By 
To many, the Bowl Championship Series system was already flawed. That mentality isn’t going anywhere at this point. In fact, the fire was only stoked even more when the bowls were announced and the national championship game will feature a rematch of LSU and Alabama, even though the Tigers beat the Crimson Tide by three points in overtime on the road during the regular season. Of course, it doesn’t help that beyond that, teams in the top 10 weren’t picked to play in BCS games but teams like Michigan and Virginia Tech were.
It’s time for the system to be reworked or imploded altogether at this point, right?
Bill Hancock joined KFNS in St. Louis with King’s Court to discuss LSU having to beat Alabama again, teams earning their way into this position, if it’s definitively the top two teams in the country, why Oklahoma State’s not in the game, why other top-10 teams got snubbed, the possibility of split national champions, those who think the first Bama-LSU game was boring and if every game truly counts at this point.
How would you feel if you were Les Miles and you had beaten Alabama on the road and finished ahead of them and still needed to beat then again, on a neutral site, to win the national championship?
“You would want the season to be over, just like a team might want a game to be over in the bottom of the seventh. You want a rainout when you’re leading in the bottom of the seventh. No matter what system there is for football, this kind of a rematch situation could come up. If there was a tournament at the end, it could come up.”
Yeah, but when it happens in basketball it’s because the teams have earned their way there:
“I think Alabama’s earned their way into this game. Once again, I think the BCS has delivered. We’ve got the best two teams in this game and obviously, the media who votes in the AP poll, agrees with it.”
You honestly believe the title game will pit the best two teams against each other?
“Yeah, I do. Oklahoma State closed the gap this weekend; there’s no question about it. … We have the narrowest margin between two and three that we’ve ever had in the BCS, But, I think if you talk to all the observers of college football, they’re saying that this is the best two teams.”
More on why Alabama over Oklahoma State was right:
“Alabama lost to the No. 1 team by a field goal, at home, in overtime, and, bless their heart, Oklahoma State lost to a team with a .500 record.”
How can the BCS put West Virginia, Virginia Tech and Michigan in games over the likes of Boise State or TCU?
“Everybody knows what the rules are. They knew at the start of the season what the rules are. The teams that are in the top 14 are eligible to be selected at-large by one of the bowls. Bowl selections, the history and tradition of the bowls, is that the bowls have the opportunity to choose the teams that they feel are best for their market. … Of course West Virginia was an automatic qualifier as the conference champion.”
Do you think there’s a chance we could have split national champions?
“Oh it’s fun to talk about hypotheticals. I wouldn’t know about that. I guess I would be surprised if that happened.”
On the rematch of a game that didn’t have a touchdown scored:
“I think football purists loved that football game. I don’t know how you could say that an overtime thriller like that was dull. Would people who are wishing we didn’t have a rematch, would they feel differently about a rematch if that game had been a 49-42 game?”
It just doesn’t seem fair that LSU has to beat Alabama again:
“I get that. On the other hand, if you had a tournament, it’s quite likely that they’d have to beat them again.”
But how do you stick with the mantra that every game counts if the first meeting between the teams basically didn’t count?
“Every game certainly counts in all the computer rankings and counts in the mind of the 174 people who vote in the two human polls. Who knows how things might have been different if Alabama beat LSU. … It turns out that it didn’t [hurt Alabama], but it could have.”
Comments