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It's time for a Matt Leinart appreciation thread

Eric Nahlinby:Eric Nahlin•05/22/25
Matt Leinart
FOX college football analyst Matt Leinart. (Pickel/BWI)

You read that right, it’s time for a Matt Leinart appreciation thread. Why on Earth, you might ask?

First, he called out USC’s Lincoln Riley with this single emoji:

Regarding ‘brevity’, Truman Capote said, “I believe more in the scissors than I do in the pencil.”

For a wordier version of Leinart’s tweet, here’s Paul Wadlington and his pencil.

This, because Riley wants to cease the USC v Notre Dame rivalry. Leinart, of course, took part in one of the most famous plays in the history of that rivalry—a play that directly affected Texas and college football lore forever.

I recall being gathered around a TV set with a number Longhorns fans anxiously watching to see how the game would unfold. My friend group was split between wanting USC to win or wanting them to lose.

Texas players and coaches were not split:

Then-Texas head coach Mack Brown remembers coming into the locker room at Darrel K. Royal Stadium on Oct. 15, 2005, after his team had just disposed of No. 24 Colorado 42-17. His postgame speech was ready to go, but not a single Longhorn was listening. They were crowded around a television, shamelessly rooting for USC to beat Notre Dame.

“They went nuts when USC scored on that play,” Brown remembers of the “Bush Push,” when Leinart was famously shoved over the goal line by his running back. “They said to me, ‘We want them to win all their games, Coach. We want to see them in January.'”

Leinart is also tangentially in the news due to the ‘tush push’ ruling in the NFL. Some teams want the horribly named play banned, but that attempt failed yesterday. An aside, it should be called the Bush Push forever given it’s a much better name, especially if you were into ’70’s movies.’

Far too often the NFL makes rules far more favorable for the offense but this is a play that is 100% within the spirit and at the core of the sport. You don’t like it, line up and stop it. Getting rid of this play is akin to getting rid of the shift in baseball. What’s wrong, it works…too well?

Back to Leinart.

I know his comments in the immediate aftermath of Game of The Century still stick in the craw of many Longhorns fans. For those who have forgotten, Leinart said, “I still think we’re a better football team. They just made the plays in the end.” 

That should be water under the bridge. Since then, he’s earned a master’s degree in self-deprecating humor any time that game is brought up.

*Johnny Manziel appreciation post not included.

We’re all slaves to whatever the algos want us to see. A handful of times I’ve been subjected to Leinart’s content on Instagram. He comes across as a good, well-adjusted dude, with a good, well-adjusted family life.

And he knows who Lincoln Riley is.

For these reasons, I appreciate Matt Leinart.

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