ESPN to Re-Air Iconic 2006 Rose Bowl Game Between USC and Texas

The BCS era may be in college football’s rear-view mirror, but ESPN is here to remind fans just how wild those games could be. On Thursday night, ESPN will be airing the iconic 2006 Rose Bowl between the #1 USC Trojans and the #2 Texas Longhorns. Considering that this is the Vince Young game, as well as Keith Jackson’s final game as broadcaster (and there are no other sports on), you’re going to want to tune in.

On January 4, 2006, USC and Texas squared off at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California for the 2005 BCS National Championship Game. Both teams dominated in the regular season, with USC winning the Pac-10 championship and Texas nabbing the Big-12 title. The Trojans entered the Rose Bowl on a 34-game winning streak, the longest active streak in D-1 football, and until the final seconds, it seemed that their streak would continue.

Enter: Vince Young. With 26 seconds left on the clock and Texas facing 4th-and-5, Young scrambled and ran the ball into the end zone, securing the Longhorns’ lead. Texas went for two, and after stopping USC quarterback Matt Leinart’s final drive, defeated the Trojans 41-38. Young was named the Rose Bowl MVP for the second year in a row and later became the third overall pick in the 2006 NFL draft.

The 2006 Rose Bowl is widely considered one of the best college football games of all time (and many Texas fans would probably argue that it’s the best). In November 2019, ESPN ranked the USC-Texas matchup at #7 on its list of the 150 greatest games in college football history, behind heavyweights including #1 Nebraska vs #2 Oklahoma in 1971, the 1984 Orange Bowl (#5 Miami vs #1 Nebraska) and #5 Michigan’s loss to FCS champion Appalachian State in September 2007.

In addition to cementing Young’s place in college football history, the 2006 Rose Bowl was the final game to be called by veteran broadcaster Keith Jackson. The commentator, who was known for his distinct, deep voice, worked for ABC Sports from 1966 to 2006, when he retired his mic for good. Jackson died in January 2018 at the age of 89.

Catch the 2006 USC-Texas game tonight, Thursday, April 2, at 8 pm on ESPN. You can livestream the 2006 Rose Bowl re-air via the “watch live” section on the ESPN website or the ESPN app, which you can download on iTunes, Google Play, and Amazon. Depending on your market, you can also watch ESPN live on Hulu + Live TV,  Sling TV, YouTube TV or AT&T TV NOW.