LSU-Alabama BCS title game is another win for SEC
One of these coaches will hold the BCS trophy. But the SEC already has won it. (AP photo)
NEW ORLEANS – If it is true, as Socrates once said, that, “Envy is the ulcer of the soul,” every other college football conference in America has been speed-eating Tums for the past six years.
LSU and Alabama play in the BCS championship game on Monday night in the Superdome. But this is sort of like two gladiators battling for the right to be viewed as the favorite son of the emperor. The emperor already has won.
This will make six consecutive BCS titles won by SEC schools. It will make eight championships in the 13 years the game has been played, far exceeding the closest member of the lower class (the Big 12 with two).
One would have to go back to the early 1900s of Ivy League domination to find a conference with such a run. But to wax on about the greatness of Princeton, Yale and Harvard football is sort of like referencing the Tyrannosaurus rex ruling over the animal kingdom. Ivy League football didn’t have a lot of competition back then, unless you count Ivy League crew.
The SEC is 7-0 in championship games. So the irony is it will take two conference schools playing each other for the first time for it to suffer its first loss. The SEC has redefined the blueprint for world domination.
When asked Sunday if he foresaw anything that could derail this train, LSU coach Les Miles said, “Not at this point.”
Feel free to add the words, “… in this decade” or “… in this century,” depending on your perspective.
This is what the 2011 SEC media guide cover looked like. It will need to be updated for next season.
SEC commissioner Mike Slive knew the passion and culture of college football that existed in his conference. He recognizes the SEC’s mega-millions television contracts have enabled athletic departments to lure the best coaches and build Taj Majal-like practice facilities. The obvious ripple effects: better recruits and more wins.
But even he admits this streak was unfathomable. It’s stupid-great. It’s Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak, UCLA’s 88 straight wins in men’s basketball and Edwin Moses’ 122 straight hurdles wins great. The six straight titles will have been won by four schools (LSU, Alabama, Florida, Auburn) but that doesn’t diminish the run’s significance.
“It’s one of those records that I think will never be broken,” he said. “I’m an optimist by nature, but I don’t think anybody can have expectations of this. I remember a few years ago thinking, ‘Wow. We won two straight.’”
Slive’s reading list last summer included an appropriate book: “”56: Joe DiMaggio and the Last Magic Number in Sports.”
“That’s when I realized this is a record that in many ways is as phenomenal as DiMaggio’s record, and just hard to imagine in the future,” he said.
Then again: “We could break our own record.”
LSU has a good chance to be a preseason No. 1 next season. Alabama won’t be far behind.
Clearly money is a huge factor, but as Slive points out, “We’re not unique in our ability to develop significant revenue. At least one other conference has been able to do that.”
Slive didn’t come out and reference the Big Ten by name. It’s not polite.
Alabama defensive coordinator and former Georgia safety and Kirby Smart also referenced the conference’s high profile coaches, but said the reason for the conference’s success goes beyond that. “Regionally, high school football, in my opinion, is so great in the SEC states,” he said. “My dad’s a high school coach, and I’ve always believed that. … Everybody talks about the [defensive] line, but there are other skilled players. In the South, if you’re a really good athlete, you may play cornerback. That’s not necessarily true everywhere else — they’re [wide receivers].”
Since the AP poll started in 1936, the previous conference title streak of three was held by the SEC (1978-80) and the Big Ten (1940-42). That has been obliterated. The titles have elevated the conference in the eyes of the nation’s top recruits.
Recalling his days as a high school recruit, Alabama linebacker Courtney Upshaw said his top three signing choices all were recent national champions from the SEC.
“I just felt like my main thing was to get to an SEC school if I wanted to be remembered,” he said. “You know what I’m saying?”
Upshaw is playing in his second BCS title game in three years. Safe to conclude he chose well.
By Jeff Schultz
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417 comments Add your comment
ahsoisee
January 9th, 2012
4:53 pm
I watch all the bowl games each year. I have since they began on TV. I watched all the bowl games this year except the two on Saturday and Sunday of this weekend. I will not watch the game between LSU and Alabama because it means nothing. The SEC was weak this year, and I do not care to watch a game to determine the winner of the SEC.
The winner of this games is not the National Champion because they are afraid to play the winners of the other leagues as they might not win the NC. Oklahoma State would have beaten Alabama and maybe LSU.
The Old Man
Silly Bloggers
January 9th, 2012
5:04 pm
ahsoisee…wins dumbest comment of the day award. Congrats:
1. The teams playing tonight did not determine who they played.
2. LSU already played and beat Pac-12 and Rose Bowl Winner Oregon. LSU already played and beat Big East and Orange Bowl winner West Virginia. LSU already played and beat Cotton Bowl winner Arkansas. Alabama you can make a case for, but you said “teams”.
3. As for the SEC being weak, they lost two games…Vandy and UGA. Vandy was soundly beaten. UGA just got out-coached and out-QB’d, but you have to give credit to Michigan State at the same time. Considering the SEC has the best bowl record, again, shows your ignorance.
If you have a beef with UGA, the SEC, whatever it is, simply man up and say it. Blanket statements like yours simply reek of jealousy and are simply irrelevant. It may not be the game you want to see…I would rather have seen Oklahoma State, but it is the best two teams with what we have to work with. If OSU hadn’t lost to Iowa State, they would be in. If Oregon had not lost to USC and LSU, they may have been in. If Stanford had not lost to Oregon, they may be in…but they didn’t. None of them. It took the perfect storm for Bama to get in and it is what it is. Watch it or don’t watch it, but don’t put your childish nonsense up there when you have nothing to back it.
Silly Bloggers
January 9th, 2012
5:05 pm
Pulling for LSU, but I predict Bama 21 to 17.
GTBob
January 9th, 2012
5:10 pm
Yes you are.
Nope. It’s hard but I can’t bring myself to watch it. The game is too much of an insult to college football fans.
Buckeye
January 9th, 2012
5:17 pm
Kudos to the SEC! SEC! for competing tonight for the NFL Minor League Championship. Too bad the SEC LEast Champion lost to the Big 10.
Also curious, what does Chippy due between now and spring practice? Does he go into a hole in WIn With’s back yard and Win With’s throws nuts and berrys his way from time to time?
Just askin’?
harold
January 9th, 2012
5:35 pm
WHEN WILL UGA EVER GET IN IT? NOT WITH BOBO!
SecFan
January 9th, 2012
5:41 pm
The ship has already sailed on the rematch debate. But the bowl games showed which side was right. Those who wanted Oklahoma St in the game were exposed as silly know-nothings. In their bowl game, instead of going in and making a statement OSU spent the last few seconds of regulation on their knees praying that Stanford would miss a FG. Not impressive. Pretenders all year, they were incapable of tackling anyone. Their 107th ranked defense gave up an average of 33 first downs and 200 rushing yards a game. There has never been a team with such a pathetic defense to make it to a national championship game, much less ever win one, yet this is what the no-rematch weenies would have given us. Thankfully the true football guys voted for the two best teams and we’ll see a competitive game tonight.
Alphare
January 9th, 2012
5:42 pm
“And regardless of the outcome of the game LSU will probably win the AP title”
Good for you if you like better the champion of voters’ opinions. I am sure Boise State is the champ for people of the state of Idaho if you go ask their opinions.
LIVE BLOG: LSU, Alabama meet for legit (yes, legit) BCS title | Jeff Schultz
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5:43 pm
[...] back to the BCS. It’s LSU vs. Alabama. Please, no more whining. It SHOULD be LSU vs. Alabama. These aren’t just the two best teams in the SEC, they’re the two best teams in the [...]
GTBob
January 9th, 2012
5:46 pm
Thankfully the true football guys voted for the two best teams and we’ll see a competitive game tonight.
If by true football guys you mean the executives at ESPN then I agree with you.
Alphare
January 9th, 2012
5:48 pm
BCS system was installed because people were tired of the poll that determined the champ.
Now, some people like the old system of opinion polls. Speaking of reforming the BCS? how can you with people like that?
Rick James
January 9th, 2012
5:50 pm
@Ted
Same garbarge! Why did you not list the UGA/Tech football series record over the past ten years? Also Forbes magazine just ranked UGA football in the top 10 most valuable college programs in the nation.I didnt see Tech listed.Just wondering why you left those facts out of your list and what you list has to do with Georgia owning Tech on the football field.Nothing but very clever excuses..
ahsoisee
January 9th, 2012
5:57 pm
To Silly Bloggers and other ignorant posters. It makes zero difference who won or lost their bowl games. The decision to play for the BCS is based on the games prior to the bowl games. As I proved conclusively in my post regarding the scores and information prior to the bowl games, there is no doubt that Oklahoma State should be playing LSU in the BCS.
Silly Bloggers posted comments about who LSU beat during the season, and it has zero to do with Alabama’s schedule against their cupcake opponents. Silly Bloggers, you are ignore the facts presented to you and, evidently, not capable of seeing the obvious.
It should have been LSU and Oklahoma State in the BCS. Alabama was not capable of even winning its division of the SEC. They don’t deserve to win the BCS if they can’t win their division title. Even if they were to beat LSU, they are still not the division or SEC champions. They are second rate in their division. I am sure every team in America who lost to their competitor in a close game would like another chance to beat them in the same year.
Silly Bloggers is so ignorant of the status he posted that Oregon, and other teams would have been in the BCS if they had won certain games. Yes, and the same goes for Alabama. If they had beaten LSU, they would have deserved the chance in the BCS. They did not and do not deserve to be in the game. They are a second rate team to the Division Champion in their own league.
Alabama and LSU need to play a best two out of three games to see which one can actually win their division.
The Old Man
SecFan
January 9th, 2012
6:05 pm
Oklahoma St. had it set up for them on a silver platter and couldn’t even beat 6-time loser Iowa St. Those chokers deserved nothing.
Alphare
January 9th, 2012
6:19 pm
ahsoisee,
OSU played the same number of games as Alabama. They both have a 11-1 record.
1. While Alabama’s single loss is to the nation’s #1 team LSU, OSU lost to a 6-6 team.
2. While no teams except LSU were even close to beat Alabama, OSU almost lost to TA&M and K-State.
3. OSU gave up 25points or more to 7 teams, while Alabama gave up 25points to no team and beat 9 teams with 30points or more.
Yes, Alabama is better than OSU, by a big margin.
Silly Bloggers
January 9th, 2012
9:19 pm
Not to mention he said both teams (plural) not just bama…and implies they were scared to play conference champs though they have no say in the overall voting for the matchup…but lets be polite as the old man is showing some senility…i thought being that bitter would have led to an early grave…better be careful gramps. Just let it go…you will feel better.
After Alabama's domination, when do Dogs get turn at BCS? | Jeff Schultz
January 10th, 2012
2:14 pm
[...] was Alabama late Monday in New Orleans, extending the SEC’s streak of national championships. It’s like a conga line that just keeps growing: Florida-LSU-Florida-Alabama-Auburn-Alabama. [...]