SAN DIEGO -- The blow of the hit knocked Major Applewhite onto his back, where he was left facing the dark night sky.

	Already a fan favorite, Major Applewhite cemented his legendary status in the Lone Star State on Friday.

It didn't matter. As quickly as he was plowed over, he used his elbows to prop himself up, saw tight end Bo Scaife dash across the end zone with his pass, then listened to the roar.

For one last time, he thought, he'd soak it all in. Applewhite leaned back, looked back up at the sky and pointed to the heavens. He then put his hands together as if he were praying and mouthed the words, "Thank You."

Technically, the game wasn't over. Six minutes remained on the Qualcomm Stadium scoreboard. But, Applewhite figured, the Longhorns defense would knock Washington in the mouth a few more times, the offense would eat some clock, and he would go out a champion. This was his moment.

"I knew the defense was going to stop them," Applewhite would say later. "I figured that would be it."

It wasn't.

In keeping with the theme of unexpected, high-scoring back-and-forth Holiday Bowls of the past, Washington marched 80 yards in seven plays to take a 43-40 lead with 1:49 remaining.

These 109 seconds, it turns out, not those five from the past, would be Applewhite's moment. They were the 109 seconds that would define his star-crossed career; the 109 seconds that would make head coach Mack Brown either a genius or a fool for starting Applewhite over junior phenom Chris Simms. These were 109 seconds for Applewhite to either get the last laugh and ride into the sunset a champion, or to fail.

Somewhere, they were already getting Applewhite's saddle ready. To be technical, it took just 1:11 for Applewhite and the terrific young Texas receivers to march downfield and score the game-winning touchdown. But as Applewhite, Brown, and the rest of the Longhorns will tell you, Washington's fate was sealed long before that.

Applewhite, you see, had that look in his eye. The same look he had in his first three years at Texas, when he set 44 school records and earned Big 12 Offensive MVP honors. The same look he had on Dec. 1, when he rallied Texas from a 19-point deficit to a two-point loss against Colorado.

"Cool, calm and collected," said sophomore wideout Roy Williams of Applewhite's demeanor during the game-winning drive. "He looked bored. He was just like, 'OK, we're going to march down and win this thing. I'm like, 'Man, ain't you supposed to be yelling at us or something?'"

No yelling was needed. Applewhite just knew. Even Husky coach Rick Neuheisel knew.

On Thursday, it was Neuheisel who spoke at length about the intangibles Applewhite has that make him a leader. Said Neuheisel: "When (Applewhite) was 10, I'll bet all the kids in the neighborhood would show up at his house to see what they were going to do that day. He's that much of a leader."

After Friday's heartbreaking loss, one in which the Huskies led by as many as 19 in the third quarter, a deflated Neuheisel ate his words.

"I sure wish I wasn't right," he said. "Major had a fitting end to an unbelievable career."

Put simply, the scripts of George Lucas, Oliver Stone and Steven Spielberg combined couldn't have come up with this one. Applewhite, a folk hero of Texas-sized proportions in the Lone Star State, starting his first game of the season, the last of his college career, leads his team to 28 fourth quarter points in the school's largest comeback in history.

And he did it in a year in which he was all but written off as the bag-carrying buddy of ultra quarterback Simms.

If he was a folk hero before, he's God now. When the final numbers were tallied, Applewhite would throw for a Texas bowl record 473 yards, completing 37-of-55 attempts and four touchdowns.

Even more impressive, he did it with a sore sprained ankle that started bothering him in the first half. The pain was bad enough, Applewhite said, that he even warned Simms to "keep his head in the game," because there was a good chance he might be called upon.

But that call never came. As the Texas offense heated up in the second half, Applewhite said the pain drifted away. He kept putting the ball up to Williams, Johnson and Scaife, and the receivers kept coming down with it.

"He's a guy that can put the ball in a place where only you can get it," Williams said. "And that's what he did tonight. He put it there and we went out and got it."

Of even greater satisfaction was not only the pain, but also the struggles Applewhite had to overcome early in the game. In the first half, the high octane Texas offense sputtered as Applewhite threw three interceptions leading to 13 Washington points.

Washington defensive tackle Terry Johnson returned one of the interceptions for a touchdown. Johnson, Applewhite said, was shadowed by 6-foot-6, 339-pound Longhorn lineman Mike Williams.

"Mike is so big, I couldn't see their defensive lineman behind him," Applewhite said. "So I threw the guy a perfect pass right in the numbers."

But Applewhite made no excuses. At halftime, he said, he was pissed.

"I had given them 13 points on the three interceptions. Without that, it would have been a 13-10 game. I stunk it up in the first half. So I told myself, 'It's time to play.' Maybe I wasn't quite that clean about it, but I just told myself I wasn't going out a loser."

On this night, Applewhite made defiance look easy. On the game-winning drive, he marched the team 80 yards in 71 seconds. He was 4-of-5 on the drive, highlighted by a 32-yard strike to Johnson that set the Longhorns up with first and goal from the five. It was fitting revenge for Johnson, who last year was criticized for his two drops during the potential game-winning drive in a Holiday Bowl loss to Oregon.

"When BJ caught that, I could just sort of hear all the critics of his from last year just shut up a bit," Applewhite said. "It was good for him."

Two players later, Texas running back Ivan Williams scampered across the goal line from three yards out and the comeback, the career and the legacy of Applewhite was complete. As Applewhite walked off the field following the score, Brown grabbed the senior, gave him a huge hug and whispered into his ear.

"He told me he loved me. And thank you," Applewhite said. "I told him thank you for believing in me."

Some 20 minutes later, after receiving the Offensive MVP Trophy, waving to family and friends in the stands and embracing nearly all of his teammates, Applewhite casually walked off the field, soaking it all in once again. No more heroics were needed.

Nearly all his teammates had already made it back to the locker room. But not Applewhite. He stopped for pictures. Stopped for autographs. And even ran along the Qualcomm Stadium railing slapping high-fives to as many Longhorn fans as he could reach.

This time, he knew it was the end.

"Honestly, I didn't know what was going to happen this year. I kept praying I'd get my chance. I don't want to act like I've been a Saint through all this, because I haven't. But tonight, I just felt like the Lord wasn't going to bring me this far to let me down. And he didn't."

Wayne Drehs is a staff writer at ESPN.com. He can be reached at wayne.drehs@espn.com.