Being a Texas Longhorns fan (that’s my alma mater), nothing was bigger than last night’s game.
Texas 41, Southern California 38.
We are now National Champions!
For the next few days till this weekend, the UT Tower will be lit orange with a big #1 on each side, as shown here in this photo from UT’s web site:

There is a real-time tower cam. If you visit this page during night time in the Central Standard Time zone from now to this weekend (January 8, 2006), you should see the same picture as above.

Like Lee Corso on ESPN said, this game will go down in history as one of the best college football games EVER played. I know, he’s a little opinionated, but hey, nothing is too exaggerating when you describe the heroic comeback, especially what Vince Young has done with his magical legs.
What makes this game extra interesting to me is that my sister and her husband are actually students of USC now. So you can imagine, above and beyond all the hypes built towards this game, between two undefeated teams one looking to three-peat (USC) and the other to finally win that game after winning all but the big ones (Texas), our little extra twist makes the game so much more special.


We hosted a party to watch the game at our home. For the record, here are the mails I sent out to my Texas friends before and after the game.
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BEFORE THE GAME:
Hi guys,
Are you ready for tomorrow’s big game? I don’t know about you but I’m
totally hyped up. Especially consider the fact that my sister is at
USC now! I will be hosting a party at our home to watch
the game with some old UT friends and new friends. The only
requirement for non-UT people to join is that–it’s a very small
requirement–that they cheer for the Texas Longhorns! And my friends
are totally cool with that. Of course, I will be wearing my Longhorns
T-shirt and I’ve got my supply of Dr. Pepper, some salsa and tortilla
chips!
The Wall Street Journal Weekend Edition on December 31 had an
interesting piece about predicting the result of the game. Basically, it says the computer predicts Texas will win, but human experts prefer USC.
As an IT expert, I say “let the computer prevail and human experts be doomed”.
Go Longhorns!

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AFTER THE GAME
Wow! What a game. This will go down in history as one of the greatest
college football game evers played. My only wish after the game was to
be in Austin right away. It must have been quite a scene. I still
vividly remember the day in 1996 when we upset Nebraska in the First
Big12 Championship game–all the drivers were hunking their horns and
all the toilet papers were thrown on trees. That game was nothing
compared to this win. I can only imagine what it must have been last
night.
Instead I went to UT web site and found the tower will be lit for the
rest of the week. We can see the tower live cam here:
http://www.utexas.edu/spotlight/2006/tower0104.html
GO HORNS!
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And here’s a response from a UT friend:
I was too nervous to watch at the very last. I have kept both my fingers
and toes crossed. I have even pushed three people who didn’t care about UT
to cheer for UT. (But in return, I have to sing one person a song, tell a
story to another one, … But it is all very worthy. We need all the
supports we could get. It was too close.)
One of the best games I have ever watched. Go Vince!! Go Longhorn!!