2004 Season Summary

Southern California's defending national co-champions left no doubt as to whom the college football champion was in 2004. The 12-0 Trojans led both major polls throughout the regular season, then trounced unbeaten No. 2 Oklahoma 55-19 in the FedEx Orange Bowl on Jan. 4 for their 13th victory. Junior quarterback Matt Leinart, winner of both the Heisman Trophy and the Walter Camp Award, passed for 332 yards and an Orange Bowl record five touchdowns as USC won its 22nd consecutive game and confirmed its 10th national title.

Auburn fans were disappointed that the Tigers (12-0 in regular season), winner of the SEC and victor over Virginia Tech 16-13 in the Nokia Sugar Bowl, had to settle for a final No. 3 ranking behind USC and Oklahoma. Utah fans, however, were delighted to see their Utes (11-0 in regular season) not only make it to a BCS bowl but clobber Pittsburgh 35-7 in the Fiesta Bowl. The Mountain West champions finished with a No. 5 national ranking.

The nation's other major unbeaten team, Western Athletic Conference champion Boise State (11-0), fell to Louisville (10-1 in regular season) 44-40 in the highest-scoring Liberty Bowl game ever. The Cardinals, in their last year in Conference USA before heading to the Big East, had led the nation with a 49.8 scoring average, while Boise State had averaged 49.7.

Utah and Auburn shared the national Coach of the Year awards, Urban Meyer of Utah winning the Football Writers award and Tommy Tuberville of Auburn taking the Football Coaches award.

Oklahoma may have finished with a disappointing loss in the Orange Bowl, but quarterback Jason White, the 2003 Heisman Trophy winner, won the 2004 Maxwell Award as well as the Davey O'Brien and Johnny Unitas quarterback awards.

The Outland Trophy went to another Oklahoma player, offensive tackle Jamaal Brown, while defensive end David Pollack of Georgia won the Vince Lombardi/Rotary Award along with the Chuck Bednarik Award.

• Virginia Tech won the Atlantic Coast Conference title in its first year in the league. The Hokies beat out another Big East "defector," Miami (Fla.) for the championship.
• Bobby Bowden of Florida State raised his all-time bowl record to 19-8-1 as the Seminoles defeated West Virginia 30-18 in the Gator Bowl. The victory moved Bowden into the No.1 spot with a bowl winning percentage of .696.
• Navy had its best season since the Roger Staubach-led team of 1963, going 9-2 in regular season and then defeating New Mexico 34-19 in the newly named Emerald Bowl.
• Fresno State edged Virginia 37-34 in overtime in the MPC Computers Bowl (formerly the Humanitarian Bowl) when Paul Pinegar threw the game-tying TD pass with 11 seconds left, then passed 25 yards to Stephen Spach for the game winner in overtime.
• Connecticut made its first bowl appearance a winning one with a 39-10 win over Toledo in the Motor City Bowl.
• Texas rallied for 17 points in the 4th quarter to edge Michigan 38-37 in the Rose Bowl on Dusty Mangum's 37-yard field goal on the final play of the game. Mangum made two field goals and 4 extra points in the game.

College Football Fans

You can get extensive information on the records and traditions of these and other major college teams from their very first year of play through the 2001 season in the 4th edition of College Football Encyclopedia, now available on CD-ROM.

A 4th edition of the Encyclopedia, which first appeared in print in 1994 and then in expanded, updated CD-ROM format in 1999 and 2000, is now available in CD-ROM format. The 4th edition has been updated through the 2001 season to give fans unprecedented coverage of 92 Division I-A teams plus William & Mary of Division I-AA.

Dr.Robert M. Ours, professor emeritus of journalism at West Virginia University, has compiled information for each school that includes year-by-year scores of every game played, star players yearly, conference titles won, complete bowl records, coaching records, Top 25 national rankings, highest scores for and against each school, consensus All-Americans, Academic All-Americans, and much more.

Also included are introductions to each of 9 major conferences, plus independents, including information on when the conference was formed, national championship teams and major individual award winners from that conference, plus anecdotal material involving members of the conference.

More than 1,000 photos of past stars, representing each school listed, are included in the Encyclopedia.

A special Appendix lists annual major individual award winners since 1935, team national champions since 1936, top coaching records, and team and individual single-season leaders in more than 20 categories.