2004 Sugar Bowl
National Championship Game
Oklahoma Sooners LSU Tigers (12-1) (12-1) 14 21 Head coach:  Bob Stoops Head coach:  Nick Saban AP Coaches BCS 3 3 1 AP Coaches BCS 2 2 2 1 2 3 4 Total Oklahoma 0 7 0 7 14 LSU 7 7 7 0 21
Date	January 4, 2004
Stadium	Louisiana Superdome
Location	New Orleans, Louisiana
MVP	LSU RB Justin Vincent
Attendance	79,342
United States TV coverage
Network	ABC
Announcers	Brent Musburger and Gary Danielson

The 2004 Sugar Bowl, the BCS title game for the 2003 college football season, was played on January 4, 2004 at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The LSU Tigers football team aka "Fighting Tigers" represents Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge Louisiana, United States in Robert Anthony Stoops (born September 9, 1960 in Youngstown, Ohio) is the Head coach of the University of Oklahoma Nicholas Lou "Nick" Saban (born October 31, 1951, in Fairmont, West Virginia) is an American College football coach and The USA Today Coaches' Poll is the current name for a weekly ranking of the top 25 NCAA Division I-A College football and Division I The 2003 NCAA Division 1-A football rankings describes the polls and rankings formulated by several critics and experts of college football The USA Today Coaches' Poll is the current name for a weekly ranking of the top 25 NCAA Division I-A College football and Division I The 2003 NCAA Division 1-A football rankings describes the polls and rankings formulated by several critics and experts of college football Events 46 BC - Titus Labienus defeats Julius Caesar in the Battle of Ruspina. "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " A modern stadium (plural stadiums or stadia in English is a place or venue for (mostly outdoor Sports Concerts or other events consisting The Louisiana Superdome, often informally referred to simply as the New Orleans (nʲuːˈɔrliənz nʲuːˈɔrlənz French: La Nouvelle-Orléans) is a major United States port city and the largest city in Louisiana A running back ( RB) is the position of a player on an American or Canadian football team who usually lines up in the offensive backfield. Justin Vincent (born January 25, 1983 in) is an American football Running back who is a Practice squad player for the Pittsburgh A television network is a distribution network for Television content whereby a central operation provides programming for many Television stations A sportscaster, (also sports announcer, sport commentator or sport presenter) is a type of Journalist on Radio and/or Television Brent Woody Musburger (born May 26, 1939, in Portland Oregon) is an American Sportscaster for the ABC and ESPN Gary Dennis Danielson (born September 10, 1951 in Detroit Michigan) is a former professional American football Quarterback. The Louisiana Superdome, often informally referred to simply as the New Orleans (nʲuːˈɔrliənz nʲuːˈɔrlənz French: La Nouvelle-Orléans) is a major United States port city and the largest city in Louisiana The teams were LSU Tigers and the Oklahoma Sooners. LSU (Louisiana State University is a member of the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association and the Southeastern Conference. The University of Oklahoma features 17 varsity sports teams Both men's and women's teams are called the Sooners, a nickname given to individuals who participated in the The Tigers won their second National Championship by beating the Sooners by a score of 21-14.

Set-up

Number 2 ranked LSU came into The National Championship Title Game 12-1, with their one loss to #17 Florida. The University of Florida ( Florida or UF) is a public land-grant, sea-grant, space-grant major Research #1 ranked Oklahoma was 12-1, with the 1 loss coming in the Big 12 Championship Game against Kansas State. See also Big 12 Men's Basketball Tournament The Big 12 Championship Game is a College football game held by the Big 12 Conference each year There was some media and fan controversy as to which teams should play in the National Title game. USC ranked #3 in the BCS standings but #1 by the AP poll, owned a record of 11-1 (its loss coming against unranked Cal). The California Golden Bears is the nickname used for 27 varsity athletic programs of the University of California Berkeley.

2004 Sugar Bowl, Louisiana State vs. Oklahoma; January 4, 2004

LSU defeated Oklahoma to win their second National Championship Title. Following LSU's victory, the coaches voted LSU National Champions as contractually required by the BCS. #3 USC won the Rose Bowl against #4 ranked Michigan, and was voted the National Champion in the AP Opinion Poll. The University of Michigan Ann Arbor ( U of M, U-M, UM or simply Michigan) is a top-ranked Coeducational public research The BCS formula for determining the seeds was changed as a result, with the weight given to the computers being lessened and the opinions of the AP Poll removed.

LSU's claim to the title was not the product of BCS politics. Their #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 and just one touchdown until the closing minutes of the game. Heisman Trophy winning QB Jason White, who completed only 13 of his 37 passing attempts for a mere 102 yards, was sacked seven times and intercepted twice. LSU was in control of the game from the end of the 1st quarter and Oklahoma was never really able to get any real momentum against a stingy LSU defense.

The win was LSU's second National Championship and their first since 1958. The 1958 LSU Tigers football team won the AP and Coaches Poll National Championships, the first recognized national championship for LSU in the poll

Scoring Summary

Trivia

• The attendance of 79,342 became the largest ever to see a game in the Superdome. That figure has since been surpased by the 2008 BCS National Championship Game (79,651^[1]). The 2008 Allstate BCS National Championship Game was played at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana
• The team that led at half-time 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.com
• LSU Tigers 2003 BCS National Champions Football Pennant