The Football Writers Association of America vacated Southern Cal’s 2004 national title today, but won’t crown another champion. Auburn and Oklahoma received serious consideration to be named national champion but neither received a majority of the votes, FWAA Executive Director Steve Richardson said. Past presidents and current officers of the FWAA voted on the matter.
“I think there was a very thoughtful process by which people were very diligent in looking at the situation,” Richardson said. “Obviously, you’re not going to please everybody all the time.”
Richardson said there was a “very strong majority” for stripping USC of its title due to NCAA violations related to Reggie Bush. USC routed Oklahoma in the 2004 BCS Championship Game, and Auburn was left out of the game after an undefeated season.
“I think it becomes more difficult on the replacement because you’re trying to go back and recreate the situation, and it’s always hard to do that,” Richardson said. “There was some support for Auburn, but it wasn’t the majority.
“If you look at it from a situation of, ‘OK, Auburn was undefeated at the end of the season,’ OK. But you can say what if they played Oklahoma? What if they played USC if that would have happened? I don’t know. Are you penalizing Oklahoma?”
via FWAA vacates USC 2004 title, doesn’t anoint Auburn | al.com.
