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Young Pushes Old Aside
Vince Young gets to the corner of the end zone for the game-winning touchdown. The Texas quarterback finishes with 200 rushing yards and accounts for 467 of the Longhorns' 556 total yards. (Harry How - Getty Images)
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"It did not really matter where they were going to start," Carroll said of the Longhorns' prolific offense, which averaged 50.9 points per game this season. "That was our moment to seal the win."
On Texas's final drive, Carroll said he tried to clog up all the rushing holes so Young could not run at will, but the Trojans could only do so much. Carroll estimated that Young made the Trojans miss a dozen tackles.
Texas had the best defense, ranked sixth overall nationally, that USC had seen all year. The Longhorns held a 16-10 halftime lead, but the Trojans were no strangers to halftime deficits. In fact, they trailed at Arizona State 21-3 at halftime before roaring back to dominate the second half.
On USC's first possession of the second half Wednesday, Leinart engineered a seven-play, 62-yard drive that ended with White's second touchdown of the game, a three-yard burst. It took a mere two minutes for Young to strike back with an 80-yard drive and a 14-yard touchdown run.
Instant replay played a critical role early in the game. In the second quarter, Leinart floated a pass to Steve Smith toward the side of the end zone, but free safety Michael Griffin stepped in front and intercepted as his momentum took him out of bounds. The pass was initially ruled incomplete, but the Texas faithful erupted in protest after video replays in the Rose Bowl showed that Griffin got his right foot down before he went out of bounds.
The play was overturned.
Later in the quarter, the Longhorns benefited from a lack of a replay reversal. On first down from the Trojans' 22, Young danced 11 yards through the defense before being wrapped up by safety Darnell Bing. While falling to the ground, Young flipped the ball back to running back Selvin Young, who took it the remaining 11 yards into the end zone for a go-ahead score.
The crowd offered no protest afterward, even though television replays showed Young's knee down before he flipped the ball to his teammate.
"There was a tremendous amount of pressure on them," Brown said. "Those streaks are a difficult thing. And now we're at 20 and leading the pack."
