Texas' Young left crowd spellbound, USC in his wake

	Texas' Mr. Everything, Vince Young, scored three touchdowns, a two-point conversion and had 467 yards of total offense. John Biever/SI
	Texas 41, USC 38 Run to Glory By Stewart Mandel Texas' national-championship night in Pasadena belonged solely to the amazing, unstoppable Vince Young. Destined to End By John Walters The Trojans were chasing a historic three-peat, but the Law of Entropy finally caught up with them. The Bowl Blog By Arash Markazi While USC's players and coaches may have been in shock, the way their streak ended was far from surprising. Running Diary By Pete McEntegart Scoping out celebrities, the USC Song Girls, and a blow-by-blow account from the press box in Pasadena. More from SI.com Photo Gallery: The Best of the Rose Bowl Stewart Mandel's Final AP Top 25 ballot Game Box Score | Full Play-by-Play * SI pushed its magazine deadline back this week to include coverage of the Rose Bowl; some subscription delivery will be affected. Complete SI.com Bowls Coverage

PASADENA, Calif. -- He'd spent the entire night in a world all his own, so it was only fitting that Vince Young would spend these, the first seconds of a well-deserved celebration, by himself.

As the clock struck 0:00 and a mob of jubilant burnt-orange bodies bobbed and skipped all across the Rose Bowl field Wednesday night, Texas' quarterback stood alone on an equipment locker, one arm raised in triumph, letting a stream of multi-colored confetti rain down on his head like a soothing shower.

What, by chance, was going through Young's head in those first few seconds after completing one of the greatest individual performances in college football history and leading his team to a 41-38, national championship-clinching victory over USC, the reigning darlings of the sport?

"Oh man," he said to himself. "It's over."

The rest of us didn't necessarily want it to be over. If the Longhorns and Trojans had decided to go another four quarters Wednesday night, we would have watched with as much awe and suspense as we did nearly every play of this unforgettable, back-and-forth slugfest. We'd want to keep watching each team take the other's best blow, only to come back with one of its own. We'd want to see which Texas defender would be the next recipient of one of LenDale White's punishing stiff-arms, or just how high Dwayne Jarrett would leap to haul in his next picturesque touchdown pass from Matt Leinart.

But mostly, we'd want to just keep being mesmerized by the one guy in white who could do no wrong. The guy who, when asked with 26 seconds left to deliver one final, do-or-die play for the national championship -- having already run for 191 yards and thrown for another 267 -- calmly took the snap on fourth-and-5, checked off three different receivers, then glided nine yards into the end zone for his school's most important touchdown in 35 years.

"Without question," said Trojans coach Pete Carroll, "that was the best [performance] I've seen by one guy."

USC, the team that always finds a way, couldn't find a way to stop Vince Young. From the time he danced and weaved his way to a 15-yard gain on the 'Horns' second series, then, on the very next play, stood tall in the pocket and completed a 13-yard dart to Billy Pittman, it was clear the Heisman runner-up would be playing second fiddle to nobody on this night. He completed 30 of 40 passes, many of them coming on his second or third read. He ran 19 times for 200 yards, many of those after the intended play broke down.

"It's extremely frustrating," said Carroll, "when you know what the problem is, and you can't do anything about it."

For much of the contest, Texas couldn't do anything about the Trojans' offensive stars, either. After Young staked his team to a 16-7 lead late in the first half -- a margin that might have been larger if not for a series of self-inflicted wounds by the other 'Horns (three first-half fumbles, two of them killing what had been promising drives), USC drove for a field goal before intermission, then scored touchdowns on its first four drives after halftime. Time and again, White gashed through the heart of Texas' defense to the tune of 124 yards. Leinart, that "other" star quarterback, went to town on the 'Horns' previously stingy secondary, throwing for 365 yards. Heisman winner Reggie Bush, held in check much of the first three quarters (when he wasn't hurting himself with an ill-advised lateral-turned-fumble), burst for a 26-yard touchdown early in the fourth.