From Gridiron Tigr of nola.com/forums/lsu: LSU vs. Southern Cal BREAKDOWN - LSU is 3-0 vs. teams ranked in the final AP Top Ten with wins over #3 Oklahoma and #7 Georgia (Twice) - Southern Cal is 2-0 vs. AP Top Ten teams with wins over #6 Michigan and #9 Washington State - LSU is 4-0 vs. teams ranked in the top 15 (top ten wins plus #13 Ole Miss) - Southern Cal is 2-0 vs. top 15 teams - LSU has SIX wins against teams that finished in the AP Top 30 (including the receiving votes listing) - Southern Cal has THREE wins against teams that finished in the AP Top 30 - The seventh-highest ranked team LSU defeated (30th-ranked Auburn) was the third-best team that Southern Cal played. - LSU's lone loss was the 24th ranked Florida. The Gators five losses were ALL to nationally ranked Miami (5th in final AP Poll), Tennessee (15th), Ole Miss (13th), Florida State (11th) and Iowa (8th). In addition to beating LSU the Gators posted a win over No. 6 UGA and Arkansas (27th-RV) - Southern Cal's loss was to UNRANKED and SIX LOSS California. Cal's six losses were to Kansas State (13th) and Utah (21st) and UNRANKED Colorado State, Oregon State, UCLA and Oregon. Cal beat no other ranked teams. - LSU's margin of victory (22.9) was greater than USC's (22.6). Yes, what you may have heard the media saying ("USC dominates its opponents whereas LSU barely gets by") just does not hold up to the scrutiny of objective analysis. - Southern Cal plays basically a home game in the Rose Bowl against #4 Michigan (a team which also had a loss to an unranked opponent as well) and wins by two touchdowns the game is called a dominating victory by the media which immediately declares Southern Cal national champs days before the polls come out. - LSU defeats #5 Georgia, who, had they not played LSU this year would have been 11-1 and had a good shot at the national championship game in New Orleans, in front of heavily partisan crowd for the Bulldogs in the Georgia Dome by THREE touchdowns. Good game says the media. - All LSU heard after playing Georgia early in the season was that LSU better pray they did not have to play Georgia again in Atlanta because the better team did not win the first time. Some national media claimed that Georgia not only was the better team, but they had the advantage in the rematch of playing for revenge, as well as playing in their own backyard. Considering all this, the second victory by LSU over Georgia should be all the more impressive as to how great LSU was this season. - LSU faced Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl, a team that prior to suffering an upset at the hand of Kansas State was considered a juggernaut and one of the best teams in football history. The Sooners were the top scoring offense and total defense in the nation heading into the game. The Sooner defense boasted defensive lineman Tommie Harris, Lombardi Award winner and All-American, linebacker Teddy Lehman, Butkus Award winner, Bednarik Award winner, and All-American, and defensive back Derrick Strait, Nagurski Award winner, Thorpe Award winner, and All-American. The Sooner offense was one of the tops in the nation in scoring and features Heisman Trophy winner Jason White. White posted just 13 completions on 37 attempts for 102 yards and two interceptions, one returned for a touchdown, against the Tigers. After throwing 40 TD passes on the season, White threw none in the Sugar Bowl. The Sooners amassed just 154 total yards against the Tigers. Oklahoma averaged just 2.2 yards gained per play. (Info from LSUSports.net). After averaging 45 points on the year, LSU held them to 14, with both scores on short drives after a blocked punt and interception, respectively. - LSU derailed any chance of Eli Manning of getting the Heisman trophy this season. LSU also made many question after this past Sunday whether Jason White should have gotten the Heisman trophy. I bet Larry Fitzgerald wished LSU would have played OU during the regular season. - Compare LSU's top 7 to USC's top 7 (in order to be the champion, you have to beat the best): Oklahoma (12-2) vs Michigan (10-3): OU favored. UGA (11-3) vs. Washington (10-3) State: UGA favored. UGA (11-3) vs. Auburn (8-5): UGA beat Auburn. Ole Miss (10-3) vs. Cal (8-6): Ole Miss favored. Florida (8-5) vs. Oregon State (8-5): UF favored. Arkansas (9-4) vs. Notre (5-7) Dame: Arkansas favored. Auburn (8-5) vs. UCLA (6-7): Auburn favored. LSU has proved it on the field by playing high quality opponents in seven games. USC has played but TWO ranked teams the entire season! How does a team play only two ranked teams and get voted #1? - National championships are earned. AP titles are given to the team the AP likes the most or to the team that loses first. Perhaps this is the reason the big conferences got together to form the BCS. They simply were tired of the AP capriciously declaring unworthy teams as national champions. USC fans should indeed remember this, as it was in 1978 that USC was robbed of a national title by the AP. USC and Alabama finished with the same record, but USC beat Bama by 10 at Bama. Somehow, the AP voted Alabama #1. The AP further proved its silly rankings when one voter voted LSU #3 in this year's final poll. - LSU defeated common opponent Auburn 31-7 after the Tigers had won five-straight including wins over then-Top Ten ranked teams in Arkansas and Tennessee. LSU sprinted out to a 21-0 lead in early in the first quarter and cruised the rest of the way, taking its starters out of the game in the middle of the 3rd, up 31-0. Southern Cal defeated Auburn 23-0, keeping it starters in the entire game, to open the season during a two-game stretch where the Tigers failed to score a Touchdown. The Trojans scored 13 second half points after taking a 10-0 lead into halftime. - LSU defeated common opponent Arizona 59-13, scoring 38 first half points. The Trojans scored 35 first half points en route to a 45-0 win over the Wildcats. - Five SEC teams finished the season ranked in the AP Top 25 compared to two for the Pac-10. - The Pac-10 went 4-2 in the bowls with the only wins over ranked teams by USC and Washington State. - The SEC went 5-2 in bowls with wins by LSU over No. 3 Oklahoma, Georgia over then No. 18 Purdue, Ole Miss over then No. 22 Oklahoma State. Florida lost to No 8 Iowa and Tennessee was upset by No. 22 Clemson. - All 7 SEC bowl opponents were from BCS conferences, compared to 4 for the Pac-10. Obviously of the 11 bowls, 9 (6 for the SEC and 3 for the Pac-10) had their choice as to whether to line up their bowl with a particular conference. - Only two Pac-10 won 10 or more games, compared to four in the SEC. - LSU beat a higher ranked opponent in their bowl game in Oklahoma than Southern Cal did in Michigan. The Sooners also had the motivation of playing for a national title. There seems to be a consensus among the media that Michigan was ill-prepared for its contest. - LSU's opponents that went to bowls were 5-1 (counting UGA twice) all against BCS member schools. The wins were by Auburn (over Wisconsin), Georgia (over No. 18 Purdue), Ole Miss (over No. 22 Oklahoma State), and Arkansas (over Missouri). Florida lost to No. 8 Iowa. - Southern Cal's opponents were 5-1 in bowls with four games against BCS member schools. Washington State (defeated Texas, whom LSU's sixth thoughest opponent, Arkansas, defeated by more points than WSU, and the game was at UT), Hawaii (over Houston), Auburn (over Wisconsin), Cal (over Virginia Tech) and Oregon State (New Mexico). Only Texas was ranked. UCLA lost to unranked Fresno State. - The computer polls actually post new rankings after the bowl games. And since SOS changes can still be determined, Rich Tellshow has come up with the final BCS ranking. ..........................W-L...Comp..Coach AP....Ave....QW....SOS.....Total 1 LSU.................13 1....1.00......1......2.....1.5.....1.2.....0.52.....2.82 2 USC.................12 1....1.83......2......1.....1.5.....0.4....0.80......4.73 3 Ohio State........11 2....4.33......4......4.....4.0.....0.2....0.56.....10.29 4 Oklahoma.........12 2....5.00......3......3.....3.0......0......0.56.....10.56 LSU wins 6 of 7 computer polls, most by SIGNIFICANT margins over USC. Only the NYTimes poll gave USC the #1 spot, by a VERY SLIGHT margin. LSU finishes 13th in the nation in SOS, ahead of OU who finishes 14th and USC finished 20th. LSU was mere fractions away from actually finishing 10th. Remove the Western Illinois game, which should have never been scheduled, and LSU finishes 8th. Computer poll results: Kevin Massey 1 LSU..........5.060 2 USC..........4.756 3 Ohio St.....4.604 4 Georgia.....4.572 5 Miami OH...4.550 Jeff Sagarin 1 LSU..........98.21 2 USC..........95.56 3 Georgia.....92.01 4 Miami OH...91.89 5 Miami FL....91.21 NY Times 1 USC...........1.000 2 LSU............0.996 3 Maryland.....0.934 4 Ohio St.......0.927 5 Miami..........0.909 (Note: Maryland #3......hmmmmmm....makes you wonder about this poll) Billingsley 1 LSU.............309.977 2 USC.............308.769 3 Oklahoma......295.654 4 Miami FL.......291.686 5 Ohio St.........290.926 (Note: LSU started the season 30 points behind USC in the first polling for Billingsley) Anderson-Hester 1 LSU...........0.792 2 USC...........0.774 3 Miami OH....0.758 4 Oklahoma....0.746 5 Ohio St.......0.744 Peter Wolfe 1 LSU............7.634 2 USC............7.252 3 Miami OH......6.910 4 Georgia........6.904 5 Oklahoma.....6.766 Colley Matrix 1 LSU...........0.93172 2 USC...........0.91873 3 Ohio St......0.87783 4 Oklahoma...0.87058 5 Miami FL.....0.84364 As you can see, there is as much distance between LSU and USC as there is between USC and the 3rd place team in Massey, Sagarin, Anderson-Hester and Peter Wolfe. These polls are handing #1 to LSU without a doubt. Billingsley is only close because teams are not considered even going into the season, he uses a preseason ranking and USC had a 30 point margin on LSU to start off with. Colley also gives LSU some breathing room ahead of USC. What can you say about the NY Times? Maryland #3 says it all. Computer polls tell the whole story. Humans do not get to meddle with it and show their bias like the AP/Coaches poll. - When LSU was handed the ADT National Championship Trophy Sunday evening, that trophy was given to LSU not by some person or committee. No, that trophy was handed to LSU by 65 teams from the 6 major conferences (and Notre Dame) and the entire coaches association, i.e., all those that agreed to be part of the BCS. Think about this event for a second -- SOUTHERN CAL, along with 64 other schools and 60 college coaches who voted (some from schools other than the six BCS conferences), gave that trophy over to LSU. By LSU receiving that trophy, those 65 schools and the coaches association are publicly recognizing that LSU is SOUTHERN CAL's (as well as everyone else's) better this season! There is absolutely no debate with this whatsoever. By agreeing to be a part of the BCS, whether they like or not, SOUTHERN CAL is acknowledging (begrudgingly, obviously) that LSU they are better and they are champion -- THE national champion! Considering this, in a quirky way, Miami of Ohio, who has a better record than USC and has played just as many ranked teams) has a more legitimate reason than SOUTHERN CAL to gripe, as well as Tulane when they went undefeated a few years back, because their conferences are not part of the BCS. A megolomaniacical group of the media has attempted to steal the National Championship from not only Louisiana State University but from the other 11 member institutions of the Southeastern Conferences and the institutions that comprise the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac 10. This is not a public outcry that has been reported on by the media, but a case where the media has misused its power to create a frenzy among unwitting sports fans. For our part, one of the biggest victims is LSU. Next time though, it could be Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee or another of our SEC brothers. And even if it is a team from another conference, the winner of the BCS National Championship game is OUR National Champion and we should respect that. Southern Cal may call itself anything that it chooses to, that is their prerogative. ESPN may say they won a piece of a national title. The AP may vote them number one and call them a national champion and present them a trophy. This is done in the face of the fact that their poll corroborates that the Trojan's success was achieved against lesser competition than LSU played. Neither the AP nor Southern Cal can also contest the most important fact of all: and that is that LSU won the 2004 Nokia Sugar Bowl which was recognized by the NCAA, the AFCA and the members of the conferences that comprise the BCS as THE National Championship game and is THE 2003 National Champion of Division I College Football. To borrow a phrase, that which they call a Rose by any other name is just a consolation game. Please take the time to pass this email along to other college football fans. Post it on message boards of your teams and other team's boards. Print it out and share it with others via fax or regular mail. Most important of all, send it to any members of the local or national media that you know how to contact including your local paper's editor. Remind them that their job is to REPORT the news and not to attempt to MAKE the news. Let them know that by the rules established prior to the season, LSU won THE National Championship on the field and is YOUR National Champion. Feel free to add any comments or other supporting evidence that you wish to contribute. Thank you and Geaux Tigers
I pasted it in an email to Jerome Solomon, the AP poll voter with the Houston Chronicle. Solomon had an article the other day about why he voted USC # 1. I prefaced it with the following: Dear Mr. Solomon: As a long time Houston Chronicle subscriber and avid reader, I read with great interest your recent piece in which you explained why you voted USC #1 at the conclusion of this college football season. Having read your article, I feel that you are in need of some education. Accordingly, I am pasting below something written by a fellow LSU Tiger fan. It is somewhat lengthy, but I believe it is well worth your time, because, as I said, your education in this area appears to be lacking. I realize that, as an AP college football poll voter, you have a difficult task. Who can say if a particular team is better than another if the two teams do not play each other? I will not say that I know for certain that LSU is better than USC. However, I am very confident that LSU stated its case on the field in grand fashion. Which team would win if LSU and USC were allowed to meet this year? Who knows? But, I do wish the system would allow us to find out. Many media members, including you and most of the other voters in the AP poll have declared that USC is better than LSU. Most of those same people also declared that Oklahoma was better than LSU - even after the Big XXII championship game, even though the voters dropped Oklahoma behind LSU, primarily due to the timing of each team's one loss. And, the people who put their money where their mouths are felt like Oklahoma was about a touchdown better than LSU. But, any such writers and others whose sanity is intact will now agree that LSU was, indeed, better than Oklahoma. So, they were all dreadfully wrong. Whose to say they would not also be wrong about USC being better than LSU? As long as we are stuck with the current system, we will not have a true national championship, but more of a popularity contest. I would just hope that those who vote in the contest would take the time to fully understand each team's case before writing in the team they feel is number 1. Thank you for taking the time to read this.
I'm gonna put all that in my sig. That ok with everyone? Oh, and can ANYONE explain the NY times poll?
