NCAA Football 06: 2005 Texas football season re-simulation Week 1

Week 1 of our re-simulation of the 2005 season for the Texas football program on NCAA Football 06 comes against Louisiana.

The novel coronavirus pandemic has effectively shut the sports world down at the moment. Texas football fans have to do something to pass the time, and looking back to what happened during that magical 2005 season is a great way to bring back fond memories. Texas won the 2005 national title by taking down the USC Trojans in the 2006 Rose Bowl.

Now, we look back on what could’ve happened during the 2005 season for the Texas Longhorns football program on a true classic video game from the 2000’s. EA Sports’ NCAA Football 06 was one of the best video games of its genre and it featured the preseason No. 6 Longhorns with their most recent title winning roster.

The NCAA Football 06 simulation started with the actual selection of the team and the preseason accolades. Texas was one of the more talented teams in 2005, but wouldn’t even be selected as the preseason favorite to win the Big 12 Championship.

The preseason Big 12 votes had the Oklahoma Sooners picked to win the conference over the Longhorns and Texas Tech Red Raiders. The rival Texas A&M Aggies and former Big 12 foe Colorado Buffaloes were picked to round out the top five in the conference in 2005.

The preseason Heisman Watch had star Texas quarterback Vince Young as one of the top five candidates. The other four included USC quarterback Matt Leinart, Oklahoma running back Adrian Peterson, USC running back Reggie Bush, and Ohio State Buckeyes wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr.

In reality, that would be a pretty good preseason Heisman Watch. Three of the top four preseason candidates would wind up being Heisman finalists in 2005.

However, fast forward to Week 1, and the Longhorns are taking on the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns. This appears to be a pretty lopsided matchup on paper, but Texas would need to get started on the right foot.

Texas would get off to a rather slow start, with a VY rushing touchdown getting them ahead in the first quarter. But a ULL field goal would draw the lead back within four points. Although, Louisiana would get no closer for the rest of the game. The defense started to lock down, and VY took over with his legs in the second quarter. Texas would win the second quarter to a tune of 28-3.

In the second half, the Longhorns would run away even further with the lead. VY continued to lead the way with his legs. Texas would even get to toss backup quarterback Matt Nordgren in the second half, and he would have a passing touchdown. Safety Matt Melton would also get a key interception in the third quarter to put Louisiana away for good.

In the end, Louisiana wouldn’t be able to hang at all as the Texas offense would run away with a convincing 63-24 victory. VY was the Player of the Game for the Longhorns side, with more than 200 total yards and three touchdowns, and no turnovers. Louisiana quarterback Jerry Babb would toss two scores and get more than 270 passing yards. That is weird since he would only have just over 800 passing yards and three touchdowns during the entirety of his 2005 season.

Texas would hold steady with the No. 6 ranking in the Week 2 version of the Coaches Poll. But the Media Poll would slide the Longhorns all the way up to No. 2, behind USC. The Longhorns jumped past the Tennessee Volunteers to get behind USC at No. 2 in the Media Poll.

Up next for the Longhorns will be one of the absolutely most difficult opponents of the 2005 season, Ted Ginn and Ohio State on the road. Texas carries a record of 1-0 into that game, after taking down Louisiana in the season opener.