Auburn hoping for title split

NEW ORLEANS — Auburn has come too far to give up hope.

So, on the eve of tonight's Sugar Bowl, coach Tommy Tuberville made a familiar pitch: The third-ranked Tigers deserve at least a share of the national title if they beat No. 9 Virginia Tech.

"There are two national championship games," Tuberville said. "There's one here at the Sugar Bowl, and there's another one at the Orange Bowl."

Never mind that it's No. 1 Southern Cal vs. No. 2 Oklahoma in the Orange — and the winner of Tuesday night's game is assured of being voted BCS national champion in the coaches' poll.

Auburn's hopes are based on an unlikely scenario: The Tigers rout Virginia Tech, Oklahoma beats USC in an ugly game and enough writers in The Associated Press media poll opt to put Auburn ahead of the Sooners on their final ballots.

This being college football — where champions are decided by human opinion and computer-generated rankings, not one of those wacky playoff systems that every other sport uses — the Tigers sounded like a candidate in the waning days of a political campaign: "Vote Auburn! This team earned your support by going 12-0 in the Southeastern Conference, including two victories over Cotton Bowl winner Tennessee. Surely an impressive performance against the Hokies — who opened the season with a hard-fought loss to Southern Cal — would be enough to sway at least some of the pollsters."

Said Tuberville: "Obviously, we feel like there's one more vote. We'll be auditioning."

Overlooked in this whole process is Virginia Tech (10-2), which must feel like a Ford Pinto on display at a classic car show.

The Hokies have heard all the talk about poor ol' Auburn. But a Virginia Tech victory would vindicate the Bowl Championship Series and allow the Orange Bowl to be played without a shred of controversy.

"Nobody's really giving us a chance," defensive end Noland Burchette said. "Nobody really expected us to do anything this year. Every commentator, every news reporter I see, they think it's going to be a blowout. We'll see."

Not that anyone on the Auburn side has done anything to denigrate the Hokies. If anything, the Tigers have gone out of their way to portray Virginia Tech as being just as good as those teams that made it to Miami.

All part of the political process.