With all due respect to Bobby Layne, James Street, Major Applewhite and Colt McCoy, Vince Young is the greatest quarterback to ever wear a burnt orange jersey.

Actually, that last statement does not go far enough. With all due respect to Sammy Baugh, Davey O'Brien, Doak Walker, Kyle Rote, Earl Campbell, Ricky Williams, Eric Dickerson, LaDanian Tomlinson, Mike Singletary, Tommy Nobis and Bob Lilly, Vince Young is the greatest college football player in Texas sports history.

Vince Young dives across the goal line in the 2005 BCS title game

Period.

If you doubt that, you obviously missed the events of January 4, 2006 in Pasadena, California. Just ask USC head coach Pete Carroll, or Trojan RB Reggie Bush or QB Matt Leinart. They all said pretty much the same thing, once the initial shock wore off.

Those three, and the rest of the Trojans, entered this game believing that when the final gun sounded, they would be taking their rightful place amongst college football's all-time elite teams. Instead, when they left the field they were little more than the supporting cast in the ultimate Lone Star pigskin production.

So just what did Young do out there on the West Coast to inspire all these superlatives? Not much — he just outdueled one of the most potent offensive attacks in NCAA history, engineered one of the greatest fourth quarter comebacks ever, scored the winning touchdown and returned the national championship to Austin after a 36 years absence with a stunning 41-38 victory.

His statistics on the night tell the whole story. Young accounted for 467 yards of total offense on college football's biggest stage. He rushed for 200 yards on 19 carries and scored 3 touchdowns. He threw 40 passes and connected 30 times for 267 yards.

Those are awe inspiring feats under any circumstances. However, when you consider how and under what conditions Young delivered this performance, they take on even greater significance.

Texas' opponent that night, the 2005 USC Trojans were one of the greatest collections of individual talent ever assembled. Before the kick-off, ESPN analysts Mark May and Kirk Herbstreit declared the Trojans were the second best college football team of the past 50 years. May placed them behind only the 1995 Nebraska Cornhuskers and Herbstreit behind the 2001 Miami Hurricanes. USC was riding a 34 game win streak and looking for its third straight national title. A win over Texas, and the Trojans could rightfully lay claim to the first college football dynasty of this century.

God bless Lee Corso. He was the only analyst who realized that as great as USC was, Texas was the better team. He alone predicted a Longhorn victory.

This was a back-and-forth contest.  Young, along with Limas Sweed, Ramonce Taylor, Jamaal Charles and Selvin Young kept pace with the Trojans

However, when Leinart connected with Dwayne Jarrett on a 22 yard touchdown pass with 6:42 left to play, it gave USC a comfortable 38-26 lead. It was widely assumed the clock had just struck midnight on the Longhorn's fairy tale season and that Texas had just turned into burnt orange pumpkins.

That is when VY took over. He accounted for all 69 yards of a Texas scoring drive that took only 2:39 to complete. He was 5-5 for 34 yards through the air. He also ran for 25 yards, including a 17-yard touchdown run to cap of the drive. After the extra point, Texas was back within striking distance at 38-33.

The Trojans drove the ball out to midfield, where they found themselves facing a fourth-and-2 at the Texas 45 yard line. Instead of trying to pin Texas deep in its territory, Carroll decided to go for the first down and run out the clock. He called an off- tackle counter play for RB Lendale White which Texas had been unable to stop all night.

The Texas defense, in one of the most valiant stands in Longhorn history, made Carroll pay for his arrogance. The Horns stopped White a yard shy of the first down and took over the ball on their own 44 yard line with 2:09 left in the game. 

By virtue of a USC face mask penalty and a Young-to-Brian Carter pass covering 26 yards, The Horns found themselves at the Trojan 8 yard line, facing a fourth-and-goal with 0:19 remaining.

As Young led the Texas offense to the line, each and every one of the eleven Trojan defenders knew he was going to keep the ball. So did the 100,000 plus spectators in the stand. So did the millions watching on television. Armed with that knowledge, it would be safe to assume that USC could have made the necessary adjustments to stop Young.

Assumptions might apply to mere mortals. They do not, however, apply Vincent Paul Young, Jr. In an 8 yard scamper that featured more bobs-and-weaves than an Oscar De La Hoya fight, VY dove across the goal line and gave Texas a 39-38 lead. For good measure, he ran it in for two points on the following play to give Texas a 41-38 victory, its fourth national championship and the 800^th win in school history.

Sports Illustrated refers to the game as "perhaps the most stunning bowl performance ever". Both the Rose Bowl win and the Longhorns' 2005 season have both been recognized as being among the greatest performances in college football history by publications such as College Football News, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Scout.com, as well as Sports Illustrated. Both teams were awarded the 2006 ESPY award by ESPN for the "Best Game" in any sport. In December 2006, both Sports Illustrated and Time Magazine picked the game as the Best Sports Moment in 2006.

Give Mark May and Kirk Herbstreit some credit. They were both half right. One of the all-time great college football teams was playing in Pasadena that day. It just wasn't the one wearing cardinal and gold.

It was the one in burnt orange.