BCS Soccer Ranking Mistakes – 2003 and 2004

The 2003 college football season was the first truly controversial season for the Bowl Championship Series. Three teams – LSU, Oklahoma and USC had just one loss and had every right to play in the championship game. BCS ranked USC third in the final polls despite taking first place in the AP and Coaches polls. However, by placing third in the BCS, they were left out of the final match. USC’s victory secured a share of the national title, but they were forced to share it with LSU automatically winning the coaches’ poll by winning the BCS National Championship.

The following year, 2004, outlined an even greater dilemma. Three BCS conference teams finished the season undefeated. USC won the Pac 10; Oklahoma won the Big 12 and Auburn won the SEC. Although the SEC was thought to be the toughest conference that year, Auburn did not get a high rating early in the season and never surpassed USC or OU in the BCS standings. This left Auburn undefeated with no chance to play for the national title. USC then demolished OU 55-19, with the AP voting them number one, and Auburn not even receiving a share of the title. Auburn went through a challenge in the SEC, remained undefeated and didn’t even get a chance to play for the championship. Auburn beat Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl to finish the season undefeated. Utah also went undefeated in 2004, but since they were from the smaller Mountain West Conference, they were dwarfed by the other three teams.

Auburn’s biggest problem was that they didn’t look good enough in spring practice. Despite BCS trying to limit preseason perceptions, USC and OU began the season number one and two, respectively, in the AP and Coaches polls, which make up two-thirds of the BCS formula. Auburn started 17th in the AP and 18th in the Coaches poll. Despite winning all of their games, they were never able to jump to either USC or OU and thus were left out of the big game.