Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Sunday

Oklahoma Faces LSU In BCS Championship Game

Aired December 07, 2003 - 18:19   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: For college football fans, it's one of the most anticipated moments in the season. The BCS, The Bowl Championship Series, announced this afternoon that Oklahoma will face LSU in the national championship game. But if you are a Southern Cal alumnus, you're immediately asking, what's going on here?
The USC Trojans finished first in both traditional polls and they were denied a place in the big game. Sounds confusing? Well, we have CNN sports' Steve Overmyer here to help us sort it all out. I'm trying to remain neutral as a Bruin.

STEVE OVERMYER, CNN SPORTS: There are a lot of people that are certainly upset after this. It's mostly on the west coast. I think a lot of people are wondering, why wait for March madness when you have December dementia. Three teams with one loss.

The BCS puts the USC Trojans, LSU Tigers and Oklahoma Scooners through the system and the computer spitz out the two national championship contenders and you know what? One of them is not the No. 1 team in the nation.

Oklahoma will face LSU in the Sugar Bowl, meaning the No. 1 team in the AP and Coach's Poll, USC, will not get to the national championship game. I think a lot of people are wondering exactly how this happens, especially considering Oklahoma just lost last night.

Granted, they ran the table in college football and were the best team, but they lost last night. They didn't even win their conference championship. And here they are, backing their way into the national championship.

I think a lot of people are wondering why this is happening. The answer is, it's strength of schedule. They say that USC's strength of schedule in the PAC-10 not nearly as strong as LSU's in the S.E.C. Computer rankings went as far as the game between Boise State and Hawaii had an impact on who was going to go to the national championship game. That's hideous

LIN: Does this mean that USC cannot win the national championship?

OVERMYER: That is not, in fact true. They can still win a national championship. It won't be the BCS, but AP has their a separate championship and there are the No. 1 team in the nation, regardless. They're going to the Rose Bowl. They are facing Michigan. They're No. 1 team in the nation. If they win that game, you cannot not give them at least a share of the national championship.

LIN: So what does this mean to the BCS system? Does it mean that there might be potential changes ahead? It doesn't make sense.

OVERMYER: It doesn't, does it? I mean, it seems like -- I like the idea. The idea is we're going to put some computer rankings in this, we're going to try to throw it into this bowl and see what the computer spits out. It's not worked. It happened in 2001 when Nebraska lost their last game and ended up in the national championship game.

The BCS has said they're going to make changes because of this and it might include an extra playoff game after the bowl games, maybe after the 2005 season. Who knows? I think a lot of people are just up in the arms right now.

LIN: It doesn't help that the fans are angry.

OVERMYER: No kidding. Sorry we didn't get UCLA in there.

LIN: Yes, go Bruins. Well, there's always the basketball season we can look forward to.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired December 7, 2003 - 18:19   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: For college football fans, it's one of the most anticipated moments in the season. The BCS, The Bowl Championship Series, announced this afternoon that Oklahoma will face LSU in the national championship game. But if you are a Southern Cal alumnus, you're immediately asking, what's going on here?
The USC Trojans finished first in both traditional polls and they were denied a place in the big game. Sounds confusing? Well, we have CNN sports' Steve Overmyer here to help us sort it all out. I'm trying to remain neutral as a Bruin.

STEVE OVERMYER, CNN SPORTS: There are a lot of people that are certainly upset after this. It's mostly on the west coast. I think a lot of people are wondering, why wait for March madness when you have December dementia. Three teams with one loss.

The BCS puts the USC Trojans, LSU Tigers and Oklahoma Scooners through the system and the computer spitz out the two national championship contenders and you know what? One of them is not the No. 1 team in the nation.

Oklahoma will face LSU in the Sugar Bowl, meaning the No. 1 team in the AP and Coach's Poll, USC, will not get to the national championship game. I think a lot of people are wondering exactly how this happens, especially considering Oklahoma just lost last night.

Granted, they ran the table in college football and were the best team, but they lost last night. They didn't even win their conference championship. And here they are, backing their way into the national championship.

I think a lot of people are wondering why this is happening. The answer is, it's strength of schedule. They say that USC's strength of schedule in the PAC-10 not nearly as strong as LSU's in the S.E.C. Computer rankings went as far as the game between Boise State and Hawaii had an impact on who was going to go to the national championship game. That's hideous

LIN: Does this mean that USC cannot win the national championship?

OVERMYER: That is not, in fact true. They can still win a national championship. It won't be the BCS, but AP has their a separate championship and there are the No. 1 team in the nation, regardless. They're going to the Rose Bowl. They are facing Michigan. They're No. 1 team in the nation. If they win that game, you cannot not give them at least a share of the national championship.

LIN: So what does this mean to the BCS system? Does it mean that there might be potential changes ahead? It doesn't make sense.

OVERMYER: It doesn't, does it? I mean, it seems like -- I like the idea. The idea is we're going to put some computer rankings in this, we're going to try to throw it into this bowl and see what the computer spits out. It's not worked. It happened in 2001 when Nebraska lost their last game and ended up in the national championship game.

The BCS has said they're going to make changes because of this and it might include an extra playoff game after the bowl games, maybe after the 2005 season. Who knows? I think a lot of people are just up in the arms right now.

LIN: It doesn't help that the fans are angry.

OVERMYER: No kidding. Sorry we didn't get UCLA in there.

LIN: Yes, go Bruins. Well, there's always the basketball season we can look forward to.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com