Oklahoma,
Auburn, Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh
Claim Automatic BCS Bowl Berths
by Mike Mitchell
12/5/04
3:48 am est
It wasn't a smack-down
by any stretch of the imagination but USC ended the season with
a perfect 12-0 record, 8-0 in the PAC-10, after a tougher-than-expected 29-24
win over rival UCLA in Pasadena. The Trojans will likely be playing
for the BCS national championship this year after winning a split
national championship last year.
Unbeaten Oklahoma is the probable opponent in that BCS title
game in the Orange Bowl. The Sooners dismantled Colorado 42-3
in the Big
12 championship in Kansas City.
Auburn also finished the year undefeated after pulling away from
Tennessee in the fourth quarter for a 38-28 win in the SEC Championship game in
Atlanta. It is the Tigers' first SEC title since they shared
it with Alabama and Tennessee in 1989.
Auburn beat Tennessee in Knoxville 34-10 in the regular season.
Despite their 12-0 record, it appears Auburn will not get to
play for any kind of a national title. Ironically, they did not
get to play for the title the last time they went unbeaten. In
1993 they went 11-0 but were on NCAA probation. This year, it
just happens to be their misfortune that four other teams had
perfect seasons and two of them are ranked above the Tigers.
They are expected to receive a bid to the Sugar Bowl.
Virginia Tech is Auburn's likely opponent in that game.
The Hokies claimed the outright ACC championship Saturday
in its first season as a member with a 16-10 win over Miami (Fla.),
its old Big East rival. The Hokies were stellar on defense with
all 10 points coming on Hurricane "drives" of 24 yards
or less after a fumble and blocked punt. And when Miami got the
ball back with just over a minute remaining deep in their own
territory, the Tech defense batted away three attempted passes
in-a-row to close the deal.
Frank Beamer's team ended the regular season on an 8-game winning
streak and will advance to its first BCS bowl, likely the Sugar
Bowl, since they played Florida State in the 1999 national championship
game at the Sugar Bowl.
Virginia Tech reversed the curse of their late-season collapses
in recent years by going 4-0 in the months of November and December.
Miami, which lost three of its last five games, is headed to
the Peach Bowl where they will face state rival Florida.
The Hokies and Tigers have met just four times previously with
Auburn holding a slight 2-1-1 edge. They last played each other
in 1978 with Auburn winning 18-7 in Blacksburg. Virginia Tech's
only win came in 1975 at Auburn, 23-16. The other two meetings
were in 1924 and 1925 when both schools were in the Southern
Conference.
Also on Saturday, Pittsburgh secured the Big
East's BCS bowl,
likely the Fiesta Bowl against unbeaten Utah, with a 43-14 rout
of South Florida. The Panthers have won six of their last seven
games under embattled head coach Walt Harris.
The only real question mark in Sunday's bowl announcements is
who will play Michigan in the Rose Bowl - California or Texas?
California (10-1) had to travel to Hattiesburg, Mississippi for
their last game of the season. The game was originally scheduled
to be played in early September but Hurricane Ivan forced its
postponement. Never an easy place to play, the Golden Bears managed
to escape with what many pollsters may consider an unimpressive
26-16 score.
In fact, the Golden Eagles pulled within 17-16 in the fourth
quarter but failed to tie it when the extra point attempt was
blocked and returned for two points for Cal. The Bears scored
quickly on their next possession and had a chance to pad their
margin late in the game after USM turned the ball over on downs
deep in their own territory. But California coach Jeff Tedford
showed a lot of class. After a touchdown was called back by penalty,
Tedford had his team take a knee to run out the clock.
Texas, which had already finished its regular season 10-1, could
pass over California for fourth place in the final BCS Standings
and knock the Bears from their first Rose Bowl appearance since
the end of the 1958 season.
Louisville, which had already clinched the CUSA title, rolled over Tulane
55-7 in a hurricane-postponed make-up game. Louisville finished
the season 10-1 and will meet unbeaten Boise State in the Liberty
Bowl. The Green Wave would have become bowl eligible with an
upset win. Instead, Tulane will stay home after a 5-6 campaign.
The Cardinals and Broncos are the two highest-scoring teams in
the country this year. In fact, Louisville is now the only team
in history to score at least 55 points in five straight games.
Boise State has done it for four straight games. The only other
teams to accomplish that feat in four consecutive games did so
many years ago and none of them did it against all major colleges
as the Cards and Broncos have done. Navy's run in 1917 included
two games against non-major colleges, California's streak in
1920 included three non-major colleges, and Alabama's string
in 1945 included one non-major college.
One of the seasons biggest surprises has been Navy. The Midshipmen
concluded their regular season with a record of 9-2 after a 42-13
thumping of Army. Navy is headed to the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco
to play New Mexico.
President George W. Bush spoke to each team in the locker room
prior to the game, then flipped the pre-game commemorative coin
that was sent from Fallujah, Iraq.
Hawaii beat Michigan State 41-38 after trailing 21-0 early in
the second quarter. The victory earned the Warriors a spot in
the Hawai'i Bowl opposite UAB. It also made Akron (6-5), Troy
State (7-4) or, least likely, Syracuse (6-5) expendable from
the bowl mix as there is now one more eligible team than available
bowl slots.
Toledo overcame an early 14-7 deficit and took the MAC championship from Miami
(Ohio), 35-27, on Thursday night at Ford Field in Detroit. Miami
had beaten Toledo in the regular season, 23-16, exactly one month
earlier.
The victory sends the Rockets (9-3) back to Detroit and the same
venue to play in the Motor City Bowl against UConn (7-4). The
RedHawks (8-4) could be headed to the Independence Bowl as the
MAC appears to be poised to land as many as six postseason games
this year. Bowling Green and Marshall have already accepted bids.
Northern Illinois and Akron would be the others.
Computer Streak: The computer picks on this site,
based on the Congrove Computer Rankings, have a streak of their own involving Boise State.
It has correctly picked the winner of 39 consecutive regular
season Bronco games dating to November 10, 2001. It is 18-20
ATS on those games.
More Computer Success: The computer was 12-0 this season in picking the winner
of regular season games for USC. It was 11-0 with Arkansas, Boise
State, California, Louisville, Oklahoma, Oregon State and Utah.
The computer's
preseason forecast picked Boise State, Oklahoma, USC and Utah
to go undefeated and they did.
Out of 117 teams, the computer's preseason forecast correctly
projected the exact records of 18 teams. It missed by just one
win on 31 teams and missed by only two wins on 33 teams. That's
a total of 82 out of 117 teams whose records it forecasted within
two wins. It hit 101-of-117 within three wins.
The computer also correctly picked Michigan to win the Big 10,
Oklahoma to take the Big 12, Pittsburgh to capture the Big East,
Miami (Ohio) to win the MAC east, Utah to take the Mountain West,
USC to claim the PAC-10, North Texas to win the Sun Belt and
Boise State to capture the WAC.
It forecasted Oklahoma and Michigan as the BCS Championship pairing.
The Wolverines won't make the title game but the Sooners did.
The computer's preseason forecast has now correctly picked at
least one of the title game contestants nine times in its twelve-year
history.
Computer's BCS Teams: If it were up to the Congrove
Computer Rankings, the BCS eligible teams would be the six conference
winners - Oklahoma, USC, Auburn, Virginia Tech, Michigan and
Pittsburgh - with Louisville and Utah earning the at-large bids.
IF that scenario were true, you would still get a Oklahoma-USC
Orange Bowl, Auburn-Virginia Tech Sugar Bowl and Utah-Pittsburgh
Fiesta Bowl. The only difference would be the Rose Bowl where
Michigan would play Louisville instead of California or Texas.
No Blemishes: Auburn, Oklahoma and USC all finished
the regular season 12-0. Boise State and Utah went 11-0. It's
the most undefeated teams in the top 25 in one season since 1973
when the Dec. 4 UPI (coaches) poll listed seven undefeated teams.
Alabama (11-0), Oklahoma 10-0-1, Ohio State (9-0-1), Notre Dame
(10-0), Penn State (11-0) and Michigan (10-0-1) were ranked first
through sixth. Miami of Ohio (10-0-0) was ranked 17th.
Streaking: Boise State has won 22 straight games
over-all, 25 straight at home, and 26 straight over WAC foes. The Broncos beat
Nevada 58-21 Saturday night.
USC has the nation's second-longest winning streak at 21 games.
The Trojans have won 21 straight at home and 15 consecutive PAC-10 games. They beat UCLA in their season finale 29-24.
Utah has won 15 straight games after a season-ending 52-21 win
over BYU. The Utes have won 11 straight Mountain
West games and 18 of their last 19 against league foes.
Auburn has 14 consecutive wins after a 38-28 victory over Tennessee
in the SEC Championship.
Iowa has won 18 straight home games after ending the year with
a 30-7 win over Wisconsin.
North Texas has won 25 straight over Sun Belt conference foes
after the Mean Green concluded their season with a 31-7 win over
Arkansas State 31-7. UNT has also won four consecutive Sun Belt
titles as they have topped the conference in every year of its
existence.
Central Florida ended the season with the nation's longest losing
streak at 15 games. The Golden Knights lost 41-24 at home to
Kent State on Tuesday. |
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