Company offers $30 million to fix college football debate

[TheGeneral+]

LOS ANGELES - It's a $30 million offer with a three-day deadline to settle college football's biggest controversy once and for all and crown a national champion.

Struggling personal computer maker Gateway Inc. on Thursday made a longshot offer of $30 million if the top two college teams -- the University of Southern California Trojans and the Louisiana State University Tigers -- agree to play an ad hoc championship game.

But to stage such a game would require a waiver of college football's rules, something that appears very unlikely to happen, sources close to the colleges said.

LSU defeated the University of Oklahoma 21-14 in New Orleans on Sunday in a game which was billed as the Bowl Championship Series national title decider.

The participants were, however, chosen by a complex formula which included computer polls and consideration of the strength of schedule rankings.

USC, the team rated number one by both the media and coaches at the end of the regular season, was controversially excluded.

But USC handily defeated University of Michigan 28-14 in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1 and was subsequently named national champions based on a media poll. Coaches voted for LSU, fulfilling a commitment they made to back the winner of the BCS championship game.

A spokeswoman for the NCAA had no immediate comment. A USC spokesman declined comment and a LSU representative could not be reached.

Gateway has given the two universities and the NCAA until 12.00 noon Eastern Time on Monday to respond to its offer.

If accepted the winner would receive $20 million in scholarships plus $1 million in Gateway products. The losing university would receive $10 million in scholarships.

www.abs-cbnnews.com

 

[LSUpete]

There already WAS a National Championship game.....it was the Sugar Bowl, and LSU won it. Don't allow yourself to get caught in the bs hype of a unifying game. If USC had deserved to play for a NC, they'd have been in New Orleans on 1-04-04.

 

[eltonio]

Hey LSU, I wonder if you would be posting the same response if LSU had been denied the right to play in the Sugar Bowl.

 

[Schouest]

To be the National Champ..you need to win the National Championship game...

And that's the bottom line !

 

[KMAN]

Yeah, I don't think LSUPete would feel the same way had it been USC and Oklahoma.

I would love to see USC/LSU. I heard on the radio the other day from a Vegas linesmaker that he would've set the line at USC -6 (on a neutral field). There wouldn't be any of this home field advantage BS like USC and LSU got in their bowl games!!!!!!!!

KMAN

 

[brendanjack]

these 2 schools must be drooling for this oppurtunity but since were subjected to socialism this will nvr happen

 

Re Sugar Bowl:

What kind of "National Championship" game does not have the No. 1 team in it?

-Zip

 

[LSUpete]

HEY! I truly believe that USC should have been in the Sugar Bowl. But they weren't, so show some balls and accept it! LSU won the National Championship game and that's final. Any contridiction is simply an opinion.

By the way, for all the guys who played the future's bet before the season on USC winning the National Championship, did Vegas pay out on your ticket? Hell no....they paid the guys holding the LSU futures ticket.

 

[brendanjack]

pete you are absolutly correct lsu is the champ i agree fair and square same as legal system lol but wouldnt it be cool just to see these two teams play for the heck of it or is it to easy to say tht for some reason if usc was to win we would be entering a spin zone.

 

[eldiablo]

Don't we always hear football players/coaches saying they would play in a parking lot if they have to ....for the love of the game. Maybe they should meet in a grocery store parking lot somewhere in New Mexico ?

USC -4.5 vs. LSC
Location : Piggly Wiggly, Santa Fe NM

 

Whatever -

The net result of all of this is that there is a split National Championship. Both USC and LSU will both claim it and two years from now no one, except the two schools, will even remember that it was split with the other school.

USC had a split NC in 1978 [With Ala] and the L.A. Coliseum has USC Nat Champs-1978 painted up there. I am sure Ala has the same thing.

Interestingly, the new rules that the BCS is proposing, if followed this year, would have had USC and Okla in the NC game. Which is just as dopey as it was this year.

Congrats to both schools.

-Zip

 

[shortbus]

yeah, ask Michigan and Nebraska if they don't remember splitting...

 

[Horseshoe]

The actual trophy winner has been the better team even during the 4 split titles of the past 15 years, thus the system got it right in the past fifteeen years(except when Miami was blocked from the recent '01 Title gm, that they would've won over OU via their Washington loss, which if they went then Wash with a solo loss would've had the same quality arguement that Oregon already had).

While a fictional game between '89 trophy-winner Colo & GT(AP) would be a tough call, I feel confident that a game between Washington & Miami in '91 would've been won by the Huskies, that the '98 game between Michigan and Nebraska would've been won by the Wolverines, and that a game between LSU and USC would be hearted-out by LSU's physicality(if bring their A-Game on Offense, they brought a C-Game versus Stoops' physical #1 yards-allowed Defense).

College Football..the best sport on the planet!