Show I c Narrowing To Top five Moments Chris I Los Angeles Times Picking the top 5 moments in in college football this season was as a 2 steak The 2004 campaign may be remembered as the most confounding confounding con con- founding exciting cutthroat and controversial in college football since well last seasons seasons seasons sea sea- sons 5 S. MATT LEINART The junior quarterback became the sixth player to wi win the Heisman Trophy and it was no left-handed left compliment Leinart passed for 2990 yards and 28 touchdowns in leading the Trojans to an undefeated regular season The Pac 10 went 21 years without winning a Heisman Trophy before Carson Palmer won it in 2002 Two years later Leinart became the second Trojan quarterback in three years to win the theaward theaward theaward award finishing ahead of Oklahoma's Peterson and quarterback Jason White Utah quarterback Alex Smith and tailback Reggie Bush 4 UTE IS SERVED Monopoly What monopoly Utah became the first school from a non conference conference conference con con- ference to earn a major bowl bid when it secured the No 6 spot in the standings and earned a trip to the Fiesta Bowl Proving its Mountain West championship was no joke Utah capped a 12 0 season with a 7 35 thrashing of Big East champion Pittsburgh in inthe inthe inthe the Fiesta Bowl It was a celebratory sendoff sendoff sendoff send- send off for Ute Coach Urban Meyer who weeks before the game game announced he was leaving leaving leaving leav leav- ing to coach at Florida With his decision Meyer broke at at Notre Dame ame and more than a few in Salt Lake City 3 NOTRE SHAME Notre Dame made unprecedented unprecedented unprecedented dented news when on Nov 30 the school fired Tyrone Willingham with two years left on his contract The Irish made the knee- knee jerk move in an effort to hire who had called Notre Meyer Dame his dream job Florida however beat Notre D Dame e to Salt Lake City and signed Meyer in a deal that might have been secretly ne negotiated weeks before How could Notre Dame not have known The Irish were then left lefts s scrambling rambling and ultimately hired Charlie Weis offensive coordinator for the New England Patriots Problem is Weis cant can't start coaching until the Patriots are eliminated from the playoffs which might not be until Feb 6 Willingham was subsequently subsequently subsequently hired at Washington Led by interim coach Kent Baer Notre Dame lost the Insight Bowl to Oregon State and finished at 6 Other than that it was a quiet year in South Bend 2 MESS Its It's always something Last season finished first in both polls but third in inthe inthe inthe the rankings This season three teams finished undefeated and Texas and California waged a aBCS aBCS aBCS points war for the Rose Bowl berth that called into question the professional ethics of the voting writers and coaches Texas jumped Cal in the final standings even though Cal had won its last game by 10 points This fueled a controversy that will lead to the breakup of the as we know it Stung by the criticism Associated Press pulled its poll out of the formula leaving officials to figure out a anew anew anew new way to determine next years year's national title participants pants 1 TROJANS WIN WINIt It took a year to get both pieces of the national championship trophy but the Trojans now have a bookend to go with last years year's Associated Press hardware Tuesday night in the Orange Bowl No 1 US made it a clean sweep when it defeated No 2 Oklahoma to win the disputed but not as disputed as last seasons season's national championship The victory capped a magical magical magical magi magi- cal season during which finished 13 0 and became only the second team in history histo histo- ry to go wire-to-wire wire in the Associated Press poll Florida State did it in 1999 started the season at No 1 and ended it there and could be the preseason favorite to win it all again in 2005 is only the team to win consecutive championships championships championships champi champi- and has the nations nation's longest winning streak at 22 games |