LSU, OU most worthy of title game
Posted: Sunday, December 02, 2007 1:27 AM
We should have seen this coming. But at the same time, we’ve been expecting the madness to subside. It obviously hasn’t and the 2007 season has been a constant downpour of shockers and shakeups.
Now, after 14 erratic weeks of college football, we’re left with a virtual free-for-all. On Sunday, the combination of computers and pollsters will spit out the names of two teams that will play for the BCS title on Jan. 7, but it’ll be far from definitive … and highly controversial.
There are a handful of worthy candidate, perhaps even as many as seven, but only two will get invited to the championship bout in the Superdome.
LSU will probably rise way up from No. 7 to lockup one of those two spots … and rightfully so.
The champion of the SEC, the toughest conference in the country, should always receive prime consideration for the title game. Both of LSU’s losses came in triple-overtime, which means that the Tigers are pretty much the closest thing we’ve got to an undefeated team this side of the Hawaiian Islands.
LSU should be matched up against Big 12 champion Oklahoma, which dismantled No. 1 Missouri, 38-17, on Saturday. Champions of another league that proved itself this season, the Sooners did lose two conference games, but both were on the road and somewhat explainable (fluky late turnover at Colorado, quarterback Sam Bradford hurt early at Texas Tech).
A Tiger-Sooner showdown in New Orleans would leave five teams on the outside looking in, but they really only have themselves to blame.
One of those hopefuls is Georgia, which began the week at No. 4 in the BCS Standings. But the Bulldogs aren’t conference champions and didn’t even win the SEC East.
The same can be said of Kansas, which was No. 5 this week and not a participant in the Big 12 Championship Game.
(The BCS really ought to adopt a new rule that requires the title game participants be conference champions. A travesty like the one that occurred in 2001 when Nebraska got the nod over Big 12 champion Colorado and Pac-10 champion Oregon needs to be avoided at all costs. The Cornhuskers, who lost to the Buffaloes, 62-36, on the final weekend of the regular season and didn’t even participate in the Big 12 Championship Game, got routed by Miami, 37-14, in what was a hollow national title contest.)
Another worthy candidate is Virginia Tech, but the Hokies lost to LSU, 48-7, earlier this season. Yes, that was in Week 2 and Virginia Tech is a vastly improved squad at the current time. However, head-to-head comparisons should count for something when they are available.
How about Ohio State? Well, when your most impressive victory outside Big Ten play was against four-win Washington, you must go undefeated in that conference. The Buckeyes did not.
Others will make a case for USC, which is playing as well as anyone right now, particularly defensively. But when you blow a game to a 41-point underdog, all your legs to stand on go with it.
