The 2004 Nokia Sugar Bowl, the

BCS National Championship Game The BCS National Championship Game, or BCS National Championship, was a postseason college football bowl game, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), first played in the 1998 college fo ...

for the 2003 college football season, was played on January 4, 2004 at the

Louisiana Superdome The Caesars Superdome, commonly known as the Superdome (formerly known as Mercedes-Benz Superdome), is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the home stadium of the New Orleans Saints ...

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

. The teams were the

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to a nickname given to the early participants in the Land Run ...

and the

LSU Tigers The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a ...

. The Tigers won the BCS National Championship, their second national championship in school history, defeating the Sooners by a score of 21–14.

Set-up

Sugar Bowl Game 2004 from Flickr 29799042

BCS #2 ranked LSU came into the national championship title game 12–1, with their one loss at home to #17

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

19–7. Top-ranked Oklahoma (but #3 in the AP poll) was 12–1, with the lone defeat coming at a neutral site in the Big 12 Championship Game against Kansas State 35–7. There was substantial media and fan controversy as to which teams deserved to play in the National Title game. USC was ranked #3 in the BCS standings but #1 by both of the human polls, the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll and the AP poll, which made up a portion of the BCS Standings. Southern Cal owned a record of 11–1, with its one loss coming in triple overtime at unranked Cal 34–31. Once the game commenced, LSU's #1 ranked defense held the country's most prolific offense, which had averaged 45.2 points and 461 yards per game, to 154 total yards (32 in the first half) and just one touchdown until midway though the fourth quarter. The Sooners' Heisman Trophy-winning QB Jason White completed only 13 of his 37 passing attempts for just 102 yards. He was also sacked seven times and intercepted twice. LSU's offense was largely supplied by freshman running back and Sugar Bowl MVP Justin Vincent, who rushed for 117 yards and a touchdown. As a result, LSU won their second national championship and first since 1958. The majority of the coaches voted LSU National Champions as contractually required by the BCS. There were three dissenting coaches ( Ron Turner of Illinois,

Mike Bellotti Robert Michael Bellotti (born December 21, 1950) is an American college football analyst for ESPN and ABC Sports, ABC. He was with the Oregon Ducks football, University of Oregon's football program for over 20 years serving as offensive coordin ...

of Oregon and

Lou Holtz Louis Leo Holtz (born January 6, 1937) is an American former football player, coach, and analyst. He served as the head football coach at The College of William & Mary (1969–1971), North Carolina State University (1972–1975), the New York ...

of South Carolina) who voted USC #1. BCS #3

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

won the Rose Bowl against #4 ranked

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

and was voted the National Champion in the

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadca ...

Scoring summary

Relevant bowl records

*The attendance of 79,342 became the largest ever to see a game in the Superdome. That figure has since been surpassed by the 2008 BCS National Championship Game (79,651Football - chicagotribune.com
/ref>). *The team that led at halftime had won 10 of 11 Sugar Bowl games. *LSU improved its record to 5–7 in Sugar Bowl games. *The SEC improved its record to 34–29–1 in Sugar Bowl games.

References

External links

Article on LSUSports.net
{{2003–04 NCAA Division I championships navbox

Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed onl ...

Sugar Bowl LSU Tigers football bowl games Oklahoma Sooners football bowl games BCS National Championship Game 2004 in sports in Louisiana 21st century in New Orleans January 2004 sports events in the United States