BCS Obsessed

Picking the top 10 moments in college football this season was as tough as a $2 steak.

The 2004 campaign may be remembered as the most confounding, exciting, cutthroat and controversial in college football since, well, last season’s.

Narrowing a list of top stories down to 10?

Impossible, but when has that stopped us?

First, let’s acknowledge moments that deserve honorable and/or dishonorable mention:

* Auburn goes 13-0 and wins squat. (We consolidated the Tigers’ plight in the general BCS mess.)

* Navy wins 10 games. (Cue that “Village People” anthem.)

* Breaking news out of Ohio State. (ESPN coverage 24/7 on all cable outlets.)

* Boise State goes 11-0 in regular season. (Enough with the potato jokes!)

* Troy beats Missouri.

* Washington posts first losing season since 1976.

* Wyoming beats UCLA.

* Kansas Coach Mark Mangino’s postgame rant against the BCS. (Paging Capt. Queeg.)

* Pittsburgh gets an automatic BCS bid but Louisville doesn’t?

Pending further review from a Big Ten replay official, our list:

10 JOE MUST GO (IN 2008)

Patience is running out for many fans of Penn State football, which finished 4-7 and endured its fourth losing season in the last five under legendary Coach Joe Paterno.

Despite rumblings from some alums, the 78-year-old Paterno plans to return next year for his 40th season as head coach. He took over the program in 1966 after serving 16 years as an assistant.

Last May, Paterno signed a four-year contract extension through 2008. His 2004 team finished strongly with a 37-13 victory over Michigan State and Paterno is hoping the momentum will carry into next season, when Penn State opens with winnable home games against South Florida, Cincinnati and Central Michigan.

9 STEVE SPURRIER

Welcome back, ball coach.

The surprise wasn’t that Spurrier returned to the college fold after his brief NFL sojourn; the surprise was that he ended up at South Carolina.

One of football’s most able minds, Spurrier failed miserably with the Washington Redskins, going 12-20 in his stunted stint.

Everyone expected Spurrier would end up back at his alma mater, Florida, after the school fired Ron Zook on Oct. 25.

Spurrier led Florida to six Southeastern Conference titles and a national title in 1996 before he left for the NFL.

Yet, even as Gator fans clamored for his return, Spurrier withdrew his name from consideration and became Lou Holtz’s successor at South Carolina.

8 BARRIER BROKEN

On Sept. 4, 49-year-old Sylvester Croom made history when he became the first African American to coach a Southeastern Conference team in a football game.

It was a long time coming for Croom, who played for Bear Bryant at Alabama but was hired by Mississippi State.

Croom’s debut was a success, as Mississippi State defeated Tulane, 28-7, before a crowd of 52,114 at Scott Field.

“I know the historical significance of the hiring,” Croom said after the game. “But I didn’t get into this to break any kind of barriers.”

Croom’s first year, with a 3-8 record, was marked by a dismal 9-7 home loss to Division I-AA Maine and a euphoric home victory against Florida.

7 MIKE PRICE

Who doesn’t like a good redemption story?

The fall: In April 2003, first-year Alabama coach Mike Price got sloshed at a Pensacola, Fla., nightclub and ended up in a hotel room with a stripper.

Alabama fired Price before he’d coached a game or signed his $10-million contract. He spent the next year battling depression as he tried to rescue his name and career.

The rise: In December 2003, Texas El Paso took a chance on Price and reaped huge rewards.

Price took a 2-11 team and turned it into an 8-4 bowl squad in what turned out to be remarkable turnaround stories for both man and program.

6 ADRIAN PETERSON

Wow! The Oklahoma tailback, a hybrid of Eric Dickerson and Eddie George, became the first freshman to finish second in the Heisman Trophy balloting.

Peterson, as soft-spoken as Ohio State freshman Maurice Clarett was not two years ago, averaged 5.9 yards a carry, rushing for 1,860 yards and scoring 15 touchdowns during the regular season.

He was the first Oklahoma freshman to be named first-team All-American.

Peterson broke the NCAA freshman record with nine consecutive 100-yard games. He stands 6 feet 2, weighs 210 pounds and has been clocked at 4.4 seconds in the 40-yard dash.

Peterson never seems to tire of running through or around defenders, which is why his father nicknamed him “A.D.” -- for “All Day.”

5 MATT LEINART

The junior quarterback became the sixth USC player to win the Heisman Trophy -- and it was no left-handed compliment.

Leinart passed for 2,990 yards and 28 touchdowns in leading the Trojans to an undefeated regular season.

The Pac-10 went 21 years without winning a Heisman Trophy before USC’s Carson Palmer won it in 2002. Two years later, Leinart became the second Trojan quarterback in three years to win college football’s top award, finishing ahead of Oklahoma’s Peterson and quarterback Jason White, Utah quarterback Alex Smith and USC tailback Reggie Bush.

4 UTE IS SERVED

Monopoly?

What monopoly?

Utah became the first school from a non-BCS conference to earn a major bowl bid when it secured the No. 6 spot in the BCS standings and earned a trip to the Fiesta Bowl.

Proving its Mountain West championship was no joke, Utah capped a 12-0 season with a 35-7 thrashing of Big East champion Pittsburgh in the Fiesta Bowl.

It was a celebratory send-off for Ute Coach Urban Meyer who, weeks before the game, announced he was leaving to coach at Florida.

With his decision, Meyer broke hearts at Notre Dame and more than a few in Salt Lake City.

3 NOTRE SHAME

Notre Dame made unprecedented news when, on Nov. 30, the school fired Tyrone Willingham with two years left on his contract.

The Irish made the knee-jerk move in an effort to hire Meyer, who had called Notre Dame his “dream job.”

Florida, however, beat Notre Dame to Salt Lake City and signed Meyer in a deal that might have been secretly negotiated weeks before.

How could Notre Dame not have known?

The Irish were then left scrambling and ultimately hired Charlie Weis, offensive coordinator for the New England Patriots. Problem is, Weis can’t start coaching until the Patriots are eliminated from the playoffs, which might not be until Feb. 6.

Willingham was subsequently hired at Washington.

Led by interim Coach Kent Baer, Notre Dame lost the Insight Bowl to Oregon State and finished at 6-6.

Other than that, it was a quiet year in South Bend.

2 BCS MESS

It’s always something ...

Last season, USC finished first in both polls but third in the BCS rankings.

This season, three teams finished undefeated, and Texas and California waged a BCS points war for the Rose Bowl berth that called into question the professional ethics of the voting writers and coaches.

Texas jumped Cal in the final BCS standings, even though Cal had won its last game by 10 points. This fueled a controversy that will lead to the breakup of the BCS, as we know it.

Stung by the criticism, Associated Press pulled its poll out of the BCS formula, leaving officials to figure out a new way to determine next year’s national title participants.

1 TROJANS WIN

It took USC a year to get both pieces of the national championship trophy, but the Trojans now have a BCS bookend to go with last year’s Associated Press hardware.

Tuesday night in the Orange Bowl, No. 1 USC made it a clean sweep when it defeated No. 2 Oklahoma to win the national championship.

The dominating victory over the Sooners capped a magical season during which USC finished 13-0 and became only the second team in history to go wire to wire in the Associated Press poll -- Florida State did it in 1999.

USC started the season at No. 1 and ended it there and could be the preseason favorite to win it all again in 2005.

USC is only the 10th team to win consecutive championships and has the nation’s longest winning streak at 22 games.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

CONFERENCE BOWL REPORT

*--* CONFERENCE W L MOUNTAIN WEST 2 1 PACIFIC 10 3 2 CONFERENCE USA 3 2 BIG 12 4 3 ATLANTIC COAST 3 3 BIG TEN 3 3 SOUTHEASTERN 3 3 WESTERN ATHLETIC 2 2 INDEPENDENT 1 1 BIG EAST 2 3 MID-AMERICAN 2 3 SUN BELT 0 2

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BOWL LEADERS

PASSING

*--* PLAYER, Team Bowl Att Cmp Yds TD SONNY CUMBIE, Texas Tech Holiday 60 39 520 3 DARRELL HACKNEY, Ala. Birmingham Hawaii 54 31 417 3 TIMMY CHANG, Hawaii Hawaii 46 31 405 5 SAM KELLER, Arizona State Sun 45 25 370 3 OMAR JACOBS, Bowling Green GMAC 44 26 365 5 DEREK ANDERSON, Oregon State Insight 45 28 358 4 JOEL KLATT, Colorado Houston 33 24 333 2 MATT LEINART, USC Orange 35 18 332 5 ALEX SMITH, Utah Fiesta 37 29 328 4 JORDAN PALMER, Texas El Paso Houston 42 22 328 2 DANNY WIMPRINE, Memphis GMAC 39 26 324 4 COREY BRAMLET, Wyoming Las Vegas 34 20 307 2 DREW TATE, Iowa Capital One 32 20 287 2 KYLE ORTON, Purdue Sun 47 23 281 3 BRYAN RANDALL, Virginia Tech Sugar 36 19 280 2

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RUSHING

*--* PLAYER, Team Bowl No Yds TD LEON WASHINGTON, Florida State Gator 12 195 1 VINCE YOUNG, Texas Rose 21 192 4 MARION BARBER III, Minnesota Music City 37 187 1 ANDRE CALLENDER, Boston College Continental Tire 26 174 1 J.J. ARRINGTON, California Holiday 25 173 1 STEVIE HICKS, Iowa State Independence 27 159 1 P.J. POPE, Bowling Green GMAC 28 151 2 DeWHITT BETTERSON, Troy Silicon Valley 25 150 1 KOLE McKAMEY, New Mexico Emerald 19 138 1 AARON POLANCO, Navy Emerald 26 136 3 KAY-JAY HARRIS, West Virginia Gator 25 134 1 WENDELL MATHIS, Fresno State MPC Computers 15 126 0 MAURICE DREW, UCLA Las Vegas 25 126 0 RUDY BURGESS, Arizona State Sun 20 125 0 BRET MEYER, Iowa State Independence 23 122 0

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RECEIVING

*--* PLAYER, Team Bowl No Yds TD PARIS WARREN, Utah Fiesta 15 198 2 JASON RIVERS, Hawaii Hawaii 11 148 1 BRAYLON EDWARDS, Michigan Rose 10 109 3 ED HINKEL, Iowa Capital One 10 93 0 DEREK HAGEN, Arizona State Sun 9 182 1 JOE DELSARDO, Pittsburgh Fiesta 9 109 0 KERON HENRY, Connecticut Motor City 9 109 0 HANNIBAL THOMAS, Cincinnati Fort Worth 9 102 0 JARRETT HICKS, Texas Tech Holiday 9 69 2 TREY HAVERTY, Texas Tech Holiday 8 147 0 DWAYNE BOWE, Louisiana State Capital One 8 122 0 JONATHAN MAKONNEN, California Holiday 8 99 0 JASON BOYD, Texas El Paso Houston 7 140 0 STEVE SANDERS, Bowling Green GMAC 7 123 2 JOHNNIE LEE HIGGINS, Texas El Paso Houston 7 122 1

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