Centerfield

Congratulations Jon!

My heart was with the Pac-10 team from the West Coast and Coach Pete Carroll, but I don't know how anybody could be upset after the classic that lived up to the hype in Pasadena tonight.... Never have I not been able to hardly breathe during a College Football game.

Since I have been married, my wife and I visit Texas every thanksgiving to see family and have started a love affair with the City of Austin. It is a great town, great University, and there is nobody in college football who deserves this more, IMO, than Mack Brown. May the burnt orange shine bright on the tower this evening. May Vince Young follow in the footsteps of Matt Leinart and give them one more year.

Thanks, Mathew. Yeah, it was a truly great game. USC certainly has a great team, and Pete Carroll is as great a coach as there has ever been. Halfway through the 4th quarter, I thought USC was going to win - I thought that the UT D would be unable to stop USC twice, and that they would thus end up ahead. As it happened, our luck happened at the right time (the end) and we only needed the one stop. Note that we were only able to make the final stop with the aid of the clock.

Hook 'em Horns! Good game. Great finish.

Helluva game. Lots of talent on that field. Anyone know if that house playing TE for USC is expected to get draft interest?

Vinsanity: anyone else think Young should come out now? He's running a pretty big risk of leaving lots of de niro on the table if he stays in school. If he comes out, we can have the Vince or Reggie debate, although the way things stack up. many of the top-drafting teams are not expected to go for QBs. (And BTW, yes, I HAVE heard that Young has said he's coming back, but we'll see. He still has time for the amped-up spotlight to go to his head.)

The team most likely to benefit from Young coming out would be the Saints if they have the 3rd pick. I expect that they pick 3rd because they beat the Jets and have the same 3-13 record. Not sure what the draft position tiebreakers are, though. I expect the Texans to take Bush with the first pick, and with the Jets and New Orleans next, that means that whoever picks 3rd should have either Young or Leinart available.

I'd expect the Jets to take Leinart, he's a far more polished QB at this point. Young has really good timing and game sense (like on that nice pass he made to the hot route when USC started blitzing at the end of the game), but I saw him make at least one stupid throw that was mechanically unsound.

If you enjoyed last night's game, you'll enjoy the sports guy's comedic running diary of the game:

Welcome Back, Coach Fredo

That was a great game, but it's tough being on the east coast where they go so late. I was actually falling asleep between plays. My subconscious managed to rouse me at the snaps.

To add onto Brian's questions, I am of the opinion that Vince Young will have a mediocre-Randall Cunningham like NFL career. He will not cut through NFL defensive lines like he did in college, and his passing game, while good, isn't that impressive.

I am also not that hot on Reggie Bush as an NFL running back. He will make his plays, and have a good career, but I don't know if he will be great.

On the other hand, I think that in twent-five years we will be mentioning the name Matt Leinart in the same context as Elway, Montana, Brady, Marino, etc. IMO, he has the poise, leadership capability, and talent, to be one of the greats. It helps to have the offensive tools he had, no doubt, but you don't score five out of the six times you touch the football, in the second of a national championship game, without incredible leadership and poise at the Quarterback position.

Oh, I love Reggie Bush. His speed and cutting ability are stunning. Barring injuries, I think he'll be an electric pro player.

I agree with you that Vince Young has question marks, given that his mechanics are iffy and his coachability has been questioned. Last night someone told a story about the coach saying that as soon as they stopped trying to shape Young and just supported him, things took off. That's potentially a red flag. Athleticism peaks as a pure virtue in college where the range of talent is much greater than in the pros. In the pros, singular offensive talents can be shut down by very good defenses if the offense is one-dimensional.

Leinart? IMO, the two most important things for a QB are throwing accuracy and the ability to make good decisions quickly. Everything else is way below that. Leinart seems to put the ball on the money, he hits lots of guys in stride through solid coverage, which shows both skill and poise. And his decision-making looks pretty good for a guy that's still young. He doesn't have a cannon. A cannon is nice, but far from essential. The worry with the USC offensive players is that they look so good because the team is so loaded with talent. USC's offensive line looks like a bunch of 8-ft inflatable snowmen in shoulder pads. But if you ask me, Leinart shows really good potential to be the sort of guy who can play well in the pros fairly quickly, like his predecessor Carson Palmer.

QB is SUCH a crapshoot, it's so hard to learn and the conditions are usually so suboptimal. One interesting aspect of this offseason is which teams will decide to give up on young QBs. In my experience, once you get past the talent level of guys who play well pretty quickly (Manning, Brady, Palmer, and Roethlisberger even though I don't think he's yet proven he's Manning-Brady level, and I'll also toss in Leftwich, who I really like. He's not Manning-Brady level either, but I think he played well right from the start because of his aptitude for the position ) there are a bunch of guys who turn out to be solid serviceable pro qbs who take longer to develop, and often don't put it together until their 2nd or 3rd team, after a back-up stint, when they finally learn what it means to play within their talent at a pro level.

"A cannon is nice, but far from essential."

I think there was a guy named Montana or something who didn't exactly have a cannon.

Okay, Brian. Finally had a chance to read the whole article and I'm still laughing. Personally, I thought Jackson and Fouts did a lousy job calling the game. When you are yelling at a defense to "tackle, tackle, tackle" it becomes a little obvious just whose side you are on here. Besides, why are two PAC 10 guys calling this game?

One note to Pete Simmons...please don't compare Pete Carrol to The Bear. Yes, he's had a great couple of years, but he is no Bear Bryant.

There's an important element missing in all too much talk about great players: the rest of the team.

You know, Vince Young had exactly the right quote on this, but don't expect to see it recycled beyond Austin: The Heisman is a team award. He's right, of course. A great QB is merely a mediocre QB without a great rest of the team and great coaching. Most of those examples you cite of great college QBs that stuttered in the NFL are examples of players with mediocre coaching support. Most of the ones that stayed great were lucky enough to find the right situation again. Remember our discussion of John Elway before and after Shanahan?

And just a few years ago, Austin saw Heisman-winner Ricky Williams go to the Saints and go...nowhere. Here they play smart football. In New Orleans, they didn't. And that, BTW, is another factor. On a dumb football team, nobody's great.

Having watched Young for a few years, I say he's in the top rank of leadership, thoughfulness, poise, AND athletic ability. You don't have to take my word for it, either. 4th down and five in the red zone, with the championship on the line, you know what he did. Of course, it was only possible because he had a great team and great coaches behind him.

And that's why I expect to see V. Young stay - because here he has the backup. In the NFL he'll have to get lucky all over again. Oh, yeah, he'd make money, but UT is where the going is good. And the Saints in particular are a red flag here because of Ricky Williams' bad experiences there.

Great comment Jon... Buddy Ryan didn't exactly provide Randall Cunningham with the coaching he needed.

On Fouts and Jackson, I am in the "they sucked" camp, gut not as bad as the instant replay. Technically, one could argue, I wouldn't, that USC won the game because Young's frigging knee was down before he pitched the ball that lead to their first touchdown. I think IR leads to bad officiation because the refs rely on it too much, thinking that if they make a bad call you can always go to the tape. However, the reality is that many plays that don't get replayed, that should, and vice versa. For instance replaying Young's fumble caused by the ground during the last series was a complete waste of time.

Abel, in case you missed it, Bill Simmons thinks Pete Carroll is an idiot.

Jon, you're a Longhorn partisan, so you have to pat Vince on the back. And sure, give him all accolades due him, he's a phenomenal talent. Just let me say this...on that last TX TD play, as soon as the right USC contain guy bit on the crossing route, I said "touchdown."

USC's defense just isn't that good...their tacking stunk, their players didn't stick to their assignments, and failing to give in to Young's singular talent by putting a spy on him was downright stubborn idiocy. It's all about containment, and good defenses can contain running qbs who don't throw downfield.

For all Young's talent, he won't succeed in the pros unless he can deliver the ball downfield accurately...not necessarily the really long balls (which are crapshoots) but the intermediate 15-25 yard passes. If he can't do more than run and hit guys on short slants, the pros will gobble him up sooner or later.

Unquestionably, Youing staying in school for another year would be a plus for the development of his game and maturity, but it's a huge risk to his pocketbook, not just because of injury, but because his whole senior season will place him under the microscope with special emphasis upon how his game translates to the pros. Personally, I hope he stays.

Oh, and BTW the Saints have the 2nd pick and the Titanms the 3rd. The Jets are 4-12, so they are further down.

The Houston papers are currently fighting out "Reggie or Vince," so hopefully Vince makes it easy by staying in school. If I were a Texans fan, I'd root for getting Reggie Bush. Bush and a decent coach makes them a .500 team right away.

That would be monumentally stupid to push out David Carr for Vince Young, IMO. Why two great position players at QB when you can have one at RB. Are they going to trade Carr?