Really? USC destroyed Oklahoma in the championship game while Auburn just squeaked by #8 Virginia Tech. I do think they got screwed, being undefeated with nothing to show for it. And this whole mess is just salt in the wound, but it doesn’t make them national champs.
Despite my joke in Post 16, I think the only reasonable answers are 1 and 4. To give it to Auburn or Oklahoma would be ridiculous. I don’t even think the majority of the players from those schools would take it seriously. Knowing this, when Bush had to give up his Heisman, Vince Young quickly dismissed any idea that he would accept the trophy.
And since the AP will keep USC at #1 for that year, they’re still the national champs anyway.
It strikes me as completely weird that AP, and apparently some fans, consider their opinion poll to be indicative of a “champion.” It’s bad enough, in most fans’ view, to hold that subjective rankings determine who is worthy to play in a “championship” game; to claim that a subjective ranking is the championship boggles my mind.
But there is no fair objective measurement anyway. 2/3 of the BCS formula is poll-driven. The other 1/3 is based on a questionable algorithm. The pre-season polls impact the future polls, which affect the strength-of-schedule rankings. A loss in Week 1 is better than a loss in Week 5, which is better than a loss in Week 10. Most of the best teams from the best conferences, knowing that they will the recipients of a high ranking, refuse to schedule any challenging non-conference games (especially on the road). Every recent national champion has had the good fortune of some purely lucky plays (like missed opponent extra points or short field goals).
I am not that familiar with the Maurice Clarette story at OSU, but tOSU did win a Nat’l Championship w/ Clarette in the backfield in 2002.
Is the NCAA being (ahem, cough) consistent with tOSU and USC
Who else should we, as fans, accept as the proper source for determining who the national champion is? The OP and the writer of his cited article should both have been more precise with their wording, because the NCAA didn’t strip USC of its national title, the*** BCS*** did. The NCAA does not now, nor has it ever awarded a National Championship in what used to be called D1A football. For as long as teams have been claiming championships in the sport, it has always been awarded to them by some poll or newspaper or wire service. Even in the BCS Era, there are still two National Championships awarded each year, and not always to the same team. Don’t forget that in 2003, the year before all this happened, it was USC who was controversially left out of the BCS title game even though they were ranked #1 in both the final regular season AP and Coaches Polls; and when LSU won a close game, the AP gave their title to USC, and even though the coaches were contractually obligated to give their title to LSU, 3 coaches still voted for USC anyway.
The point is that the NCAA forced USC to vacate its wins, but the BCS decided to vacate their Championship. The system is, and always has been completely arbitrary, so why should this one season be any different?
As to the original question, I voted that USC should still be the champ because USC didn’t pay Reggie Bush, some wannabe agent in San Diego did. If SC had bought Reggie in a recruiting battle, or some booster had given him a cushy job and a car to keep him happy that would be one thing, but no one is even accusing USC of being involved in this affair. The worst anyone is saying is that Reggie and his parents were taking a bunch of cash and someone at USC might have known about it. Yes, Reggie was taking money and should personally suffer for it, but he wasn’t taking money from USC. That’s a big distinction, I think. To me, what he did is nowhere near bad enough to warrant the sanctions USC has been hit with.
And even if you do think USC should be stripped of the title, I still don’t see how anyone could vote for it to go to Auburn. Right or wrong, they didn’t even play in the title game. If it has to go to someone, it has to go to Oklahoma, who should then be mortally ashamed of displaying that thing in any trophy case on campus. Look kids! We got slaughtered but won 7 years later by default! Yay!
On what basis do you think Auburn will have to vacate anything? Auburn is accused of nothing. No-one involved at any level of authority has even suggested that Auburn might have done anything wrong.
Auburn has received no Notice of Allegations, No Preliminary Letter of Inquiry, no Letter of Inquiry. Investigation of an institution cannot begin until these things are done and there is no indication that anything like that is pending.
Tennessee has received all of the above and their investigation is completed. Their infractions happened about the same time as Auburn signed Cam Newton. Ohio State has received a Letter of Allegations and their problems came to light nearly a year after Auburn signed Cam Newton. If there were anything to question at Auburn, the questioning would have started long before now.
Three weeks ago the NCAA’s Director of Compliance was asked by a reporter why the Cam Newton case was resolved so quickly and the Bush case dragged out for years. Her answer: “There is clear evidence that extra benefits were provided to Reggie Bush. Nothing of value changed hands in the Newton case.”
Any question of Newton’s eligibility was settled on December 2, 2010 when the NCAA declared him “Eligible without condition”.
First of all, Texas is still the 2005 national champion. USC did beat Oklahoma in January of 2005, but that was to determine the 2004 national champ.
The 2004 title is vacant. It’s a shame Auburn didn’t get a shot to play in the game, but they didn’t. There have been plenty of other excellent teams that did not get a shot over the years. You have to actually win the BCS title game to be national champions.
Nope, sorry. The whole point of the BCS was to eliminate this split title nonsense. The AP still has their poll, but that does not determine who is national champion anymore. It’s just an opinion poll. The BCS is not perfect, but it does a decent job of finding the two best teams and then letting an actual football game determine the champ.
Are you trying to say that the AP no longer awards a National Championship? Because they certainly do, just as they have every year since 1936 - you get a nifty trophy and everything.
I voted Oklahoma but only because I went to OU. I wouldn’t expect anyone else to.
My buddies and I also get together at the end of the year and vote for a college national champion. We give out a trophy, too! Unfortunately it’s one of those “horse’s ass” trophies they give to the guy who gets last place in a bowling league.