Posted on 01/03/2005 6:20:10 AM PST by AppyPappy
Auburn Clings to Split Nat'l Title Hopes
By PAUL NEWBERRY NEW ORLEANS (AP) - In college football, it's never too late to get in some last-minute campaigning. No. 3 Auburn did just that, pitching its Sugar Bowl matchup with ninth-ranked Virginia Tech as a co-national championship game.
``You always have hope,'' Auburn athletic director David Housel said. ``Winston Churchill was right. Never, never, never, never, never give up.''
So, on the eve of Monday night's Sugar Bowl, Tigers coach Tommy Tuberville made his pitch: Auburn (12-0) deserves at least a share of the national title if it beats the Hokies.
``There are two national championship games,'' Tuberville insisted. ``There's one here at the Sugar Bowl, and there's another one at the Orange Bowl.''
Never mind that it's No. 1 Southern Cal vs. No. 2 Oklahoma in the Orange - and the winner of Tuesday night's game is assured of being voted BCS national champion in the coaches' poll.
snip The Hokies' other loss, 17-16 to North Carolina State, would have gone the other way if Brandon Pace's 43-yard field goal attempt on the final play had been a couple of feet to the left.
(Excerpt) Read more at sportsillustrated.netscape.cnn.com ...
"One of most exciting thus far: Boise State vs Louisville."
Yes, yes, and the Iowa win was crazy too, but neither can hold a candle to the Texas Michigan game.
How about the Running Utes?
Pitt should not even have been in a BCS bowl. The BCS system sucks, and Utah's dismantling of Pitt proved it. Give the MWC an auto-bid!
Better to wait till after the game. Cal is in the dumps; Utah riding high.
But they were a decent team like I said.
Auburn can make this all simple for us by choking tonight.
That would "fix" things. I like the SEC though and I would like to see them win. And the best part is will hasten the demise of the BCS and bring us that much closer to playoff for college football.
March madness is huge and makes tons of money for everyone. IMHO it surpasses the NBA, maybe because it is short, sweet and simple. I would not be suprised if I felt the same way about college football playoffs.
More of the nation has a "personal" stake in it.
``There are two national championship games,'' Tuberville insisted. ``There's one here at the Sugar Bowl, and there's another one at the Orange Bowl.''
If Virginia Tech pulls the upset, would Tuberville insist that they are the national champion?
The BCS is far from perfect, and we know that it will be tweaked again for next season, but at least it was able to pair the consensus #1 and #2 teams in the Orange Bowl. It's unfortunate that a team can have an undefeated season and not be in the championship game but that's a relatively unusual outcome.
A playoff system would take care of that.
As far as consensus #1 & #2 it is only because that's where they were ranked preseason and did not lose.
`There are two national championship games,'' Tuberville insisted. ``There's one here at the Sugar Bowl, and there's another one at the Orange Bowl.''
I can understand that sounds self promoting, but in the bragging rights department when it comes to recruiting, especially in the SEC, that can carry some weight.
And lastly, yes I am biased since I'm an Auburn grad. It's been too many years since we've even been this close and to run the table in the SEC and not even get an opportunity is a 1st with an SEC team.
One of the reasons that Auburn should get a shot at the NC is they came from way behind to do it. Was Auburn ranked at the beginning of the season? VT was not.
I'm not sure why the AP Poll will no longer be considered, but it seems to me that it increases the odds of a truly split championship.
This Bama gal will be rootin' for Auburn and Oklahoma tonight.
They were ranked 19th in some polls, but were predicted to do no better than 7-4, with some predicts 6-5.
WAR TURKEYS!!!!!
Virginia Tech was ranked somewhere in the footnotes.
I spoke too soon. I read last week they weren't. I just heard Jim Rome state that schedule would also be considered less in the BCS next year because of teams like Utah being in lesser conferences and major conferences like the PAC being weaker.
lol
GAME TIME. Go War Beagles.
If Auburn wanted to lay claim to a piece of the NC, they would have to at least cover the spread on Va Tech. Instead, they barely hung on to win. Va Tech scored lots of points against Duke, W Michigan and Fl A&M. Besides that, they weren't an offensive powerhouse. 13 points would be about right against a defense as good as Auburn. We only put 16 on Miami.
Auburn choked. Bottom line.
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