LSU wasn’t outright guaranteed a spot in the national title heading into conference championship weekend in 2003, considering both its opponent and the other top teams in the country. It was set to face off against a great Georgia team that had gone 10-2 on the year and was ranked No. 5, and it was up to a system of computers to determine if a win there would be enough.
No. 1 Oklahoma went into its conference championship game against No. 13 Kansas State with the best odds to make it to New Orleans, sitting at a perfect 12-0 with an average point differential of 35, blowout wins over No. 6 Texas and No. 22 Oklahoma and a 77-0 win over Texas A&M. It would take an absurdly bad, blowout loss to the Wildcats to keep it out.
No. 2 USC was most likely to get knocked out, with its lone ranked win coming against No. 16 Washington State. Couple that with an early loss to an average-at-best, unranked Cal squad and its early shutout win over then-No. 6 Auburn losing its merit, and it didn’t appear to control its own destiny. Its last game of the season was against 7-4 Oregon State, and nothing less than a blowout would get it in.
And No. 3 LSU responded to a loss to unranked Florida midway through the season by winning its last six games by an average of 24.5 points, including a close win over No. 20 Ole Miss and a 24-point win over Auburn, which knocked it out of the polls for good that season. It also handed Georgia one of its two losses in its first conference game of the season, adding another ranked win to its resumé.
This was the top headline heading into conference championship weekend, and for good reason. Each team had proven to be capable of winning the national championship, appearing a level or two above the rest of the nation. In fact, the top-25 featured just one undefeated team and two Power Five teams with 11-1 records, being those three, meaning there was a realistic possibility of a two-loss team claiming a spot in the title for the first time ever.
A loss from USC or LSU would knock them out. A loss from both would cause chaos, as No. 4 Michigan would enter the mix. A big win over No. 5 Georgia would likely propel the Tigers over the Trojans, unless they beat Oregon State by 60 or more points. And Oklahoma would have to suffer an abhorrent loss to Kansas State to fall to No. 3.
December 6 arrived, and the college football world prepared for what was sure to be a day filled with great football and drama. It disappointed in one aspect, but not the other.
USC would kick things off with a sure win over Oregon State, but not one that guaranteed them a spot in the national title. It scored its highest point total against the Pac-10 with 52 but its defense gave up its highest since the loss to Cal with 28.
In fact, the Beavers, led by Derek Anderson at quarterback, largely outpaced the Trojans in terms of both yardage and first downs, they just shot themselves in the foot numerous times with turnovers and penalties.
All USC could do was watch and hope one of the other top teams would falter, preferably LSU.
The Sooners and Tigers each started on top 7-0, but while one carried that momentum through most of the game, the other peaked.
While Oklahoma had more opportunities following the touchdown on its opening drive, the Wildcat defense found a way to consistently keep it out of the end zone with an interception and multiple turnovers on downs. And after going scoreless in the first quarter, they would come to life on offense, scoring three touchdowns in just over 10 minutes of game time, two of which were on 60+ yard passing touchdowns. Running back Darren Sproles rushed for 235 yards and added 83 through the air, averaging nearly 13 yards per touch, and four of Eli Roberson’s 10 completions were touchdowns.
No. 13 Kansas State not only made No. 1 Oklahoma look mortal, but also made it look below-average. Many considered the Sooners to be a shoo-in even with a loss here, but not a 28-point one. Did its incredible regular season resume enough to keep them from dropping? We would have to wait.
While Oklahoma struggled, LSU opened its game against the No. 5 team in the country scoring 17 unanswered points and dominated defensively, allowing 249 yards and forcing three turnovers. It seemed like every time Georgia was able to decrease the deficit to two scores, the Tigers responded, never giving the Bulldogs a reason to gain much confidence.
And against the second-best defense in the SEC, LSU ran all over the field, rushing for 293 yards for 6.5 yards per carry. It impressed in every aspect of the game, passing the eye test while also outpacing a top-five team in every aspect, which would surely benefit it in both sets of polls.
With the three contenders’ seasons being finalized, fans anticipated the final set of polls before bowl season, with neither team being a projected given despite LSU outperforming both teams and Oklahoma completely imploding.
With the BCS poll being decided by computers, observers also anticipated to possibility of having two national champions, as while the eye test made it seem like the top two teams would be LSU and USC, the computerized polls were often difficult to predict, and Oklahoma had been statistically dominant through the regular season.
That’s what led to one of the most controversial final rankings of the BCS era. While USC took the top spot in the AP Poll, decided by a committee, the computerized BCS poll still had Oklahoma at No. 1. LSU took the No. 2 spot in both polls, and the national championship was set.
When LSU and USC ultimately won their respective bowl games, with the Trojans defeating No. 4 Michigan by two scores in the Rose Bowl, both teams were crowned national champions. With the BCS championship being put in place to eliminate shared titles, this was one of the many steps that led to its eventual annihilation and establishment of the College Football Playoff after the 2013 season.
A playoff that season would have been something. But unfortunately, we’ll never know how a USC-LSU or USC-Oklahoma national championship would have turned out.
