Why Bama would be better off NOT playing for the SEC title
"Best of luck against Arkansas. Seriously!" (AP photo)
As we discussed in this space last week, Alabama might not play for the conference title even if Arkansas beats LSU on Friday. For Alabama to win the tiebreaker and qualify for the SEC championship game, No. 3 Arkansas would have to pass No. 1 LSU in the BCS standings, and there’s no guarantee the Hogs will do that.
And if I’m Alabama, I’m thinking I’d just as soon not play for the SEC title. If I’m the Tide, I’ve already got what I need.
Assuming Alabama beats Auburn on Saturday, the Tide would surely be sitting No. 2 in the BCS rankings with one week to go. But the team that represents the West in the SEC championship game would have to face Georgia, which hasn’t lost since Sept. 10, and would have to do it in the Georgia Dome. If you’re all but assured of a berth in the BCS title game, why risk losing?
Yes, we’ve come 180 degrees since 2007, when Georgia led LSU in the next-to-last BCS standings but was passed by the Tigers at the wire. LSU beat Tennessee in the SEC championship game while the Bulldogs sat in Athens and watched, and immediately the ESPN-led cry went up: “You can’t play for the BCS title if you don’t even win your conference!”
Funny how almost nobody is saying that anymore. With the losses suffered by Oklahoma State, Oklahoma and Oregon over the weekend, the SEC West now holds the top three spots in the BCS standings. Provided Alabama beats Auburn, it’s all but certain that SEC teams will finish 1-2 in the final rankings. And Alabama, which lost to LSU on Nov. 7, sits in the best spot of the three.
Arkansas probably can’t get to the SEC championship game no matter what it does. LSU could lose to Arkansas and still play for the SEC title, and a lot of numbers-crunchers think the Tigers could lose to Georgia — but not to both Arkansas and Georgia — and drop no lower than No. 2. But if Alabama beats Auburn it could be locked in at No. 2 without another game to play and that, all things considered, would have to be Position A.
Let’s say Arkansas beats LSU and passes the Tigers in the BCS rankings. Let’s say Alabama beats Auburn and moves to No. 1. Now let’s say, just for the sake of argument, that Georgia upsets Alabama in our fair city. That would leave Alabama with two losses and LSU and Arkansas with only one, and the all-SEC BCS title game would surely be staged without the Tide. (Can’t imagine a one-loss Oklahoma State or Virginia Tech nosing ahead of a one-loss LSU or a one-loss Arkansas that just beat LSU.)
Back in 2007, Georgia was blocked from the BCS title game because it didn’t play for its conference championship. For Alabama in 2011, playing for the conference championship wouldn’t seem essential — and it might even be injurious to the Tide’s health. Weird season, huh?
By Mark Bradley
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500 comments Add your comment
ARdawg
November 21st, 2011
6:04 pm
I don’t know what game you were watching but, the game I saw yup, LSU beat Bama at their own house. I wouldn’t expect a different outcome at LSU’s place
ARdawg
November 21st, 2011
6:07 pm
Usually, the team with the most points on the board at the end of the game wins. That’s the rules as I know them but, things could be different in Tuscaloosa
Dawg48
November 21st, 2011
6:07 pm
Bamaguy
I don’t think uga has the depth to play with bama and lsu at this point.
marty johnson
November 21st, 2011
6:14 pm
best case scenario for us Bama fans is to win against Auburn, LSU play and lose to UGA in the Sec Championship Game. Then Bama will be the # 1. No way a #1 team doesn’t play for the national championship
ARdawg
November 21st, 2011
6:18 pm
Dawg48
On defense, no question Georgia has the depth. I think offense will be a problem
Dawg48
November 21st, 2011
6:23 pm
Yea that was my point OLine and running backs
Hoage
November 21st, 2011
6:26 pm
Georgia lost its opportunity to be in the discussion by scheduling a quality opponent opening week. Beating Louisville while unimpressive at the time would have left a one loss Georgia in the mix. The system does not reward aggressive scheduling. That alone makes it a joke.
ARdawg
November 21st, 2011
6:27 pm
LSU and Bama’s defense are some rough, tumble hard hitters. Fresh bodies all game long. They’re #2 and 3s are as good as the #1s and they punish an offense. We can’t afford an OL going down and only god knows who we have for a running back week to week. I hate to say it but sadly, we’d compete but, winning looks like a stretch
atlvol55
November 21st, 2011
6:29 pm
I’m sure someone has probably already made this point, but comparing UGA 2007 and Al. 2011 is like apples and oranges.
Lets see…UGA is crushed by an average TN team in 2007
Alabama loses too the number #1 team in the country and crushes the #3 and crushed the #19 team in the country.
LSU has beaten the #2 ranked team, beat a very good Oregon team, and pretty much crushed everyone else in conference.
UGA lucks out by not playing the three best teams in the conference and slugs around and not very impressively beats horrible TN, Florida, Vanday, KY, Ole Miss, and Miss St. Auburn was the only impressive game they played all year. It just shows you how bad college football is this year when Auburn is ranked 25.
Basically UGA hasn’t beaten a top 25 team all year, and yet they think THEY should be in the national championship game talk…Wow, now I know why Stewart Mandell said UGA had the most dilusional fan base in the country
H### as horrible as TN is this year, even we would probably be 8-4 with that schedule. Particulary if our two best players weren’t hurt almost the entire year.
ARdawg
November 21st, 2011
6:30 pm
Hoage
Winning that Boise Game would have made quite a difference in the BCS right now for a number of teams. Unlikely much for UGA, but a difference nonetheless
ARdawg
November 21st, 2011
6:33 pm
atlvol
You are missing the point which is, it’s the BCS point system. In 07 UGA was at #2 , LSU lost to AR and went on to play for the NC while UGA got bumped. Not many will argue the reasoning but, the “point” is lost on most. The BCS su<ks. Nothing more than a cartel of the espn family
Hoage
November 21st, 2011
6:36 pm
ARdawg
Its losses that matter. Not who you beat.
atlvol55
November 21st, 2011
6:42 pm
ARDawg:
Maybe…but maybe not. 2007 was a crazy year…Do you remember that the top two teams in the BCS both lost the last two weeks of the year…basically their was an unbelievable amount of upsets at the end of 2007 which made UGA move up by default…
Virginia Tech was actually number #1 in the computer polls heading into the final week. LSU had beaten them 48-7 earlier in the year so they had at least ONE BIG WIN they could point too. Also, LSU had lost both of its games in triple overtime that year. UGA had gotten blown out by a three loss TN team…
Bottom line is UGA has NO signature wins this year that you can hang your hat on…I’m not trying to hate, but when an Auburn team which has gotten blown out a couple of other times this year is your best win; its not really saying much
bamaguy
November 21st, 2011
6:46 pm
I don’t understand why UGA fans care so much about who plays in the NC game. It clearly is not going to be UGA no matter what happens so why all the bad mouthing and whining?
You should be concerned about beating Tech, taking a shot at LSU and being very proud of the fact that you will not be in some who-cares bowl in early December this year. More than impressive for a team that started out 0-2.
Alabama took our three losses last year and went to the Capitol One bowl and beat the living crap out of those yankees wearing bottle green and made our “We’ll be Back” statement. Please do the same
Dr. Morpheus
November 21st, 2011
6:47 pm
Let’s win our games first and worry about the BCS later.
PerroGrande
November 21st, 2011
6:51 pm
This isn’t really a discussion unless Georgia beats Tech and LSU/whoever. That is a tall order, but should they do that it would be quite a mess. There will be a lot more losses out there because of the playoffs. Of course, Alabama won’t have to compete in the playoffs because they lost and didn’t qualify. They just have an easy game against Auburn left, so they are in the perfect place to sneak into the championship without earning it. Could get interesting. The likeliest scenario, though, is that LSU wins out, and Ok St. wins out, and then Ok St. moves back above Bama due to winning their conference. That is what happened with LSU in 07. They were ranked below us, and despite our wins, they moved back on top of us after beating a 9-4 Tennessee team. That year Florida crushed Tn; UGA crushed Florida, and Tn crushed UGA. The linking thing has limitations.
McDawg
November 21st, 2011
7:03 pm
well if the choice is BAMA or Oklahomas State/Stanford-i’ll take bama
Sam
November 21st, 2011
7:06 pm
Amazing video of a high school senior from Columbia TN who kicks the ball dead straight 75-80 yards in the air. He was successful on 54 of 54 attempts this season….100%. For some crazy reason, he wants to go to Georgia Tech.
Watch for yourself…it is unreal!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_JKwgwFY3g
BEAR NRYANT
November 21st, 2011
7:08 pm
QUIT WHINING GAWGEE FANS!!!!!!! BAMA IS THE 2ND BEST TEAM RIGHT NOW!!!!!BUNCHA CRYING FANS………1980 IS GONE…DO SOMETHING WORTH WHILE AND WIN OUT-RIGHT..GEES
PerroGrande
November 21st, 2011
7:10 pm
It is pretty subjective. Baylor barely gets past a terrible Kansas team in OT one week, and they hand it to Ok the next, and they want RGIII to take the Heisman and vault them up almost 10 places in the polls. I think they will move Ok St. on top if they win out.
cmac
November 21st, 2011
7:11 pm
What a joke college football is becoming! Don’t win your conference, don’t win your division & lose to the best team you played ….. AND …….. you get rewarded! Playoffs NOW!
Jay
November 21st, 2011
7:12 pm
Did the falcons playoff chances improve with cutlers thumb breaking? Yep. Detroit still has to play GB twice and At NO. But their last game against gb may be the packers resting everyone with the 1 seed locked up. Atl should win every game left except for at no. And who knows what dallas will do. But they should overtake da bears and lions.
PerroGrande
November 21st, 2011
7:12 pm
Bear Nryant, you are the one whining. You had LSU and they whipped you and you didn’t get in the playoffs. Accept it. Losing is tough, isn’t it?
Knowall Moreno
November 21st, 2011
7:12 pm
Say LSU beats Arkansas, Bama beats Auburn, then LSU loses to Dawgs, then what? we need a playoff system, this is bs
Red Stick
November 21st, 2011
7:13 pm
I’m not a fan of the BCS system but it is designed to match the two best teams. LSU and Alabama have proven over the entire season that they are the 2 best in the nation.
That is of course up to this point.
Geaux Tigers
Go SEC
Jay
November 21st, 2011
7:14 pm
Cmac don;t you know these games are the playoffs and they lead to #1 and #2 playing each other. Who else would you put over Alabama. If the two best teams are in the same division, only one can win it. I’d rather see a rematch than ok state or ok or oregon get creamed again.
PerroGrande
November 21st, 2011
7:18 pm
Knowall that gets sticky, but it depends on the other conferences and what they do. The reason they went to conference championships is that it trumps the record. You can have a baseball team get hot during the playoffs, and win the WS, even though they don’t have the best record. If you can work up the playoff system and win, you are the best, even though other teams may have had a better record. I think the pollsters will favor conference champions. That is what they have done in the past. It does get messy with multiple losses.
Saxosus
November 21st, 2011
7:18 pm
I understand Alabama’s postion but still would like to see them win the SEC. One more jewell in their crown. I also like the idea of them playing Georgia. I miss the Ala-Ga rivalry.
Toccoa
November 21st, 2011
7:19 pm
The POINT is the TALKING HEADS said in ‘07 that GA should not be in the BCS Championship because they didn’t win the SEC! It’s not about who beat who by what. The RULES are NOT THE SAME THIS YEAR! Alabama and LSU are not both going to win the SEC so BOTH SHOULD NOT GO to the BCS GAME based on the ‘07 ARGUMENT !! PERIOD!!
Dawgz4Life
November 21st, 2011
7:26 pm
Gotta love that “Smelley” picture….. LOL
bamaguy
November 21st, 2011
7:29 pm
Georgia will not play for the National Championship no matter what happens. So why so much bitterness toward the schools that might? Could it be because the state of Georgia is surrounded with crystal footballs while there are none in Athens? Gainesville, Tallahassee, Auburn, Miami, Tuscaloosa, Baton Rogue, even Knoxville. But none in Athens.
bamaguy
November 21st, 2011
7:35 pm
Dawgz4Life: Did you see that picture from a few years back when some observant fan took a picture from behind the Alabama bench when “Moore”, “Goode” and “Dick” were standing beside each other.
dawgfan4life
November 21st, 2011
7:36 pm
I totally agree with you Mark Bradley about 07 and how Georgia got shafted because of one stupid rule if you don’t play in your conference championship you don’t play in the BCS championship. Yeah on one really not saying anything about that now aren’t they. If they stick by the rules BAMA shouldn’t be a thought about rematch in the national championship game. I am glad that someone is really saying or talking about that. Wish you had some effect with who plays in that game. I think it’s not far and is f up how the other conferences are being over looked for the national game. As much I would love to see the SEC to win their 6 straight I hope and pray that Georgia throws a monkey wrench in all their plans by beating LSU or who ever in the SEC championship. I wrote an ESPN analysis about that and that dude didn’t and couldn’t answer my question on the matter. But that the way it is I guess everyone gets the lucky breaks and Georgia gets the shaft. It has been like that you years now and don’t look like it will ever change.
McDawg
November 21st, 2011
7:41 pm
yes bamaguy and it explains alot of the criticism of CMR and irrationality towards the coaching staff over the past 2 years etc…no doubt we would have beaten either Miami or Ohio State in 2002/3 and i think in 2007 we could have beaten anyone in the country so indeed there is a good bit of frustration
i personally don’t care that much as long as we beat UF beat Tech and compete for an SC title every year
this year not quite there yet but
McDawg
November 21st, 2011
7:42 pm
SEC title
bamaguy
November 21st, 2011
7:46 pm
McDawg: Make your statement in whatever non-early-December good bowl you get invited to and come back strong next year. Alabama’s thrashing of Michigan State after losing miserably to Auburn said “We’ll be Back.”
D man
November 21st, 2011
7:46 pm
Right now, I believe Alabama and LSU are the best two teams in college football. Statistically, who they have played, and just watching them play, they deserve to play again for the title. I think Alabama is the best team in football. They should have never lost that game to LSU. I think they will beat them handily in the Championship game.
D man
November 21st, 2011
7:58 pm
I want the Dawgs to play LSU or Arkansas because we match up better against them.
give me south georgia
November 21st, 2011
8:01 pm
1. RIP Larry Munson
2. I think Alabama would crush us in the SEC Champo, but I feel like we’ve got an outside shot against LSU. And I’d be somewhat disappointed if we couldn’t beat Arkansas, but then again, I have Red and Black-tinted spectacles.
3. With respect to the BCS: I interact with college football fans from across the nation and I’ve not met a single one that supports the BCS system. Based on that, and reading lots of football blogs such as this one, I conclude (anecdotally, of course) that most people don’t really like the BCS and would prefer something else. Alas, the system won’t change until people start voting with their feet. But that requires effort; it’s easier to stay on the couch and drink another Miller High Life.
4. I hope we play to win against Tech. I didn’t like the Kentucky game.
Give Me South Georgia
Mama Says
November 21st, 2011
8:01 pm
Dawg48
November 21st, 2011
6:07 pm
Bamaguy
I don’t think uga has the depth to play with bama and lsu at this point.
UGA does not have the depth to play with USC, muchless Alabama , LSU or Arkansas. Just last week you had walk on tailbacks running the ball. UGA is decent but no where in the league of these top tier three schools.
Seriously, you UGA fans, do one thing. Give us your top 15 in the nation today.
Chain
November 21st, 2011
8:04 pm
Who cares about some BS, corrupt, scam BCS championship? I’ll take an SEC championship over that any day. Anyone at all giving Auburn a shot in the game this weekend?
Time
November 21st, 2011
8:09 pm
I say skip the BS-C bowl games. Take the top 4 teams from the SEC (LSU, Bama, Ark, UGA) and just play a 2 game playoff for the SEC championship, and by default, the national championship.
D man
November 21st, 2011
8:10 pm
Chain – I don’t think Auburn can beat Alabama but I think like most rivalry games, it will be close. I think the spread is 20. Tide win but don’t cover.
The spread for the Ga game is 5.5 for Ga. To win. Dawg will win and cover…
D man
November 21st, 2011
8:11 pm
Time- I like that idea.
Bring on a 10 team playoff system…
Mama Says
November 21st, 2011
8:17 pm
Just read the comments on this blog by uninformed UGA fans like Dawg in LEX, Daddy Dawg, Toccoa, and so on. The lack of maturity shown by such obnoxious wanna be fans is why the rest of the league thinks UGA is Thug U.
The problem with your logic is so flawed. The Championship games in each conference were created to raise revenue, The SEC has done quite well ( extremely well) with the game while others like the ACC and Big 12 DID NOT. The Oklahoma Sooners got spanked and still ended up in the title game and lost.
The goal of the BCS final is very simple. Place the No.1 team against the No.2 team in the BCSCG based on the voters, computers and coaches. Well folks, as of today and since last Friday nite when The Cowboys got wrangled in Iowa by a team who would be somewhere in the Miss. St. range in the SEC if not lower, and Oklahoma Team who got beat again by a team who had lost 3 or 4 and would be somewhere in the Florida range in the SEC if not lower, and a Oregon team who got beat for the second time by a USC who is a shell of their former selves, and are facing reduced scholarships for 3 years and are banned from a bowl, while Oregon showed reduced offense and no defense against USC for 3 quarters and would have been down by 10 with less than two minutes to go if a running back opens his arms to take a handoff within the 10 yard line.
All of this while a catch/interception call at the LSU/Alabama game decided the game. The call was a judgement call by the official and twice this past weekend on similiar plays were ruled to be an offensive catch due to contact by the reciever and the ground. But that is here nor there. The facts are the two best teams in the country are head and shoulders above everyone else and their body of work for the entire season. Losing by 3 in overtime at home, beats losing late in the season to a team who is 6-4 or a team at home who was 8-2 and on probation while you were down by 24 points late in the 3rd quarter. Needless to say that one team is facing the long arm of the NCAA in coming months for recruiting violations and buying scouting reports that were bogus.
Just get real and move on and enjoy the attention you will get for the entire weekend at the SECCG.
Mama Says
November 21st, 2011
8:19 pm
Do you realize that even in a 10 TEAM Playoff system that UGA would not even be in any games based on their rankings, any rankings? Not Computers, Not Columnist, Not Coaches..
Dawg48
November 21st, 2011
8:20 pm
Mama says isn’t that what I said!
Are a moron?
Mama Says
November 21st, 2011
8:20 pm
Chain
November 21st, 2011
8:04 pm
Who cares about some BS, corrupt, scam BCS championship? I’ll take an SEC championship over that any day. Anyone at all giving Auburn a shot in the game this weekend?
Answer: Yes, the player’s Moms. Even their Dads are smart enough not to give Auburn a chance.
Mama Says
November 21st, 2011
8:22 pm
Dawg, 48,
Sorry, I misread your post, My BAD! I Apologize, I have read so much on here of fans saying that UGA was a deep as LSU, Alabama and Arkansas..a little quick triggered there. Sorry bRO!
dON’T Taze me bro!
Dawg48
November 21st, 2011
8:25 pm
LOL it’s ok
But you have to say you saw were I came from