Matt Leinart recalls phone call with Michael Jordan after losing national championship

College football is a sport with a rich history. Throughout all of that history, though, the 2006 Rose Bowl is still regarded as one of the most legendary games. That pitted an elite matchup between USC, led by Matt Leinart, and Texas, led by Vince Young.

In the end, Texas would win the game and the national championship 41-38 with Young leading a legendary touchdown drive. For Leinart and USC, it was a devastating loss, but it was also part of a run that caught the attention of celebrities around the country, even Michael Jordan. In fact, as Leinart explained on The Triple Option, he even had an interesting interaction with the NBA legend after the game.

“You know what was even better was after the game,” Matt Leinart said. “This is just a funny story. A couple of nights later. My career is over. Tough loss. All the boys went out in LA, and it was the night I met Michael Jordan.”

Matt Leinart got to USC in 2001 and was with the program through 2005. During that time, he’d win the Heisman Trophy and a national championship. Heading into the Rose Bowl, he’d led the Trojans to 34 straight wins. In the process, Leinart had become well known nationally.

One person who obviously knew about him was Jordan. The two would meet while spending time in the offseason following the game. There, they drank together, and Leinart shared that he suspects Jordan lost big money betting on USC in that Rose Bowl.

“Michael Jordan — craziest story — called me to,” Leinart said. “And this is the magnitude of the game, called me to his table and I took a shot with Michael Jordan and Charles Oakley. Me and my brother and bunch of my teammates were there. We were upset, but we were like, man, we’ve got a week, and then we get ready for the NFL Draft. He goes, ‘Man, I was there at that game the other night. It was such a great game.’ And it turns out he was in the box with like Magic [Johnson], Charles Barkley, and you know they had hundreds of thousands of dollars on the game. I think they put money on us and we lost them money, but that just — and the [Matthew] McConaughey is a diehard Longhorn.”

Athletes weren’t the only ones at the Rose Bowl, which proved to be a star-studded celebration. The sidelines were full of celebrities. However, the focus was completely on the field, and it would be hard to blame Leinart for the loss. He finished with 365 passing yards and a touchdown.

“It just spoke to the magnitude of that was the Game of the Century. It was the leadup, it was the buildup. Both teams wanted to play each other like [Vince Young] said. That sideline was, we were all locked in, man. We were locked in like we were ready to go,” Leinart said. “It was a battle for sure.”

A few months after the Rose Bowl, Matt Leinart would become a first round NFL Draft pick to the Arizona Cardinals. He’d stick in the NFL through 2013 and has since become an analyst.