Sugar Bowl

NEW ORLEANS - They were supposed to be the newest addition to the list of college football's all-time greatest teams, joining a couple from previous generations that also wore the crimson and cream of the Oklahoma Sooners. Not yet a dynasty, simply dominant. Ranked No. 1 from the pre-season through their last regular-season game, this season's Sooners were simply waiting to be anointed. Instead, what Oklahoma did over the first three months was annulled by what happened in the Big 12 championship game.

NEW ORLEANS - Don't dare suggest to anyone associated with the Louisiana State and Oklahoma football teams that tomorrow's Sugar Bowl isn't being played for the national championship. Those who do might consider putting on helmets and pads themselves. Given what occurred Thursday night in Pasadena, Calif., where top-ranked Southern California thoroughly beat No. 4 Michigan, 28-14, in the Rose Bowl, it figured that media day at the Louisiana Superdome yesterday turned into yet another debate about the much-maligned Bowl Championship Series.

PASADENA, Calif. - For one cool, hazy Southern California afternoon, there was little dispute over which college football team was the best in the land. The top-ranked USC Trojans may have been unfairly denied an invitation to the Sugar Bowl and a chance to play Oklahoma in the designated national championship game, but they made sure they will not be overlooked in the final polls with a 28-14 victory over No. 4 Michigan yesterday in the 90th Rose Bowl. USC (12-1) finished the season ranked first in the AP and USA Today/ESPN polls.

The last time a college football national championship game was played at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, the winning quarterback was both overage and overlooked compared with his counterpart on the opposing team. Four seasons ago, it was Chris Weinke, then 27, doing more than enough to lead Florida State past Virginia Tech and Michael Vick to win the Sugar Bowl. Will history repeat itself for Louisiana State's Matt Mauck this year? At 24, Mauck is only one year older than Oklahoma's Jason White.

PASADENA, Calif. -- When the final Bowl Championship Series standings were released in December and the computers had somehow kicked top-ranked Southern California out of the Sugar Bowl, the reaction was understandable. There were calls to scrap a convoluted BCS system that was intended to produce a clear-cut national champion, but will accomplish just the opposite. How legitimate could it be if the No. 1 team in the traditional polls of writers/broadcasters and coaches didn't qualify to be one of the two teams in the designated national championship game?

If an expensive sports car leaked oil half the time it was driven, would its owner keep it on the road? The Bowl Championship Series has done its share of spitting and sputtering since former Southeastern Conference commissioner Roy Kramer and his cohorts turned on the ignition six seasons ago, and it appears many wouldn't mind seeing it relegated to the junkyard. But was the method used in the past to determine college football's national champion any better - or a lot worse? Trying to find a solution to a less-than-perfect system that previously relied strictly on human votes, and therefore human bias, the BCS began employing outside computers such as the kind used for college basketball's equally infamous RPI (Ratings Percentage Index)

The computers that compile the convoluted data to determine college football's Division I-A national championship game sent Oklahoma and Louisiana State to next month's Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, giving proponents of a true playoff format their strongest ammunition for changing the current system. By overlooking Southern California, the No. 1 team in both the Associated Press poll of writers and broadcasters as well as the ESPN/USA Today poll of coaches, the Bowl Championship Series left the validity of its formula more hotly debated than ever before.

He is the undisputed leader of the nation's top rushing defense, a player who is so difficult to contain that Arkansas coach Houston Nutt said this week, "He plays with such passion. He never stays blocked. You can't cut him off." Meet Louisiana State's Chad Lavalais, who just might be the best defensive lineman in college football this season. Of the 48 tackles Lavalais has made for the third-ranked Tigers, 14 have been for losses and six have resulted in sacks. He also has 20 quarterback hurries and forced at least one key fumble.

Sugar Bowl No. 12 Louisiana State 47 No. 7 Illinois 34 Domanick Davis rushes for four touchdowns as the Tigers roll past the Illini. It was the highest-scoring Sugar Bowl ever, and LSU's fifth consecutive bowl victory. [Page 5C] Gator Bowl No. 24 Florida State 30 No. 15 Virginia Tech 17 Chris Rix throws for two TDs and runs for another as the Seminoles give coach Bobby Bowden his 323rd win, tying Bear Bryant for second on the all-time Division I-A list. [Page 3C] Citrus Bowl No. 8 Tennessee 45 No. 17 Michigan 17 Quarterback Casey Clausen accounts for five TDs to lift the Volunteers to a rout of the Wolverines.

No seats remain for the Jan. 2 Orange Bowl featuring No. 6 Maryland and No. 5 Florida at Pro Player Stadium in Miami. The bowl, already down to a few thousand of its own tickets in the middle of last week, sold out Friday, except for Maryland's allotment. Maryland had 100 tickets left Monday afternoon and sold the remainder yesterday. This season's game will be played before a sellout crowd of 75,540. Last season, Oklahoma and Florida State played for the national championship in front of a sellout crowd.