2005 Orange Bowl

2005 FedEx Orange Bowl
BCS National Championship Game
71st Orange Bowl
1234 Total
Oklahoma 7309 19
USC 1424107 55
DateJanuary 4, 2005
Season2004
StadiumPro Player Stadium
LocationMiami Gardens, Florida
MVPUSC QB Matt Leinart
FavoriteUSC by 3 (54) [1]
National anthemJoJo
RefereeSteve Shaw (SEC)
Halftime showKelly Clarkson, Trace Adkins, Ashlee Simpson
Attendance77,912[2]
United States TV coverage
NetworkABC
AnnouncersBrad Nessler (play-by-play)
Bob Griese (analyst)
Lynn Swann (sideline)
Todd Harris (sideline)
Nielsen ratings13.7[3]
Orange Bowl
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College Football Championship Game
 < 2004 2006

The 2005 Orange Bowl was the BCS National Championship Game of the 2004 NCAA Division I-A football season and was played on January 4, 2005, at Pro Player Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. The game matched the USC Trojans against the Oklahoma Sooners. Both teams entered with undefeated, 12–0 records. Despite only being a 1-point favorite, USC defeated Oklahoma by a score of 55–19, led by quarterback Matt Leinart. ESPN named Leinart's performance as one of the top-10 performances in the first ten years of the BCS system.[4]

The game featured many firsts regarding the Heisman Trophy. It was the first college game to have two Heisman winners on the same field (and on opposite teams): Leinart won the 2004 Heisman Trophy, which was awarded in the month prior to the Orange Bowl, and Oklahoma quarterback Jason White had won the award the previous season. The game also featured four of the five Heisman finalists of 2004: Leinart (winner), Oklahoma running back Adrian Peterson (first runner-up), White (second runner-up) and USC running back Reggie Bush (fourth runner-up);[5] Bush would win the award the following season (although USC returned its copy of Bush's trophy and Bush forfeited the award following the institution of NCAA sanctions in 2010).

On June 10, 2010, USC was forced to vacate all games from December 2004 to the end of the 2005 season among other sanctions as the result of an NCAA investigation into the school's football and men's basketball programs. NCAA investigators released a report stating that a USC player, Reggie Bush, was ineligible beginning in December 2004. The NCAA ordered USC to vacate every win in which Bush appeared, including the 2005 Orange Bowl.[6][7] The 2005 Orange Bowl is the only BCS National Championship Game ever to be vacated by the winning team. However, USC did retain the Associated Press (AP) national title.


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  1. ^ "Orange Bowl Odds: College football". Vegasinsider. January 1, 2003. p. C10. Archived from the original on October 26, 2020. Retrieved October 24, 2020.
  2. ^ "BCS Game Results". orangebowl.org. September 26, 2007. Archived from the original on June 2, 2009. Retrieved January 13, 2008.
  3. ^ "BCS title game ratings down from last year". signonsandiego.com. January 8, 2008. Archived from the original on January 4, 2013. Retrieved January 9, 2008.
  4. ^ Ted Miller, Young's double delivery highlights memorable BCS performances, ESPN.com, May 19, 2008, Accessed May 19, 2008.
  5. ^ "Peterson 2nd, White 3rd and Leinart Wins Heisman".
  6. ^ Mark Saxon, NCAA delivers postseason football ban, ESPN, June 10, 2010.
  7. ^ Blair Kerkhoff, Southern Cal stripped of 2005 Orange Bowl victory, The Kansas City Star, June 10, 2010