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ROSE BOWL GAME: TEXAS v SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

January 5, 2006

PASADENA, CALIFORNIA

THE MODERATOR: Good morning and welcome. Congratulations, Coach Brown and the University of Texas. Vince Young, Michael Huff, congratulations to you, too. The rewards of winning last night's game, you get to haul all this hardware back to Austin. We'll get started with the first trophy, the ADT National Championship trophy presented by Jay Stuck, vice president of brand marketing and communications.
JAY STUCK: Good morning, Coach Brown.
COACH MACK BROWN: Good morning.
JAY STUCK: On behalf of the ADT parent company and Tyco International and the American Football Coaches Association, I would like to officially present the ADT National Championship trophy to you and the Texas Longhorns. Congratulations on your undefeated season.
COACH MACK BROWN: Thank you very much (applause).
THE MODERATOR: Next presentation for the McArthur Trophy will be on Steve Hatchell, executive director, National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame.
STEVE HATCHELL: Good morning. In 1947 the National Football Foundation was formed by three gentlemen, Grantland Rice, Earl (Red) Blaik and General Douglas McArthur. They created the McArthur Trophy to reward great success on the field but also success with leadership and scholarship.
Today it's my pleasure representing our board of directors, the 119 chapters and the 12,000 members of the National Football Foundation to present the McArthur Trophy to the University of Texas, coach Mack Brown, these wonderful players and the entire Texas family.
I would also like to just put in a personal note that this is really exciting for me as a long and treasured friend of Mack Brown to be here today and a treasured friend of DeLoss Dodd at Texas who's worked so hard. If I can just add the extra paragraph, congratulations to them for working so hard. We're very, very honored to present to you the McArthur Trophy that's been presented to the national champions for over 50 years for all the right things in college football, and we are delighted to be here (applause).
THE MODERATOR: Next to present the Grantland Rice trophy, Dennis Dodd, president of the Football Writers Association of America.
DENNIS DODD: Thanks, Dave. I want to echo Steve's comments about the University of Texas and Mack Brown, a great friend of the Football Writers Association. This award has been awarded since 1954 named in memory of the great sports writer Grantland Rice. This is Texas' third FWAA National Title and first since 1969. It was a unanimous No. 1 in our Grantland Rice Super 16 poll.
On behalf of the 900 strong members of the Football Writers Association of America and the 16 pollsters who make up our Grantland Rice polls, it's my pleasure to award the Grantland Rice Trophy to the University of Texas and Mack Brown and its players (applause).
THE MODERATOR: And the Associated Press National Trophy presented by Anthony Marquez, bureau chief of the Associated Press.
ANTHONY MARQUEZ: Coach, Longhorns, on behalf of the Associated Press and 1,700 newspapers and 5,000 television and radio stations worldwide, I am pleased to present to you the Associated Press National College Championship Trophy. Congratulations (applause).
THE MODERATOR: At this time I'd like to introduce John Tucker, president of Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, host of next year's BCS National Championship game.
JOHN TUCKER: Thank you, Dave. On behalf of the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and our community in the Valley of the Sun, next year we look forward to inviting you to Glendale, Arizona, for the first BCS National Championship game January 8th. We'll look forward to seeing you there.
I'd like to recognize Mr. Ed Beasley, their city manager. Would you come on up quickly? We look forward to our new 450 million facility. We'd like to have visitors visit us next year, as well.
ED BEASLEY: We're extremely glad to have you coming to Glendale, Arizona, for the '07 National Championship and '08 Super Bowl. We know how important first impressions are, so we've build a 63,000 square foot media center for the National Football Writers Association as well as all the national media, and we want to take real good care of you guys. Thank you very much.
THE MODERATOR: We'll continue on with the press conference. Coach, if you could make a few opening remarks and then we'll take questions from the group.
COACH MACK BROWN: You know your life is different when the first call you get this morning is from President Bush at 6:00 o'clock, and Sally asked me if I was awake and wanted to take it (laughter). I said, "I think so." President Bush was very gracious and said let's work out plans to get the Longhorns to the White House as soon as we can. All the young guys on the Longhorn football team will be looking forward to going to the White House, which is one of the real great perks for winning the National Championship.
I really, really want to congratulate SC. What they did was phenomenal, to have a run of 34 straight games, and they were very, very gracious after the game. In retrospect, one of the things that makes this so special is when you beat a great champion, it makes your championship even more special, and for Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart to come by the dressing room and say congratulations, for Pete Carroll to say that if we had to lose, we wanted to lose to a great football team, and you guys will make great champions, shows you the class that SC had in a defeat, which is something that they haven't had for a long time.
I'm really, really proud of our football team. I'm proud for Coach Royal, that he stands for National Championships at the University of Texas, and when I was getting off the bus for the game yesterday and someone said, "Do you realize you were 18 years old the last time Texas won the National Championship?" I said, "That's a long time."
Then DeLoss Dodd, the longtime athletic director who's won so many championships at Texas but not one in football, assistant coaches who have spent 300 years preparing for a game like last night, not four hours but 300 years, and then most importantly, these guys, because they played their hearts out. They did it in style.
So often a game that gets the hype like this doesn't live up to the hype, and I thought the game was probably better than the hype, and that's a real credit to both staffs and both teams with the tremendous amount of pressure that there was last night.
For Michael and Vince to have won the Most Valuable Player awards was really special, and for Vince to be the most valuable player in the Rose Bowl two years in a row is even more special. And sitting next to me, David Thomas was like the most valuable player. I know that 3rd down where he dove to his left and caught it, he was my most valuable player on that play. We were needing to change momentum back.
But one thing about the young guys that wore burnt orange last night, they'll be champions for the rest of their lives, and so few people even get in this ballgame as coaches or players and even fewer obviously win it. So for these guys, we're really, really excited because it is about the players.
While there may be a state and a University that can enjoy winning a National Championship as much as Texas, let me assure you, there's not any that can enjoy it more.
Q. For Mack and Michael, could you talk about in retrospect the game plan going into the process of getting Reggie Bush under control?
COACH MACK BROWN: It felt like when you looked at their offense, they have so many weapons, very much like our offense, that you have to figure out where to start, and you start by trying to stop the run. We did a decent job of keeping Reggie intact. He hurt us on a couple of screens and draws. That's what he does when you get him in open field.
But then LenDale White hurts you because you're so focused on the guy who won the Heisman and is a human highlight reel and that great offensive line and LenDale White comes right at you where Reggie does a lot of stuff from side to side. So our focus was not changed. It was to stop the run, try to get some pressure on Matt, play a lot of different coverages and play some man and bump because we feel like we have a great secondary, not a good secondary, and try to disrupt Matt.
We did that well in the first half. 3rd quarter he got hot, and I just really appreciate our defense hanging in there and making a play late in the 4th quarter to win the game.
MICHAEL HUFF: Not much left to say (laughter).
COACH MACK BROWN: I asked you to go first (laughter). Michael is the reason we could do that. There's five guys that will be in the NFL in the secondary, and the secondary probably has not gotten the credit that it deserves, but we felt like that as good as the SC receivers were that our secondary was a good match-up.
Q. This is for Michael and David and Coach Brown. Obviously you probably had very little sleep, but is there any way to put in perspective what Vince did yesterday in his performance?
MICHAEL HUFF: Vince is amazing. What can I say? Every day, day in and day out, he makes plays. We knew Vince was a great athlete, we knew we had to stop USC's offense and give us the ball back and we could score. There was never a doubt in our minds.
DAVID THOMAS: You can't say enough good thing about what Vince has done. He played so many good plays over the years, and last night we needed him to step up and he stepped up. He's the best big game player I've ever seen. You can't say enough good things about him.
COACH MACK BROWN: Vince is always so gracious to talk about the offensive line, David, the receivers, the running backs because there are a lot of really good players on that offensive side of the ball that are overshadowed, and they didn't get near the publicity that the USC players got. The most amazing thing about Vince is that he is a great person, he has a tremendous heart, but he is the most competitive human being I've ever seen. In fact, he didn't speak to me when we kicked a field goal on 4th and 4 coming off the field, and I didn't think he was going to speak to me again. I had to go over and suck up. And I was willing to. It worked well.
Nobody in the country is better with the game on the line than Vince Young because he loves the high stakes, he loves the competition, and it's just amazing to me. I was just afraid he was going to score too fast. 19 seconds was a stretch there at the end. We tried to run it down to none. Last year we got it to none.
Q. Can you talk about watching the highlights back last night I guess when you finally made it back to your room? Have you had a chance to see what you did on the screen? And also, what timetable you might have for your decision.
VINCE YOUNG: I was just basically hanging out with my family members and enjoying the moment with my teammates, a lot of prayer. It was just a blessed moment just to be in the position, not just only me but all of us up here, including my teammates, Coach, the fans and coach's wife. It's real beautiful. It's been a long time since University of Texas has done the things that we did.
I'm just so proud of all the work that this whole football team, coaches -- me and Coach Davis, man, me and this guy, man, we're best friends, and just sitting in that room with him and just paying attention, it helps the game so much easier, and I just thank him for that, for helping me be the person that I am today. It's just basically all the work and all the trials and tribulations not only that at University of Texas we've been through. I mean, I remember when I was red-shirted how hard it was to sit there, but to come to this point where we are today, you can't ask for any more. I'm proud of each of these guys and I'm proud of my coach for just believing in me.
COACH MACK BROWN: Let me say on the 4th and 4, he and Coach Davis weren't very close, either (laughter).
Q. Vince, as far as the timetable for your decision?
VINCE YOUNG: Just basically sitting down with my family members, sitting and talking to Coach Brown, a guy I truly, truly respect, and for him to sit down with me after the Missouri game last year and tell me how he felt, me and Coach and Cleve to tell me how they feel and want me to progress as a leader, it kind of turned me back to being just me and my whole character, and I just respect that a lot, and also for me to tell him what was on my mind and he respected that and trusted in me.
Me and Coach Brown are best friends, as well. We can go fishing if you want to, Baby (laughter).
There's a lot of trust that y'all don't understand that's behind the scenes that me and Coach Brown and Coach Davis, that we deal with, not just only for us but pretty much for everybody, the teammates and the city of Austin and everybody.
COACH MACK BROWN: We have a number of juniors that the NFL would have love to have, and one of the great things -- two great things that have happened with the draft, number one, young guys can get insurance if they decide to come back, so that's a positive. And the second thing is you have until I think the 15th now to make a decision. We want our guys to enjoy this moment. You've got to enjoy the run, and as soon as we get through with one, somebody is asking him a question about something else. How many people get this moment?
We want our guys to enjoy it, and then our job would be to help the families understand as much about the options as they are available, and then Vince and his family like the other juniors would make the decision that's best for them. We would be really for that decision, whatever it is.
But we would expect you all to allow him to enjoy it for the day.
Q. So I won't ask you about the Fiesta Bowl.
COACH MACK BROWN: Thank you.
Q. Congratulations on your win. Guys, tell me, take us back to the 4th quarter when USC had the lead. What was going through your minds, the rapport of Vince, everyone saying you were invincible, of course, but it's a team effort. Take us back to the 4th quarter.
VINCE YOUNG: Basically we've been through this so much, with the environment, the playing, the noise, being behind. We don't like that, but it happens, and we were just playing real well. Everybody on the team, we've all been through -- all the veteran guys, the young guys, they get motivated off of us and things like that. We were just excited basically. We already knew that our defense was going to get the ball back to us, and you've got the whole entire offense walking up and downed the sidelines trying to get it. Let's go. The 3rd and 2 play wasn't so good, but after we got poised and Coach Davis called a big play and after we got the rhythm going, the offense, we played at a high tempo, man, nobody can stop us.
COACH MACK BROWN: The same thing. I thought our offensive staff made a great decision to go no huddle because we were a little uptight to start the game we thought as a team to start the game, which was natural. But no huddle got us in the flow. Our team, like SC's team, hasn't lost in a long time. Both teams felt like we would win the game, and it was like two heavyweight boxers knocking each other back and forth. There was great respect with both, knock somebody out, pick him up, pat him on the head. I thought the longer the game went, the more the respect grew.
We felt like if we could make a stop on defense, if they weren't stopping us, we weren't stopping them, it was two offenses that were as good as advertised, but when we did make the stop on 4th down there was no doubt in my mind that we would win the game.
Q. How does it feel to be on the cover of Wheaties?
COACH MACK BROWN: These guys should be on there. Vince should be on there, me holding him up (laughter).
Q. You just referenced that 4th and 2. On the sideline when they went for it, kind of what was your reaction? Were you surprised that they didn't try to pin you back and go along the field with 2:09? And maybe for Michael to follow that up, they had had a lot of success with that specific play. Why did you stop them on that 4th and 2? What was different?
COACH MACK BROWN: If I was Pete Carroll, I would have run the same play in the same situation. I would have gone for the 4th and 2 because we had not stopped LenDale White all night, we had not stopped the power play. Their offensive linemen were under our defensive linemen and they were running the ball north and south very successfully, and in truth if they make that 1st down the game is probably over. We still have two timeouts but we'll be really deep with very little time left.
Why people are questioning the decision is they didn't make the 1st. But if I'm in the same situation at the same time, I do exactly the same thing because you do what's working. One of our guys said they knew what was coming. I did, too. I had seen LenDale gain 125 yards, so you figured it was coming. I had watched him all night, looked really good, he's a great football player. I thought he's the guy that's not talked about as much as he should be in the USC offense. But I would have done the same thing.
I also heard Pete after the game say something that was really true; they weren't stopping us, either. It was officially a shootout about midway through the 3rd quarter. When you've got our offense and the SC offense starting at the 40 or starting at the 10, they can make up 30 yards really quickly. It didn't make any difference where we started from. Their defense had as much of a chance to stop us from the 40 as if they punted to us, and there wasn't any guarantee they would have gotten us at the 5 or the 10. We could have started at the 20 just as easily, and a ten-yard run or pass for Vince is very easy to make up.
Q. I just want to talk about that specific play and kind of what happened different to stop him on that 4th and 2, Michael.
MICHAEL HUFF: Vince has been through so much this year, we're going to let him. Although summer workouts, two-a-days, all that stuff, I think that play just came out of heart. They ran the same play and we were all tired, so I guess we just had more heart than they did.
Q. A linebacker shot the gap they said in the USC locker room. Do you remember who it was?
MICHAEL HUFF: It was probably all of us. I tried to run in there, too.
Q. Mack, you had said in the first half David Thomas had six catches, which is the most he's had in any game all year. Was that by design or was that a reaction that y'all were going to him that much?
COACH MACK BROWN: Well, they put seven in the box and they were so focused on stopping the run that when that happens and the outside linebackers are wide, it gives David a chance to work on safeties and linebackers inside, and there's nobody better. He and Vince have a great chemistry, which was obvious by the first bootleg that we came out, he and David for the first 1st down to get the game started for us offensively, but we did feel like David would be a key in this ballgame, and he just made a 1st down time after time after time, even though he caught the ball under the chains and would turn and make a tough run to keep the chains moving.
Q. Could you please describe how as Vince goes through his decision-making process how the quality of your relationship and the trust with him and the communication can help assist that process?
COACH MACK BROWN: Yes. The worst thing that could possibly happen would be for a coach to try to convince a young guy to come back if it wasn't best for him because at some point -- Vince is very bright. He's got a wonderful family, a great support system, and he's done as much for the University of Texas as any single student athlete in any sport has ever done. So how ungracious of us to try to force him into making a selfish decision.
Like I said, if he's back and unhappy, that's the worst thing you can possibly have.
What we want in rewards for Vince is what is in his heart, what is best for him, and that will be best for the University of Texas. Somebody asked me, "If you win the National Championship and Vince leaves, what will you do?" I said, "I'll kiss him." I haven't yet, though (laughter).
But very honestly, this is not just about football, it's about people. There will be a lot of different things that they will look at. He'll be the front-runner for the Heisman if he comes back. We'll have a great chance to go back to the Fiesta Bowl next year if he comes back. We'll be sitting there with him breaking all kinds of records. He's 30 and 2 right now, and the other side of that, he could be around the first or second pick in the draft and make millions of dollars the next day.
So Vince is smart enough -- a lot of his decision will be based on what's best for everybody because he's really a caring person, and that's why he'll want to get information and he's not going to make some foolish statement today just to make everybody shut up.
VINCE YOUNG: So shut up (laughter).
Q. This question is for Vince. Could you give us the name of the play that you scored the game clinching touchdown on, and then can you take us through your decision-making process?
VINCE YOUNG: Is Coach Davis in the house? Do you agree to that?
COACH GREG DAVIS: Sure.
VINCE YOUNG: It was one of our big plays that it kind of excelled and we were kind of down with that play a year ago, and that play has opened up a whole lot for us this year. We had a flat run with David Thomas and an option run with Billy Pittman in the backfield. I went to my first and second and third, there wasn't nobody there, so all I heard was "run real fast" (laughter).
Q. What is the exact name of it, Vince?
VINCE YOUNG: Menu 2. Everybody understands it. I can't give you everything, but Menu 2.
Q. Do you realize what the heck you did last night?
VINCE YOUNG: Me, I'm just a guy. I love the game of football and I love my teammates a whole lot, and I love -- I mean, just my city, Houston, Austin, kids, I knew everybody was watching. All I do is go out there and play for my teammates and do whatever it takes to get the W. Just to see them guys' eyes, their emotion, that's a memorable moment for me that I'll remember for the rest of my life.
Q. Going into this year, I'm pretty sure I have this number correct, only five times has a player run and passed for 200 yards in the same game, and you've done it twice now in this season. Do you realize what the heck you did last night (laughter)?
VINCE YOUNG: Well, we got receivers, we got David Thomas and we got running backs, and it doesn't hurt to have a wonderful offensive line, and a great coach, Coach Brown and the offensive coordinator, they get it going. And also our defense, man, Rucker, they do a great job of getting them guys to get out there and excited and pumped up and then get us the ball back on offense. A lot of credit goes to the offense, but a whole lot of credit goes to our defense, especially on that last stop that they gave us. It's not just me, man, all of it is teamwork.
Q. Vince, as the game wore on, out of the shotgun you ran some slippery, slithery --
VINCE YOUNG: Texas two-stepping (laughter).
Q. You ran with Griese Ease. Was it as easy to you as it looked to us?
VINCE YOUNG: You know, it's very easy when you study. All these weeks that we had to get prepared to play, I mean, Coach Davis, man, he has me so prepared to play so much, all you have to do was execute the plays and pay attention to why he's calling that play. A lot of guys are like, why did he call that? But it's like, just execute the play, man.
Me and him understand. I have that chemistry, I understand why he's calling a play because we watched on tape what coverage they're going to go in, if they're 3rd and down what coverage they're going to. He was calling them at the right time, and all we had to do as an offense, me and Dave and the rest of the guys, was execute the plays, and that's what we did.
Q. Assuming you do come back, how would you prioritize the things that you think you personally need to work on most?
VINCE YOUNG: Basically you can get better all the time. You can take everything in. I've still got a lot to learn. Based on that standpoint, I just want to work with the guys around me. I know that my future is pretty blessed right now, but I just want to help the next man. That's the biggest part I love is just helping the next guy. I know they're putting in the hard work, so for me being a leader, it's talking to them and pushing them a little bit harder to get to the position that I am. That's what I look forward to is just working with the guys.
Q. Vince, six years ago at this moment you were watching Michael Vick or vice versa, however you want to put it. I guess you were about 15 years old back then. Were you inspired by him, imitate him, or in your mind are you a completely different player than he was?
VINCE YOUNG: Out of the guys in my neighborhood, I was pretty much -- I wasn't a big NFL guy, I was outside playing. But the biggest thing is my family members, my mom and my grandmother. It was a hard, hard time. There was a lot of guys in my neighborhood supposed to be in the position I am right now or even better, but they're not really doing anything. So it kind of pushes me every time I see them to keep working harder.
Q. You said the tears were going to come last night. Did they come, and when did they come?
VINCE YOUNG: Oh, man. The tears hit me last night when I got in from hanging out, laid in bed and I was listening to the ESPN for a little bit and kind of -- I mean, everybody was asleep and I kind of went on the balcony and just sat out there and had my little words with the man upstairs who basically came down. I'm just a real blessed guy to be in the position I am right now.
Q. What went through your mind?
COACH MACK BROWN: Man, this is a big flashback of me growing up, that I can be Vincent Young that y'all don't know nothing about right now, me making that big transition to work hard in football and get away from the negative things that was going on in my life. That's what I was basically -- the whole process sitting on that balcony last night and talking to him upstairs.
Q. This is kind of a two-part question. If Vince does not come out, obviously you knew at some point you would lose him, whether it's this year or next. Have you thought about how you'll replace him, and two, with the recruiting class that you have coming in, can this team make kind of a run like USC did?
COACH MACK BROWN: Well, we're the winningest team in college football right now with a 20-game winning streak. I thought before the game if we could get on a streak like they were last year at this point we would have a 33-game winning streak because it's a very similar run. You do not -- I learned something from Pete this week as a head coach because you do not want to start talking about your streaks because Coach Royal has taught me there's so much pressure when you get into streaks that at some point they're just made to be broken. I thought there was a tremendous amount of pressure on SC last night. I sat there yesterday watching the talk of Pat Riley putting a patent on the three-peat, and he didn't get to use it because it's a very difficult thing because in some cases the streak and the winning gets bigger than the preparation. And if you allow that to happen, that's about the time you get beat.
What we're going to do is enjoy this run right now. Our coaches started recruiting last night after the game again, and we'll go home and start work. We'll be in spring practice February 24th and get ready to start over because next year's team hasn't won a game.
Q. You've come to the realization, though, that there probably won't be another Vince Young in your career?
COACH MACK BROWN: There's not another Roy Williams, not another Ricky Williams, there's not another Derek Johnson. There's not going to be another Vince Young, in fact, and in my estimation he's one of the best players to ever play college football. I said that last year at the press conference after the Rose Bowl, and I feel like he'll be in the college football Hall of Fame and he'll be in the NFL Hall of Fame if it works for him before he gets through.
No, we can still win football games at Texas because we won them before Vince got here and we'll win them afterwards. It's going to be very unfair to him to put that pressure on him, but I don't think there's a better quarterback in the country, and I don't know that I've ever seen one in college. I know I've never coached one.
Q. David, take us back to the 4th quarter. What kind of things were you and the other offensive line saying to Vince in the huddle? And also, Vince, what type of things were you saying to the guys, as well?
DAVID THOMAS: Well, when we were down by 12 and we got the ball back, we said, "Let's go score." We had faith in our defense that they would get us stopped. Once we got the ball back with two minutes left, there was no doubt that we were going to go down the field and win the game. We just had confidence in each other and in Vince that we could get the job done. So we just relaxed, got ourselves together and went to work.
Q. Vince, what type of things do you say to the guys in the huddle?
VINCE YOUNG: Man, just pushing them guys. I say a little joke every once in a while, tell them guys to laugh a little bit, get them real loose. Just basically when they made that play, our defense made a play, just to see Cedric Griffin walk up to you and look in your eyes and say, Vince, lets go get it. Just to hear that emotion pushed me a little bit more with a little bit more edge to go out there, then stepping in the huddle before I gave them the play, looking into them guys' eyes, they was ready. All I had to do was Coach called the play, give it to them and let's go in there and get them. That's what we did with our offense. We executed each and every one of them plays that he called. I mean, some blitz downs, Brian Carter made a great catch, another blitz he made another catch. I mean, that was a big key for Brian Carter, making them two catches for us.
Q. Vince, how surprised were you that USC seemed to be trying to force you to the outside as opposed to making you run inside?
VINCE YOUNG: We've been working on all different things. We've just seen so many defenses, and basically it's just executing the plays that Coach called. I wasn't really paying attention to that. Basically I was paying attention to if they've got a blitz coming up, pay attention to that. I don't want to be hitting them off. Basically just seeing Selvin and Ramonce and Jamaal get their hands on it. I was making little blocks every once in a while, but not as much.
COACH MACK BROWN: Can I say, too, that Matt Leinart got a tremendous amount of credit for being able to read every defense because he's seen everything in his career here, and he deserves that. Vince Young is every bit as good at reading defenses as any quarterback in the country and doesn't seem to have gotten the same praise for that as he should. But he and our offensive staff had a great plan, they did a tremendous job, and Vince needs to start getting credit for being a great quarterback, not just the guy that made the plays.
Q. Mack, you've done a wonderful job here of spreading the praise and thanks to the program and your players, but how personally vindicating is this? When did you think, at what point in the season or tenure at Texas did you see this as being something that's really valuable, and can you -- I'm not trying to be overly personal, but what did you and Sally say to each other when you saw each other the first time?
COACH MACK BROWN: It was really interesting that as soon as the game was over, and Sally will be mad at me for this, so Sweetie, forgive me. Right after the ball game Sally said, "You know what, we're No. 1 and there aren't any games left." I thought, "That's a good thing, Sweetie, that we can do that."
Once you learn as you get older as a coach is how little you really have to do with it. It's so big that you're talking about eight years of building at Texas, you're talking about having a wonderful athletic director that within the rules will give you all the assets that you need and let you hire the best coaches in the country, and DeLoss should feel as good about winning this as any of our coaches or players because most athletic directors will not give you anything that you need within the rules to be successful.
It's about eight years of recruiting kids, it's about being able to manage the bad days, and as someone said, you have four hours to win a National Championship, and in my life and our assistant coaches' lives, it's been 33 years. I told the kids before the game, "I've waited 33 years to know what to say to you before the National Championship game and now I'm at a loss for words."
What we really wanted is to have fun and enjoy it because you can't work this hard to get here and not make it work. This is a team of great leaders which I'm proud of because our staff brought those guys here.
This is a team that's really tough. Most teams would have folded last night. Most teams would have folded in the 4th quarter at Ohio State. This is really a resilient, confident, tough football team that likes each other, and those are things that you like as a coach. Most of the time people say that the team emulates the coach, and if that's the case, last night I was very, very proud that I was the head football coach of Texas.
Q. When did you see this coming together?
COACH MACK BROWN: I saw it coming together when we left here last year. When Vince and I were talking after we won the Michigan game and he said, "We'll be back," everybody on our sideline thought we would be back. And then you had the win at Ohio State, so there was a tremendous amount of work by these guys away from the coaches. That's why it would be so selfish for coaches to talk about this being about them.
Vince had our entire football team out throwing all summer. It's why Vince is so giving and doesn't want everybody talking about Vince. He wants them talking about his teammates because he knows we've got really good players that haven't gotten a lot of publicity because the publicity went to the SC stars, not the Texas stars and we understand that because we were deserving of it. That's what makes this special.
There will never be a group of high school coaches that are more proud of a National Championship than the Texas High School Coaches Association, and we deal with them every day and they've obviously been good to us to help us having people come and visit.
There may be a place that will embrace winning a National Championship as much as the University of Texas. None will like it any better. That's what makes you proud today as you sit here.
Q. Vince, you keep saying that you love playing for your teammates and how special that is, and you looked in their eyes before that last drive and they were ready, you said. What did you see in their eyes after you guys scored?
VINCE YOUNG: Oh, man, they were just excited. You've got guys jumping around, you've got coaches jumping around, you've got guys dancing. I seen David worked on his dance steps a little bit. You've got Mad Dog. I mean, it was just a very exciting moment to see everybody happy like that, and just to see everybody loose and loving doing their job, job well done for all of us.
Q. Mack, what do you say to the people back home in Austin, Texas, watching you live right now about their classy way of showing a celebration last night?
COACH MACK BROWN: Well, I thought that this football team has been classy throughout. I thought, again, SC was gracious in their loss, and I thought our team was very humble and very gracious in winning because of the great respect. It was so funny, at halftime, talk about the adjustments and all that, you make the adjustments on the coaching side, and I think that gets blown out of proportion, you either blitz or plays is on, there's nothing you can do, but at halftime I said to the guys, "Is this not fun?" You fight your whole life to be in the heavyweight boxing match. Isn't this fun? They all start cutting up and giggling, "Isn't this great?" President Bush said this morning, "I nodded off in the 3rd quarter once," and I said, "Yeah, we did, too, but we came back."
We're happy for Austin. We've gotten so many calls and so many emails and text messages and faxes last night from Austin, it was just unbelievable. It will be fun to get back today. I can't wait to see that tower lit. Coach Royal lit that tower three times in '63, '69 and '70, and that is the ultimate goal, and to do it within the rules with class at the University of Texas. But these young guys will light that tower when we get home with a big "1" in the middle.
Q. Who made the decision to go no huddle, and might that ultimately have been the difference in a really, really tight game because they were tired, and for the offensive players, did you ever get tired going no huddle play after play?
COACH MACK BROWN: First, let me say one of the amazing things to me about Vince is he seems like he's tireless because when people chase him for three and a half hours, they give out and he doesn't because he's just such a competitor. It happened last year, happened at Ohio State some. People give out. He's 6'6", 235 and runs real fast and jumps sideways. It's not easy for people to tackle him when they're fresh. I thought SC had a lot of depth and did a tremendous job of substituting, but he'll still wear you down. With a spread offense you've got so many people that can touch the ball, Billy Pittman makes one, Limas Sweed, you go back to a play by Quan Cosby laid in a facemask that's a huge play on 3rd down and 12, Brian Carter catching a crossing route, Ramonce Taylor, we've talked about David, Ramonce makes a counter play for a touchdown run, Jamaal Charles plays really well, and Selvin, one of the Players of the Game because of his ability to block and the things that he did without the ball on top of what we did.
The second part of that is who decided to go no huddle, and that was Greg Davis. The offensive staff talked about it, but Greg Davis deserves all the credit for getting us started last night.
Q. Vince, you nodded your head like you were a bit tired.
VINCE YOUNG: No, I was just talking about the 235. That's the In-and-Out Burger. That's what he's talking about (laughter).
It's a great tempo. We play good at a high tempo. We're going to be tired and we'll be breathing, but we'll still get out there. To see them guys and we get out there real quickly and get the ball, that makes the game much easier.
COACH MACK BROWN: Our guys work on that every day at practice, so that's part of our conditioning during practice.
Q. Vince, during the season you've never been shy about saying how good you felt your teammates and your club was. At any point during the season did it become difficult for you to take a look at the name Texas and see the number two in front of it, or was it always okay for you guys to be No. 2 as long as Southern Cal was No. 1?
VINCE YOUNG: Biggest thing with us, Coach Brown, he preaches all the time, we don't care about rankings because any team can lose any day. We were just prepared to play. That's what we did, every week, from losing at Lafayette all the way to this point where we are today. The guys and everybody got on the path, man. That's what we did, worked hard to get to this point. When you've got everybody on the same page, you're going to have a great football team.

End of FastScripts...

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