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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.
Sorry, I'm not following your point.
"Ratings are, at best, an educated guess."
Agreed.
Thanks......I appreciate that....that is all we want is some recognition that during the season were not the best of course but pretty damned good....after Nov I'm surprised with all the injuries that we even beat So Miss....despite what some idiots say and write, me and most of my friends in the know were very concerned about TTU's passing attack and our lack of depth in the passing dept.........
have a great day
No way Oklahoma is #3...
They are so over-rated. Texas should be #3, OK about 5th or 6th
Don't forget the most pro-communist and liberal public university in the country, Harvard and Stanford combined.
I would have liked to see Utah in a matchup with nay of those teams too. Boise State, as well as they played, would have had an almost impossible task.
Rocky Mountain teams are capable of being the best in the nation. Colorado has been an on-again off-again powerhouse for a couple of decades. BYU picked up a "title" back in the mid-80's. I don't see why Utah shouldn't be considered a contender.
yup......i know the whole story and while I think Gilbertson is a high school coach...we had him.....he inherited a screwed up program. but when people diss the pac 10 i don't point to Cal, my team, I always have pointed to USC and the Huskies and Arz. State....in the last 15 years or so UW was a powerhouse SOB that ran over people at will........the heck with all that pac 10 stuff...in our good years we are great....we have the highest winning percentage in bowl games since the inclusion of the Rose Bowl in the BCS
oh forget that pro communist stuff.....maybe the most liberal I agree but what don't realize is that alot of that stuff is stirred up by the community of Beserkely. Too many asain students to be that liberal. But it still is in the top 10 of univ world wide and don't forget.....UC Berkeley is the institution that runs Lawrence Livermore Labs and Los Alamos......so this lefty university also developes all our nuclear weapons and funds all the major physics and chem research in the world along with MIT and Cal Tech
Rogers back up is the guy that just commited from one of the JC"s in SF.......he was the JC player of the year at least in Calif....Tedford recruits real well from JC's where Rogers came from also
Fantastic. I hope it's somebody from the Big 10, preferably not Michigan. New blood.
Mature teams find ways to deal with distractions (penalties, injuries, and so forth) and win.
Iowa, natch.
Rose Bowl: Big Ten - Pac Ten. Interlopers begone.
You hinted the good record was padded by the likes of the Big 12 North. I'm saying each conference has had their equivilent of the B12 north and that perhaps the B12 north was considered bad because they lost to good teams, which wouldn't make them as bad as considered.
It's hard to know whether USC was so good last night or OU stunk so badly. It's probably a combination, but it's difficult to vault one team over another based on one game when in the head-to-head matchup OU completely shut out UT.
Would the result be the same if they replayed the game next week? It's hard to say, but OU owns UT this century and then some.
"so this lefty university also developes all our nuclear weapons and funds all the major physics and chem research in the world along with MIT and Cal Tech"
Can you please rephrase this or are you really just saying that a bunch of liberals have some kind of authority in the development of our offensive defense arsenal.
Dammit, I had hopes that Cal would fade back into football obscurity.
By the way, what Berkeley genius decided to build the Cal stadium directly over a major earthquake faultline? I've always wondered what it would do to a 4th down and short when it gives way. Automatic first down, or 4th and a mile?
well partly.......you mean if USC lost Leinart or OU had lost White during the season they would have been just as good????????......are you really saying that???? it has more to do with depth which is true and losing a lineman is not the same as losing your premier running back, QB or receiver.......it just isn't.......of course you don't go around making it an excuse.......I didn't but i did make it a "reason" that their passing attack went in the tank
Well, you sort of make a good point, but it's really damaged by the fact that the Big 12 North could barely suck pondwater out of a straw this season. Good heavens, they could barely beat each other in their matchups.
Oklahoma pounded Colorado in the championship game about half as hard as USC pounded OU last night, so that's saying something.
what I'm saying is that the University as a whole is probably no much more liberal than most universities and by that I mean the trustees and such......it does attract many liberal activist types but the Berkeley community attracts most of the attention on and off campus......It is not as bad as it is portrayed in the media or like it was in the 60's.....trust me.......but it is hard to lose that percetion......and yes........UC Berkeley runs and administers Lawrence Livermore Labs and Los Alamos....that is exactly right.....but i'm saying this is a business not run by libs, it is a multi billion dollar copr structure so it shows UC is not as liberal "overall" as you may think
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