The last time we heard from Tommy Tuberville -- well, with the exception of rightly throwing his new conference under the bus and hiring a head trainer who’s being sued for mistreating a player -- the current Texas Tech coach’s mind was very much on his former school, Auburn.
It was the day the NCAA slammed sanctions on the USC football program, raising the very real possibility that the Trojans could be stripped of the BcS title they won following the 2004 season. Tuberville stumped for his undefeated Auburn Tigers or Oklahoma, wholly engulfed by the Trojans in the title game rout, to be handed the BcS crystal.
“If they were ineligible,” Tuberville said at the time, “I think they should have a revote and let people vote on it and decide who they think was the best team that year. If everybody thinks it was Oklahoma, that’s fine. If everybody thinks it was Auburn, that’s fine.”
A month and a half later, Tuberville is back at it.
Speaking at the Big 12’s Media Days Tuesday, Tuberville hopped back onto his pulpit and preached his gospel of awarding a title instead of simply vacating it.
“Why in the world would you not give it to somebody? Oklahoma, us, Utah? It doesn’t make any sense,” Tuberville said according to Tulsa World. “Everybody played that year. So you give it to a team that wins it on the field - uh oh, they cheated. They broke rules. We’re gonna take it away from ‘em. Well, give it to somebody. Because there’s other teams that did the right things that were there.”
Unfortunately for Tuberville, it appears he’s simply peeing into the wind on this issue. BcS cheerleader/snake oil salesman/executive director Bill Hancock also spoke at the conference’s media event and stated that, unless there’s an unexpected change of heart, the title would be vacated if USC loses their appeal before the NCAA.
“If USC loses the appeal, the championship will be vacated,” Hancock said. “The feeling here in the commissioners group is that there was no game. Yeah, most people think Auburn would be the team, but how would they have done against Oklahoma? We don’t know. ...
“The presidents could decide to do something else,” Hancock said, “but I think it’s most likely they would vacate it and there would be no title that year.”
It’s also been previously reported that the Associated Press will not be re-gifting their title from that year.
There is some title hope for Tuberville and his 2004 squad, however. According to the Opelika-Auburn News, the Football Writers Association of America is mulling over the possibility of stripping USC of the Grantland Rice National Championship Trophy and awarding it to Auburn.
So, Coach Tubs has that going for him. Which is good.