A game for the ages

They say, Hype Kills. And rarely does anything that is hyped up lives up to its expectations. But last night's Rose Bowl game between Texas and USC turned out to be a glorious exception. For well over a month, the game was hyped up to unimaginable proportions, with many sports analysts & writers billing the game as the Best match-up in the history of college football. Given all the hype surrounding the game, I was thinking of only 1 result - a complete blow-out by either one of the teams. The fact that the other 3 BCS bowl games were very exciting & well-worth the wait, I had a strong feeling that this Rose Bowl game would turn out be one big anti-climax.

But I was proved completely wrong as the game not only lived up to the hype but in fact turned out even better than what it was hyped up to, something that does not happen all that often. It was, as many have already felt & written, THE best college football game ever played. Two teams which had everything to prove fighting against each other to the very last play of the game made for a great spectacle. This was college football at its very best. The fact that USC was able to score 38 points against a very good Texas defense spoke volumes about their offense. But they say, defense wins championships and the crucial stop that the Texas defense made on 4th down and 2 in the dying minutes of the 4th quarter made all the difference at the end.

Vince Young proved to the whole word what kind of a clutch player he is and also how he probably deserved to win the Heisman trophy more than Bush. In the NFL, they call Michael Vick the most exciting player in the league. But after watching Young play yesterday, I am pretty sure that that title will soon belong to Young, as and when he decides to enter the draft.

The only thing I was surprised about the whole 2nd half of the game was how could the USC give up big plays time and again to Vince Young. During the final 2 drives of the game, it was so clear to everyone watching that the only offensive weapon that Texas had was Young & I was surprised the USC defense could not hold him up. During both the 2 touchdowns that he scored in those 2 drives, he was literally untouched with his head held high, like a stroll in the park. I could see a swamp of Trojans in his running lane but no one was able to stop him. For all his heroics (200 rushing yards & 3 TDs), Vince Young & Texas deserved to win the game. As Matt Leinart said, USC might still be the better team, talent-wise but Texas came up with big plays when it mattered most & that's what counted ultimately.

As the curtains come down on the college football season with an exciting bowl game, the NFL play-offs take the centre stage with the wild card match-ups starting this weekend. This might well be Seattle's best chance of making it to the Super bowl and for me being from Seattle, there's everything to cheer for in the coming weeks. Go Seahawks!!!