Standing at the end of the rainbow, waiting for the pot of gold, was tight end--back-up and designated blocker tight end--Derek Lewis, who romped 61 yards to the Huskers' 10-yard line. The next play, Holmes's third touchdown, ended the Huskers' hopes for an unprecedented third straight national championship.

Texas, a top ten team earlier this year, salvaged a season when it suffered four losses in a five-week stretch and dropped out of the top 25. It took a seemingly unbeatable team head-on and won without any questionable calls or lucky breaks.

But the victory symbolized much more. Three years ago, Brown went to Texas although many people advised him to go elsewhere. They'll never play a black quarterback there, especially one who ran the option in high school, the doubters said. But he remained confident in his abilities--"I can throw the ball and will be the starter," he said.

So he did, setting a Longhorn career record for touchdown passes and beginning his career as a starter 15-1-1. Brown took the job away from the number one quarterback prospect in the country coming out of high school, Shea Morenz, midway through his first season.

I hope that somewhere, a kid saw the game and said to himself, "I can succeed no matter what people say." All jokes about his name aside, James Brown showed us why sports is so great. When it came down to crunch time, he simply put the load of an entire state's hopes on his shoulders and then took everyone else along for a magical ride.

Bryan Lee, a freshman out of Houston, brings his 4.4-speed to his column, which draws its name from a cosmic interaction between his fas unsername (blee) and the Houston Rockets' slogan during their championship years. He wrote his application essay about Jerry Rice and will name his fistborn son after the wide reciever. He bleeds burnt orange.