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Posted on 01/05/2005 8:38:56 AM PST by RedBloodedAmerican
USC No. 1 from start to finish in AP poll
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MIAMI (AP) -- Southern California joined some elite company with its latest AP national title. The Trojans became just the second team to go No. 1 wire-to-wire in The Associated Press Top 25, and the 10th team to repeat as national champs.
Following a resounding 55-19 victory over Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, USC received all but three first-place votes early Wednesday to easily outdistance Auburn.
The Trojans (13-0) are the first back-to-back AP champs since Nebraska in 1994-95.
"I know right now I'm in the middle of something special," USC coach Pete Carroll said Wednesday morning after receiving both the AP and Bowl Championship series national title trophies.
"We are now unanimously No. 1," Orange Bowl MVP Matt Leinart said right after the game.
Not quite, but good enough.
USC received 62 first-place votes and 1,622 points. Auburn got the other first-place votes and 1,559 points.
The Sooners (12-1) finished third, ahead of unbeaten Utah (12-0) and Texas (11-1).
Auburn (13-0) finished its perfect season Monday night with a 16-13 victory over Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl.
Tigers coach Tommy Tuberville and his team practically pleaded with poll voters to give his team a championship, but to no avail.
"Anybody who thought that last night was a championship game, I beg to differ," Tuberville said Wednesday morning. "I'm disappointed that with the type of team we had, as balanced as we were, we did not get a chance to play in that game."
The Trojans' 36-point rout was the third-largest margin in a matchup between No. 1 and No. 2 teams.
USC joined Florida State in 1999 as the only teams to be No. 1 from start to finish since the AP started a preseason poll in 1950. The Trojans are also the 10th preseason No. 1 to win the national championship.
The Trojans' fifth AP title tied them with Miami for the fourth most.
Notre Dame leads with eight national titles, followed by Oklahoma with seven and Alabama with six.
And if the Trojans start next season No. 1 - a good possibility even if Leinart skips his senior season for the NFL draft - they will match Miami's record of 19 straight polls as No. 1.
No team has ever won three straight AP titles, but USC could enter next season as the favorite to do just that.
Louisville was No. 6, followed by Georgia, Iowa, California and Virginia Tech.
Miami was 11th, and for the first time since 1982, no team from Florida ended the season ranked among the nation's top five.
Florida State (9-3) finished ranked 15th and Florida (7-5) ended the season unranked.
Boise State's first loss of the season to Louisville in the Liberty Bowl dropped the Broncos two spots to No. 12.
Navy made it into the rankings for the first time since 1979 at No. 24. Fresno State also joined the poll at 22.
Boy did Oklahoma look like crap!
There are always a few nutballs and people with axes to grind (and checks to cash). Even Babe Ruth and Ted Williams weren't unanimous selections to the Hall of Fame.
I saw them a few times this year and never understood how they were ranked so high.
Where did Texas finish? And do the AP rankings really mean anything?
If Auburn had bothered to play anyone noteworty on its non-conference schedule then they could have made a better beef.
The scary thing is that USC has 16/22 starters coming back next year as well as Reggie Bush. This is a team that should repeat next year and possibly 2006.
They remind me of the lat 80's early 90's Miami teams without the ghetto gansta' behavior.
uhhh.....aren't you the guy who said OU would "slaughter" USC last night?
heh.
Auburn is better than Utah or OU.
Given their pathetic performance I would question ranking Oklahoma ahead of Utah or Texas.
ROFL
Ummmm, Auburn actually played the toughest schedule of any of the undefeateds. Their strength of schedule was number 9 in the country. As a Tennesseee fan I can tell you they whipped us twice. They were more deserving to go to the National Championship than Oklahoma, but the sportswriters were not going to let that happen again. LSU was in by a fluke last year, this year we're giving it to USC. All the while, no one considered giving OU the boot either year. OU is pathetic. The people that voted for Auburn aren't nutballs. The people who voted OU second are the ones whose bones you should be picking.
"There are always a few nutballs and people with axes to grind... "
Yeah, like me. I'd vote USC #1, but I was pulling against USC when I heard OJ would be at the game!!!
Actually, I predicted USC 28, OU 20 a few hours before the game. Want me to dig up the post for you?
The Auburn game was so boring. It and Virginia Tech did not look impressive. But Auburn is still whining. Utah looked far better than either of those two.
I question ranking OU in the top 10 of anything! Boise State is a better team! Cal is better!
OU, OSU, Nebraska and NotreDame are the most overrated program in the Nation, year after year, no matter what their records are.
| Vanity - USC v OSU ^ |
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| Posted by Mr. Mojo to zipcode101 On General/Chat ^ 01/04/2005 9:32:26 PM EST · 48 of 347 ^ The west coast media believes their own BS And they'll believe it even more after this slaughter. Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies |
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I think you can add florida state to that mix
I was referring to USC's slaughter of OU, not the other way around. At that point in the game the Trojans were up 35 to 10, so why on earth would I think that OU would do the slaughtering. Think, man.
If Leinart and Bush return, SC will return every single offensive starter except for John Drake...plus they will have Winston Justice back on the offensive line. They would be unbeatable next year...another wire-to-wire performance.
USC looked like they could take on a pro team last night. Hats off to em.
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