12 Conference each year. The championship game pits the Big 12 North Division champion against the South Division champion in a game held after the regular season has been completed. Despite losing the last two games of the regular season, Colorado retained the best record in the North Division of the Big 12 Conference. Prior to the game, Colorado head coach Gary Barnett said, "I do not think anybody expects us to come in here and beat Texas." His team lost the game 70–3, the most lopsided score in any college football conference championship to date. The Longhorns scored ten touchdowns in their first eleven possessions. They started with first-quarter touchdowns by Henry Melton and Jamaal Charles. The Buffaloes got their only score of the game, a field goal, at the start of the second quarter. Vince Young, Limas Sweed, David Thomas, and Jamaal Charles scored touchdowns in the second quarter to give the Horns a 42–3 lead at halftime. In the third quarter, Selvin Young, Charles and Melton each scored rushing touchdowns. Brandon Foster scored a touchdown on defense due to Michael Griffin blocking a Colorado punt. Halfway through the third quarter, Texas already had 70 points, but went on cruise control from that point on and did not score again. Following the victory, the largely UT crowd stayed in the stands to celebrate the Longhorns' return to the Rose Bowl—this time for a shot at a National Championship. As players circled the stadium giving high-fives and handshakes to fans, a section of the railing collapsed and fans spilled onto the sideline. One person suffered injuries and was removed from the field on a stretcher. Texas earned its second Big 12 football championship to make 27 conference championships total, including 25 in the Southwest Conference. The week after the game, Barnett was fired as Colorado's head coach and replaced by Dan Hawkins, the former head coach of Boise State. vs. USC – Rose Bowl For the 2005 season, the Rose Bowl also served as the BCS National Championship Game as a result of the Bowl Championship Series agreement. In the weeks leading up to the 2006 Rose Bowl, the game was described by numerous publications as one of the most-anticipated match-ups in college football history and even as the greatest college football game of all time. This was Texas' second trip to the Rose Bowl in school history, alongside