If USC is stripped of '04 belt, OU shouldn't wear it
Published: 5/24/2010 7:55 AM
Last Modified: 5/24/2010 2:59 PM
"The race for the 2004 national championship in college football is about to get interesting," Kevin Scarbinsky wrote in the Birmingham News over the weekend.
You've heard that the NCAA is finally ready to nail USC for the Reggie Bush era, and that penalties could include forfeiture of that '04 title. Auburn fans can't wait because they're hoping their beloved Tigers, who joined USC with a 13-0 record in '04 but were left out of the BCS championship game, might win the title by default.
Oklahoma fans can't wait because they've developed a pretty strong dislike of USC since the 55-19 Orange Bowl humiliation that capped off the Trojans' '04 run. Might they also be motivated by the possibility of an eighth national championship? After all, the Sooners finished second in the final BCS standings.
From everything I've seen or heard, the answer to that is absolutely not. OU's fan base might be rabid, but it's not delusional. Not on this topic. The Sooners' 36-point loss to USC is a stain that won't be cleaned by anything the NCAA does to the Trojans.
The Tigers finished ahead of OU in the final '04 AP and coaches polls. The No. 3 Sooners were a lot closer to finishing fourth in both than they were second.
I suggest the '04 championship be left vacated should USC be stripped, since the Trojans were so superior to everybody else on the field, regardless of the cheating that was taking place off it. But if we must have a winner, Auburn is in much better standing than OU.
"Sooner or later," Scarbinsky writes, "the title would have to be decided by a game of rock, paper, scissors between Bob Stoops and Tommy Tuberville."
It won't get that far. Or it shouldn't. Tuberville/Auburn represent the rock in this debate, Stoops/OU the scissors.
-- Guerin Emig
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
