Young at heart

Well, the big game was last night. It only took an extra four days into the New Year for the NCAA to put on its most anticipated showdown. And it was a show, a spectacle.

Yet, I honestly miss the days when all the games were on New Year's Eve and New Years Day and you flipped back and forth between the channels to catch the action. And believe you me, that was pretty tough back in my younger days (pre-TV remote controls). Gridiron fanatics had an alternative choice on at least one of their other two channels. The football excitement was crammed into an action-packed three days or so, instead of a ho-hum three weeks. There also wasn't an overabundance of less-than-stellar match-ups. Now a days, you've got the Weedeater Bowl featuring the Sisters of St. Mary's PeeWee Fighting Pelicans taking on the Riverville Junior College Marmosets or the Music City Bowl's contest between the eighth-placed team from Conference Q vs. the ninth-best team from Conference Z (both sporting dodgy 6-5 records). And since there's only a game per day, the sports networks get a chance to hype these mediocre contests to the nth degree over a 24-hour span.

Enough of my squirrely ranting.

Back to the BCS extravaganza of last night.

Texas pulled off the big upset (according to some).

If the mighty Trojans had been able to make a single tackle in the open field, then the results might have been different. And don't forget, it seems the NCAA still needs some spit and polish on its video review system. Texas benefitted when it was used properly, but it seems USC could have used some replay love itself.

I'm actually an advocate of instant replay. If the equipment and technology is there, utilize it to make the correct call. Why stick to an inaccurate decision when it can be corrected. Thanks to the JumboTron screens, everyone in the stadium now knows when the refs blow a call. Yes, the officials are on the mark with the bulk of their decisions, but they are human, so give them a boost when need be.

The game was a thriller, providing lots of offense and raising Vince Young's NFL draft status a notch, if you ask me. He ran rampant - over, around and through the Trojan defense like a rabid squirrel after a coconut.

Not that he wasn't already at or near the top of some pro scouts' wish list. Maybe the Titans could bring him on board. Begora, the Nashville team needs some help at the skill positions. Yes, Steve McNair is a horse and is country strong, but the man has been beaten down over the past five seasons. Heck, if my nephew threw a Nerf football and hit him in the chest with it, even while he was wearing his pads and a flak jacket, these days he'd need at least two weeks to recover from a bruised sternum. Yep, the Titans have Volek in the stable. He's shined a few times filling in for a gimpy McNair, but he's also been very pedestrian at other times. And having Drew Rosenhaus as an agent just gives me one reason to ship him and his attached headache off to some other franchise.

And what was Reggie Bush thinking with his ill-advised lateral, aka fumble. That was just Bush league, if you'll allow me a pun. A score on that drive might have kept mighty mo on the USC sideline for the rest of the game.

However, Young and the Longhorns deserve every ounce of applause and confetti that comes their way with their incredible late rally.

The college season is officially over now. Triumphs and defeats, upsets and disappointments abounded. Some programs saw a resurgence, while others began a decline, and that was just in the SEC. Some coaches are on the hot seat, while others are coveted by competing schools. The carousel continues to turn.