re: This year marks the 15th anniversary of the last split national title in CFB history

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Which is just another way to say there was only one Coaches Poll national champion.

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No, It is a way of saying the BCS system in place delivered two teams and the winner of that game was LSU. The coaches poll was part of the equations the BCS used in their calculations and were contractually obligated to rank the winner of the game as #1.

Last year, several services ranke UCF as number 1 rather than Alabama. While not as prestigious as the AP, Coaches poll, or many others, does that mean they should be considered national champions just because the committee chose to leave them out of the playoffs?

Also, I'd like to point out that there were 2 teams that both LSU and USC played in 2003. Auburn and Arizona.

Auburn Margin of victory LSU 24 points (31-7) Usc 23 points (23-0)

Arizona Margin of victory LSU 46 Points (59–13) USC 45 Points (45-0)

Can't think of a two teams that closely aligned in common games. I do really wish and felt that USC-LSU should have been the championship game.

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However, there was only one AP national champion in 2003 as well and that was the USC Trojans.

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You are correct about the AP poll, obviously but the NCAA sanctioned championship is the BCS. Both USC and LSU are members of the NCAA so if we are talking NCAA champion, that is the BCS champion, LSU. Otherwise, does UCF have the right to claim that the last year was the last split championship because several mostly obscure services ranked them #1?

Admittedly, other polls do not have the gravitas of the AP, but the system is the system, even when people get screwed like USC in 2003 and by association LSU because people they didn't have the opportunity to beat USC and get both the AP and BCS #1 spot.

We'll agree to disagree on the term split championship and agree that the AP selected a very good team as #1 who was shut out of the Championship game by a potentially flawed computer algorithm.