I thought it was because he wanted to see if Jamaal could tackle.
Actually osugrad21, I also heard that he wanted the drama later in the game, so he wanted to keep it close, and threw the ball to Hawk, rather than a TD on that play, to keep the drama building. He was trying to build his legacy, and he thought that if he kept the game close, and won it at the end, it would start his legacy, and that he would give himself the best story-book ending to his legacy by leading a comeback in the Rose Bowl. He told Melton to dive out of bounds at the end of the game, so that the score looked closer on paper. He even told Aaron Ross to fumble the first punt in the Rose Bowl as well. If you haven't heard, Vince Young could do anything he wanted to do at anytime, so he basically set up the Ohio State game last year, play by play, as if it was WWF, for the drama.