I was 5 years old when Vince Young ran the football into the end zone with 19 seconds left on the clock to defeat the USC Trojans and secure the BCS National Championship for the Texas Longhorns, and I still remember that moment like it was yesterday.
That is a moment that will live in Texas history for the rest of time.
However, that game-solidifying and win-cementing play wasn't when Young knew the Horns had the National Championship on lock.
No, he actually knew that USC would lose before either team would even set foot on the field. In fact, he knew it was Texas's game to win nearly a week before kickoff.
On The Stampede, Young's podcast with his National Championship-winning head coach Mack Brown and long-time Austin sports reporter Bob Ballou, the Texas quarterback shared that he had a negative interaction with USC fans the week before the game, and that was when he knew the Longhorns would beat the Trojans.
"Me, Justin Blalock, Lyle Sendlein, Kasey [Studdard], and Selvin [Young] went to T.G.I. Friday in LA... and when I mean USC fans gave us the s---... I said to my boys, 'Hey, let's pay our tab, let's get the hell out of here. Let's go to work,'" Young recounted. "That's when we knew we finna beat the hell out of them."
USC fans gave Vince Young all the fuel he needed to beat the Trojans
"The disrespect that happened at that T.G.I. Friday, with my boys, I was really upset," Young said. "It was already 'respect nature' to USC. They are the best. We wanted to play the best. But when they said, 'Vince Young... [Darnell Bing] is gonna put you in the ambulance...' That's when I was like, 'No more of this... Let's go to work."
Wow. What a history-defining, and possibly changing, moment.
.@VinceYoung10's encounter with USC fans at a TGI Fridays, may have changed college football history. #hookem pic.twitter.com/MBgnmtNn2A
— THE STAMPEDE (@TheStampedeUT) August 16, 2026
Now, none of this is to say that Young and the Horns wouldn't have won the natty had this interaction not happened. However, it certainly gave Texas every extra ounce of motivation needed to ensure there was never going to be a different outcome.
That season, both teams entered the National Championship undefeated, fresh off winning their conference championships. However, USC was No. 1 and Texas was No. 2. The Trojans boasted Heisman-winning running back Reggie Bush, who edged out Young for the trophy. And, the cherry on top, USC had won the National Championship just one year earlier.
Everything was stacked in the Trojans' favor. That was, until those USC fans chose to piss off the wrong Longhorn.
Young finished the game with 267 passing yards (75% completion rate), 200 rushing yards, and three rushing touchdowns. He played flawlessly, and he played angry. He did what he needed to do to prove those Trojans wrong.
Oh, and Bing? The guy who was supposed to put Young in an ambulance? He finished the game with zero sacks and zero interceptions.
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