After The Game
As had occurred the two seasons prior when Oklahoma won the Red River Shootout en route to a national title game, the road to the 2005 National Championship game went through Dallas. This time it was Texas who eventually finished the season of 2005–2006 as the only undefeated team, winning both the Big 12 Conference championship and the National Championship.
The Longhorns' penultimate victory of the season, in the Big 12 Championship Game, featured the biggest margin of victory in the history of that contest. Their ultimate victory in the 2006 Rose Bowl against the University of Southern California Trojans for the national championship, as well as their overall season, have both been cited as standing among the greatest performances in college football history by publications such as College Football News, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Scout.com, and Sports Illustrated. The Longhorns and the Trojans were together awarded the 2006 ESPY Award by ESPN for the "Best Game" in any sport. The Longhorns finished the season as the only unbeaten team, with 13 wins and zero losses overall.
The season gave Texas its second Big 12 football championship (27 conference championships total, including 25 in the Southwest Conference), and fourth consensus national championship in football. It was the ninth perfect season in the history of Longhorn football.
UT set numerous school and NCAA records, including most points scored in a season (652). After the season ended, six Longhorns from this championship team were selected by professional football teams in the 2006 NFL Draft. With Texas going on to Pasadena to cap the 2005 season by playing for a national title, four of the last six Red River Shootouts have featured a team that went on to play in the Bowl Championship Series National Championship Game (2000, 2003–5).
Just prior to the start of Oklahoma's 2006 season, Rhett Bomar was kicked off the team for accepting improper cash contributions. On July 11, 2007, the NCAA announced a finding of "failure to monitor" the employment of student athletes and handed out penalties. These included a verdict that all wins from the 2005 OU season were vacated, changing the team's record from 8–4 to 0–4 for that year. The University of Oklahoma has announced that it will appeal the finding and the vacation of the wins from the 2005 season.
Read more about this topic: 2005 Oklahoma Vs. Texas Football Game
Famous quotes containing the word game:
“One of life’s primal situations; the game of hide and seek. Oh, the delicious thrill of hiding while the others come looking for you, the delicious terror of being discovered, but what panic when, after a long search, the others abandon you! You mustn’t hide too well. You mustn’t be too good at the game. The player must never be bigger than the game itself.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)