Last Wednesday night, for the first time in about 30 years, I was actually pulling for the Texas Longhorns to win a football game.

The 2006 Rose Bowl that decided the NCAA Division I championship will go down as one of the greatest ever and the individual performance of University of Texas quarterback Vince Young was unprecedented.

You’ve heard of a football player who has “all the right moves.” Well that describes Young to a T. It was astounding that he surpassed the superlative offensive performance he had in the same bowl game a year earlier against Michigan.

With a tremendous amount of confidence as well as a remarkable sense of timing, not to mention some rarely matched physical abilities, the 6-foot-5, 240-pound Young led the Longhorns to their first undisputed national championship since 1969. His play and leadership handed Longhorn Coach Mack Brown the prize that Brown left the University of North Carolina for in 1997… an opportunity to win a national football championship.

Not only did Texas come back from a 12-point deficit in the game’s final six minutes to post a 41-38 victory over the two-time defending national champion Trojans of Southern Cal, but Young also got to show his ability as a winner against a team that had both this year’s and last year’s Heisman Trophy winners. Talk about some satisfaction.

On Sunday, Young announced that he would relinquish his final year of eligibility at UT and enter the 2006 NFL draft. That was something that I feel was pretty well sealed when he scored on a fourth-down play from the eight-yard line for the winning margin with 19 seconds left against Southern Cal. He followed that up by muscling his way into the end zone for a successful two-point conversion.

Young had a troubled childhood in Houston and football became one of his few positive outlets when he enrolled at Madison High. He became the top high school quarterback in the state as a senior and chose UT.

Things weren’t easy for Young in Austin his first couple of years as he and Coach Brown had to adapt to each other’s personalities and convictions. But in the end, a champion has been produced.

I GREW UP IN TEXAS following the Longhorn football teams of Coach Darrell Royal. I was in the eighth grade when UT won the 1963 national title. In 1969, I was a sophomore at the University of North Texas, but the entire state followed the ‘Horns to the national title that year.

In high school, I had competed against a number of the ’69 Longhorn stars, including All-Americans Cotton Speyrer, Steve Worster, Bill Atessis, Bobby Wuensch and Jim Achilles.

That fall in college football was supposed to belong to Ohio State, but when the Buckeyes were upset by Michigan in late November, it left the door wide open for the Longhorns.

That set the national stage for what became the Big Shootout between the Longhorns and Arkansas Razorbacks on December 6 at Fayetteville, Ark.

The game between the two unbeaten teams would not only decide the Southwest Conference championship, but also the 1969 national championship.

Texas, behind the quarterbacking of senior James Street, rode its Wishbone offense from a 14-0 deficit to two fourth quarter touchdowns and a 15-14 victory for Coach Royal.

On New Year’s Day, 1970, the ‘Horns rallied again in the final minutes to take a 21-17 Cotton Bowl victory over Notre Dame to solidify its national title.

It took another Longhorn comeback last Wednesday at Pasadena and the burnt orange again rose to the top.