The 2005 Season In Pictures

GAME 1
SEPTEMBER 3
AT AUSTIN
LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE 3
TEXAS 60
OFF AND RUNNING
The Longhorns opened the season in style before a full house in Royal Memorial Stadium. QB Vince Young completed 13 of 15 passes for 173 yards as Texas took a 39-3 halftime lead, and the Horns welcomed a new star, Jamaal Charles, who set a Texas freshman-debut record with 135 yards rushing.

GAME 2
SEPTEMBER 10
AT COLUMBUS, OHIO
TEXAS 25
OHIO STATE 22
A COLLISION OF GIANTS
With a record crowd of 105,565 squeezed into the Horseshoe at Columbus, Vince Young floated a pass to sophomore wideout Limas Sweed in the end zone with 2:37 remaining to propel Texas to victory in the first-ever meeting between the storied programs.

Flashback

COMEBACK KIDS DO IT AGAIN

Nerve-racking as ever, Texas came from behind to win a showdown with Ohio State

AFTER MIDNIGHT IN A STAIRWELL OF THE HORSESHOE, as Ohio Stadium is known, Texas freshman tailback Jamaal Charles sat ticking off his big games from last year to a reporter. "Well, there was Humble High," he said, "and Tyler Lee...." And then he was interrupted by Vince Young, who was coming down the stairs.

"I'm so proud of this guy," said Young, the Texas quarterback, putting a hand on Charles's shoulder. In his second game as a collegian the 18-year-old Charles, from Port Arthur, Texas, had made several key plays in the Longhorns' most important regular-season victory in years--if not decades. "Now you've been through it," Young said of big-time college football. "Now you know what it takes."

If you're a Texas fan, you also know what it takes. It takes Maalox. The second-ranked Longhorns' 25-22 victory over No. 4 Ohio State on Sept. 10 was vintage Vincent: come-from-behind and ulcer-inducing. Trailing by six points with five minutes to play, Young drove the Longhorns 67 yards for the winning score, capped by a perfectly placed, 24-yard pass to his second read, wideout Limas Sweed, who made the catch while falling backward into the end zone.

Young's other two completions on that drive were to Charles, but the receiver seemed more eager to talk about a play on which he didn't make a catch. "Did you see the hit I put on the guy who made the pick?"

"That was you?" said Young. "I couldn't get up--they were lying on top of me. All I heard was the crowd go, 'Oooh!'"