Saturday, November 26, 2011

Who Can Stop an All-SEC Rematch?

Only one man stands between an LSU-Alabama rematch in the BCS title game.

Here a hint: He's 44.

Mike Gundy will need to be his persuasive best, first on the field, and then to the national media and his brotherhood of coaches, on why his Oklahoma State Cowboys should break up the all-SEC party in New Orleans.

Oklahoma State not only needs to beat Oklahoma impressively in Bedlam next Saturday to secure the Big 12 title, it has to make a case on why its overtime loss to Iowa State last week should be overlooked to bump Alabama out of the BCS title game. The Pokes will have to convince enough of the 174 voters in the coaches and Harris polls to make a flip-flop to jump to No. 2.

Yep, Alabama, not LSU.

Does that mean the Tigers' SEC title game against Georgia is practically a bye?

Is Michigan assured of a BCS berth after beating Ohio State for the first time in eight years? Or do the Wolverines have to sweat out a couple of games?

What about Stanford?

Is TCU one Houston loss away from its third straight BCS bowl?

Those, and other questions concerning the BCS lineup will need to be answered. And that's what the Guru's here for. Check out my comprehensive Q&A Sunday morning at SB Nation to put your mind at ease.

That, and many other questions concerning the BCS lineup will need to be answered. And that's what the Guru's here for. Check out my comprehensive Q&A Sunday morning at SB Nation to put your mind at ease.

Until then, here are the projections:

1. LSU, 2. Alabama, 3. Oklahoma State, 4. Virginia Tech, 5. Stanford, 6. Boise State, 7. Houston, 8. Arkansas, 9. Oklahoma, 10. Oregon, 11. Kansas State, 12. South Carolina, 13. Georgia, 14. Michigan State, 15. Wisconsin.

And as an extra service this week, I also project Michigan at No. 16 and TCU at No. 18.

15 comments:

Unknown said...

There are 10 total BCS spots. If Arkansas finishes at No. 8, they will not receive a BCS bit to the Sugar because of the 2 team rule (assuming that LSU wins the SECCG). The Hogs will get the short end of the stick as usual on this one. Hopefully the BCS will try to adjust their system before MO and A&M lower the odds per team of a BCS bid.... more holes revealed in the BCS system

Anonymous said...

Alabama is undefeted in regular season play.

Anonymous said...

Alabama is undefeated in regular season play.

Anonymous said...

Alabama is undefeated in regular season play~~overtime is not regular season play. Alabama has the best defense in the nation in EVERY catagory.

Anonymous said...

if I recall correctly,LSU had 148 yards rushing against this "best defense in the nation in EVERY catagory."Not to even menton GA.Southern

Doverspa said...

Oklahoma State is also undefeated in "regular season play." And played a harder schedule by all quantitative standards.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/fbt11.htm

OSU (8th)
Ala (23rd)
Stan (35th)
Va Tech (60th)

Anonymous said...

Alabama has a good defense...but LSU ran on them and GA. Southern out rushed the tide. Bama has a less than adequate kicking game which impacts scoring and special teams play.
Alabama will likely get the rematch, but they should not be in the title game.

Anonymous said...

Alabama had it's chance. There will be no rematch because the Crimson slide got their shot and got beat in their house, which even has a statue of their little man coach out front!

Alabama can't hang with LSU so let ok state see if they can.

Paul said...

Is it mathematically impossible for a loss in the SEC championship game to knock LSU from the top 2? Georgia is NOT a pushover, but they have been COMPLETELY overlooked in nearly every BCS championship story I've come across.

Anonymous said...

Alabama vs LSU is unfair to LSU. Why should LSU have to play them twice on the road? The tide gets to sit on their butts and heal while LSU has to pound it out with another ranked SEC team in a conference championship. LSU DESERVES to play another Conference champion! COME ON they have earned it! I think it is insulting to rematch them with the tide.

Bill Brown said...

Fact is that Oklahoma State lost to the number 8 team in a 10-team conference. And don't give me the plane crash excuse - OSU led 24-7 in the third quarter. Am I supposed to believe the entire team suddenly got overwhelmed with grief while 17 points ahead?

Also there is no rule that says you have to win your conference. OSU can blame Nebraska, OU, and Texas for the national perception the Big XII can't beat the SEC. Come to think of it they can blame themselves for losing a Cotton Bowl to a mid-level Ole Miss team a few years ago.

Anonymous said...

You must win your conference to play in the BCS championship game. The college analyst talking up this LSU Alabama crap are hypocrites.

Anonymous said...

The BCS is broken.

http://www.facebook.com/OccupyBCS1
___

Anonymous said...

the stupid thing about people saying 'you must win your conference' is that it assumes parity between conferences, which even the people who say 'you must win your conference' acknowledge doesn't exist.

so you won the big east. Big deal. You can win the big east and barely be a top 25 team.

i get that people don't want to see a rematch...but LSU and Alabama are the best two teams in the nation.

as an sec fan id love it if LSU could cornhole ok state for the title...it be a lot easier than beating alabama again...and if alabama could get stanford or some pac 12 underachiever and pound them...in a way id like to see that more too.

but despite some obvious problems, its hard to fault a system that is designed to have the two best teams play for the title... that has the two best teams playing for the title!!!

Don't hate pac 12...all you guys have to do is not lose to inferior opponents and you're in...its not a lot to ask, really.

Demosthenes said...

"You must win your conference to play in the BCS championship game. The college analyst talking up this LSU Alabama crap are hypocrites."

As a statement about what is the case, this is false. If you finish #1 or #2 in the BCS standings, you play in the national championship game. There is no rule that says a team must also be their conference champion. (Or, for that matter, their division champion.)

As a statement about what ought to be the case, this is ridiculous. The BCS title game is meant to match up the two best teams in the country. If both of them happen to be from the same conference, then a matchup between them is just the way it should be. You can reasonably make an argument that Alabama is not, in fact, the second-best team in the country. Fine. But you can't reasonably make the argument that the second-best team in the country doesn't deserve to play in the title game just because they already lost to the best team.

Having said that -- we need a playoff for precisely this reason. Preferably it should be an 8-team or 16-team playoff. But if LSU and Alabama had beaten all their other opponents to face each other in the championship game, no one would consider that unfair. As it is, it looks like the BCS is fixed to favor the SEC.

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