The 2004 Auburn Tigers football team represented Auburn University in the 2004 NCAA Division I-A football season. Auburn compiled a record of 13–0, winning the Southeastern Conference championship and finishing the season ranked #2 in both the AP Poll and the Coaches' Poll. Beginning the season ranked #17 in the AP poll and #18 in the Coaches' Poll, the Tigers were denied a berth in the BCS National Championship Game because they finished the regular season ranked #3 in the BCS rankings. Head coach Tommy Tuberville, who was nearly fired after the 2003 season, was named national Coach of the Year by the Associated Press.
The team defeated LSU, Georgia, and Tennessee (twice, facing them a second time in the SEC Championship game), all of whom were ranked opponents. They were left out of the BCS National Championship Game, and instead went to the 2005 Sugar Bowl, beating Virginia Tech, 16–13, to finish 13–0. USC and Oklahoma played for the national title in the Orange Bowl. This was Auburn's third undefeated season in which they played over ten games.
The team's star-studded roster featured four first-round NFL draft picks in running back Carnell Williams, running back Ronnie Brown, defensive back Carlos Rogers, and quarterback Jason Campbell, as well as four future Pro Bowl participants: offensive linemen Marcus McNeill and Ben Grubbs, running back Ronnie Brown and defensive tackle Jay Ratliff.
Read more about 2004 Auburn Tigers Football Team: Schedule, Roster, Captains
Famous quotes containing the words tigers, football and/or team:
“Even tigers sometimes take naps.”
—Chinese proverb.
“People stress the violence. That’s the smallest part of it. Football is brutal only from a distance. In the middle of it there’s a calm, a tranquility. The players accept pain. There’s a sense of order even at the end of a running play with bodies stewn everywhere. When the systems interlock, there’s a satisfaction to the game that can’t be duplicated. There’s a harmony.”
—Don Delillo (b. 1926)
“I doubt if men ever made a trade of heroism. In the days of Achilles, even, they delighted in big barns, and perchance in pressed hay, and he who possessed the most valuable team was the best fellow.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)