Ever since Weeks 11 and 12 of the college football season, we knew this would happen. LSU wasn’t losing a game, Alabama wasn’t going to lose again, and everybody else might as well have not played their last few games. No matter how many “statements” that teams like Oklahoma State made (I guess beating a top 10 team 44-10 on a neutral field doesn’t qualify as enough of a statement), we knew that this was going to be an LSU-Alabama Championship. I can’t speak for everybody, but I hate this rematch. It was a mind-numbingly boring game the first time, and it looks to be that way again. An LSU-Oklahoma State championship would have been one of the most entertaining championships in recent history, the best offense in college football going up against one of the best defenses in college football. Instead, we all get treated to SnoreFest Part 2. I want to argue. I want to shout that it isn’t fair. I want to force them to make every single change that I wrote about in my Manifesto of College Football Reform (on my blog sportsaccordingtoslice.blogspot.com. Check it out to see some of my earlier columns). But, deep down inside, I really can’t argue this pick. I might hate it, but I can’t argue it. Why? Because these are the two best teams. Those are just the facts of it. With that piece of info in mind, here are some other assorted thoughts on this year’s bowl season in no particular order.
Before we get to anything else, it’s time for my rant about Boise State. I’m naturally biased towards any non-BCS team that’s good enough to make a BCS bowl, and Boise State just happens to fit the bill. But you can’t tell me that what they did to Boise State isn’t ridiculous (You know I feel strongly about something when I use a double negative). Any system where a team goes 11-1, gets the number 7 ranking, and not only doesn’t get in to the BCS, but gets stuck playing in an insignificant bowl game with six million dollars less of a payout than the Outback Bowl is flawed. I mention the Outback Bowl because that’s where Georgia is playing. You know, the Georgia that Boise State beat 35-21 in their own stadium on opening weekend? Let’s move on before I start smashing my head against my keyboard.
Quick insignificant note: how embarrassed are Ohio State and Florida fans that their teams are playing in the Taxslayer Bowl? Three years ago, if anybody would even dare to say “In three years, Florida and Ohio State will be 6-6 and playing each other in the Taxslayer Bowl”, that person would have been declared insane. Also, is it just me or does Taxslayer sound like the main character from some kind of bad video game parody? You’re right, it’s just me.
I know that I’ve briefly touched on this, but I want to make one rule for the media discussing the LSU-Alabama rematch. Please don’t refer to the first game as a “classic SEC matchup” or a “hard-hitting defensive game”. Oftentimes, those are just euphemisms that hide the fact that the game was awful. I watched the whole thing and at no point whatsoever did I ever say to myself “Wow, this is a good game”. Last year’s national championship was a defensive struggle because both sides of the ball played well, it’s just that the defense played better. LSU-Alabama was a completely different story. A combined total of 8-24 on third downs and a combined thirteen penalties for 129 yards is not a defensive struggle, that’s just sloppy football.
Since Alabama-LSU is a somewhat boring game for the championship rematch, the most interesting and otherwise significant bowl game is Stanford-Oklahoma State. It’s the last chance we get to see Andrew Luck before the combine, as well as top flight receiver Justin Blackmon for OSU. It’ll be Stanford’s balanced attack against Oklahoma State’s punishing offense. I’ll take that game over SnoreFest 2 any day of the week.
I love college football. If the NFL Lockout had happened, would I gladly give up college football to get it back? In the interest of full honesty, yes. Why do I still love this game? This excerpt from my Manifesto column should give a shortened version of just why; “Nowhere else can a quarterback throw for nine touchdowns like Case Keenum did last week. Nowhere else can you show up at any given stadium, no matter how crappy the team, and be assured that at least 90 percent of the stadium are diehard fans. Nowhere else can more than forty teams enter the season as contenders for a National Championship.”
On January 9th, millions of people across America will tune in to watch the National Championship Game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the LSU Tigers. And even though I don’t like the matchup, I’ll still be one of them.
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