re: SEC championship winners in football

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The bigger issue was the preseason rankings. 1-2 vs. 17.

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That's what happens when you shite the bed the season before when everyone expected you to be in the running for a national championship. USC and Oklahoma were rightfully ranked #1 and #2 in the preseason polls based on what they did the year before and what they had coming back.

In 2003, USC finished 12-1 with a national championship trophy from the Associated Press as well as a Rose Bowl win. Oklahoma finished 12-2 with a BCS National Championship Game appearance. Auburn finished 8-5 with a win in the Music City Bowl. That's setting aside the fact that USC blanked Auburn 23-0 in Jordan-Hare to begin the season.

Did Auburn get screwed in 2004? No. Not really. We can talk about the strength of schedule, average margin of victory, and point differentials all we want to. Bottom line, no voter was about to move Auburn over two undefeated teams that had been ranked #1 and #2 all season long. Prior to that Orange Bowl game, *everyone* was saying that USC and Oklahoma were the two best teams in college football. It wasn't until after USC blew the breaks off Oklahoma from the second quarter onward that the SEC and Auburn fans began trumpeting the Tigers.

It sucks that there wasn't a playoff in 2004, because that would have been an awesome year for it. You had USC, Oklahoma, Auburn, and Utah all undefeated going into the post-season. I would have loved to have seen the following bowl match-ups:

#1 USC vs. #4 Utah in the Rose Bowl
#2 Oklahoma vs. #3 Auburn in the Cotton Bowl