USC/Texas opinions

[Performify]

Bill Simmon's writeup "the Diary of Coach Fredo" is great on this game.

a snippet:

8:23 -- Funny shot of Leinart warming up and wearing a conspicuous knee brace. After the Saints locked up the No. 2 pick, do you think Leinart went to USC's doctor and asked, "Can you give me the biggest, scariest looking knee brace you can find?"

8:33 -- Touchdown, LenDale White. 7-0, USC. How many times do you think he thought about pulling a Tonya Harding on Reggie Bush during the season? The over/under has to be 500.

8:51 -- The Trojans go for it on fourth-and-1 from the Texas 18 ... and Leinart pulls a Scott Mitchell and botches the QB sneak for no gain. Texas ball. And yes, the decision-making in this game is already confirming something I already believed -- to coach a good college football team, you basically need two arms, two legs and a head. That qualifies you.

8:58 -- All right, is there a dumber sports rule than "If your knee hits the ground, the play is over ... even if if you weren't touched" in college football? That's right up there with "You can't just intentionally walk someone, you have to throw four balls," "You don't get an extra foul for overtime," "You can call a timeout while you're in midair" and "You aren't allowed to punch A-Rod in the face during a game" in the pantheon of Dumb Rules That Only Make Sports Less Fun.

9:03 -- One more question: Has there ever been a national championship up for grabs between two schools that had hotter female fan bases? ABC could pan anywhere in the crowd right now and hit the proverbial jackpot. I need to start watching more college football. Seriously. Remind me next year.

9:45 -- After USC's offense gets hit with illegal substitution and delay of game penalties, Fouts notes "two uncharacteristic mistakes by the Trojans on this drive." Excuse me? This is a Pete Carroll team! It's absolutely characteristic!

12:19 -- In one of the most amazing random sports blunders of all time, one of the USC players is forced to call their final timeout because they don't have the right defense for the 2-point conversion. By the way, there are only 19 seconds left. "My goodness!" Fouts screams.

(Sorry, I'm hanging that one on Carroll and his staff -- would anyone on a well-coached team think that the two-point conversion mattered more than a timeout there? Come on. That's beyond awful. Poor clock management, dumb penalties, no defensive adjustments, stupid decisions leading to turnovers, wasted timeouts for no good reason ... does any of this sound familiar, Pats fans?)

So what did we learn? Three things ...

1. Not only is Vince Young the best player in college football, his Rose Bowl performance following the Heisman Trophy ceremony ranked at least an 8.3 on the Vengeance Scale. It's nice to see an athlete back up his own words, isn't it?

2. If your season potentially rides on one first down, and you have a Heisman Trophy winning running back on your team ... well, you might want to have him on the field. It's a little unorthodox, I know. But it's probably a good idea.

3. Pete Carroll will always be Pete Carroll.