National Championship thread - USC / Texas

[ochre]

Were they bad calls? I want to hear you all admit it. That's all I'm asking.

There were bad calls both ways. Much like any game.

[Playadlc]

Watching Tuesday and Wednesday nite's games brought to mind the old saying. Fans may enjoy watching defense (Tuesday) but it's offense (wednesday) that wins championships.

Right?

[RBA]

It's shaping up to be a big draft this year. Any chance the Raiders maybe able to nab one of these guys at Number 6?

2006 NFL First Round Draft Order

1. Houston Texans
2. New Orleans Saints
3. Tennessee Titans
4. New York Jets
5. Green Bay Packers
6. Oakland Raiders #
7. San Francisco 49ers #
8. Buffalo Bills
9. Detroit Lions
10. Arizona Cardinals
11. St. Louis Rams
12. Cleveland Browns
13. Baltimore Ravens
14. Philadelphia Eagles
15. Atlanta Falcons
16. Miami Dolphins
17. Minnesota Vikings
18. Dallas Cowboys
19. San Diego Chargers
20. Kansas City Chiefs
21. New England Patriots *
22. Washington Redskins *
23. Carolina Panthers *
24. Tampa Bay Buccaneers *
25. Chicago Bears *
26. Cincinnati Bengals *
27. New York Giants *
28. Pittsburgh Steelers *
29. Jacksonville Jaguars *
30. Seattle Seahawks *
31. Denver Broncos *
32. Indianapolis Colts *

* - Subject to playoffs
# - Subject to coin flip

[KittyDuran]

I, too, am OK with Texas winning, I think.

Mack Brown left Tulane to find a better gig -- curse him for being "career minded" as a coach.

But, Chris Simms went to Texas, so it can't be THAT bad of a school.

But Dunn is happy! (with Texas winning...)

[Johnny Footstool]

But Dunn is happy! (with Texas winning...)

Good point! Now's the time to sign him to a long-term deal!

[Blimpie]

It's shaping up to be a big draft this year. Any chance the Raiders maybe able to nab one of these guys at Number 6?

It is quite possible that the first 6 picks in the NFL Draft were all playing on the same field last night. Apologies to the LB from Penn State (name?) who had like 104 tackles versus FSU the other night. Other than the PSU Linebacker Dude--I can see Bush, Young, Leinart, White and Jarrett all being among the first few taken...by any team that finds itself fortunate enough to be picking.

[ochre]

It is quite possible that the first 6 picks in the NFL Draft were all playing on the same field last night. Apologies to the LB from Penn State (name?) who had like 104 tackles versus FSU the other night. Other than the PSU Linebacker Dude--I can see Bush, Young, Leinart, White and Jarrett all being among the first few taken...by any team that finds itself fortunate enough to be picking.

Jarrett's going to go Clarice style? Three years after high school class graduated is the rule. Jarrett's a true sophmore I think.

I'm not sure that Young, or Leinart are the best pro prospect QBs that will be in this draft.

[OnBaseMachine]

I think VY will dissapoint in the NFL. He's just not a great thrower and NFL scouts seem to agree. Article below:

What a tremendous game played Wednesday night between the Texas Longhorns and USC Trojans.

As much as it was a dream game for fans, it was a dream game for NFL personnel men.

And after checking in with a few of them who carry some pretty impressive credentials, you may be surprised that a great performance by Texas quarterback Vince Young does not necessarily leave NFL teams drooling over his eventual arrival into the NFL. The same goes for USC quarterback Matt Leinart.

Samplings:

• "I'd still take Leinart over Young as an NFL quarterback, but Leinart is not a franchise guy in the traditional sense. He's not John Elway, Dan Marino, Peyton Manning or Carson Palmer. Now, really, there aren't a lot of those guys anyway. Alex Smith sure wasn't. When [Texas] blanketed the USC receivers, especially early in the game, you got a glimpse of what the NFL is like. The windows are a lot tighter. Leinart struggled with those. But give the USC coaches credit -- they adjusted and managed to put up, what, over 500 yards against a pretty talented Texas defense?"


Young
• "Young is a great competitor, that's the thing you have to like about him. But be careful about his athleticism. It's a great attribute but he doesn't have Michael Vick's suddenness. He's got real good speed, but it's not world-class speed, and you see what eventually happens to the guys in this league -- they get beat up and they slow down. He is strong for a fairly lean guy. And you have to like his size. But if you do the film cut-ups on just his throws from last night's game, you're going to be fairly unimpressed."

• "Leinart's clearly a bright guy. He's got better feet than most people talk about. His arm strength is average. He doesn't throw as many pure spirals as you would like. But he's a big guy, he's played a lot of football in a pro-style offense and he's had a lot of success. He's not going to carry a franchise on his back, but if you put talent around him, he's going to be a good quarterback in the NFL. And let's face it, we need more good quarterbacks."

• "If Young's performance did anything, it made a case that he should have won the Heisman, not [Reggie] Bush. But that was splitting hairs. That's not a very good USC defense he faced -- didn't Fresno State put up 40 on them? What I like about Young is that he's gotten better every year as far as throwing the football. He does spin it a lot better than he did before. Arm strength, like Leinart, pretty marginal. He won't have the same success running the ball in the NFL, not even close. But he's a leader, he'll generate some excitement, and then he'll get ripped [by the media and fans] when he doesn't dazzle in the NFL like people think. Still, if I were him, I'd probably come out. He needs a lot of work and he might as well start getting it now."

As for Bush, he still projects as the probable No. 1 pick in April's draft by the Houston Texans.

"He still did enough Superman stunts to make you say, 'Wow,'" said one personnel man. "There aren't many players who make you go, 'Wow,' so he's got tremendous value to a team. Maybe he's not a 4.2 guy [in the 4 but he's got plenty of juice."

Now, USC running back LenDale White had all these guys pretty excited.

"That's an NFL back," said one scout. "He's 220 pounds-plus and he will be a big-timer in our league. He won't dazzle, but he's the type of guy with the right team who can win a rushing title and score a lot of touchdowns."

[OnBaseMachine]

Mel Kiper just said that every starter for USC last night will play in the NFL one day. He said atleast 25 of their juniors and seniors will play in the NFL.

A month back or so Foxsports wrote an article and stated that atleast 40 on the SC team would someday play in the NFL. That's stunning.

Pete Carroll has done an amazing thing at USC. A couple boneheaded mistakes away from having three straight National Championships. USC will be back though. They have two great quarterbacks ready to step in for Leinart- John David Booty and Mark Sanchez. Booty was the #1 rated QB in 2003. I read articles on Sanchez last year while he was being recruiting and remember reading that scouts thought Sanchez was the best high school QB ever recruited.

[ochre]

[OnBaseMachine]

Except USC won it back to back in 2003 and 2004. Even the BCS website recognizes that USC won half of it in 2003.

[KronoRed]

That's 1 1/2 pete then