Just when you thought college football was confusing enough with all the Big 12 brouhaha, add to that the NCAA's crackdown on USC.
The NCAA Committee on Infractions slapped the Trojans with a two-year bowl ban, scholarship cuts and ruled that USC must vacate victories accrued with Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush beginning in December 2004, according to USA Today.
The Trojan victories feel like there's nothing there? For Oklahoma football fans, that includes the nightmarish 2005 Orange Bowl shellacking of the Sooners, after which Bob Stoops admitted his team's backside "just got whupped."
Former Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville, now at Texas Tech, watched from the sidelines as the Men of Troy pummeled OU 55-19. Back then, he wanted his Tigers to have a shot and suggested he would take his own poll for No. 1. He feels the same way today.
"I think we'll have as good an argument (to be national champions) as anybody with the team we had, the players we had and the schedule we played," Tuberville recently told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "We were the only undefeated team that played in the BCS.
"If somebody's proven to be ineligible, you've got to name somebody as the national champions. If they just leave it vacated and don't go by the process, then that would really upset me that they wouldn't look at Oklahoma or us or somebody, because the kids are deserving."
Oklahoma deserving of that national title? (Crickets chirping.)
Although USC's Orange Bowl victory is vacated, don't expect a recount with dangling chads.
"The 2004 poll stands," AP sports editor Terry Taylor reportedly said. "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. Plus, 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."
At press time, the Big 12's future is as clear as Lake Thunderbird. CFN intern Bucky is convinced that Nebraska's announced departure from the conference " and probable 2012 cancellation of the Sooner-Husker rivalry " was predicted on the Mayan calendar.
