College Football Old School Game of the Week: Young Leads Texas to Victory in Rose Bowl Classic over Michigan

Texas quarterback Vince Young ran for 192 yards and four touchdowns while throwing for 180 yards and one touchdown in the 2005 Rose Bowl.

The 2005 Rose Bowl matchup between the Michigan Wolverines and the Texas Longhorns came with a lot of controversy.

First, it was not the traditional Big 10 vs Pac 10 matchup and secondly, many college football experts believed that Texas had gotten the berth in the Rose Bowl only because Longhorns head coach Mack Brown basically campaigned to get the spot over the California Golden Bears, who had the same record as Texas and were a Pac 10 team.

But after the game was finished, the controversy was replaced with talk of having witnessed one of the greatest Rose Bowls of all time.

The Longhorns were making their first appearance in the "Granddaddy of them all" following their 10-1 season with their only loss being a 12-0 defeat to the Oklahoma Sooners.

Texas was led by Brown, who was in his seventh season as the Longhorns' head coach, having led Texas to its fourth straight season of at least 10 wins.

On the field, the Longhorns had a dynamic running attack which featured running back Cedric Benson, who won the Doak Walker award which is given to the best running back in the country, for his 1,774 yards and 19 touchdowns during the regular season and quarterback Vince Young who had run for 887 yards in the regular season.

With Young and Benson, the Longhorns were hoping to earn their second top 5 finish in the final rankings in four years.

On the other side was Michigan, who had won the Big 10 championship and earned a second trip to the Rose Bowl under head coach Lloyd Carr.

Carr's team was young as it featured freshman quarterback Chad Henne and freshman running back Michael Hart, but had the Fred Biletnikoff winner(the best wide receiver) in senior Braylon Edwards, who had caught 87 passes for 1,221 yards and 12 touchdowns, which included a 11-catch, 189-yard and three touchdown performance in a 45-37 triple overtime win over Michigan State(To read about that game, click on the link highlighted here:(https://oldschoolsportsblog.blogspot.com/2021/10/college-football-old-school-game-of_28.html).

Michigan would get the ball to start the game as Steve Breaston would return the opening kickoff 44 yards to the Wolverines' 47-yard-line.

While Michigan would not take advantage of the great field position as they punted the ball to the Longhorns, Breaston's kick return would set the tone of the rest of the game when it came to kickoffs.

Texas would start its opening possession of the game at its 20-yard-line as Benson would carry for nine yards only to hyperextend his right knee on the play which would hamper his performance for the rest of the day.

The Longhorns would end up punting the ball back to Michigan but would get the ball back at their 15-yard-line following a Wolverines punt with 5:53 left in the first quarter.

From there, the Longhorns would put together the first scoring drive as they would travel 85 yards in 12 plays, culminating with a 20-yard touchdown run by Young off a quarterback draw to give Texas a 7-0 lead with 1:41 to go in the opening quarter.

After both teams went three-and-out on their ensuing possessions, the Wolverines got the ball at the 50-yard-line as Hart carried the ball three straight times for 13 yards until Henne fired a deep pass down the left side of the field for Edwards, who made the catch in the end zone for a 37-yard touchdown that with the extra point tied the game at seven just 73 seconds into the second quarter.

Braylon Edwards would catch 10 passes for 109 yards and score three touchdowns.

The Longhorns would get great field position to start its next drive as Ramonce Taylor returned the ensuing kickoff 40 yards to the Texas 42-yard-line as Young would lead the Texas offense to the Michigan 25-yard-line where they were faced with a 4th & 1.

Instead of attempting a field goal, Brown decided to go for the 1st down which he got when Michigan defensive end Pierre Woods jumped offsides giving the Longhorns a fresh set of downs at the Wolverines' 20-yard-line.

Three plays later, the Longhorns were in the end zone as Young threw a 11-yard touchdown pass to tight end David Thomas to give Texas a 14-7 lead with 4:16 left before halftime.

It looked like the Longhorns would get a chance to extend their lead after forcing a three-and-out on the Wolverines' ensuing drive but Taylor would fumble the football on the punt as Wolverines linebacker Roy Manning knocked the ball loose from Taylor, leading to a recovery by safety Anton Campbell at the Texas 34-yard-line.

Henne would complete passes of 16 yards to Breaston and nine yards to tight end Tyler Ecker before finding a wide open Edwards in the back of the end zone for an eight-yard touchdown to help tie the game at 14 with 20 seconds left in the first half.

Texas would run out the clock with a run by Benson for zero yards as both teams went into the locker room deadlocked at 14 with the Longhorns set to get the ball to start the second half.

After the first five plays netted just 12 yards, Young took off on a quarterback draw as he ran down the right sideline for a 60-yard touchdown to give Texas a 21-14 lead with 12:53 to go in the third quarter.

The Wolverines would get another long return by Breaston as he returned the ensuing kickoff 43 yards to the 50-yard-line as Henne would throw two incomplete passes to bring up 3rd & 10 when he completed a 10-yard pass to Breaston, who then turned upfield and ran it in for the touchdown that with the extra point once again tied the game, this time at 21.

Following a three-and-out by the Longhorns, the Wolverines got the ball at their 23-yard-line as they put together a 10-play, 77-yard drive which ended with a nine-yard touchdown pass from Henne to Edwards to give Michigan its first lead of the game at 28-21 with 6:29 remaining in the third quarter.

Texas would then drive from its 23-yard-line to the Michigan 47-yard-line until Young was intercepted by Wolverines linebacker Preston Burgess, who returned the pick 23 yards to the Longhorns' 45-yard-line where he was tackled by Young.

With a chance to make it a 17-point lead, the Wolverines could not travel past the Texas 27-yard-line where Garrett Rivas came on to kick a 44-yard field goal which extended Michigan's lead to 34-21 with 2:35 left in the third quarter.

Michigan wide receiver Steve Breaston returned six kickoffs for 223 yards, a Rose Bowl record.

After an exchange of punts, the Longhorns got the ball back at the 50-yard-line as an 18-yard pass from Young to tight end Bo Scaife and a roughing the passer penalty added 15 yards to a six-yard completion to Thomas put Texas at the Michigan six-yard-line.

The Michigan defense pushed the Longhorns back to the ten-yard-line to face a 3rd & goal when Young made a spectacular play when he spun out of a potential sack by Wolverines defensive end Pat Massey and ran it for a 10-yard touchdown that helped cut the Texas deficit to three points at 31-28 with 9:51 left in the fourth quarter.

The Longhorns were able to contain Breaston on the ensuing kickoff as he ran for 24 yards to the Michigan 25-yard-line as the Wolverines would drive 60 yards in 10 plays to set up a 32-yard field goal by Rivas which extended their lead to 34-28 with 6:09 remaining.

A 31-yard return by Taylor on the ensuing kickoff set the Longhorns up at their 31-yard-line for their next possession when Young completed a 19-yard pass to Tony Jeffery then hit Thomas for 27 yards to put Texas at the Michigan 23-yard-line.

That is when Young took off again as he ran into the end zone for a 23-yard touchdown for his fourth rushing touchdown of the game that with the extra point gave Texas a 35-34 lead with 4:56 to play in the game.

Breaston would strike once again on the ensuing kickoff as his 53-yard return put Michigan at the Texas 43-yard-line as three straight runs by Hart for 18 yards would set up 3rd & 2 when Henne threw an incomplete pass intended for Edwards.

This would lead to another Rivas field goal, this one from 42 yards out, which allowed the Wolverines to retake the lead at 37-35 with 3:04 left to play.

Following a 32-yard return by Taylor on the ensuing kickoff, the Longhorns would begin its next possession at their 34-yard-line with a chance to drive down for the winning score.

The drive would begin with a nine-yard run by Young, followed by a five-yard run by Benson to give Texas a 1st down at its 48-yard-line when Young completed an eight-yard pass to Scaife which put the Longhorns in Michigan territory.

Young would then run for 14 yards and a 1st down at the Michigan 30-yard-line as the quarterback would keep it himself on the next three plays, running for an additional 11 yards to put the Longhorns at the Wolverines' 19-yard-line with less than a minute to go.

From there, the Longhorns keep it conservative as Young handed off it to Benson on the next two plays until the clock wound down to two seconds when Brown called timeout and sent in the field goal unit to win the game with a 37-yard field goal.

Carr would then call back-to-back timeouts in hopes of icing kicker Dusty Magnum, a former walk-on who had earned a scholarship since he began kicking for the Longhorns in 2001.

As Mangum waited to attempt the kick, Brown went to his senior kicker and told him "You're the luckiest human being in the world because your last kick at Texas will win the Rose Bowl."

Finally, the field goal was attempted as Magnum's kick glazed the elbow of Michigan defensive back Ernest Shazor, then just misses the hands of Wolverines linebacker Roy Manning, to wobbly pass through the uprights as time expired, giving the Longhorns a 38-37 win.

Dusty Magnum kicks what would turn out to be the game-winning field goal.

The loss was a bitter pill for the Wolverines to swallow as they would finish the season with a 9-3 record and ranked #14 in the final AP poll and #12 in the final coaches poll.

The Wolverines would get one more trip to the Rose Bowl during Carr's tenure as Michigan head coach which ended after the 2007 season, which was a 32-18 loss to USC.

As for Texas, they would finish the season ranked #4 in the coaches poll and #5 in the AP poll as the Longhorns finished the season with a 11-1 record, their best since 1983.

Young and the Longhorns would return to the Rose Bowl one year later, this time against the Trojans in the BCS National Championship Game, where Young threw for 267 yards and ran for 200 yards and scored three touchdowns, including the game-winner with 19 seconds to go, to give Texas a 41-38 win and the Longhorns their first national championship since 1970(To real about that game, click on the link highlighted here: https://oldschoolsportsblog.blogspot.com/2017/09/college-football-old-school-game-of_13.html).