As Young Leaves for NFL, Season’s Real Winners Emerge

After 28 games and cliches too numerous to count, the 2005 college bowl season is now complete. Texas was the victor and USC the vanquished in a Rose Bowl that will rank with the greatest games ever played, but what about the sport as a whole? Here’s a look at some of the winners and losers of the departed bowl season:WINNERS1. VINCE YOUNG Yes, Young is an obvious choice to top this list, but his performance in the Rose Bowl deserves still another look. The numbers read like something out of a video game: 30-of-40 passing for 267 yards, with no interceptions or sacks, and 200 yards rushing on 19 carries with three touchdowns. Oh, and he brought his team back from a two-score deficit in the final minutes (for the second straight Rose Bowl), and scored the winning touchdown on fourth down.Young’s performance was not just one for the college football ages, it could have a major impact on the upcoming NFL draft. Before the Rose Bowl, the 6-foot-5-inch, 233-pound Young said he planned to return for his senior season and USC’s Reggie Bush was one of the safest bets ever to be taken first overall.But yesterday, with the entire NFL spastically whispering Young’s name, the Houston native officially announced his eligibility for the draft – and the Texans own the first pick. You do the math. Yes, Young has a quirky throwing motion, but his athletic ability is unparalleled, perhaps even by Bush or Michael Vick. The Texans are already facing a decision on the future of franchise quarterback David Carr. Retailers better pre-emptively stock up on no. 10 Texan jerseys.2. THE BCS The much-maligned Bowl Championship Series put on perhaps its best-ever four-game slate, capped by an over-hyped Rose Bowl that still managed to exceed expectations. Ratings records were set. Even the ugly-duckling matchups – West Virginia-Georgia in the Sugar and Florida State-Penn State in the Orange – worked out as the Mountaineers stunned Georgia and four-loss Florida State gave 10-1 Penn State all it could handle. None of this is good news for the people who annually root for the BCS to go down in flames so that a playoff system can rise from the ashes.3. THE BIG 12 Texas’s conference was supposed to be a joke, especially the weak-sister North Division. But the Big 12 went 6-2 in bowls, best record of all 11 Division 1-A conferences. In addition to the Longhorns’ Rose Bowl triumph, Oklahoma stunned 10-1 Oregon in the Holiday Bowl and Nebraska upset Michigan in the Alamo Bowl.4. KEITH JACKSON The esteemed ABC announcer may well have called his final game in the Rose Bowl, and if so, what a way to go out. True, Jackson is not as sharp as he once was, but he is the voice of college football and that Southern drawl is still smooth as silk. As a poster on one college football blog wrote, Jackson “could read the yellow pages for two hours, and I’d listen the whole time. He just sounds like college football.” Amen.LOSERS1. REGGIE BUSH/MATT LEINART It’s conceivable that if both Bush and Young declare for the NFL draft (Bush’s decision to go pro is thought to be a foregone conclusion), Young could be selected first overall, which would be an upset of Douglas-Tyson proportions based on pre-bowl season expectations.Leinart, who was brilliant in the second half of the Rose Bowl, likely did nothing to hurt his draft stock. What hurt his stock was returning to school for his senior season. He was a lock to go first overall last year, but could fall to third or lower this year, costing him millions.2. PEOPLE WITH DAY JOBS Look, I love college football as much as anyone, but the length of these games is ridiculous, capped by a near five-hour Orange Bowl as Penn State beat Florida State in triple overtime. Incoming BCS coordinator Mike Slive says he hopes the games can start earlier next year, but start times are not the problem. The NCAA needs to implement rule changes to shorten games, such as not stopping the clock on first downs except in the final minutes of each half. The only thing more laughable than the term “student-athlete” is that the official broadcast window for a college football game is 3 1/2 hours.3. THE SEC It was a tough year for the conference often considered the nation’s best. A year after undefeated Auburn was denied a berth in the BCS title game, the Tigers were trampled by Wisconsin, one of a pair of stunning bowl losses for the conference. SEC champion Georgia was beaten by the pride of the Big East, West Virginia, in the Sugar Bowl.4. TEXAS-AREA RATINGS FOR ESPNThe “Worldwide Leader” didn’t win any friends in the Lone Star State with its weeklong series on whether the 2005 Trojans were the greatest team in history. That was followed by College Gameday’s Lee Corso all but pleading with Young to turn pro after the Rose Bowl. None of this can be good for the network’s ratings deepinthehearta.Mr. Levine is a regular writer for FootballOutsiders.com.

As Young Leaves for NFL, Season’s Real Winners Emerge

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