Was Auburn snubbed in 2004? Yes, big-time and SEC should thank Tigers for paving road

The 2004 Auburn football team was fantastic in every way possible, but didn’t make the BCS Championship Game.

Sports Illustrated ranked the 10 biggest snubs of the BCS era, which turns 20 this season. That incredible 2004 Auburn team sits at No. 1 on the list.

Of course it does.

The question in the minds and hearts of Auburn fans will always remain: Would Auburn have beaten USC or Oklahoma if given the chance?

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Of course it would have, Auburn fans agree.

Instead, Auburn fell on the grenade and did the SEC an enormous favor. Think about this:

• Auburn finished the regular season 11-0 and beat Tennessee in the SEC Championship Game to move to 12-0.
• Auburn outscored opponents 417 to 147. That’s 270 points, people. That includes a 129-19 advantage in the first quarter.
• Auburn outgained opponents 420.7 to 277.6 yards per game.
• Auburn held opponents to 28 percent conversion on third downs.
• Auburn scored 54 touchdowns; its opponents totaled 19.
• Auburn gave up 20 or more points twice all season: Arkansas scored 20 with a touchdown in the game’s final minutes and Tennessee tallied 28 in the title game rematch.
• Auburn defeated five top 15 teams.
• Auburn had four players taken in the first round of the 2005 NFL Draft: Ronnie Brown (2), Cadillac Williams (5), Carlos Rogers (9) and Jason Campbell (25).

Can you imagine an SEC team today with those credentials being kept out of a championship game?

It would never happen.

Not after Auburn was kept out of that game. The narrative began to change.

The following season, Texas beat USC in one of the greatest college football games ever played. There wasn’t an SEC team worthy that year — Georgia finished 10-3 in the East and beat LSU (11-2) in the SEC title game.

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But everything changed in 2006. Florida played for and won the BCS title. The Gators lost to Auburn during the regular season by 10 points, won two games by a single point and three others by a touchdown or less. Florida began the season ranked No. 7 and fell to No. 9 after the Oct. 28 loss to Auburn. On Oct. 28 in 2004, Auburn was undefeated and No. 3. The Tigers won one game by a single point that season and the meaningless Sugar Bowl by three points.

The next season, a two-loss LSU team made the BCS final.

Thank-you cards can be sent in care of the athletic department, Auburn University.

You’re welcome.

The final eight seasons of the BCS featured at least one SEC team. Alabama in 2009 and Auburn in 2010 are the only two to get there undefeated.

So would Auburn have beaten USC — which later had its BCS title vacated for NCAA violatons — in the championship game in 2004? Maybe. That will continue being a one-sided discussion for a long time.

But what we do know is that Auburn is the best team to not make the BCS title game and the SEC should be thankful it happened to Auburn and not a major program from the Big Ten or Big 12.