University of Southern California football fans have apparently struck first in the battle of the billboards.
“We’re in talks with Lamar. We have a spot for a billboard. It will be up in a couple of weeks,” said Kevin Robl, founder of the Web site USCdynasty.com.
The sign will be at the Perkins Road exit on Interstate 10, Robl said. The billboard, in USC’s team colors, bears the message:
The USC Dynasty, 2002-Present. 19 All-Americans, 34 straight wins, 4 BCS bowls, 3 Heisman trophies, 2 national championships, 1 Pete (Carroll, that is).
The billboard is in response to plans by an LSU fan to place a billboard in the Trojans’ backyard signifying national championships for LSU (2003), USC (2004) and Texas (2005), with a heading that will read, “Shouldn’t dynasties win more than one?”
The billboard idea came after Texas ended USC’s 34-game winning streak in the Rose Bowl in this season’s BCS title game. Texas also was voted No. 1 by The Associated Press, ending USC’s two-year reign in that poll.
Before the title game, USC and its fans had been calling for a “three-peat,” riling LSU fans.
LSU won the 2003 BCS national title with its 21-14 victory over Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl while USC was awarded the AP trophy that season after its victory over Michigan in the Rose Bowl.
Robl said he was surprised by how angry LSU fans were about sharing the 2003 national title with USC.
USC fans were annoyed at the way the BCS ranked teams, but not at LSU, Robl said of the 2003 rankings that put Oklahoma in the national title game ahead of the Trojans.
“For us, right after the Rose Bowl, we were ranked No. 1 in the AP and (CNNSI.com) polls. And the coaches said they weren’t going to change their votes regardless of who won the Sugar Bowl,” Robl said.
But the coaches were contractually obligated to vote for the winner of the BCS championship bowl, Robl said. USC fans felt their team had won the national championship, and the only reason LSU got to share was because the coaches had to vote for the Tigers.
“I thought they’d think they were lucky to have a piece of it at all,” Robl said.
Robl and other USC fans found out differently when an LSU grad started onepeat.com. The Web site taunted USC for its single BCS trophy, and asked whether a team should have to win more than one BCS trophy to call itself a dynasty.
Onepeat.com has reached a $10,000 fundraising goal, according to the site’s organizers. Onepeat.com has narrowed its billboard site options to two locations near the USC campus, but a final decision has not been made.
Onepeat.com had asked for donations so organizers could raise $10,000 to rent a billboard near USC and set the record straight.
Robl’s Web site taunts LSU fans for begging on the Internet. As a successful, “fat cat USC alum”, USCdynasty.com says, Robl can afford to pay for the billboard himself.
Robl said he’s gotten quite a bit of e-mail since starting the site, but not much that’s printable.
“I wasn’t shocked, but it’s kind of funny to get e-mails like that every day,” he said.
Robl said he was also surprised by LSU fans’ reverence for the BCS’ trophy.
“It’s a crystal football. It’s not like it’s the Stanley Cup,” he said.
The conflict isn’t over.
According to Onepeat.com, its Web site was the target of a distributed denial of service attack. The attack temporarily shut down the site late Tuesday and early Wednesday, but service had been restored by Wednesday evening. Onepeat.com said a USC message board, which is no longer online, was trying to organize just such an attack.
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