Tigers, Tide to play for national championship
Play it again, Sam. Oklahoma State’s 44-10 thumping of Oklahoma was not enough to push the Cowboys past Alabama in the BCS standings.
Alabama will get its shot at revenge Jan. 9 in the national championship game against LSU, which defeated the Crimson Tide 9-6 in overtime Nov. 5. in Tuscaloosa.
The SEC has secured a sixth consecutive national championship, a streak that began with Florida in 2006. The Tigers and the Tide both have an opportunity to become the first SEC team since the Gators to win two national titles during this era.
Oklahoma State will head to the Fiesta Bowl to face Stanford, Oregon will take on Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl, Michigan battles Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl and Clemson will play West Virginia in the Orange Bowl. My big question: What about Arkansas? How do Michigan and Virginia Tech get at-large bids and Arkansas, which has an identical record (10-2), gets the door slammed in its face? Compare the losses. Virginia Tech was demolished by Clemson twice while Michigan lost to unranked Iowa. Arkansas’ only two losses came to the two teams playing for the national championship. I know the answer — money.
It’s just another blunder to come about from the NCAA in a season that has been a disaster for the reputation of the BCS. My cries and groans for a playoff are louder than ever. The BCS’ best argument up until now was the emphasis on the importance of every regular season game. But this past weekend, conference championship weekend, was the first in BCS history in which the conference championship games had no relevance whatsoever in determining who would play for the national championship. Everyone had the preconceived notion it would be LSU and Alabama before LSU blew out Georgia 42-10 Saturday. LSU could have lost that game by 40 and it probably would have made no difference, except the exchange of No. 1 and No. 2 rankings.
LSU has been the most impressive regular-season team since Florida in 2008, despite the Gators’ loss to Ole Miss that year. However, I like Alabama in the rematch. The Tide certainly had their opportunities to beat the Tigers on Nov. 5. With LSU’s all-world secondary, the only type of team that can beat LSU is a team that runs the ball well. Alabama is that team.
