The main thing I remember from that game is Major’s jubilation after the Ivan Williams TD for the Longhorn win.
The part I remember most was, after we'd come back from 36-17 to lead 40-36, Washington drove right back down to the field and went back ahead, 43-40, with about a minute and half remaining. I wasn't sure if we had anything left in the tank to come back at them again after we'd spent all that energy gaining the lead the first time, but then the camera cut to Major looking completely focused and determined - seemingly completely oblivious to all the noise and hoopla. At that moment I knew we were going to win.
I got wood when MAJOR came into game late vs. Colorado, threw a TD to BJ Johnson (IIRC) to start a late rally after Simms put us in a huge hole.
Simms definitely had an awful first half and maybe we do win if Major starts, but then again, Simms had played well all season outside of the OU game (and looking at the entire 2000-2004 period in which Major, Simms, Mock, and Vince looked inept against them, I think it was more of a Mack problem; after all, they'd win in 2002 in spite of Hybl playing even worse) so why would he have been suddenly benched before the title game against a team he'd beaten 41-7 the first time?
And Major's comeback has gotten slightly overblown over the years. He did throw an 80 yard TD to BJ Johnson right away after coming in, just before halftime, but then we didn't score another offensive TD until we finally marched down the field with short passes against prevent while down two scores and got into the endzone when it was too late to likely matter.
And I do find it amusing that Simms first half against Colorado and Major's first half against Washington were actually pretty similar (3 interceptions including a pick-6). Not sure what our team drank at halftime of that bowl game, but it clearly worked.
On a final note, I feel bad for Rod Babers. In both the 2001 CU game and the 2002 OU game, he had a long interception return for a touchdown but we still lost both games. He's obviously pretty well known for his radio stuff already but if we'd won either or both of those, his pick returns would have gone down in Texas history.
