Thank you for a brief diversion into reality, otherwise missing from this thread. It's very telling that no one from USC denies LSU's share of the title in '03, despite the lame HOME loss to a lousy Florida team, but the pacifier crowd from LSU does everything to try to pretend USC has no claim.
Let's retreat to the facts: USC was #2 in the polls before the conference title games in 2003. Oklahoma was undefeated and #1 while LSU was #3. If Oklahoma had defeated 15 point underdog Kansas St as expected, Oklahoma and USC would have played for the national title. Instead, that upset threw a wrench into the flawed BCS formula and LSU benefitted from Oklahoma's loss, while Oklahoma was not impacted. The BCS formula was so screwed up it denounced USC to #3 in the BCS standings even though the Trojans were #1 in BOTH POLLS at the end of the regular season.
Only a supreme partisan would assert USC had no claim to a title shot when they were top ranked in both polls. The BCS officials admitted they thought that scenario was impossible and had never even contemplated it before. That glitch was immediately fixed after the season, just as the BCS rubbish that kept Miami out of the 2000 championship game against Oklahoma, instead of FSU against Oklahoma, was changed following that season.
The BCS has always been a reactive formula, not something that was well engineereed beforehand. If FSU had defeated Oklahoma in 2000, Miami would have won the AP poll and shared the title with the Seminoles, identical to the 2003 scenario with USC and LSU. So anyone who claims holding the crystal trophy is an absolute is running with blinders on and headed smack over a cliff.
