2006 Rose Bowl - Pre-game Buildup

Pre-game Buildup

Southern California entered the game with a 34-game on-field winning streak, then the longest active streak in Division I-A, having been named 2003 AP National Champions by the Associated Press. (Many of those wins have since been vacated due to NCAA sanctions surrounding illegal benefits given to USC's Reggie Bush.) Texas brought the second-longest active streak, having won 19 straight games, and also entered as Rose Bowl defending champion, having defeated Michigan in the 2005 Rose Bowl. Their combined 53-game win streak was an NCAA record for teams playing each other. The game was also the first to have matched teams ranked first and second in every iteration of the BCS standings. This was Texas's second trip to the Rose Bowl in two years (and second trip in the history of UT football).

A few weeks before the game, USC's Reggie Bush won the Heisman Trophy (since vacated in 2010) ahead of second-place finisher Vince Young. Bush had the second highest number of first place votes in Heisman history (O.J. Simpson) and the highest percentage of first place votes, while Young had a record number of second place votes. Bush's 933-point margin of victory was the 17th highest in the history of the Heisman voting. The other finalist was USC's Matt Leinart, who had won the Heisman trophy in 2004. This meant that the Rose Bowl would mark the first time that two past winners of the Heisman trophy had ever played in the same backfield.

The 2006 Rose Bowl was, in the eyes of many, the most-anticipated matchup in college football history. Both teams were considered to be good enough to win the National Championship had they existed in different years instead of having to play each other. USC had been ranked No. 1 since the preseason and Texas had held the No. 2 spot that entire time. Prior to the game, some commentators had postulated that the 2005 USC team was one of the greatest college football teams of all time. ESPN analysts were virtually unanimous in their declaration of the 2005 USC Trojans as the best offense in the history of college football, despite the fact that they did not lead the nation in points scored (Texas did). Lee Corso was one of the rare analysts who said that Texas was a better team and that they were going to win. ESPN analysts Mark May and Kirk Herbstreit declared, before the 2006 Rose Bowl had even been played, that the 2005 USC Trojans were the second best college football team of the past 50 years (May placed them behind only the 1995 Nebraska Cornhuskers; Herbstreit behind only the 2001 Miami Hurricanes). This led to Texas fans at the Rose Bowl mockingly chanting "Best...Team...Ever" during the post-game celebration. Stewart Mandel of Sports Illustrated later observed, "ESPN spent the better part of Christmas season comparing that Trojans squad to some of the most acclaimed teams of all time only to find out that they weren’t even the best team that season."