I've been around BON since the beginning, through the various highs and lows, and Thursday's night game was one I'll always remember.

Thanks to a last-minute ticket I was able to get, I flew out to Los Angeles on Wednesday with a buddy of mine to attend the game.  It will easily go down as the most unforgettable sports experience of my life.

The Rose Bowl lives up to all the hype.  That is truly a unique gameday experience.  Add in the implications of the game and the fact that Texas was there, and you can't help but get emotional when you sing The Eyes, or watch parachutists land on the field, or watch a flyover after the national anthem.

When Colt got hurt, it was very deflating.  As high as I had gotten leading up to the game, the air was just sucked out of the entire Texas side.  I and everyone else around me were scrambling to try to text people we knew back home watching the game for news on his status.  My wife, my brother, my friend's dad...I felt like I was watching the phone more than the game.

At halftime, things couldn't have looked bleaker.

But the defense continued to play well, and the offense was showing signs of life.  Garrett Gilbert displayed a great sense of pocket presence and was looking more and more poised and confident as the second half went along.  Then he hits Shipley in the middle of the field for the first touchdown, and you feel it turning it into a game.  The defense stops again and here we are in the fourth quarter moving the ball down the field...

...and then the reason I can't stand most Texas fans rears its ugly head.  We run two running plays on first and second downs, and the crowd around me starts booing.  Booing!?!?!?!  We're in the National Championship Game with a true freshman quarterback, we're moving the ball, trying to bring the game within one score after things looked hopeless, and we're going to boo.  I was livid.  People bitching about Greg Davis, who had a great game plan going in, was forced to scrap it, and come up with something new for Gilbert, and did an amazing job.  But we run two times in a row, and every clueless armchair offensive coordinator in the stands decides it's a good idea to boo our team in the fourth quarter as we are fighting our way back in a game we should have had no chance of winning.

The second touchdown to Shipley was an amazing experience.  And I thought we were going to drive the ball 93 yards for a winning score.  We had to. 

Oh well, things didn't quite work out.  But I can't remember ever coming away from any loss as content and satisfied and excited as I did that night.  I've never been prouder of a Texas team and I've never been prouder to be a Texas fan.  That team showed tremendous heart and left everything they had on the field.  It was a performance that will stay with me as long as I live.  I could barely get the words out to The Eyes of Texas after the game.  I felt terrible for Colt, whose excellent career at Texas wasn't allowed a proper finish.

Mack Brown, Greg Davis, Will Muschamp, and the rest of the staff deserve nothing but praise for that game, and I hope that once the sting of the loss leaves this team and these players, that they are able to look back on that night and recognize the great performance they gave.

I love this team.  Hook 'em Horns!

With Fulmer done at the end of the season with Tennessee, who will replace him?

If I were Tennessee,  I would absolutely covet Mike Leach.  He's had offensive success in the SEC before at Kentucky.  Possible recruiting inroads into Texas.  And he has never been more highly regarded than he is this year.

The bigger question is whether he would leave Lubbock.  With Harrell and Crabtree gone after this year, this would be the perfect time to do it, I think.

Anyone here at the Wilco show last night at Stubb's?  Probably the best I've seen them, and the varied setlists they have been trotting out have been incredible...pulling equally from all of their albums and reworking some of the older classics.

I had to drive back to Fort Worth after the show, so I'll be missing their second performance tonight.  I would highly suggest to anyone that they try to find tickets.

Robert Killebrew just might be the worst Longhorn in the history of Texas football.  He's clueless out there on the field.  And on those rare occasions when he's actually in position to make a tackle, he lunges at the guy, makes a weak attempt at an arm tackle, and then falls down as if he's given some kind of effort.  It's embarrassing, and it's frustrating when watching him during the game.

I've never seen a linebacker try so hard to avoid hitting anyone and then compound it with having no idea where to go on the field.

Charean Williams has a good article on Vince in today's Star-Telegram.  It's amazing how, even now, everything I read about VY still impresses me.  I'm just a little worried about his season this year, though, because: a) I really want him to succeed, and b) the expectations are so high for him while his team just isn't that good.

And I remain completely unconvinced that either of those teams would survive any other major conference without at least 2 losses.

I know they have to because of tonight's game and then next Thursday's game, but can ESPN get off the Big East bandwagon.  That conference still sucks.  I wouldn't care if every team was undefeated.

When was the last time we were an underdog at home?

With Vince leaving and Ohio State likely to be in the top 2 or 3 (possibly even #1) in the polls coming into that game, will that make Texas an underdog?

I don't remember - was Nebraska and/or Kansas State favored in 1999?  That would be the most recent I can think of.

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I don't know about any of you, but all this talk about class, respect, running up the score, etc. is making me sick.

"Scoring 70 points is just classless. A blocked punt with 10 minutes left in the third?  A hard tackle that knocked out Klatt with the game in hand?  Mack should have called off the dogs midway through the second quarter.  They should have just punted on first down every possession."

"(Gasp!!!) Rodrique Wright said he wanted to dominate in the Rose Bowl???  How dare he?  Doesn't he know how good USC is?  Shouldn't he show some respect to the mighty Trojans, the best football team in the history of the world?"

"Vince said he's more of a leader than Reggie.  That's disrespectful to Reggie.  Doesn't he know that Reggie Bush is the greatest running back in the history of football?"

"How can you say that Matt Leinart isn't more clutch than Vince?  Didn't you see that 4th-and-9 at Notre Dame?  That's just not showing enough respect towards Leinart."

Obviously, I'm paraphrasing here, but I've heard and read these sentiments all over the place and all I have to say is - really...who gives a shit?

This is college football, not the Paris Peace Talks.  Why must we tiptoe around all this?  Let's add some color to all of this.  I want Vince to say he's going to throw it all over the USC secondary.  I want Reggie to say he's going to run through the Texas defense as if it didn't exist.

And God forbid that internet bloggers should talk trash.  Has everyone's skin gotten so thin that nobody can take a joke?

Let's liven it up a little.