Conference Big 12 Conference Coaches No. 1 2005 record 13–0 (8–0 Big 12) | Division South AP No. 1 Head coach Mack Brown (8th year) | |
The 2005 Texas Longhorn football team represented the University of Texas at Austin during the 2005 NCAA Division I-A football season, winning the Big 12 Conference championship and the national championship. The team was coached by Mack Brown, led on offense by quarterback Vince Young, and played its home games at Darrell K. Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium.
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The team's penultimate victory of the season, the Big 12 Championship Game, featured the biggest margin of victory in the history of that contest. They finished the season by winning the 2006 Rose Bowl against the USC Trojans for the national championship. Numerous publications have cited this victory as standing among the greatest performances in college football history, and ESPN awarded the 2006 ESPY Award for the "Best Game" in any sport to the Longhorns and the Trojans. The Longhorns finished as the only unbeaten team in NCAA Division I-A football that year, with thirteen wins and zero losses.
Texas earned its second Big 12 Conference football championship to make 27 conference championships total, including 25 in the Southwest Conference. It was their fourth national championship in football and the ninth perfect season in the history of Longhorn football.
The team set numerous school and NCAA records, including their 652 points which set an NCAA record for points scored in a season. After the season ended, six Longhorns from this championship team joined professional football teams through the 2006 NFL Draft. Seven more Longhorns followed suit in the 2007 NFL Draft and they were joined by two free agents. Another nine followed through the 2008 Draft and free-agency to make a total of twenty-four players who entered into the National Football League (NFL).
Before the season
Media and fans of college football consider the UT program one of the great powerhouses of the game because of the school's winning record as well as their previous national championships in 1963, 1969 and 1970. From 1936 to 2004, the team finished the season in the top ten team of the Associated Press Poll 23 times, or one-third of the time. At the start of the 2005 season, the Longhorns were one of the most victorious programs in college football history; they were third in total victories and fourth if measured by winning percentage.
In the 2004 season Vince Young led the team to the 2005 Rose Bowl, the school's first Bowl Championship Series (BCS) game, and a top 5 finish in the major polls. It should also be noted that Vince Young predicted that the Longhorns would return to the Rose Bowl next season in a post game interview where he proclaimed, "We'll be back!" Young returned for the 2005–2006 season, as did most of the other key players from 2004–2005, with the exception of Cedric Benson, Derrick Johnson, and Bo Scaife. Texas was given a pre-season No. 2 ranking (behind the defending National Champions, the University of Southern California) by Sports Illustrated magazine, the Associated Press Poll and the USA Today Coaches Poll.
During the summer of 2005, a period free of official team practices, Young and his receivers spent extra practice time working on their timing and team-work. The fall Orange and White intra-team scrimmage was held on August 21, 2005, as an event open to the public. Running back Ramonce Taylor returned the opening kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown. Young completed five of seven passing attempts for 68 yards and one touchdown. Senior Richmond McGee made two 33-yard field goals and emerged as the top candidate to handle field goals, kickoffs and punts. Brown said of McGee, "We've never had one person do all three, so it's a concern, but right now, he would be the guy."
The success of the 2004 team and the efforts during the off-season fueled anticipation by sports writers that Texas would play for the national championship if they could win their away game against Ohio State University and end their five-game losing streak against Oklahoma. The BCS system required any team competing in the championship game to be ranked either number one or number two in the BCS Standings at the end of the season.
Roster
The final roster of the season:
Texas had very few problems affecting the roster. Only one defensive starter missed a game due to injury. On offense, starting running back Selvin Young injured his ankle in the game against Louisiana-Lafayette and re-injured it the following week against Ohio State. He did not play in the games against Rice or Baylor. Receiver Jordan Shipley missed the entire season due to a pulled hamstring.
The Austin Police Department charged UT receiver Myron Hardy with a Class A misdemeanor for carrying a prohibited weapon, a "'butterfly style knife' that operates like a switchblade, making it a prohibited weapon." Hardy appeared in four games for the 2004 team, catching one pass for four yards. He redshirted in 2005 and returned to the roster for 2006.
The police investigated assault allegations against Cedric Griffin and Ramonce Taylor but no charges were filed. The incident allegedly occurred December 10, 2005, near the Sixth Street entertainment district. The UT athletics department found no reason to discipline the players and they both played in the final game of the season. Also in December, the police announced they were investigating a Longhorn player in a separate incident that occurred in September. This incident allegedly involved armed robbery with a handgun. The police did not name the target of the investigation.
Three Longhorns, freshman running backs Michael Houston and Jerrell Wilkerson and sophomore defensive back Bobby Tatum, elected to transfer prior to UT's bowl game. All three were reserve players.
Rankings
The pre-season editions of the Associated Press Poll and USA Today Coaches Poll pre-season polls both ranked Texas number two in the nation behind defending National Champion University of Southern California. The two teams maintained those rankings throughout the entire 2005 regular season. Texas was ranked second in each week of the BCS rankings, except for one week where Texas took the top spot with USC falling to number two. The BCS rankings during 2005 were based on a formula which factored in the votes of two human polls (the USA Today coach's poll and the Harris Interactive poll), combined with a variety of computer rankings. The computer rankings favored Texas as the No. 1 team throughout the entire season, due partly to Texas's wins over ranked programs such as Ohio State University and Texas Tech University.
On October 24, 2005, Texas passed USC in the BCS rankings due to a strong showing in the computer rankings, which favored the Longhorns because of the overall strength of their opponents as well as the October 22, 2005, win over previously unbeaten Texas Tech. The first-place ranking was the first for UT in the BCS era, and the first top ranking in any major football poll since October 8, 1984, when they were atop both the Associated Press and Coaches polls. The 0.0007% margin separating Texas from USC was the slimmest margin between the top two teams since the inception of BCS rankings.
The stay at the top was short-lived. With the October 31, 2005, BCS rankings, Texas remained first in the computer rankings, with Virginia Tech pulling even with USC for number two in the computer rankings. However, USC remained atop both human polls and was able to reclaim the top overall ranking. Texas and USC won the rest of their games and faced each other in the National Championship, which Texas won 41–38. This was only the 35th meeting of the two top-ranked teams in the history of college football, including both regular season and bowl games. The BCS system now ensures that the two top teams in the BCS rankings face each other annually in a national championship game, but the methodology for ranking the teams remains controversial among fans and sportswriters.
The 2005 season marks only the eighth time in 50 years that exactly two teams have gone into the bowl season undefeated. This has been a major criticism of the BCS format, which does not use a playoff to determine the national championship. Unless there are exactly two unbeaten teams, both from BCS conferences, the choice of the top two teams can generate controversy. If more than two undefeated teams remain, then one or more of those teams must be left out. If one or fewer undefeated teams remain, then an opponent must be chosen from among the one-loss teams, meaning that other one-loss teams will be left out.
In the eight National Championship games through the 2006 Rose Bowl, the team ranked number one prior to the game has won five times, while the number two team has won three times. Up to the 2007 season, no school had won the BCS championship twice. In the final polls after the bowl games, Texas received all 62 first place votes in the Coaches Poll and all 65 first place votes in the AP Poll.
After the season
Analysts labeled the team, their season, and their championship victory as the greatest or among the greatest in the history of the sport. College Football News judged the 2005 Longhorns to have played the greatest college football season ever. Sports-writers at College Football News also consider the 2006 Rose Bowl to be the best college football game ever played. Furman Bisher of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said "if there ever has been a greater game, I never saw it, and I've been watching college football games since 1934." Scout.com called it "one of the best national title games ever", while Kevin Hench of Fox Sports called it "perhaps the greatest college football game ever played." ESPN declared the 2006 Rose Bowl Game an instant classic and re-aired it within a week of the original broadcast. ESPN later awarded the 2006 ESPY Award to the Longhorns and Trojans for the 2006 "Best Game" in any sport. Vince Young and Matt Leinart accepted the award on behalf of their teams. ESPN columnist Mark Schlabach ranked the 2005 Texas Longhorns as fourth-best among the first ten BCS-era champions.
The championship game drew attention from political figures. Head Coach Mack Brown took a congratulatory call from United States President George W. Bush, who told Brown, "Congratulations on a wonderful moment ... Tell the team congratulations, we're proud of them." White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said Bush wished Brown and the Longhorns all the best, and said that he looked forward to having them visit the White House soon. Bush was formerly a Governor of Texas and his daughter Jenna is a UT graduate. On February 14, 2006, Bush did host the team and coaches at the White House. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger lost a bet with Texas Governor Rick Perry on the outcome and had to send Perry a basket of "California wines, fruit and other goodies". The food was donated to National Guard troops in Texas. Both governors also offered autographed, handmade cowboy boots that were auctioned to benefit survivors of Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Katrina. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa lost a bet with Austin Mayor Will Wynn and had to send a basket of produce, such as avocados, from a local farmers' market; Wynn had bet Texas' finest barbecue.
Seconds after Texas beat Southern California 41–38, the university lit the UT tower orange, the traditional signal of victory on the campus. Since this was a national championship, office lights were also left selectively lit in order to form a number "1" on all four sides of the tower (pictured). Texas students and fans spilled onto the streets of Austin and made their way to campus for an impromptu celebration. Though police were out in force, there were no reports of problems. The school commissioned a painting titled The University of Texas National Championship 2005 by Opie Otterstad to commemorate the win in the Rose Bowl and the National Championship.
Special editions of magazines and products featured the team. Dave Campbell's Texas Football put out a 45,000-copy special issue titled One for the Ages – Vince Young Leads Longhorns to the Fourth National Title. This issue included a column from Longhorn fan Matthew McConaughey as well as 15 pages of photos from the Rose Bowl. The cover featured Young kissing the "crystal football" national championship trophy. Sports Illustrated held up their regular weekly edition to await the results of the Rose Bowl. They finally went to press with a cover showing Young diving into the end zone with the label "Superman". Analysis inside the issue gave Young a large part of the credit for the win. They also printed a special commemorative issue in the state of Texas with Young on the cover, shouting in triumph amidst a storm of multi-colored confetti after winning the game. Features in the special edition included a story on Vince Young's Glory Days by Tim Layden, as well as a story dissecting How the Rose Bowl was won by Austin Murphy. The issue was on sale alongside the regular edition of the magazine. General Mills produced a commemorative issue Wheaties box featuring Mack Brown and a Texas Longhorns football helmet on the front. The commemorative packaging was sold nationwide. Texas is the first national college football champion to be featured since Nebraska was on the box in 1997.
Individual players and coaches also received honors. "Vince Young Day" was proclaimed by Mayor Bill White in Houston on January 10, 2006, to honor the Houston native. White said that Young is "an inspiration to all Houstonians, both young and old." On January 15, 2006, 51,244 Texas fans gathered in Darrell K. Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium to celebrate the team and their victorious season. Mack Brown was named the Paul "Bear" Bryant College Football Coach of the Year, as voted on by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. Brown became the first winner of the award from UT since Darrell Royal in 1963. The championship season lifted the reputation of Mack Brown and the offensive coordinator, Greg Davis. Davis was consistently criticized for over-conservative play-calling. After the championship win the criticism quieted down, but did not go away completely. As of 2007 sportswriters continue to debate whether Vince Young and the other talented UT players succeeded despite Davis or because of him.
Despite previous statements that he would return for his senior season, redshirt junior quarterback Vince Young announced that he would forgo his final year of NCAA eligibility and made himself eligible for the 2006 National Football League draft. The Tennessee Titans chose him as the third overall draft pick. Besides Young, five other Longhorns from this championship team joined professional teams through the 2006 NFL Draft – Michael Huff (number 7 overall), Cedric Griffin (number 48 overall), David Thomas (number 86 overall), Jonathan Scott (number 141 overall) and Rodrique Wright (number 222 overall). As a result, fullback Ahmard Hall was re-united with his former team-mate Vince Young in the NFL, playing for Tennessee. One year later, seven more members of this team were selected in the 2007 NFL Draft – Michael Griffin (number 19 overall), Aaron Ross (number 20 overall), Justin Blalock (number 39 overall), Tim Crowder (number 56 overall), Brian Robison (number 102 overall), Tarell Brown (number 147 overall), Kasey Studdard (number 183 overall). Lyle Sendlein and Selvin Young were not drafted but signed with NFL teams as free agents. In the 2008 NFL Draft, five more Longhorns from this team were selected: Limas Sweed (number 53rd overall), Jamaal Charles (number 73 overall), Jermichael Finley (number 91 overall), Tony Hills (number 130 overall), and Frank Okam (number 151 overall). In addition, Brandon Foster, Marcus Griffin, Nate Jones and Derek Lokey agreed to sign free-agent contracts with NFL teams.
For the fiscal year which ended in August 2005, just as the 2005 football season was starting, Texas was the nation's richest and most profitable football program, with revenue of $53.2 million, and a profit of $38.7 million. Following the national championship, for the 2005–2006 fiscal year, UT also led the nation in royalties from merchandise sales, setting a new national record at $8.2 million. These royalties went to the University as a whole, not specifically to the athletics programs. The team topped the merchandise rankings again for the 2006–2007 fiscal year.
The official website of UT football posted a special logo (pictured) proclaiming the Longhorns as the national champions. The logo featured the script "National Champions" centered prominently in the center, with "MACKBROWN-TEXASFOOTBALL.COM" in the lower left and "THE OFFICIAL SITE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS LONGHORNS" in the lower right. In the background was an image of a rose, with a small Longhorn symbol appearing in front of the rose and between the two sections of the smaller print. In the upper right-hand side, the years "1963, 1969, 1970, 2005" appear, with the "2005" given special emphasis. These years correspond to the four consensus national championships won by the UT football team. The special logo was removed from the website's home page after a few months, but as of 2007 it is still found on certain portions of the site related to the 2005 season.
List of accomplishments
Longhorn players from both the offense and defense set records for their performance during the season or received national recognition and awards.
The team also set school and NCAA records and received accolades.