There’s no question who’s No. 1 to the thousands of purple-and-gold partyers in tiger stripes who packed the Superdome and Bourbon Street.
That LSU will have to share the national title hardly matters.
By holding off Jason White and Oklahoma 21-14 at the very end Sunday night in the Sugar Bowl, these Tigers certainly proved they belonged in the Bowl Championship Series finale.
Too bad for college football fans everywhere that there’s not one more game left for No. 2 LSU–against top-ranked Southern California.
The Tigers automatically received the USA Today/ESPN coaches’ crown for winning this game over the third-ranked Sooners.
But LSU will have to share the championship with USC. With 56 of 65 ballots counted Sunday night, the Trojans were No. 1 on 42 ballots.
As BCS coordinator, Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese conceded “we made a mistake” and proposed changes to the process that selects college football’s national champion:
– Revising the BCS formula for ranking teams so it would take into account when teams lose and whether the losses occur at home or away.
– Dropping computer rankings from the formula entirely, which would leave the human polls, strength of schedule and wins over quality teams as the main factors.
– Requiring a team to win its conference championship in order to be selected to play in the title game.
– Guaranteeing that any team that finishes No. 1 in both polls will play for the title.
– Appointing a committee with the power to overrule the BCS’s final rankings if they contradicted common sense.
In the Sugar Bowl Sunday night, true freshman Justin Vincent ran loose for 117 yards and was selected the game’s most outstanding player, defensive end Marcus Spears scored on an interception return and coach Nick Saban’s team never trailed in bringing LSU its first crown since 1958.
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Edited by Phillip Thompon (plthompson@tribune.com) and Chris Courtney (cdcourtney@tribune.com)
