So the rematch is set. LSU will play Alabama for the BCS Championship. It’s what the BCS clamored for, not the public. For one, taking a comment most popularly used on Fox News, “most say” this is not the game for the title.
In a year that SCREAMS playoffs, the BCS stands for “Busted Championship Season.” One team and one team only earned the right to play for the title. We all agree that team is LSU. The second team is not so clear.
.0086 of a point was the margin of victory for Alabama to face LSU over Oklahoma State. You can say the Cowboys blew it when they lost to Iowa State in double overtime.
That was a game played on Friday night to pacify ESPN. Oklahoma State was suffering. Just the day before they had lost their women’s basketball coach Kurt Budke and his assistant Miranda Serna to a plane crash near Denver. A tragic loss for any school. But this was the second loss this school had endured in the last ten years.
Common sense dictated this game be postponed. At least until Saturday or maybe even until this Saturday. If that would have meant a one week delay for the BCS bowl games to be announced then so be it. That night you could watch the Cowboys and know the players and coaches weren’t into it. That should not be a game they should be penalized for.
Meanwhile, as we have heard adnauseum, Alabama fell to LSU. A game both teams had a bye week to plan for. A game that was excruciatingly boring. A game where Nick Saban took a page from the Les Miles “How to coach a dumb game” to heart and did. There is nothing Alabama did in that game that showed they deserve another chance at LSU.
You might say the Tide’s defense was a rock and LSU couldn’t move the ball. Well it might have been the fact LSU couldn’t decide in that game, just as they haven’t all year, on a quarterback. Jarrett Lee has been the starter, but his performance in the Alabama game was atrocious. Jordan Jefferson, the “backup-starter” wasn’t much better.
Face it, the first game between LSU and Alabama was a game filled with mistakes, cheap shots (ie: Tyler Mathieu), no consistent kicking game, coaching blunders and clock mismanagement. For a game that was pitting number 1 and number 2 it had more errors than Kansas playing Colorado. So for this we get an encore?
Oklahoma State won the Big 12. Alabama couldn’t even win their division in the SEC. For those who think the SEC is the best conference in the land, it might very well be. But it’s not good enough that Alabama overshadows a team like Oklahoma State who won the Big 12 and had the same record and same double OT defeat as the Tide.
This season, more than any other, has shown we need a playoff system. LSU might as well be crowned champ right now and forget the game. Because even if Alabama wins, LSU can still claim the title. After all, the Tigers have already beaten the Tide.
