Congrats to the USC TROJANS!!! -- NATIONAL CHAMPIONS OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL!!

[TrueAmerican]

Congrats to the true champions of the nation.

Congrats also to LSU, runner-up.

[regnaD kciN]

1. Agreed...

As much as it pains me to admit it (my mother went to UCLA and my wife to Washington -- Trojan-hating is in my blood), SC truly was head and shoulders above anyone else this year.

[dae]

2. I agree with your choice of candidate. However, LSU is # 1, USC #2.

:toast:

[TrueAmerican]

3. Not according to the AP Poll and Public Opinion

USC are the national champs and LSU is the BCS champ.

[mouse7]

4. LSU #0

LSU should have refused the BCS title You don't accept what you do not earn.

[ronzo]

5. I'm going out on a limb here.

Trojan fan?

Look friend, this goes to show the imperfections within the BCS system. It's a shared championship. A shame, but that's how it goes. For my edification, USC is #1 in which poll?

on edit: AP

[mouse7]

7. NOT AT ALL. I'm near where coaches get fired for hoops pools.

College is about educating kids. A school president worth anything at all would have ordered his team to refuse the title on the basis of fairness and good sportmanship.

School Presidents are supposed to sit on their coaches when they make the eduational system look this bad. This is teaching all the wrong lessons to kids.

[enki23]

8. read what you just wrote

see the "BCS title" part of that? the BCS title is a system, admittedly imperfect, for determining the winner of the national championship. under the "BCS title" system, LSU has won that national championship. under other systems, some perhaps better, others certainly worse, other teams would likely have won. if the champion were determined by consecutive coin tosses, god knows who would have won. if it had been determined by a full round-robin playoff schedule which included every single team in the nation magically played over the course of a month or two, the winner may have been someone entirely different as well.

and no matter *what* system was used, there would be plenty of room to criticize the validity of the eventual winner.

in other words: don't like the BCS? lobby for changes. quit watching. whatever. the system is imperfect, but under *this* imperfect system, among all possible imperfect systems, LSU has won the national championship. and they deserve it.

you don't have to like it, you don't have to get over it, but the LSU fighting tigers very well *are* the "BCS title" winners this year whether you like it or not.

[mouse7]

9. No, BCS is bugged software.

I can write software that puts the the Evil Mice7s #1.

You have to win a championship on the field. USC did. LSU didn't.

[enki23]

10. are you implying that the system was deliberately rigged

in LSU's favor? if not, your analogy is... a bit off.

aargh.
note to self: disgruntled college football fanatics are not good targets for reasoned discourse

[mouse7]

11. It is rigged.

The Coaches are FORCED to vote for the winner if the BCS game in the final coaches poll.

The Coaches are not allowed to select the #1 team of the final Coaches Poll.

[OldSoldier]

18. Give me a break!

They're both the champion.

If the BCS would have named USC champion, they would have taken away all of your fun for the next nine months. No arguing about football? The whole sports bar industry would collapse!

This is why I like NASCAR better: there's no question about who's the champion.

[La_Serpiente]

6. At least Berkley

can claim that they were the only ones that beat the number #1 college team in the country :-)

[mouse7]

12. USC CROWNED NATIONAL CHAMPS BY AP

USC wins AP title

By JOSH DUBOW, AP Football Writer
January 5, 2004
Pete Carroll was right. Southern California had nothing to worry about these last three days.

The Trojans are champions of The Associated Press college football poll.

USC earned 48 of the 65 first-place votes early Monday to finish No. 1 in the nation and earn a share of their first national title in 25 years.

The Trojans (12-1) beat out USA Today/ESPN coaches' poll champion LSU, which defeated Oklahoma 21-14 in Bowl Championship Series title game Sunday night in the Sugar Bowl.

USC beat Michigan 28-14 in the Rose Bowl last Thursday to stake its claim to the title.

``We're glad it concluded in the fashion we all hoped it would,'' said Carroll, the Trojans' coach. ``We're proud of that. We had a terrific football season. We're really excited for that.''..."

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/news;_ylc=X3oDMTBpMmgzc2pzBF9TAzk1ODYyMzAwBHNlYwN0aA--?slug=ap-collegefbpoll&prov=ap&type=lgns

[ronzo]

13. Let me get this straight once and for all...

If USC had been ranked #1 or #2 in the BCS rankings, they would have played for the National Championship, foregoing the Rose Bowl, as the Buckeyes did a year or two ago, right?
Thanks in advance.

[mouse7]

14. The thing to get straight is the BCS system is busted and getting dumped

The BCS system is broken. This disaster is the evidence and all these computer rankings are getting permanently tossed for a NCAA selection committee.

USC was the #1 team in the country in both the Associated Press College Football Writers Poll and the College Football Coaches poll entering the bowl game season. #1 USC won impressively in their bowl game. USC is now National Champs.

[TrueAmerican]

15. Wrong, USC did played for a National Championship

They played for the National Championship as voted by AP. LSU played for the BCS. Since the coaches were required/forced to vote for LSU, their BCS National Championship is tainted.

[OldSoldier]

19. How many times are you going to send this article?

I think we get the idea.

[Braden]

16. no runners up. they are legitimate co-champions

LSU and USC deserved to play for the title. Oklahoma did not.

congrats to the bengals and trojans.

dump the BCS. Give me a playoff or just go back to the way it was, and all major bowl games should be played on January 1st.

.02

[SmileyBoy]

17. That system is so fucking stupid. There should be playoffs in I-A.

Just like I-AA. Thank GOD I'm a I-AA football fan, so I don't have to deal with that type of BCS bullshit.

GOOOOOOOO NDSU BISON!!!!!

[Kazak]

20. Denial: appearantly more than just a river in Egypt...

Look, nobody said the BCS was perfect...however, the teams DID agree to play by it's formula. Tough titty, USC...shouldn'ta lost to CAL, then there would be no argument.

[KFC]

21. This will be the end of the BCS, then LSU loses their claim

When this deeply flawed system is dropped, the BCS rankings will have no meaning.

And then LSU will have no claim on the national championship.

[TrueAmerican]

22. Let's hear it one more time for the National Champions

No rigged poll. USC wins the only poll not rigged.

Thank you, USC for bringing back the National Championship were it belongs.