We meant to get to this one yesterday, but that damn expansion thing you may have heard a little bit about kept getting in the way. So, we’ll go ahead and hit it now very briefly.
Plus, ‘SC fans could certainly use a little bit of good news right about now.
Anyway, while it’s very likely USC will be stripped of their 2004 BcS title at some point in the not-too-distant future, they’ll still be able to keep hold of a piece of that championship season.
Associated Press sports editor Terry Taylor (no relation) has confirmed to the Los Angeles Times that — even in the wake of sanctions that included the vacating of the 2004 title game win and all wins from the 2005 season — there will be no revote of the AP poll and the Trojans will remain that voting body’s champ for the ’04 regular season.
“The 2004 poll stands,” Taylor wrote in an e-mail to the Times. “The poll is intended to measure on-field performance. If teams are allowed to play, they’re allowed to be ranked and USC certainly played in 2004. …
“It would be impractical to revote. It’s been six years. Memories have faded and the poll board from that year is no longer intact.”
So, cheer up ‘SC Nation. At least you still have the ’04 AP title to cling to.
AP is meaningless as a football title anyway. With this move, they just further made themselves less relevant.
Gotta love this logic, “The poll is intended to measure on-field performance. If teams are allowed to play, they’re allowed to be ranked and USC certainly played in 2004. …”
So, basically, if a team can effectively hide its violations just until after the season, all is well. It doesn’t matter whether or not a key player was eligible.
It doesn’t matter. USC’s reputation is tarnished and in the court of public opinion, especially in the cynical fan world of college football, that title is moot.
Taylor says: “The poll is intended to measure on-field performance. If teams are allowed to play, they’re allowed to be ranked and USC certainly played in 2004. …
Hey, dumbass, the 2004 USC team contained players that should not have been allowed to play. So they shouldn’t be allowed to be ranked. Idiot.
USC now has 2 meaningless paper half-titles. Enjoy!
These AP guys really hate re-votes, don’t they? Or is it just re-votes involving USC? Right, Cushing?
““The 2004 poll stands,” Taylor wrote in an e-mail to the Times. “The poll is intended to measure on-field performance. If teams are allowed to play, they’re allowed to be ranked and USC certainly played in 2004”
Well, if that’s all that required, shouldn’t the New England Patriots have been the AP National Champion that year?
This decision by the AP really isn’t surprising, considering that it has always ranked teams under a postseason ban while the Coaches’/BCS poll has always excluded them. So, why should they retroactively punish a team when they have always refused to do so in the present? Probation or misbehavior of any kind, past or present, has never been a consideration for the AP.
Gee, AP, so much for integrity, journalistic or otherwise.
You’re sending a great message: Cheat; we don’t care. Hell, we’ll even reward you for it.
Ah, so the AP condones cheating. Nice.
In other news, the AP sent an apology letter to SMU for the past treatment they received.
Auburn University- the Officially Unofficial 2004 National Champion.
War. Damn. Eagle.
[...] Associated Press had previously announced that USC would keep their 2004 AP title regardless of the sanctions and subsequent appeal, while the Football Writers Association of [...]