 5, 2006, 01:35:04]