Our favorite Texas and USC bloggers debate tonight's game

Anyone who tells you they know what will happen in the Rose Bowl is full of it, but I'm going to pick USC over Texas for several reasons: 1. Vince Young has a tendency to turn the ball over; 2. Texas hasn't faced a balanced offense, let alone a unit half as good as USC's; 3. and the Trojans defense is underrated because of the quality of their opponents.

While everyone is talking X's and O's, myself included, here is how the Rose Bowl would play out if the score were based on each school's extracurricular activities.

Rivalries: Texas has the Red River Shootout and Texas A&M -- both quality games, and I'll award a field goal for each -- but neither holds a candle to the history of USC-Notre Dame or the intimacy of USC's cross-town rivalry with UCLA. Both are touchdowns in my book. Score: USC 14, Texas 6

Celebrity quotient: Texas has Matthew McConaughey, who is good enough to count for a safety. USC's got Snoop, Nick Lachey, Alyssa Milano, George Lucas, Spike Lee and Kirsten Dunst, to name a few. Score: USC 21, Texas 8

Famous alumni: Texas has Ricky Williams and Chris Simms. The Trojans score big with Marcus Allen, Carson Palmer, Lynn Swann and O.J. Simpson. Score: USC 28, Texas 11

Mascots: USC's Traveler circles the field after each Trojans touchdown and his rider lights the Coliseum torch with his sword. Sunrise Studly, a.k.a. "BEVO", simply stands there and takes a crap. Score: USC 35, Texas 11

Cheerleaders: USC's Song Girls have tight sweaters and big breasts. Texas cheerleaders have big hair. Score: USC 42, Texas 14

Campus nightlife: Trojans can celebrate victories at the Nine-oh. If you don't know about this establishment, you're better off. In Austin, you've got all of Sixth Street. TD for Texas. Score: USC 42, Texas 21

Oddly enough, with the exception of Texas possibly scoring a safety -- Oklahoma managed to get one in junk time against USC last year -- the flow of the actual Rose Bowl game and the final score could very well play out like this little experiment in comparing campus traditions.

The Boi from Troy is a devoted USC fan who runs the world renowned Boi from Troy blog.

Let's pretend for a minute that tonight's Rose Bowl is a game of sandlot football played a few miles west of the historic stadium in Pasadena.

There's enough top-shelf talent between Texas and USC to supply NFL teams with first-round picks for the next several years. But if Mack Brown and Pete Carroll had to pick teams the way captains do in the sandlot games the rest of us played while we were growing up, one player would stand alone as the obvious first pick:

Vincent Paul Young, Jr.

Forget what the Heisman voters decided. There's no better player in college football than Young. He can do it all, and touches the ball on every offensive snap.

Take nothing away from Reggie Bush. Everyone has received the memo that he's really good. But he's also a just one of two studs in the USC backfield. Texas has its own stable of talented runners, not that you'd know it from the pregame hype. Unless Bush has wings (if he did, analysts would be comparing him to the best birds of all-time and evaluating how he'd do in a race against a pterodactyl), he still has to run through holes opened by offensive linemen, as other running backs do.

Matt Leinart has the golden arm to complement the twinkle toes we all know he perfected in his ballroom dancing class, plus the I-haven't-shaved-in-a-week-glad-you-noticed beard-like growth that must be all the rage in L.A.

Traditional football clichés can be used to break down this game, such as defense wins championships, whoever wins the turnover battle will win the game, special teams will be key, players have to be able to handle the pressure, and to be the man, you gotta beat the man.

Okay, so that last one is stolen from Ric Flair, but you get the idea.

But here's the fundamental belief of the Burnt Orange Nation: In Vince We Trust.

With the game, season, and national championship on the line, Texas fans everywhere want the football in number 10's hands. He's a once-in-a-generation player, the kind that everyone who saw him play during the last three years can't wait to tell their kids about.

The Trojans, like everyone else who played Texas this season, have no answer for Young.

In the end, that will prove to be the difference as the Longhorns win their second consecutive Rose Bowl and fourth national championship.

Travis Richmond is a proud member of Burnt Orange Nation. He even runs a Longhorn blog that every Texas fan should check out.