It's not that surprising that Texas took home the national championship this season. The Longhorns were a great team. What is amazing is that 35 years went by since Texas last climbed to the top of the college football mountain. At last, the biggest school in a state that s more crazy about football than any other will be ranked first in the final polls after such a long hiatus. It's been long overdue.

 Too hot to handle.

The Longhorns proved they were the better team, but a major error by the referees helped them secure the title. On the drive following USC's last score, a Texas receiver caught a pass and went out-of-bounds with approximately 6:20 left in the game. The clock continued to run, and 30 seconds elapsed. At the time, it appeared that the Longhorns would suffer as they tried to make a comeback. But, when Young strolled into the end zone to give the Texas a 41-38 lead with 19 seconds left in regulation, USC ended up paying the price for the clock error.

With no timeouts, Trojans' quarterback Matt Leinart had to get his team in position for a field goal with minimal time left. It did not happen and the Trojans were denied their third consecutive national title. Still, Texas deserved to win the game, despite being the beneficiary of some bad calls by the officials and some questionable decisions by both the USC coaches and players. The Longhorns had Young, after all.  And that is all they really needed. The Trojans had never seen a quarterback like the one they saw last night. They never defended a passer that was so mobile, and it showed.

USC's linebackers were a step slow and could not contain Young, who accumulated 467 yards of total offense. In the Pac-10, USC's defense regularly lines up against pocket passers who work within more traditional offenses. Texas coach Mack Brown and his offensive coordinator Greg Davis have structured their attack in such a way that it allows Young to improvise and turn what appear to be passing plays into big runs. The Trojans were caught off guard.     

But as much as Texas grabbed the game from USC's grasp, the Trojans let a victory slip through their fingers. Perhaps hubris caused the fall of their dynasty. Running back Reggie Bush may have started to believe all the hype about his near superhuman ability until he made that ill-fated lateral attempt in the first half. Pete Carroll may have been too confident in his offense's capabilities when he foregoed a field goal attempt to go for it on fourth down in the first quarter. Leinart was then stuffed on a quarterback sneak.

Flash forward three quarters and Carroll tried to kill Texas' chance for a comeback by going for it again on fourth down. This time he elected to do so inside Texas' 45-yard line, but LenDale White was stopped short of the first down with 2:04 left in the game and no Reggie Bush on the field to make Texas think about how it should align its defense.

Two scoring opportunities and a big chunk of field position were the cumulative losses of these aggressive and perhaps unwise decisions. The same risky calls that gave Carroll a victory over Notre Dame in South Bend earlier this season backfired against Texas in Pasadena on Wednesday night.

That is one of the reasons why Texas was standing on the podium and absorbing the confetti that fell from above when the game was over. In the end, they got the breaks and made USC pay for their mistakes. After 35 years, the Longhorns were glad to win a national championship any way they could. And when it was all said and done the Trojans were happy to help Texas' cause.

For the last few weeks Wednesday's Rose Bowl matchup between USC and Texas has been hyped as one of the most intriguing games of the last 25 years. That has a lot to do with the players involved. Two Heisman Trophy winners and one finalist for the coveted award will be on the field Wednesday, and much has been said about the impact Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush and Vince Young have each made on their teams. But lost amidst all the stars in this battle for the national championship are the two opposing head coaches -- Pete Carroll and Mack Brown, who have both rebuilt national powers that were struggling mightily before they took over.

 The Real Stars

When Brown took over in Austin after the 1997 season, the Longhorns were a long way from contending for a national championship. Texas finished with a 4-7 record that year and hadn't been ranked in the Top 10 at the end of the season since 1990, when David McWilliams was coach and the Longhorns were still in the now-defunct Southwest Conference. USC, meanwhile, wasn't doing much better under the direction of John Robinson and Paul Hackett in the late-1990s. In fact, the Trojans were having greater struggles. During that period, USC had morphed into a mediocre program and never finished with a record better than 8-5 between 1996 and 2001.

Flash forward to 2006 and both Brown and Carroll have transformed Texas and USC into juggernauts. Both coaches have aggressively recruited in their fertile backyards and restored the winning tradition their programs once had by surrounding themselves with capable assistants, putting the ball in the hands of their most talented athletes and making the right calls in crucial situations.

In a game that features so many impact players, coaching decisions will likely prove to be the difference. What defense will Carroll choose to contain Young, who runs the nation's highest scoring offense (51 points per game)? How will Brown focus on stopping USC, which leads the country in total offense by racking up 580 yards per game? Will he focus on Bush and tailback LenDale White or try to limit the effectiveness of Leinart and wide receivers Dwayne Jarrett and Steve Smith? 

Two years ago, it would have been easy to give the edge to Pete Carroll. Carroll, after all, is  a gambler who is confident in his talent. He trusted Leinart to throw a perfect fade pass to Jarrett from the Trojans' 26-yard-line in USC's memorable 34-31 win over Notre Dame earlier this season. And like so many times before, he proved he could win the big game. Mack Brown, on the other hand, had trouble beating ranked teams and rivals before this year, and his conservative game-planning hurt him time and time again.

Between 2000 and 2004, Bob Stoops and Oklahoma repeatedly got the better of Brown and his Longhorns in the Red River Shootout. The Sooners had won five straight games in the rivalry and ruined so many promising seasons for Texas that many Longhorns fans wondered if they would ever see Brown beat Oklahoma again. This year, Texas finally got its revenge and rolled over the Sooners 45-12, allowing Brown to peel the #### off his back. But even by that point, the Texas coach had shown he could get his teams to show up when it counted and began using Young in a way that made Texas nearly impossible to deal with when on offense. It all started at the last Rose Bowl, when the Longhorns outlasted Michigan 38-37 behind Young's remarkable five-touchdown performance. Brown not only got his team to a BCS bowl; he won it. And he did it by opening up his playbook and taking chances, something that both Stoops and Carroll do with great efficacy. 

Coincidentally, those two coaches were in last year's national championship game at the Orange Bowl -- one that USC won 55-19 to claim its second straight national title. Now, 12 months later, Brown and Carroll, who have constructed two of the best offenses in college football history and brought back the winning traditions to their schools, will go toe-to-toe. They may be the forgotten men in this showdown, but ultimately they are the reasons why this national championship game is being played in the first place. Brown has his work cut out for him, but if he follows the lead of Carroll and takes risks during the game Texas could very well be holding the ADT National Champion Trophy by the end of the night.

Bill Snyder knew the inevitable. The coach who transformed Kansas State from a perennial loser into a national power could see the signs. The Big 12 was changing, the recruiting well he tapped was drying up and Manhattan wasn't becoming any more attractive to young college kids. So he announced his retirement. There was no sense sticking around when the ship was sinking, especially after navigating the Wildcats through uncharted territory in the wake of so many abominable years.

 Got out in time.

Courtesy Kstatefootball.com

The Wildcats, who used to play regularly in late December or early January, have been con####uously absent from the postseason the last two years. And that is not likely to change in the coming seasons. Kansas State, which mined the state's junior colleges for talent during its golden years, has been forced  to compete with other schools for prospects that they once had exclusives on. In recent years, more and more coaches have been dipping into community colleges around Kansas and stealing the junior college players away. Recruiters from Nebraska, Kansas and even schools like Arkansas and Michigan State have been lurking at community colleges in the area, hoping to land prospects who can pay immediate dividends.

The Michael Bishops, Darnell McDonalds and Jeff Kellys, who once served as a foundation for Kansas State's winning squads, no longer are destined to go to Manhattan after apprenticing at local community colleges. The Wildcats, understandably, have suffered. In 2005, the once-powerful ground game Kansas State featured for years accumulated only 279 yards in a span of five games. This time there was no Darren Sproles or Ell Roberson to save them -- a sobering reality that is becoming all too familiar in Manhattan.

At a time when the Big 12 is changing, Kansas State has become stagnant. Nebraska and Texas Tech have junked their running games in favor of spread attacks that make it difficult for teams with strong rushing offenses to compete, especially if their defenses surrender early touchdowns. Even Colorado, which hired former Boise State coach Dan Hawkins, will likely pitch it around the field.  Meanwhile, in-state rival Kansas has emerged as the top football team in the state under head coach Mike Mangino. The Jayhawks just won their first bowl since 1995 and some believe that they will be one of the favorites in the now weakened Big 12 North division. This does not bode well for Kansas State.

It is rare in college football to see such a rapid rise and fall, unless NCAA sanctions precipitate a program's decline. Usually, it takes decades for the whole story to play out. But the school that was mired in a 27-game losing streak when Snyder took over in 1989 has seen the Wildcats both climb their way to the top of the rankings and slide back down in a matter of 15 years. The Fiesta Bowl appearance just two seasons ago seems like such a distant memory. The expanded stadium is now just a reminder of what once was and what seems so hard to hold on to. Now, Ron Prince has been left to pick up the pieces like Snyder once did. But another "Miracle in Manhattan" doesn't seem as likely to happen this time around.

If the news is true about Dan Hawkins, then it appears all but certain he will become the latest coach from Boise State to make the leap to a major Division I school -- and perhaps the best to do so. Hawkins is likely headed to Colorado -- a program that has endured numerous setbacks both on and off the field in recent years under the stewardship of Gary Barnett. Maybe it is the blue turf the Broncos trample each home game or the Idaho sky, but the Gem State's capital has been home to a few diamonds in the rough when it comes to field generals.

 Courtesy Honolulu Star-Bulletin

Arkansas coach Houston Nutt and Arizona State coach Dirk Koetter have made stops in Boise, building up their resumes in the West and earning respect Napoleon Dynamite would only dream about. In the process, Boise State's football program has improved dramatically since it was elevated by the NCAA to Division I-A status in 1996. That has a lot to do with the fact that each coach has built on what his predecessor left behind. Nutt took over in 1997 and spent one season with the Broncos, steering Boise State to a 5-6 record before impressing a committee at Arkansas when he interviewed for the Razorbacks' head coaching position. Koetter then brought Boise State to new heights, instituting an efficient passing attack, leading the Broncos to two 10-win seasons and their first two bowl appearances before bolting for the desert after the 2000 campaign.

Hawkins, who looks like he still could play football, turned Boise State into one of the best non-BCS programs in the country. Between 2002 and 2004, the Broncos won 35 of 38 games and finished ranked in the Top 15 each year. This season, Boise State is going bowling again. Colorado obviously has been watching Hawkins, while taking note of the fact that Nutt and Koetter are still walking the sidelines at the schools they landed at after their stints in Boise.

Other big programs are also aware of Boise State's penchant for finding strong leaders. And that is why coaches, who want to move up in the ranks, better start sending in their resumes for the Broncos' expected vacancy. They may have to suffer through some cold winters, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Just ask Nutt, Koetter and Hawkins.