USC Football: Report Says AP Will Not Strip USC of 2004 National Title

After the NCAA levied sanctions against the University of Southern California, banning them from post season bowl games for two years as well as scholarships, the question around the water cooler became, "Would USC be stripped of the 2004 BCS National Championship?"

On Friday afternoon, that question was answered as the Associated Press decided not to revote to strip Southern California of their national championship according to the Los Angeles Times .

There were more articles than I could count all over the Internet, speculating about who would be named the national champion if USC was stripped. There were articles backing Oklahoma, USC's opponent that year, while others wanted it to go to Auburn who thought they should have been in the title game.

But, the AP decided that neither was going to happen.

In an email sent to the Los Angeles Times, Associated Press editor Terry Taylor said, "The 2004 poll stands. The poll is intended to measure on-field performance. If teams are allowed to play, they're allowed to be ranked, and USC certainly played in 2004."

Taylor went on to say, "It would be impractical to revote. It's been six years. Memories have faded, and the poll board from that year is no longer intact."

USC can finally breathe a sigh of relief, though I'm sure former head coach Pete Carroll and former running back Reggie Bush are breathing just fine regardless of the actions taken by the NCAA in recent days.

However, the Los Angeles Times says the BCS could still vacate the BCS National Championship if the school loses their appeal of the major NCAA violations.

As of right now, USC needs to consider themselves lucky that the infractions weren't a lot worse. They could have been leveled with the "death penalty" that was given to the SMU program back in the 1980's.

Whether or not Reggie Bush or Pete Carroll will ever come clean about what they knew or didn't know may never be known. However, Bush's silence says more than he thinks.

The last question that is still yet to be answered is whether or not Bush will be stripped of his Heisman Trophy.