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.
good.....thanks for the support.......I gotta go eat b4 i pass our from blogging brain......see on the FR and next football season.........take care
What have I said that is uncivil? I haven't used profanity or vulgarities? I havn't called you names or insulted you? And what NFL scouts are you talking about? I haven't heard HBO's NFL show mention any college QBs, or NFL Today, or Fox's NFL show do it. The first time I've heard the draft mentioned this year was when Miami had a shot at the 1st pick. And Matt Leinhart's top receive didn't play the WHOLE year, and he STILL managed to win the Heisman. I wasn't even that big a fan of him until last night. I thought the guy resembled Ryan Leaf and Drew Bledsoe too much. In fact, I thought that he pretty much WAS a saw paw Drew Bledsoe. But, my opinion changed last night. And if you're sure of what the scouts ARE saying? Just what part of the draft would they be taken at? Where do the SCOUTS think they'll be going and when? And when in the pros do you get someone in the middle of the year to replace your top guy? Trade for Jerry Rice? Cross in patters are timed, slants are timed, the whole West Coast offense is timed, but you're saying that NO ONE was open after those Cal receievers went down? I thought Aaron Rogers was better suited for the NFL until last night. Now, after the what you've said about him, I'm not so sure he should go into the NFL. By the way, why do YOU think he should go into the NFL? And why do you think he is a good quarterback? Feel free to ask me the same questions, I'll answer one of them right now. I thought Aaron Rogers was a good QB because he was the only one who could give the USC defense prefuse trouble on a consistent basis.
Yes, you've said they lost the three receivers and their rover back in about 5 or 6 different posts on this thread, you also enjoy using words like IGNORANT and LOGIC, and you babble on about how you don't understand other people's logic or how they're ignorant, both overrated. But, was this roverback one of the best in the country? Like Brian Urlacher or Adam Archuleta? Both of them were roverbacks in college.
And now I will be uncivil...take your public university and your overrated regard for NoCal academics, and your lack of funds for recruting, according to you, by the way, and go salad toss with it. If this seems ignorant or illogical to you...then read my tagline!
Recognizing Cal as a typo, I pretty much agree with that list(though perhaps Utah and Auburn should be reversed. Perhaps.)
Imagine how much better this weekend would be with a Saturday of Utah at Auburn, Rams at Seahawks, and Jets at Chargers, then a Sunday of Broncos at Colts, Vikings at Packers, and finish with Texas at USC.
Perhaps it is not so much the university presidents against a playoff as much as the university presidents' wives...
well i'm home sick so i've been bloggin all day so i'm sorry if i called you uncivil cause you were not. but the fact is the rover back was important to Cal's defense and that was important to them....I appreciate your opinion, just bloggers brain after doing this all day.....so I'll take your response as noted but i'll leave you with this, Cal is no way overrated in academics...I don't know how much you know about that subjuect but I assure you that Cal is that good....sorry if I used words I shouldn't have...i've been argruing all day with guys on espn forums and i may have gotten everyone mixed up in my flu fog.....sorry, i don'twant to offend a fellow FReeper...have a good day....
Well, you as well, get well soon, be glad you're not in Colorado...damn snow. I guess it could've been worse. Could've been a tsunami. J/K What? Too soon? Anyway, I mean your regard and stock into academics was overrated. Well, no, just academics in general. Actually, just the desire to fund it to the point where its 30% of our national budget, or $1 billion of our income as a nation. Wasn't this a sports thread?!?!?!
If I didn't know you were a Texas grad, I'd ROFL. Texas scored exactly 0 points against OU, Cedric Benson is no Adrian Peterson, and Vince Young is another Quincy Carter.
Texas wouldn't have fared any better than OU last night in such a matchup.
Face it, USC right now is dominant. That will change in a year, perhaps two. But until UT beats OU in the Red River Shootout, it's impossible to take them more seriously than a perennial bridesmaid.
C'mon, beat OU. Everyone else important does.
Now don't go getting all arrogant, you ain't native, ya know!
Look, all I'm doing is taking the 4 BCS bowl winners to illustrate how much better and interesting it would be to turn the BCS into a playoff. Proving it on the field while giving us more games with more interest is the point, not would Texas beat USC. Besides, if ya'll are as great as ya'll claim, what's the fear of proving it through 2 more games, remove ALL doubt, and gaining even more respect?
But as Chris Berman says, "On any given Sunday..."
Low blow, man, that really hurt.
God's Team.
In the January bowl games, where the big dogs play, the Big-12 didn't do so good - a 1 pt win, a 31 pt loss, and a 36 pt loss. If you want to count victories over Miami of Ohio, go ahead. I suppose it is better than losing to them!
I also note that all of the bowl-eligible teams in the Big-12 were selected for bowl games. Similarly, all 5 of the Pac-10 teams who were eliglible were also selected.
"You keep slamming the Big 12, but you don't have a clue what you're talking about. Is the SEC tough? Yes, I believe it's a pretty good football conference. Better than the Big12? I doubt it, and they haven't shown me anything otherwise."
The SEC was weaker than usual this year.
"But you've got no justification for slamming the Big12."
The Big-12 had a decent year, but they had a bad January.
BG was ranked (at least at one time this year).
Yeah, I was surprised too.
nope, I will not stick my neck out further on the choppin board, I will leave this thread with what dignity I have left.
ROFL!
They weren't big enough to overcome voting collusion in the coaches poll (that is, if you were talking about #4 Cal before the bowls - stuck in a game traditionally reserved for the WAC champion).
The traditional Big-4 were all January 1 before the BCS (with the exception of Sundays in the case of the Rose Bowl). The Fiesta Bowl has become a major bowl, the Cotton Bowl has lost some if its former luster. The rest are pretenders.
Just based on last nights game, you can't spell lOUsy without OU in it.
As far as a playoff system, who knows if it will ever happen. Maybe they could take the top 8, 16, or even 32 if they want to go bananas and start the playoffs in early December. I think USC was good enough last night to take on Auburn after the championship game was finished and would have beat them in the double header. I figured USC would win, but I didn't think it would be a blowout.
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