Texas Football: Mack Brown remembers talking with Leinart, Bush at 2006 Rose Bowl

The 2006 Rose Bowl game saw head coach Mack Brown and the Texas football program edge the USC Trojans, but both sides were good sports.

The 2006 Rose Bowl will live on in the lore of the Texas football program as maybe the greatest game in its 118-year history. Texas knocked off the No. 1 ranked juggernaut that was head coach Pete Carroll and the reigning National Champion USC Trojans to win that Rose Bowl and, in effect, the BCS National Championship.

Former Texas superstar quarterback Vince Young was able to take that elusive final drive to get the Longhorns the game-winning touchdown in the dying seconds of the fourth quarter. Texas won the game by the final score of 41-38. VY was actually the game’s leading rusher in 2006, with 200 yards and three scores on the ground.

There was compelling look back from former Texas head coach Mack Brown, when he was thinking back on the 2006 Rose Bowl game. On a recent episode of Fox Sports’ Big Noon Kickoff (back on June 18), the crew including former Ohio State and Florida head coach Urban Meyer and USC running back Reggie Bush, took a dive back on the 2006 Rose Bowl.

Mack specifically described how he was able to visit with Bush and former USC star quarterback Matt Leinart after Texas knocked off the Trojans in the 2006 Rose Bowl. Here’s what he had to say on the matter earlier this week (monologue courtesy of 247Sports).

"“It was so crazy on the field,” Brown recalled. “Pete (Carroll) was very, very gracious. He said after the game that you always hate to lose a game, especially like this. But if you’re going to, lose to a great team like Texas. I didn’t see Matt (Leinart) and I didn’t see Reggie (Bush), and I’m in the dressing room talking to the team. Somebody said, ‘Coach, before you start, somebody wants to see you.’ So I went back to the door and it’s Reggie and Matt. They said ‘Coach, we missed you on the field and we just wanted to say congratulations. You have a great team and we did not want to leave tonight without you knowing that.’“At that time, nobody was ready to print that. But it was real, it was true and something I repeat all the time about the class of these young people and how at a very difficult time of their life — they were very professional and very classy. I tell our team that, but every time I tell a story about the national championship game — that’s the way I finish it.”"

The current North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Brown had a really personal take on his brief talks with Bush and Leinart back in early 2006. He makes it a point for his teams to find that class that Leinart and Bush had with the Trojans after they fell short to the Longhorns to cap the 2005 season.

It sounds like he still emphasizes that point, even with the Tar Heels heading into the 2020 season. And he has a talented team to do that with this year. UNC is spearheaded by star sophomore quarterback Sam Howell entering the 2020 season.

Back during the 2005 season, Leinart was one of the nation’s best quarterbacks. He rounded out his last year in college with 3,815 passing yards, 28 passing touchdowns, eight interceptions, and added six rushing touchdowns. Leinart was very solid for the Trojans in the latter three years of his college career, and Brown clearly remembers that way it was all capped off for him in the 2006 Rose Bowl.