2005
THE RANKINGS
B.C.S. Top Ten: 1. USC, 2. Texas, 3. Penn State, 4. Ohio State, 5. Oregon, 6. Notre Dame, 7. Georgia, 8. Miami, 9. Auburn, 10. Virginia Tech
A.P. Top Ten: 1. USC, 2. Texas, 3. Penn State, 4. Ohio State, 5. Notre Dame, 6. Oregon, 7. Auburn, 8. Georgia, 9. Miami, 10. LSU
Andrew: This season was truly the tale of two super teams: The USC Trojans and the Texas Longhorns. USC brought back Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart, eventual Heisman winner (or should we say non-winner?) Reggie Bush, and touchdown machine LenDale White along with a litany of pros to create the most dominant team maybe in the history of the Pac-10. They started #1 preseason and finished that way with another perfect regular season record along with 49.1 PPG on offense. They had a lot of close shaves against five ranked teams due to their defense weakening, but undefeated they still stood. Bush’s game against Fresno State is the best single-game offensive performance I have ever seen. Unbelievably, despite all this greatness, USC was only second in the country on offense! Texas was first at 50.2 PPG thanks to Heisman runner-up super QB Vince Young and was also 9th in the country on defense thanks to players like Michael Huff and defensive coordinator Gene Chizik. They had a great 25-22 win at Ohio State early in the season, and marched through the Big XII with ease. The closest margin of victory after Ohio State was 11 points at Texas A&M before humiliating Colorado 70-3 in the Big XII Championship Game. Penn State had running QB Michael Robinson and a great defense led by Tamba Hali, with their only loss being on a touchdown pass with no time left at Michigan. Ohio State’s only two losses were to the Longhorns and Nittany Lions and won every other game. One year before their streak began, the SEC had a handful of very good teams, but they all had two losses or more, including conference champion Georgia. This season, however, was all about college football’s version of Ali vs. Frazier or Hogan vs. Andre, when Texas took down USC in the Rose Bowl 41-38 after a sensational performance by Young to win Mack Brown his first and only national title.
THE COMMITTEE SAYS…
Greg: USC, Texas and Penn State are locks. For the remaining spot, Georgia ran through the toughest conference in America with two losses by a combined five points, both to nine-win teams. While Oregon had just one loss, it played in a weak conference outside the Trojans, and Ohio State didn’t have the bid wins to warrant a bid. (1. USC, 2. Texas, 3. Penn State, 4. Georgia)
Andrew: I mean, do we really have to talk about #1 and #2? Really? After the twin titans, Penn State is an easy pick at #3. The Big Ten was still very strong back then and their defense could play all night long (which they proved against Florida State in the Orange Bowl when they carried the team through three overtimes). Notre Dame in their first year under Charlie Weis and quarterback Brady Quinn was quite good and came within a Bush Push of beating mighty USC, but they also had that home loss to Michigan State. Virginia Tech was also ranked in the top ten all season long, but they lost to Florida State in the inaugural ACC Title Game. Ohio State had a strong enough season to get the final spot for me. Easy breezy here. (1. USC, 2. Texas, 3. Penn State, 4. Ohio State)
Todd: I don’t think I will ever forget USC vs. Texas for the national title. One of the most dramatic and exciting games I’ve ever seen, two huge programs, full of stars and maybe at their peak historically. For the sake of this argument, I’ll throw the USC Heisman and championship shenanigans out the window and let their play speak for themselves. Until I saw Cam Newton, Reggie Bush was the closest thing I had ever seen to a video game character come to life. The guy was unreal at USC. The kind of player that could win you a championship alone, just out of the sheer number of things he could do on offense. Of course, it didn’t hurt to have a Heisman quarterback slinging the rock and a very underrated college RB in LenDale White behind him, who would have been a bona fide superstar most places if he didn’t back up Bush…and an All-American wideout in Dwayne Jarrett. The team was absolutely loaded. Of course, we mostly remember that unstoppable USC team for losing in the Rose Bowl, thanks to Vince Young’s heroic performance and one of college football’s all-time best single season performances. As for the rest of the field, I’d like to go with the chalk this round. Penn State took the head to head against Ohio State, so I’ll go with them for the three spot. I think there’s a case for Ohio State being the better team, because while they have an extra loss, they lost to a very good Penn State and eventual champion Longhorn team. Either way, I’ll stick with 1. USC, 2. Texas, 3. Penn State and 4. Ohio State, in the name of equity, conceding that this year’s Ohio State team was somewhat underrated and probably a better team than PSU.
The Decision: The top three teams are the biggest slam dunks so far in the B.C.S. Busters with USC, Texas, and Penn State, then Ohio State gets the last spot over Georgia, whom Greg voted for in his list.
THE FINAL FOUR
#1 USC vs. #4 Ohio State in the Orange Bowl, #2 Texas vs. #3 Penn State in the Cotton Bowl
Greg: Ohio State in a big game against one of the best offenses of all time? It would be fun for a half. OSU would begin its traditional championship collapse a little early, and USC wins 38-24. The Cotton Bowl is a stylistic nightmare for Penn State. They’d fight hard and force some punts here and there, but Vince Young wouldn’t be denied, and the Longhorns run away to win 41-20.
Andrew: Ohio State went the distance at home with Texas earlier that season, but the explosiveness of USC’s offense would have proven to be far too much for Troy Smith, Antonio Pittman, and Santonio Holmes to keep up. Even a great defense was no match for Leinart, Bush, and company, so USC pulls away early in the Orange Bowl. Penn State had a phenomenally well-taught defense and just enough skill on offense to keep things interesting, but come on. Vince Young versus a base defense in the state of Texas? Game over, Texas wins. The Big Ten goes 0-2 in the Final Four.
Todd: I think USC clobbers Ohio State, Texas handles Penn State fairly easy, but it’s not as dismantling a performance as what one of these Leinart/Bush USC teams would have put on Ohio State in a playoff game. I think there’s very little to argue against seeing UT and USC again in the title game.
THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
#1 USC vs. #2 Texas
Greg: See also: life. It would go the same way.
Andrew: WELP!
Vince Young wins the Game of the Millenium
Todd: The actual Texas vs. USC National Championship Game is in the top 5 greatest football games I’ve ever watched, and maybe the best college football game I’ve ever seen, although I will say that the Oklahoma vs. Boise State Fiesta Bowl a few years later is up there too. But, I’d put this game and certainly the impact it had up there with something like the Patriots vs. Giants, Superbowl XLII, which to me is the best football game I’ve ever seen. What more could you ask for? In real life and in our pretend playoff, you have two mammoth programs colliding while they were at the top of their game. If you’re going off of name recognition alone, it’s hard to top Texas or the USC Trojans, they’re in the top handful of brands in all of college sports. That’s not even mentioning the one-two Heisman voting punch of winner Reggie Bush, a Madden create-a-player come to life, and the runner-up, Vince Young, who set a record for second place votes this particular year. Last year’s winner? USC quarterback Matt Leinart. Two of college football’s most storied programs, the game’s biggest stars battling out for it all. We all know how the actual game ended up. So, to give the Men of Troy a fair shake, I’ll go with USC, since the Horns have already won this round. This USC team was godly, they were, to bring up a previous reference, the 2007 Patriots. They were unstoppable. That’s not a knock on a historically and program defining Texas squad led by Vince Young, but this USC team was the sort of squad you only had created in video games before. On talent alone, I’m putting this team up there with the mid-90s Nebraska teams, which in my opinion are the greatest of all time. We saw the game in real life, we know who the victor was, but this iteration of USC teams is right there with the current crop of Saban’s Alabama teams as far as pure, destructive college football machines.
