Troy Aikman reveals biggest regrets of his football career
Looking at the playing career of Troy Aikman, one would think he’d be hard pressed to find much that he regrets. The former Dallas Cowboys quarterback won three Super Bowls and made six Pro Bowls throughout his career, being inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2006.
However, Aikman revealed in a Friday appearance on the Dan Patrick Show that there is one thing he failed to achieve in college that still haunts him. Aikman played for UCLA in 1987 and 1988, helping lead the Bruins to 10-win seasons both years.
Unfortunately, to Aikman’s regret, USC was not one of those teams. UCLA lost to the Trojans by single digits both years and, to make matters worse, the Bruins missed out on a Rose Bowl appearance in both seasons because of it.
“My biggest disappointment athletically is not having beaten USC while I was at UCLA those two years that I started,” Aikman said. “Both of those games were for the Rose Bowl. As fun and as good as I think my career was at UCLA, I think that — like with NFL quarterbacks the standard is winning the Super Bowl — at UCLA the standard really was leading your team to a Rose Bowl and I failed to do that.”
By all means, Aikman’s college career was still a massive success. He finished third in the Heisman voting as a senior in 1988 after throwing for 2,771 yards, 24 touchdowns and nine interceptions and went on to become the No. 1 pick in the 1989 NFL Draft.
Still, those two losses to USC will also stick out to him as something that could have made it even better.
Troy Aikman explains the throw he regrets most from NFL career
Naturally, Aikman also has a few moments he’d like the take back from his pro career. He recalled one from the 1994 NFC Championship, which Dallas lost 38-28 to the 49ers.
“As far as throws, the one that I look at right now would be the 1994 NFC Championship game against San Francisco,” he said. “We had a throw to Michael Irvin that, Deion Sanders was playing for the 49ers and was Defensive Player of the Year. Had we been able to connect on that, maybe we make the come back and win that game.”
There was some controversy on the play Aikman mentioned at the time, as some believed Sanders committed pass interference. Ultimately, though, what’s most looked back on from that contest is that Dallas got down 21-0 early and could never dig itself out of that hole.
Regardless of the regrets he mentioned, it’s safe to say Aikman enjoyed plenty of successes in his career as well. Now retired, he is well-known for calling NFL games previously with FOX and now with ESPN.