Twenty years later, when USC and LSU meet again, only one team can come out on top
The two teams stared at each other from across the East Room of the White House, each waiting for its photo op, each convinced it belonged there more than the other. But both USC and Louisiana State technically had been named college football's national champions after the 2003 season — LSU by the Bowl Championship Series computers and USC by the Associated Press voters — so both had been invited to meet with President George W. Bush at the White House in March 2004.
Later, as he congratulated both teams, President Bush joked the two should decide a champion right then and there.
"The South Lawn is pretty good sized," Bush quipped.
No football was played that afternoon on the White House lawn. Nor would the two college football powers play at any point in the ensuing 20 years.
