The 2005 Texas Longhorns football team represented the University of Texas at Austin during the 2005 NCAA Division I-A football season, winning the Big 12 Conference championship and the national championship. The team was coached by Mack Brown, led on offense by quarterback Vince Young, and played its home games at Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium.
The team's penultimate victory of the season, the Big 12 Championship Game, featured the biggest margin of victory in the history of that contest. They finished the season by winning the 2006 Rose Bowl against the USC Trojans for the national championship. Numerous publications have cited this victory as standing among the greatest performances in college football history, and ESPN awarded the 2006 ESPY Award for the "Best Game" in any sport to the Longhorns and the Trojans.Fisher, Gerren LaQuint The Longhorns finished as the only unbeaten team in NCAA Division I-A football that year, with thirteen wins and zero losses.College football team records are conventionally expressed in number of wins/losses. 13–0 means 13 wins and zero losses. Owing to its overwhelmingly dominant margins of victory, and its perfect record, this Longhorns team is often considered among the best in college football history.
Texas earned its second Big 12 Conference football championship to make 27 conference championships total, including 25 in the Southwest Conference. It was their fourth national championship in football and the ninth perfect season in the history of Longhorn football.
The team set numerous school and NCAA records, including their 652 points which set an NCAA record for points scored in a season. After the season ended, six Longhorns from this championship team joined professional football teams through the 2006 NFL draft. Seven more Longhorns followed suit in the 2007 NFL draft and they were joined by two free agents. Another nine followed through the 2008 draft and free-agency to make a total of twenty-four players who entered into the National Football League (NFL).
Before the season
Media and fans of college football consider the UT program one of the great powerhouses of the game because of the school's winning record as well as their previous national championships in 1963, 1969 and 1970. From 1936 to 2004, the team finished the season in the top ten team of the Associated Press Poll 23 times, or one-third of the time. At the start of the 2005 season, the Longhorns were one of the most victorious programs in college football history; they were third in total victories and fourth if measured by winning percentage.
In the 2004 season Vince Young led the team to the 2005 Rose Bowl, the school's first Bowl Championship Series (BCS) game, and a top 5 finish in the major polls. It should also be noted that Vince Young predicted that the Longhorns would return to the Rose Bowl next season in a post game interview where he proclaimed, "We'll be back!" Young returned for the 2005–2006 season, as did most of the other key players from 2004 to 2005, with the exception of Cedric Benson, Derrick Johnson, and Bo Scaife. Texas was given a pre-season No. 2 ranking (behind the defending National Champions, the University of Southern California) by Sports Illustrated magazine, the Associated Press Poll and the USA Today Coaches Poll.
During the summer of 2005, a period free of official team practices, Young and his receivers spent extra practice time working on their timing and team-work. The fall Orange and White intra-team scrimmage was held on August 21, 2005, as an event open to the public.UT's colors are burnt orange and white. Normally, they wear Orange when at home and White when playing "away" games. For intra-team scrimmages, one team wears orange while the other team wears white, leading to the name. Running back Ramonce Taylor returned the opening kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown. Young completed five of seven passing attempts for 68 yards and one touchdown. Senior Richmond McGee made two 33-yard field goals and emerged as the top candidate to handle field goals, kickoffs and punts. Brown said of McGee, "We've never had one person do all three, so it's a concern, but right now, he would be the guy."
The success of the 2004 team and the efforts during the off-season fueled anticipation by sports writers that Texas would play for the national championship if they could win their away game against Ohio State University and end their five-game losing streak against Oklahoma. The BCS system required any team competing in the championship game to be ranked either number one or number two in the BCS Standings at the end of the season.
Schedule
Roster The final roster of the season:
2005 Texas Longhorns rosterQuarterbacks 7 Matt Nordgren – Senior 10 Vince Young – Junior 12 Colt McCoy – Freshman 13 Matthew McCoy* – Junior 14 Freddy Torres* – Freshman 16 Gilbert Zepeda* – Senior 18 Will Buchanan* – Freshman 22 Adair Fragoso* – Junior
Running backs 3 Chris Ogbonnaya – Freshman 11 Ramonce Taylor – Sophomore 12 Derrick Quick* – Junior 22 Selvin Young – Junior 23 Jaime Carvajal* – Sophomore 25 Jamaal Charles – Freshman 26 Stephen Lane* – Freshman 28 Antwaun Hobbs* – Junior 29 Matthew Hofer* – Sophomore 32 Marcus Myers – Junior 37 Henry Melton – Freshman 46 Ahmard Hall – Senior 7 Andre Comfort – Senior Wide receivers 1 Tyrell Gatewood – Sophomore 2 Brian Carter – Senior 4 Limas Sweed – Sophomore 5 Billy Pittman – Sophomore 6 Quan Cosby – Freshman 8 Jordan Shipley – Freshman 9 Nate Jones – Sophomore 17 Xang Chareunsab* – Senior 23 Myron Hardy – Sophomore 25 Mark McCoy* – Junior 27 Clayton Tefteller* – Junior 41 Matt Logan* – Senior 82 Coy Aune* – Sophomore 84 George Walker – Freshman 85 Christoph Peters* – Junior 89 Daniel Kendall* – Junior
Tight ends 16 David Thomas – Senior 83 Lucas Hampton – Freshman 86 Kirby Portley* – Senior 86 Peter Ullman – Freshman 87 Neale Tweedie – Junior 88 Mac McWhorter* – Freshman
Offensive guards 51 Mike Garcia – Senior 55 Cedric Dockery – Freshman 64 Kasey Studdard – Junior 71 Chris Hall – Freshman 72 Will Allen – Senior Offensive tackles 63 Justin Blalock – Junior 70 Greg Dolan – Freshman 71 Brad Poronsky* – Senior 73 Jonathan Scott – Senior 78 William Winston – Senior 79 Tony Hills – Sophomore
Centers 52 Charlie Tanner – Freshman 54 Michael Taylor* – Freshman 62 Lyle Sendlein – Junior 66 Brett Valdez – Junior 67 Dallas Griffin – Sophomore
Defensive ends 39 Brian Robison – Junior 47 Steven Andrade* – Senior 49 Eric Hall – Senior 52 Cory Michner* – Freshman 80 Tim Crowder – Junior 93 Scott Hibbeler* – Senior 95 Aaron Lewis – Freshman 98 Brian Orakpo – Freshman 99 Kaelen Jakes – Senior
Defensive tackles 61 Jaicus Solis* – Junior 76 Thomas Marshall – Sophomore 90 Rodrique Wright – Senior 91 Tully Janszen – Junior 92 Larry Dibbles – Senior 94 Marco Martin – Junior 97 Frank Okam – Sophomore
Defensive linemen (unspecified) 75 Roy Miller – Freshman Linebackers 2 Aaron Harris – Senior 4 Drew Kelson – Sophomore 21 Eric Foreman – Sophomore 30 Braden Johnson – Senior 33 Scott Derry – Sophomore 35 David Yi* – Sophomore 38 Roddrick Muckelroy – Freshman 40 Robert Killebrew – Sophomore 43 Jeremy Campbell – Freshman 44 Rashad Bobino – Freshman 46 Julian Peterman* – Freshman 48 Roberto Schuldes* – Freshman 50 Luke Tiemann* – Sophomore 57 Jason Perez* – Senior
Cornerbacks 5 Tarell Brown – Junior 8 Cedric Griffin – Senior 13 Erick Jackson – Sophomore 28 Brandon Foster – Sophomore 31 Aaron Ross – Junior
Safeties 7 Michael Huff – Senior 10 Ishie Oduegwu – Freshman 18 Matt Melton – Junior 21 Michael Flath* – Sophomore 26 Marcus Griffin – Sophomore 27 Michael Griffin – Junior Defensive backs (unspecified) 3 Karim Meijer – Senior 24 Ryan Moench* – Freshman 29 Ryan Palmer – Freshman 36 James Ray* – Senior 42 Cody Stavig* – Senior 45 Jerren Wright* – Senior
Kickers 15 David Pino – Senior 39 Ryan Bailey* – Freshman 35 Richmond McGee – Senior 97 Greg Johnson – Junior
Punters 17 Trevor Gerland – Freshman 43 Justin Moore* – Freshman
Long snappers 53 Nick Schroeder – Senior 58 William Harvey* – Freshman
Terms: Freshman = a first year player Sophomore = a second year player Junior = a player in his third year Senior = a player in his fourth year A player can sit out a year, in which case he has a redshirt.
An * indicates that the player is a "walk-on" (a non-scholarship player).
Texas had very few problems affecting the roster. Only one defensive starter missed a game due to injury. On offense, starting running back Selvin Young injured his ankle in the game against Louisiana-Lafayette and re-injured it the following week against Ohio State. He did not play in the games against Rice or Baylor. Receiver Jordan Shipley missed the entire season due to a pulled hamstring.
The Austin Police Department charged UT receiver Myron Hardy with a Class A misdemeanor for carrying a prohibited weapon, a "'butterfly style knife' that operates like a switchblade, making it a prohibited weapon." Hardy appeared in four games for the 2004 team, catching one pass for four yards. He redshirted in 2005 and returned to the roster for 2006.
The police investigated assault allegations against Cedric Griffin and Ramonce Taylor but no charges were filed. The incident allegedly occurred December 10, 2005, near the Sixth Street entertainment district. The UT athletics department found no reason to discipline the players and they both played in the final game of the season. Also in December, the police announced they were investigating a Longhorn player in a separate incident that occurred in September. This incident allegedly involved armed robbery with a handgun. The police did not name the target of the investigation.
Three Longhorns, freshman running backs Michael Houston and Jerrell Wilkerson and sophomore defensive back Bobby Tatum, elected to transfer prior to UT's bowl game. All three were reserve players.
Depth chart
Game summaries
Louisiana Lafayette
This game marked the second meeting of the Texas Longhorns and the Louisiana Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns. In their first meeting in 2000, UT fell behind 10–0 before quarterback Major Applewhite entered the game late in the first quarter and threw for 315 yards and 4 touchdowns as the Longhorns scored 52 unanswered points in a 52–10 victory.
Prior to kickoff of the 2005 game, the stadium announcer made an appeal for donations to help those suffering in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated parts of Louisiana five days previously. Donations were not accepted at the game because of a policy against official fund-raising. As the Longhorns entered the field, special teams player Karim Meijer carried a United States flag that was given to the team on Thursday by former Longhorn Nathan Kaspar who flew the flag during missions in southeastern Iraq. For this game only, the Longhorns wore throwback uniforms furnished by Nike as a way of honoring the past. The throwback jerseys were similar to jerseys worn during their 1963 National Championship season under Coach Darrell K. Royal. Football's origins in the Northeastern United States have created an expectation that it is a cold-weather sport, but the temperature at kickoff was which is also the average temperature in Austin for the month of September.