AP Poll No Split National Championship

[eagles_victory]

MIAMI -- Florida is No. 1 in the AP Top 25. Utah is perfect at No. 2, though not perfectly happy.

Texas and USC also claimed to be the best -- but media voters didn't think so.

The Gators received 48 first-place votes and 1,606 points in the poll released early Friday, after they beat Oklahoma 24-14 in the BCS national title game.

Utah, the only team in major college football to go undefeated this season, got 16 first-place votes and 1,519 points.

"I thought we had an outside chance," Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said in a telephone interview with the AP. "There was enough national sentiment, I thought we might get the No. 1 slot. It wasn't to be."

Florida won its third AP national championship and second in the last three seasons. Steve Spurrier and Heisman Trophy winner Danny Wuerffel led the Gators to the 1996 title.

No. 3 USC received one first-place vote. Texas was No. 4, and will have to settle with finishing ahead of fifth-ranked Oklahoma.

The Longhorns beat the Sooners in the regular season and thought they deserved OU's spot in both the Big 12 and national championship games.

The Utes from the Mountain West Conference swept through their regular season, while Florida and Alabama from the SEC, Texas and Oklahoma from the Big 12 and Southern California from the Pac-10, jockeyed for position in the national title chase.

The Mountain West does not have an automatic bid to the BCS -- it's not considered a strong enough league to deserve one -- but the Utes earned their way in.

Utah was seventh in the final regular-season poll, but that perfect record looked much more impressive after the Utes beat Alabama 31-17 in the Sugar Bowl last week.

"All you can do is go out and beat the people on the schedule, which was exactly what our guys did," Whittingham said.

Whittingham proclaimed his team No. 1. USC's Pete Carroll had already done that after the Trojans' 38-24 victory in the Rose Bowl against Penn State. Texas coach Mack Brown followed suit, proudly touting his Longhorns as the nation's best after a 24-21 victory over Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl earlier this week.

Whittingham said he would vote his team No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, even though the American Football Coaches Association has agreed to have all its voters place the winner of the BCS national championship game first on their ballots.

Utah did receive one first-place vote in the coaches' poll and finished fourth.

Whittingham isn't worried about losing his vote.

"That's their call," he said. "I have to look out for my players."

Brown said he'd vote for his team, too.

Carroll has never had a vote in the coaches' poll, always skeptical of the way major college football crowns a champion.

Florida's Urban Meyer became the 17th coach to win multiple AP national championships.

"I'll tell you, we're going to enjoy a big win, we're going to enjoy the national championship," he said, brushing off questions about other coaches claiming their team is best. "Let someone else worry about that. Gators are No. 1"

Alabama's loss to Utah dropped the Crimson Tide to No. 6 in the final poll.

TCU, Utah's Mountain West rival, finished seventh, followed by Penn State, Ohio State and Oregon.

Boise State led off the second 10, followed by Texas Tech, Georgia, Mississippi and Virginia Tech.

Oklahoma State, Cincinnati, Oregon State, Missouri and Iowa rounded out the top 20.

Florida State, Georgia Tech, West Virginia, Michigan State and BYU were the final five.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3820715

[Electus Unus]

NM

[JR2004]

Utah got screwed, but then again that's how it always seems to go for the little guys. They run the table, beat Alabama down there in SEC country in a game few around the country gave them a shot to win and still it's not impressive enough. Hopefully the ridiculousness that was this past season will ultimately lead to the whole system being blown to shreds and a playoff system put in place.

[Maroon87]

The more Texas won, the farther they fell. Great system...:doh:

[carter08]

Originally posted by Maroon87
The more Texas won, the farther they fell. Great system...:doh:

Other teams were winning too.

[Maroon87]

Originally posted by carter08
Other teams were winning too.

:thinking: I think you just made my point for me...

[trojan37]

AP= Another Pointless poll. You have 1 undefeated team in the country and they aren't National Champions? Tell me that ain't some

http://www.garryconn.com/images/BullShit.gif

[Black_Magic]

Originally posted by Maroon87
The more Texas won, the farther they fell. Great system...:doh: Tell Me about it! texas wins the last game of the season and drops in the ranking. They win the bowl game and #1 gets beat and not only do they not move up one spot to fill a void left because of OU loss but they drop ANOTHER spot.:rolleyes: Even more proof the system is jacked up.

[carter08]

Originally posted by Maroon87
:thinking: I think you just made my point for me...

Utah had to pass Texas. They were undefeated, and the UT loss now came to a 2 loss team. Maybe if OU had won I could understand UT over Utah, but they did not.

[Texasfootball2]

Originally posted by carter08
Utah had to pass Texas. They were undefeated, and the UT loss now came to a 2 loss team. Maybe if OU had won I could understand UT over Utah, but they did not. I don't see how anybody can argue that Florida is not the NC's. In there last two games they beat the #1 ranked team on a neutral field, and their one loss was to an Ole Miss team the will probably finish around #17 in the final poll and proved to be a quality opponent the last half of the season beating LSU 31-13 on the road.

Texas did win their bowl game but they barely squeaked by a #10 ranked 10-2 Ohio St. team and their loss to Tech has become more damaging since Tech dropped off drastically at the end of the year and prove to be somewhat overrated.

USC dominated a #8 Penn St. team in what was essentially a home bowl game, but their one loss was to what is still and unranked Oregon St. which in my opinion gives them no claim to a NC.

Utah played a decent schedule and beat #11 TCU in their bowl game and also had victories over #9 Boise St. and #4 Alabama, and was the only team to go undefeated this season.

Based on all this I have no problem if their ranked like this:

1. Florida
2. Utah
3. Texas
4. USC
5. Oklahoma

* Utah's victory over Alabama was much more impressive than UT's victory over Ohio St. and they beat some pretty good teams along the way. So after the last game I don't have a problem with Utah jumping ahead of Texas. Just because you win doesn't mean you should automatically move up, there are other factors that should come into play.

[waterboy]

Wasn't the NC played at the Orange Bowl? That's not what I would consider a neutral site.:rolleyes:

[Texasfootball2]

Originally posted by waterboy
Wasn't the NC played at the Orange Bowl? That's not what I would consider a neutral site.:rolleyes: Yes, but it's still 5 hrs from Gainesville.

[waterboy]

Originally posted by Texasfootball2
Yes, but it's still 5 hrs from Gainesville.
How far is it from Norman?:rolleyes: I ain't buying the "neutral" site argument. JMO though. At least when Texas beat the Sooners in the Cotton Bowl the Longhorns actually had to travel a little further (like 6 miles or so). A neutral site, at least in my mind, would be somewhere in between the schools, or somewhere outside the state of the teams playing.

[Texasfootball2]

Originally posted by waterboy
How far is it from Norman?:rolleyes: It's about a three hour flight.

Gainesville Fl. to Miami Fl. is a little over 5 hours.
Norman to Miami is 23 hours.
Norman to Dallas 3 hours 7 min.
Austin to Dallas 3 hours 15 min.

Now if you are saying Florida basically had home field last night, then by saying that both OU and TU had home field in Dallas since they are the same distance and both ar closer than Gainesville is to Miami.



I cut and pasted this from another thread. I have to agree with him.

[DDBooger]

I'm fine with how it turned out. Texas wasn't expected to be that great this year. They finished top 5 and ahead of OU (rightfully so).

[carter08]

Originally posted by Texasfootball2
It's about a three hour flight.

Gainesville Fl. to Miami Fl. is a little over 5 hours.
Norman to Miami is 23 hours.
Norman to Dallas 3 hours 7 min.
Austin to Dallas 3 hours 15 min.

Now if you are saying Florida basically had home field last night, then by saying that both OU and TU had home field in Dallas since they are the same distance and both ar closer than Gainesville is to Miami.



I cut and pasted this from another thread. I have to agree with him.

BUT

OU and UT were playing at a place almost directly in the middle of the two schools.

23 hours and 5 hours are not the same.

The state of Florida is going to support Florida in the title game, no matter what part of the state they are based in. Saying that the University of Florida playing the NC game in the state of Florida is not at least some sort of home field advantage is crazy.

[waterboy]

Yeah, I akin playing the game in Miami about the same as Texas playing Oklahoma at the Alamodome. The crowd would be majority partisan for Texas, don't you think? That's where the neutrality of the site is skewed, when team one is so much closer than the team two, and is in team one's home state.

[Texasfootball2]

Originally posted by carter08
BUT

OU and UT were playing at a place almost directly in the middle of the two schools.

23 hours and 5 hours are not the same.

The state of Florida is going to support Florida in the title game, no matter what part of the state they are based in. Saying that the University of Florida playing the NC game in the state of Florida is not at least some sort of home field advantage is crazy. And the state of Texas is not going to support the University of Texas???? (when they play OU, "in Texas")

It's probably a hour flight from Gainesville to Miami.
It's probably about a three hour flight from Norman to Miami.

Both teams have to do the same amount of packing and unpacking for the trip and both teams are staying in hotels and have pretty much the same schedule for the whole week. Other than spending two more hours on an airplane a week before kickoff, I can't see where Florida had any "advantage" even though it was in their home state.

Just like the OU/TX game. Tickets are split up evenly between the two schools and then those that aren't purchase through the school are sold to whoever is willing to pay for them.

They made a comment during the game last night that both teams seem to be equally represented as far as their normal fans were concerned and that Florida might have just a "slight" bit more fans that were there just becuase they were from the Florida area and were able to get a ticket.

Don't get me wrong, I am a UT fan just like a lot of you are, but most of you see things through Burnt Orange glasses and are extremely bias.

As bad as I hate the BCS and believe me I hate it with a passion and would love for it to go away, but if Utah is ranked above Texas in the final BCS poll, I will not disagree with it. Now I might have a little problem if they vote USC above UT because they had the worse loss of all the top 5 ranked teams.

[pirate4state]

:blahblah: :D :sleeping:

[Emerson1]

Originally posted by Texasfootball2
And the state of Texas is not going to support the University of Texas???? (when they play OU, "in Texas")

It's probably a hour flight from Gainesville to Miami.
It's probably about a three hour flight from Norman to Miami.

Both teams have to do the same amount of packing and unpacking for the trip and both teams are staying in hotels and have pretty much the same schedule for the whole week. Other than spending two more hours on an airplane a week before kickoff, I can't see where Florida had any "advantage" even though it was in their home state.


People don't under stand all the espects of home field advantage. There is the crowd, which is overrated btw. Then there is comfort of sleeping in your own bed the night before. Familiarity with the stadium and a nice locker room. Not having to worry about bags and packing.

Something none of these teams got the past week.

[Texasfootball2]

Originally posted by Emerson1
People don't under stand all the espects of home field advantage. There is the crowd, which is overrated btw. Then there is comfort of sleeping in your own bed the night before. Familiarity with the stadium and a nice locker room. Not having to worry about bags and packing.

Something none of these teams got the past week.

I'm glad someone else finally said it!:2thumbsup

[Texasfootball2]

Originally posted by Texasfootball2
I'm glad someone else finally said it!:2thumbsup

With the exception of USC. They were all but at home.