 Analysts labeled the team , their season , and their championship victory as the greatest or among the greatest in the history of the sport . College Football News judged the 2005 Longhorns to have played the greatest college football season ever . Sports @-@ writers at College Football News also consider the 2006 Rose Bowl to be the best college football game ever played . Furman <unk> of the Atlanta Journal @-@ Constitution said " if there ever has been a greater game , I never saw it , and I 've been watching college football games since 1934 . " Scout.com called it " one of the best national title games ever " , while Kevin Hench of Fox Sports called it " perhaps the greatest college football game ever played . " ESPN declared the 2006 Rose Bowl Game an instant classic and re @-@ aired it within a week of the original broadcast . ESPN later awarded the 2006 ESPY Award to the Longhorns and Trojans for the 2006 " Best Game " in any sport . Vince Young and Matt Leinart accepted the award on behalf of their teams . ESPN columnist Mark Schlabach ranked the 2005 Texas Longhorns as fourth @-@ best among the first ten BCS @-@ era champions . 
