The college football season ended Monday with the awarding of the second national championship trophy in as many days, but there is no end in sight to the controversial selection process that gave two teams a piece of the title.
The Associated Press awarded Southern California its championship trophy in Los Angeles after the Trojans took 48 of the 65 first-place votes in the media poll. Louisiana State, which won the Bowl Championship Series trophy Sunday night by beating Oklahoma 21-14 in the Sugar Bowl, took the other 17 votes and finished a surprisingly close second.
Even though 37 coaches had voted USC No. 1 in the final regular-season USA Today/ESPN poll, they were obligated to shift their final votes to LSU as part of an agreement between the BCS and the American Football Coaches Association. Three of the 63 coaches rebelled and cast their top ballot for USC.
“The argument about the system is out there, and that’s probably good,” said Southern Cal coach Pete Carroll, whose team beat Michigan 28-14 in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day. “We did what we could, impressing the people in the AP poll and the coaches who felt free to vote.”
USC finished the year 12-1. LSU was 13-1.
“It doesn’t bother me,” said Chad Lavalais, LSU’s All-American defensive tackle. “It’s like winning the lottery, but you have to share the Powerball with another person. It’s still a good deal.”
Six leading conferences–the Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10 and Southeastern–formed the BCS in 1998 in hopes of unifying the national championship. The previous year, Michigan had won the AP poll and Nebraska was the coaches’ choice. Since then both polls had named the winner of the BCS title game the undisputed champion.
But this season the nation’s top three teams all finished the season with one loss. Even though USC was ranked No. 1 by both polls, the computer rankings chose Oklahoma and LSU for the title game.
Oklahoma went despite losing to Kansas State 35-7 in the Big 12 championship game. LSU and USC had lost to Florida and California, respectively, earlier in the year.
Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese, outgoing coordinator of the BCS, conceded that the system had problems and said he would like to see some sort of human oversight.
“We’ve got a system that somehow leaves the No. 1 team in both human polls out of the championship game,” he said. “We made a mistake.”
One option, he suggested, was the formation of a selection committee for the BCS game, similar to the committee that chooses the 65 teams for the NCAA basketball tournament. Another idea would give teams a bonus in the computer rankings for being picked No. 1 in the human polls.
The controversy also renewed calls for a playoff system. But in an era in which college teams now play as many as 14 games in a season, adding even more games seems unlikely.
AFCA President Grant Teaff told USA Today that the coaches would not change their agreement to name the BCS title game winner the national champion.
“Everything has worked out, under the circumstances, the best possible way,” Teaff said. “Honestly, if you’d planned it, it probably couldn’t have worked out better.”
But Monday, Teaff seemed to be a lonely voice.
Final rankings
AP Top 25
The Top 25 teams in the Associated Press college football final poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, 2003 records, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote, and previous ranking:
RANK, TEAM REC PTS PRV
1. Southern Cal (48) 12-1 1,608 1
2. LSU (17) 13-1 1,576 2
3. Oklahoma 12-2 1,476 3
4. Ohio State 11-2 1,411 7
5. Miami 11-2 1,329 10
6. Michigan 10-3 1,281 4
7. Georgia 11-3 1,255 11
8. Iowa 10-3 1,107 13
9. Washington St. 10-3 1,060 15
10. Miami (Ohio) 13-1 932 14
11. Florida State 10-3 905 9
12. Texas 10-3 887 5
13. Mississippi 10-3 845 16
14. Kansas State 11-4 833 8
15. Tennessee 10-3 695 6
16. Boise State 13-1 645 18
17. Maryland 10-3 564 23
18. Purdue 9-4 526 12
19. Nebraska 10-3 520 22
20. Minnesota 10-3 368 24
21. Utah 10-2 308 25
22. Clemson 9-4 230 —
23. Bowling Green 11-3 189 —
24. Florida 8-5 165 17
25. Texas Christian 11-2 126 19
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Others: Oklahoma St. 109, Arkansas 73, Virginia 36, N. Illinois 30, Auburn 8, Oregon St. 8, N.C. State 7, Pittsburgh 7, West Virginia 4, Connecticut 2.
USA Today/ESPN Top 25
RANK, TEAM REC PTS PRV
1. LSU (60) 13-1 1,572 2
2. Southern Cal (3) 12-1 1,514 1
3. Oklahoma 12-2 1,429 3
4. Ohio State 11-2 1,370 6
5. Miami (Fla.) 11-2 1,306 9
6. Georgia 11-3 1,183 11
7. Michigan 10-3 1,140 4
8. Iowa 10-3 1,119 12
9. Washington St. 10-3 983 14
10. Florida State 10-3 929 8
11. Texas 10-3 894 5
12. Miami (Ohio) 13-1 800 15
13. Kansas State 11-4 746 10
14. Mississippi 10-3 730 18
15. Boise State 13-1 704 16
16. Tennessee 10-3 684 7
17. Minnesota 10-3 553 20
18. Nebraska 10-3 532 21
19. Purdue 9-4 510 13
20. Maryland 10-3 462 24
21. Utah 10-2 327 25
22. Clemson 9-4 219 NR
23. Bowling Green 11-3 170 NR
24. TCU 11-2 145 19
25. Florida 8-5 124 17
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Others: Northern Illinois 80; Arkansas 74; Oklahoma State 63; Auburn 20; North Carolina State 17; Oregon State 15; West Virginia 14; Southern Mississippi 12; Fresno State 6; Hawaii 6; Pittsburgh 5; Texas Tech 4; Marshall 3; Virginia 3; Boston College 2; California 1; Connecticut 1; Memphis 1; Michigan State 1; Missouri 1; North Texas 1.
