How Do the 2005 Texas Longhorns Rank Among the Best College Football Teams Ever?

An 11-1 run in 2004 capped by a thrilling victory over Big 10 co-champ, Michigan, primed the pump for one of the most impressive seasons ever produced by a college football team. And coach Mack Brown finally had all the ingredients he needed to bring Austin its first crystal trophy.

Led by Heisman runner-up Vince Young, the 2005 Longhorns were only ever challenged twice during the season. The first test was a come-from-behind win at Ohio Stadium against the 4th-ranked Buckeyes. And the second was in the BCS championship versus defending national champion USC. With superstars Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush forging their own perfect season, many football analysts and fans alike speculated that the Trojans were not just the best team of 2005, but arguably the best college football team ever.

Thanks to Young and the Longhorns, nobody speculates about that anymore.

Let's have a look at the statistics.

Texas' 2005 schedule and results:

Beat Louisiana-Lafayette 60-3
Beat Ohio State 25-22
Beat Rice 51-10
Beat Missouri 51-20
Beat Oklahoma 45-12
Beat Colorado 42-17
Beat Texas Tech 52-17
Beat Oklahoma State 47-28
Beat Baylor 62-0
Beat Kansas 66-14
Beat Texas A&M 40-29
Beat Colorado (Big 12 Championship) 70-3
Beat USC (BCS Championship) 41-38

The Longhorns outscored their opponents 652-213 for an average final of 50-16.

In thirteen games, Texas trailed a mere 15 times total against just five teams.

4 times against Ohio State
1 time against Texas Tech
4 times against Oklahoma State
2 times against Texas A&M
4 times against USC

The Longhorn offense gobbled up 6,657 total yards for an average of 512 per game. Meanwhile, the defense allowed only 3941 total yards on the season. Or 303 yards per game.

A look at some of the key contests.

Texas vs. Ohio State. September 10, 2005.

This was an early-season match between two of the season's juggernauts -- both teams were ranked in the top 4 at kick-off and both would remain there by the end of the season. College Game Day was in Columbus to cover festivities while 105,565 fans showed up to attend the match -- an Ohio Stadium record.

The game itself was a classic see-saw battle with Texas jumping out to an early 10-0 lead. Ohio State kicker, Josh Huston, kept the Buckeyes competitive while Texas' defense continually stiffened in the red zone after several long Ohio State drives. Huston kicked 5 field goals on the day. The Ohio State defense kept Texas' powerful running attack at bay all game long (allowing just 112 yards on 38 carries). But the difference would come on the arm of a multi-faceted Vince Young. Whereas Ohio State had a hard time punching it into the endzone (they only hit paydirt once), Texas managed to find the endzone twice through the air.

When it was all said and done, Texas overcame 3 turnovers and a stadium full of bad juju angled at them to walk away with a 25-22 victory.

Texas vs. Oklahoma. October 8, 2005.

The 100th meeting between the two schools in the classic Red River Shootout should have been something special. But, unfortunately, the Sooners were experiencing an uncharacteristically bad start to their season having dropped two of their first 4 games, although they would eventually post a respectable 8-4 record.*

* Nullified by some NCAA retribution, but there's no need to go into that.

So the Red River Shootout of 2005 became more of a shooting gallery as Texas blasted its way to a 24-6 halftime lead. Things never got better for the Sooners as they garnered an anemic 171 yards and 12 points for the day to Texas' 444 yards and 45 points.

Big 12 Championship. Texas vs. Colorado. December 3, 2005.

This was a rematch nobody was looking forward to. Particularly Colorado. Texas had already pounded the Buffalos in Austin 42-17 and the Buffs were in no shape for a do-over as they limped to the North Division crown with back-to-back losses versus Iowa State and archrival Nebraska.

Texas had 42 points by halftime and a blistering 70 points with a full 22 minutes left on the game clock. With no mercy rule in college football, Mack Brown got plenty of game experience for the bench warmers as the score would stay 70-3 for a full quarter and a half.

The BCS Championship. Texas vs. USC. January 4, 2006.

USC and Texas both ran the table as preseason's #1 and #2, arriving together in Pasadena with some very understandable stratospheric fanfare. USC especially. Keith Jackson (the old lion of the gridiron himself) declared that a USC victory would mean an undeniable place atop the college football hierarchy.

Nobody pontificated much what Texas' status would be should they top the Trojans because few people outside of Texas thought the Longhorns would win.

But what took place in the storied confines of the Rose Bowl has since become regarded as one of the best college football games ever played.

Another see-saw battle with yet another of 2005's juggernauts -- moreover, 2005's penultimate (at the time) juggernaut -- the BCS championship was a high-scoring, smash-mouth battle that made Texas' win in Columbus look like a yawner by comparison.

The teams exchanged leads six times in all. But by the fourth quarter, Texas had a hard time getting the lead back as USC held it for almost 20 minutes before Vince Young's 4th down touchdown scamper sealed the win with 19 seconds left to play.

The teams combined for over 1,100 total yards of offense and 60 total 1st downs (30 a piece). The Longhorns and Trojans were statistically even in many aspects of the game. Still, at the end of the contest, USC quarterback Matt Leinart complained that the best team had not won that night.

I beg to differ. Had the game been waged in Texas rather than in USC's backyard, it would not have come down to the last play of the game. Horns by 10.

So where do the 2005 Texas Longhorns rank among the best college football teams of all time? It's hard to say.

I have a methodology for calculating the greatest college football teams ever.

Go here to read the method.

The 2005 Longhorns rate very well in this. They demolished a Big 12 schedule with all the ease as though the conference had been warped into the Conference USA. But the Longhorns' shine is tempered a bit by the down-year the rest of the Big 12 had. And, unlike, other juggernauts such as 2004 USC, 2001 Miami and 1995 Nebraska, 2005 Texas never "destroyed" a relative "equal".

I rate the 2005 Longhorns as the third best team of this decade so far and undeniably one of the best to have ever taken the field. Despite their lack of "wasting an equal", Texas has the distinction of beating probably the best team to go uncrowned national champion. And they did it on that team's home turf. (Relatively anyway -- sorry Bruins.)

Could 2001 Miami or 1995 Nebraska have beaten Leinart, Bush and the '05 Trojans in their backyard?

I don't know.

But we do know that there's one team that most certainly did.