SPORTS
MONDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2004
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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Auburn left out in BCS shuffle
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Texas leapfrogs California to earn Rose Bowl bid
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Now Auburn knows what it feels like to be the odd team out.
Southern California and Oklahoma finished atop the final Bowl Championship Series standings Sunday and will meet in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 4 in a title game that might not produce a unanimous national champion.
The Tigers, who finished 12-0 just like the Trojans and Sooners, finished third in the BCS points system that relies on The Associated Press and coaches polls, plus computer ratings. So the Tigers will have to settle for a Sugar Bowl berth against Virginia Tech on Jan. 3.
"It's not a perfect system, and if it was we'd all be happy today," Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville said during ABC's
broadcast of the BCS pairings announcement.
USC finished with .9770 in the standings, and Oklahoma had 9681.
Auburn, third much of the season, had .9331. Oklahoma's strong computer rankings kept the Sooners ahead of the Tigers in the BCS standings, while USC held on to first place thanks to its strong showing in the polls.
Last season, USC was left out of the BCS title game, despite being No. 1 in both the AP and coaches polls at the end of the regular season. Instead, Oklahoma played LSU in the Sugar Bowl, even though the Sooners lost the Big 12 title game.
When all the bowls were finished, LSU won the BCS championship, and USC was No. 1 in the final AP poll.
In an attempt to avoid a repeat, the BCS scaled back its formula this season, making it far more reliant on the human polls. But another problem
arose, of course: For the first time since the BCS was implemented in 1998, there were more than two unbeaten teams from major conferences.
At least Auburn is in a top bowl. California was left out altogether after Texas passed the Golden Bears and moved into fourth in the final BCS standings. The Longhorns (10-1) will play Big Ten co-champion Michigan (9-2) in the Rose Bowl.
Utah (11-0) officially became the first team from a non-BCS conference to receive a bid to one of the four $14 million bowl games, earning a spot in the Fiesta Bowl against Big East representative Pittsburgh (8-3).
The Utes, from the Mountain West Conference, will play their last game under coach Urban Meyer on Jan. 1 in Tempe, Ariz. Meyer is headed to Florida.
the same from the AP preseason Top 25 through the final regular season poll, though the Sooners shared second with Auburn for one week.
The Trojans and Sooners went wire-to-wire atop both polls. It's the first time Nos. 1 and 2 stayed
So yesterday's Orange Bowl announcement was not surprising. Auburn, Oklahoma and USC all finished their regular seasons with wins Saturday, making it extremely unlikely that there would be any change at the ton of the BCS.
Texas' move past Cal might have caught some people off guard, however.
But Texas began gaining ground in the polls, especially with the coaches, as Longhorns coach Mack Brown lobbied for votes.
It looked like the Bears controlled their BCS destiny a few weeks ago and simply needed to win out to reach the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1959.
Texas' first BCS bid also means the Rose Bowl won't have its traditional Big Ten vs. Pac-10 matchup.
Moya defeats Roddick to win Davis Cup
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEVILLE, Spain — Andy Roddick searched out Carlos Moya in the throng of jumping, screaming Spanish tennis players, hoping to shake hands.
Moya had just beaten Roddick 6-2, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (5) yesterday to clinch Spain's second Davis Cup title — and extend the U.S. team's drought in tennis' top team competition.
"When someone accomplishes something like the Spanish team did today, you have to respect that and give them their due credit," Roddick said yesterday. "They did a great job."
(8) . 6-2 to make it 3-2.
Holding back tears, Moya ran over and reached up through a rail to greet Prince Felipe, heir to the Spanish throne, and his wife, Princess Letizia.
"The Davis Cup is my dream." Mova said.
His victory over Roddick on the slow, red clay that dulls the American's powerful serves and forehands put Spain up 3-1 in the best-of-five series.
In the closing match, Olympic silver medalist Mardy Fish defeated Tommy Robredo 7-6
U. S. captain Patrick McEnroe was counting on getting two wins in singles from Roddick, who won the 2003 U.S. Open and finished that year atop the rankings.
Spain figured to have the edge, because of the surface and the drum-thumping din of 27,200 red-and-yellow-clad fans at Olympic Stadium.
Instead, Roddick went 0-2; he lost in four sets Friday to 18-year-old Rafael Nadal. While nothing Nadal or Moya did should have been particularly surprising to Roddick, he was startled in yesterday's third set when a man known in Spain for self-promotion ran onto the court. He tried to put a red hat on Moya's head but was quickly taken away.
Spain took a 2-0 lead in Friday singles, and only one team — Australia in 1939 — has come back from that deficit to win the Davis Cup. But twins Bob and Mike Bryan took the doubles Saturday, giving the United States a shot.
"We could have won it this year," McEnroe said. "We needed the swing of just a few points. But the ultimate goal — we haven't quite reached it yet."
McEnrope asked Andre Agassi to play this final, but he declined.
"For Andre, the door is always open," McEnroe said. "He's never completely shut the door, at least to me."
The Americans have won the Davis Cup 31 times, but not since 1995 — their longest gap since the one between titles in 1926 and 1937.
Moya, a former No.1 and the 1998 French Open champion, missed Spain's 2000 Davis Cup championship with an injury. He lost three times before to Roddick — all on hard courts — but played the match of his life Sunday.
He broke in Roddick's first two service games. After that it was even, but Moya's steady groundstrokes and deft drop shots kept Roddick guessing.
When Roddick tried to come in, Moya lobbed him or passed him. At times, Roddick had to serve with drums thumping and
fans screaming.
"You look up and there are people for as far as you can see going nuts and cheering." Roddick said. "This weekend is unlike anything I have experienced before."
Moya breezed through the first set in 36 minutes. In the second, Roddick broke Moya in the fourth game to lead 3-1.
But during that game, Roddick slipped and fell heavily at the baseline, wrong-footed by Mova.
Roddick limped slightly and later called it a "minor groin strain." McEnroe said it was worse than that.
"I was actually, at one point, considering stopping the match late in the second set ... because I worried he was going to get hurt," McEnroe said. "It seemed to get better. But he tweaked it pretty good."
In the second-set tiebreaker, Roddick double-faulted as Moya pulled ahead 4-1. The Spaniard went up 5-1 with another lob winner, and Moya closed out the tiebreaker when Roddick netted a backhand, ending the 59-minute set.
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