What a great Rose Bowl! What a great way to determine a national champion.
A few observations:
1) Vince Young was awesome. He ran over, around and through the USC defense.
2) Pete Carroll made a huge mistake going for it on that 4th and 2. Sure, they probably would make that yard 9 times out of 10. But the risk was too great and the reward too small. Not only did it give Texas a short field, it gave them life. A punt, even if it resulted in a touchback would have taken away Texas' best option, Vince Young scrambling because there wouldn't have been enough time.
3) That Reggie Bush lateral was idiotic. If he had just held onto the ball USC could have gone in to make it 14-0, and it's a whole different ball game.
4) Then Vince Young doing it a few series later was even dumber, but it didn't backfire for him.
5) Keith Jackson needs to retire. He said the extra point was good even though the official they were showing was waving his hands to signal no good. He said USC called time out when clearly the 3rd quarter clock read 0:00. He butchered the name of the great John Stamos, proving he never saw one episode of Full House. He saw Pete Carroll talking to backup quarterback John David Booty and surmised that he was telling Booty to warm up. Were Leinart's arms still attached? Yes? Then Booty isn't getting any action, as much as Derek and Kate love his last name. I'm sure he made more mistakes, post them in the comments section.
6) I've got to be at work in 5 hours. I'll write more when I get there.
Reggie Bush may have blown his number draft spot because he exposed his weakness that cannot be determined at the NFL Combine unless they start giving multiple choice tests in addition to the 40yd drill in order to weed out complete f'ing morons. Having said that Pete Carroll blew it in more ways than one when he went for it. How they hell can you not have reggie bush in the game on critical 3rd and 4th down playswhere you are planning on running the ball. i don't give a rat's ass if he is not the power back, you can't win the game with your heisman winner on the sideline. Reggie Bush would have got that 4th down. I would have bet all my savings on him getting the 1 and 1/2 yds in that situation. True, he may have tried to complete a lateral after achieving the yds, but that first lateral was really Carroll's fault for not telling Reggie not to throw the ball up in the air after making a 40 yd first down play while being tackled by 3 guys and surrounded by 2 more. How can Bush be expected to anticipate that Carroll want him to hold on to the ball so the team could have 1st and 10 from the Texas 18 yd line. Who is he Kreskin?
ReplyDeleteI never like to agree with the Concierge, but the mistake was not in going for it on 4th down, the mistake was going for it with Reggie bush standing on the sideline. The defense has a harder time defending that same play if bush is on the field.
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