Young made an impression in national championship game

I planned to write about college football's national championship game in last week's column, but ran out of space.

But, even a week late, that contest was simply too good for me not to talk about.

Wow!

That's the first thing I have to say about what transpired when Texas met USC in the Rose Bowl.

Let me repeat -- wow!

Simply put, the Longhorns' 41-38 victory over the Trojans was a game for the ages, no doubt one of the best in college football history -- and Texas quarterback Vince Young had a performance for the ages, also no doubt among the best in college football history.

Has somebody ever played better on such a big stage -- regardless of the sport -- than Young did in piling up 467 yards of total offense and leading a comeback from a 38-26 deficit? Maybe not.

Young was simply sensational, and I was hardly surprised when a few days later the junior announced his decision to bolt for the NFL.

Young's stock will likely never be higher than it is right now. He went from being a possible top 10 pick to an almost certain top three selection, with him, USC tailback Reggie Busch and USC quarterback Matt Leinart generally regarded as the cream of the draft crop, although not necessarily in that order.

Back to the game itself. Most of the time, when a contest is hyped like Texas versus USC was, there is no way it can live up to that billing.

This one did -- and then some.

Let me say it one more time -- wow!

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A couple more thoughts on the Rose Bowl:

First, regarding USC coach Pete Carroll's decision to go for it on fourth-and-2 from the Texas 45 with a little more than 2 minutes remaining and the Trojans up 38-33: Carroll took some heat because USC was stopped short of the first down, but I would have definitely done the same thing. There is no way I would concede giving the ball back to Texas, when another first down would have put the Longhorns in serious trouble.

The way Young moved Texas on the previous drive, and the way he sliced up USC's defense most of the night, I don't think it would have mattered where the Longhorns started their final possession. Young was simply not going to be denied in leading Texas to a go-ahead touchdown.

Second, I'm happy for Texas coach Mack Brown. He seems like a really personable, classy guy and he's had all kinds of success at Texas, but he's taken plenty of grief over the years for some of the Longhorns' failures in so-called big games, especially getting drubbed by archrival Oklahoma so many times.

Now Brown finally has the national championship that will cement his place in Texas football history.

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It maybe didn't rank high on a national scale among bowl games, but that was a nice win for Missouri as the Tigers rallied to beat South Carolina 38-31 in the Independence Bowl.

The Tigers were able to finish with a winning record of 7-5, which certainly sounds a lot better than 6-6 -- and probably looks a lot better in the eyes of potential recruits, as does a bowl win.

Now we'll see if that triumph can help jump-start the Tigers into being a consistently successful program.

Missouri certainly figures to face its share of challenges next year playing without standout quarterback Brad Smith, who will unquestionably go down as one of the top players in school history -- and he was also apparently a real class act.

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Turning to college basketball -- I talk about Southeast Missouri State all the time, so I'll give you guys a break from that this week -- there are a few interesting regional story lines developing.

First, although there is a long way to go, Missouri recently took some major steps in having the kind of season that will probably be needed to save coach Quin Snyder's job.

The way the Tigers didn't exactly roll through a weak nonconference schedule, there appeared to be little hope for success once Big 12 play began.

But after beating rebuilding Oklahoma State in their Big 12 opener at home, the Tigers stunned the nation by winning at No. 22 Oklahoma.

Second, as fickle as Kentucky fans are, I wouldn't be surprised if many of them are on the verge of suicide these days with the way the Wildcats are struggling.

Entering play Saturday, the Wildcats already had five losses -- that's sometimes more than a season's worth -- and they had long fallen out of the national rankings. That's a serious slump in the Bluegrass State.

Third, when Southern Illinois started slowly, quite a few people thought the Salukis' impressive run of big seasons would come to a crashing halt.

Think again. The Salukis carried a 10-game winning streak into Saturday's contest at Drake, and they entered that matchup as the Missouri Valley Conference's only squad without a league loss.

SIU also entered play Saturday with a nation's best 31-game home winning streak.

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Even though we're right in the middle of basketball season, it's not too early to start thinking baseball -- specifically Southeast baseball.

The Redhawks start practice Tuesday as they begin preparations for a season that is one month away from opening.

Southeast plays its first game Feb. 15 at Arkansas State, with the home opener Feb. 25 against Jackson State.

While coach Mark Hogan's Redhawks aren't facing the overload of nationally ranked teams that dotted recent schedules, it's still quite an attractive slate with 32 of 56 scheduled games at home.

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Last week, I remarked about how I couldn't believe the Notre Dame High School boys basketball team was not ranked in the state poll.

The Bulldogs checked in at No. 5 in the most recent Class 4 rankings -- then promptly lost just their second game of the season.

In what was apparently quite a thrilling battle in front of a packed house at Notre Dame -- unfortunately, I was stuck in the office taking calls and couldn't watch it -- Jackson rallied from a big early deficit to prevail 69-66.

The Indians, who are having quite an impressive season in their own right, avenged their setback to the Bulldogs in the championship of the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament.

~ Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.