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skipping back a few years....I'm only doing post early 1990s because I was too young to remember/follow anything then. And I wont do years in which the mnc was obvious. But 2004-2005 was a doozy of a season. Let's look at the final ap poll: 1) USC 13-0 2) Auburn 13-0 3) Oklahoma 12-1 4) Utah 12-0 Those are really the only teams that are involved in any sort of discussion. And obviously Oklahoma is out because USC annihilated them in the orange bowl. Utah, while *by far* the best non-bcs team I recall in recent years(much much better than boise) is out because they obviously don't have the same # of quality wins as USC and Auburn. So it comes down to USC and Auburn. Let's break down auburns key games one by one: LSU(jordan hare)- this was the first test of the season for auburn. And *one* play made auburn's whole season. It was unquestionably the most important play of the college football season that year. Auburn was down with under a minute left at around the LSU 25, down 9-3. It has been a defensive struggle all game. It's 4th and 12, and jason campbell had played like...well like jason campbell had played his entire career up to that point. If they don't convert, obviously LSU wins the game and takes command of the secwest. And out of nowhere Jason cambell steps up and becomes a bigtime college quarterback for the rest of the year. He rolled out of the pocket and hit Courtney Taylor on a beautiful on the run for a 13 yard game. The next play campbell threw another strike for an open td. But it was the 4th and 12 that turned around campbell's year(and auburns year). If they don't get that conversion, not only is the undefeated season gone, they don't even win the secwest because LSU would have had the tiebreaker. Tennessee(Neyland)- The LSU win was huge because beating the #5 team in the country is always huge, but let's be honest....it was a nailbiter at home against a team in LSU that was adjusting to a new qb. The game was in neyland, tennessee was in the top 10 at the time, and auburn was an undergdog. They went out and *killed* Tennessee in the first half. Just destroyed them. Jason Campbell picked them apart using brown and williams out of the backfield and in the short passing game. Just a dominating performance on the road. Georgia(Jordan hare)- this georgia team was *loaded*. They were ranked #5 coming into the game, and would go on to have something like 5 of the first 45 picks in that years draft. They were a veteran team with a bunch of stars, and UGA fans were pretty cocky they would come into auburn and win the game. Instead, Auburn came through with their most impressive performance of the year. The game followed the blueprint Auburn had used all year- campbell was extremely efficient, the defense was swarming and their all american safety made a great pick, williams made a few big plays in the return game, and williams and brown were used together very well with both of them often on the field together. Auburn won 24-6 in a game that they controlled throughout. Alabama(Bryant denny)- this was the game that probably cost auburn a chance to jump either OU or USC to get into the orange bowl. Coming off what they did to georgia, there were voters really up in the air as to whether auburn should get the nod over one of them. Auburn needed to blow out Bama. But bama, despite being extremely mediocre that year, actually had a good defense. And with it being in tuscaloosa and the placed jacked up, Auburn couldn't blow them out. They won 21-13 in a game that was never in doubt in the second half, but it wasn't as impressive as they needed to be. Tennessee(sec _title_ game)- Auburn got up early, Tennessee came back, and then auburn put them away in the fourth quarter to win by 10. Virginia Tech(sugar bowl)- this is an important game because it's the only direct comparison we have with USC. The final score was 16-13, but of note was that Vatech never had the ball at any time at *any* point in the second half with a chance to tie or take the lead. At no point did vatech have a chance to win. When USC played them, the margin was greater, but Vatech did have the ball at times in the fourth quarter with a chance to take the lead, and actually led once in the second half. I thought auburn was slightly more impressive against Vatech, but I think the fact that USC had to play Vatech in DC in a neutral game pretty much evens it out. So that's auburns season. Now for USC's notable games: Vatech( neutral )- already mentioned above. A 24-13 win that it took them until late in the fourth quarter to put away. At the time the win looked unimpressive, but then vatech went on to win the acc and it became a good win. Stanford(palo alto)- A 31-28 win. This is a game that is forgotten about in USC's football season. I remember watching this game and I never really thought USC would lose it at any point, but jesus.... 31-28 over stanford isn't a positive result. One advantage for auburn is that auburn didn't have this type of game against a bad football team. Cal(at the coliseum)- ah...the infamous game where cal supporters won every single category but the game. hahahahaha. I still laugh at them for the way cal fans spin that game. Anyways, usc won 23-17 against an opponent ranked #7 at the time. Cal would go on to feel they got screwed over in losing out on a bcs bid to texas, then promptly went on to get waxed by an unranked texas tech in the holiday bowl. Go bears! Arizona State(at the coliseum)- perhaps USC's best game of the season to that point. ASU was ranked coming in and faded towards the end of the year, but USC jumped all over them and blew them out 45-7. Ouch. Oregon State-a 28-20 win on the road against an unranked/mediocre team. not USC's best performance by a long shot. UCLA(rose bowl)- a 29-24 win on the road against another unranked opponent. But to me this is sorta like auburn's win against bama. Both on the road, both rivals, and I never really sensed either team could lose the game. Oklahoma(orange bowl)- So far in the analysis, Auburn looks to be ahead.......but then USC comes out and just drills OU 55-19. Most impressive performance by any team in college football that year. So the way I see it......it's a tie. There are points in both teams favor. USC has the best win of the teams by far, but auburns top 3-4 wins are better than USC's top 3-4 wins. So in that respect it's a question of do you want that really really special win or an extra really good win or two . And you can make an argument both ways. The VT wins cancel each other out. The cal and LSU wins pretty much cancel each out since both were at home and both came down to the wire. But the georgia win was a *really* good win and combined with the two tennessee wins(including the knoxville blowout), auburn has more depth to their wins. They beat more highly ranked teams than USC did. And USC had that stinker of a game against stanford that auburn never had. Still, despite these advantages for auburn, beating OU 55-19 on a neutral site in a bowl game is even to make up for these to bring it to a tie in my opinion. mianderson's final 2004 poll: 1) Auburn, USC 3) Oklahoma 4) Utah
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