Could mighty LSU wind up in a non-BCS bowl? Er … maybe
Don't worry, Leslie: Your darn strong team won't fall as far as the Chick-fil-A Bowl. (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
Raging consensus holds that LSU will play for the national title no matter what it does Saturday and that the Tigers’ opponent Jan. 9 will again be Alabama. But there’s a slight — slight, let me emphasize — possibility the team that has been No. 1 in every week of the BCS rankings might land in a non-BCS bowl. (And here let me thank esteemed colleague Kevin Whaley for bringing this to my attention.)
Say LSU loses to Georgia by three touchdowns. Say No. 3 Oklahoma State beats Oklahoma by three touchdowns. (By way of comparison, Georgia is No. 14 in the BCS standings to OU’s No. 10.) Say there’s a major Oklahoma State groundswell in the human polls. Say LSU slides to No. 3 in the final rankings behind Oklahoma State and Alabama, the latter of which cannot lose this weekend because it isn’t playing.
Know where LSU, the team that has been the nation’s best from September through November, would be headed? To Orlando for the non-BCS Capital One Bowl. Or to Dallas for the non-BCS Cotton Bowl.
I say again: I don’t think that will happen. Given the Tigers’ strength of schedule — three victories against opponents in the BCS top 10 — and glowing SEC profile, it’s hard to imagine them suffering a Boise State-like fate. (One loss and you’re relegated to the Maaco Las Vegas Bowl.) But if Georgia beats LSU, it goes to the BCS-affiliated Sugar Bowl as SEC champ. If Alabama stays No. 2 or ascends to No. 1, it’s in the BCS title game. And the only way a conference can send a third team to a BCS game is if two of them are playing for the national title and neither is the conference champion.
I say yet again: I don’t think that will happen. Should LSU lose, the debate would become: Who are the two best one-loss teams? At this moment, LSU would figure to have the most impressive body of one-loss work, but the voting won’t be done at this moment. Balloting — and computer-tabulating — will occur late Saturday night, and voters tend to rely most on what they saw last. And what if they just saw the Tigers lose 35-14 to a team that, according to the BCS rankings, is the SEC’s fifth-best?
Never forget that this is the BCS, where weird happens. In 2003 unbeaten and top-ranked Oklahoma lost by 28 points to Kansas State in the Big 12 championship, and somehow the Sooners stayed No. 1 in the BCS rankings. In 2007 once-beaten and top-ranked Missouri lost by 21 points to Oklahoma in the Big 12 championship and didn’t even wind up in a BCS game. (But Kansas, which Missouri had beaten two weeks earlier and which finished two spots behind the Tigers in the BCS rankings, did. Georgia wasn’t the only team that got short shrift in ‘07.)
For the fourth or fifth time: When the standings are announced Sunday night, LSU and Alabama figure to be Nos. 1 and 2 (or 2 and 1) even if Georgia topples the Tigers. And that would look funny, too. A national championship game would pair a team that didn’t win its conference against one that didn’t win its division? But that’s the BCS: It’s always going to look funny. Smell funny, too.
By Mark Bradley
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595 comments Add your comment
Truth
November 30th, 2011
10:51 am
2011 Facts (based on current rankings):
LSU 40 #8 Orgeon 27 margin of 13
LSU 47 #22 West VA 21 margin of 26
LSU 41 #6 Araknsas 17 margin of 24
#9 Boise State 35 UGA 21
#14 South Carolina 45 UGA 42
UGA has beaten NO ONE!!!!!!!
LSU has beaten 3 ranked teams, two top 10 teams, by an average of 21 POINTS!!!!!
This whole hypothetical conversation is exactly what it means to be a UGA fan! Delusional, unrational, and generally irritating!!!!
Gorilla Biscuit
November 30th, 2011
10:51 am
This whole thing smells like a gas station bathroom.
munsondawg
November 30th, 2011
10:52 am
@tmc
I have to agree with that.
DP
November 30th, 2011
10:52 am
coloradobulldog, of course that’s all you’re going to say. You’re not going to compare how Alabama and Georgia did against Vandy in consecutive weeks, nor are you going to compare how Georgia, LSU and Alabama did against Mississippi and Florida or how LSU and Georgia did against Kentucky. Just as Mark Bradley would write a couple of days ago that Georgia didn’t play in the 2007 SEC championship because it lost a tiebreaker without mentioning that the tiebreaker was a head to head 3 touchdown beatdown by Tennessee. This is what you get from Delusional Dawgs.
Alphare
November 30th, 2011
10:53 am
BAMA has no loss this season in regulations.
Can any other team claim that?
Football Guy
November 30th, 2011
10:53 am
Yeah right; When monkies fly out of your a@@!
BullDogMike
November 30th, 2011
10:54 am
tmc, your comment right on the money..
BCS
November 30th, 2011
10:55 am
The BSC is designed to put 1 versus 2, not 1 versus “some other school in some other part of the country so we can have a national game for ABC/ESPN ratings” Alabama is the #2 in the country for a reason. Do you really think that OK st would beat Alabama? They would get slaughtered.
Here is the funny part, if we had a playoff, Alabama and LSU would still play each other for the national championship – so exactly how is the BCS messed up. The only way it would be messed up is if Alabama did not play in the game. This is actually the first year that the BCS is working. Instead, of another lame big 12 or PAC 12 team getting blown-out by the SEC team, we can actually watch the best two teams play for a championship.
Prove It!
November 30th, 2011
10:56 am
Georgia 10-2
South Carolina 10-2
South Carolina vs. Georgia?
South Carolina 45 – Georgia 42
South Carolina is the best team in the SEC East. Neither team is the second best team in the SEC. Georgia has no business playing in any kind of championship game. That will become blatantly obvious next Saturday and all of this chatter will then mean nothing.
Hide & Watch
Gbal
November 30th, 2011
10:58 am
DP – Point – We have a chance, and I think a better chance that the oddsmakers want to give UGA. Glad to have the chance to play the game.
beanster
November 30th, 2011
10:58 am
This conversation has become incredibly boring. The actual game can’t get here soon enough.
GO DAWGS!!!!!!!!!!!!! GATA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
C from Marietta
November 30th, 2011
10:58 am
A four team playoff is just more of the same. They need a 16 team tourney.
1eyedJack
November 30th, 2011
10:58 am
Please tell me that Penn Wagers crew isn’t officiating in this game.
BCS
November 30th, 2011
10:58 am
Also for those of you who say that Alabama already had shot, you are also wrong. That’s not how it works. Guess what – the Falcons beat Green Bay last year during the regular season but nobody suggested that it was unfair for the Falcons to play to Green Bay again in the Playoff. The Pack won the game that counted. If Alabama wins the big game they will be National Champs. Live with it.
db
November 30th, 2011
10:59 am
Mark, you are reaching today. First sentence of second paragraph:
“Say LSU loses to Georgia by three touchdowns. Say No. 3 Oklahoma State beats Oklahoma by three touchdowns.”
Geeze the sports day must be slow today.
C from Marietta
November 30th, 2011
10:59 am
@ Prove It!
Sour Grapes? You lost to AU. Get over it. Beat AU and your in. Cry baby.
db
November 30th, 2011
11:00 am
My bet is Alabama or LSU would beat any other college team. Anyone disagree?
GT FAN
November 30th, 2011
11:01 am
Im not so sure OKie ST would lose to Alabama also, they have not played so you can not make that claim. Im not so sure I want to watch a rematch to know what I already know. LSU is national Champ.
Fidlin1
November 30th, 2011
11:01 am
Wow! Listening to some of these LSU fans the Dogs should just stay home Saturday. I think Katrina left some water between your ears. All I can say is that we’re your Huckaberry and you’re a daisy if you do, but the Dogs are comin’ and Hells ridin’ with ‘em. Go Dawgs!!
LSU- Losing Saturday Ugly.
munsondawg
November 30th, 2011
11:02 am
@prove it
Too bad. So sad. Try losing less SEC games next year.
ARdawg
November 30th, 2011
11:03 am
BCS
You are full of yourself. The regular season games are suppose to count. Bama played and was defeated by LSU. A rematch in the BCS will only prove LSU to beat Bama twice. You whinny Bama fans really are pathetic
GT FAN
November 30th, 2011
11:03 am
BCS not so Fast. It would not prove anything! They would have split the season 1-1. LSU would still get the AP vote for NC. MArk my word.
Strange Murphy
November 30th, 2011
11:04 am
To say that Georgia has no chance at all is just dumb. I love my Dawgs but I think it’s gonna be real dang hard to beat LSU. Stranger things have happened in college football.
ARdawg
November 30th, 2011
11:04 am
Regular season games do count. Bama played and lost. Next
Prove It!
November 30th, 2011
11:04 am
How about a little consistency here? The Georgia whiners insisting that Bama has no business playing for the NC because they already lost to LSU should apply the same logic to their own team.
BCS Rankings
Georgia #14
South Carolina #12
You lost on the field of play – now you want a Mulligan. Delusional is as delusional does.
Vince Drooley
November 30th, 2011
11:05 am
Is Georgia ever going to win a crystal football? Even Tech laughs at Georgia as its MNC was at least in the somewhat recent past.
NUMBER 14 in JANUARY
November 30th, 2011
11:05 am
You would think after the yammering about the game there might be some UGA interest in actually going. I’ve got (2) 35 yard line tickets just sitting on ebay with no bids..zip..nodda!! I am only asking 100 bucks more than I paid for the tickets. In previous years the tickets were gone as soon as you put them online. Not this year…had to delist them and try again. NO DEMAND as far as I can tell.
ARdawg
November 30th, 2011
11:05 am
Why do you Bama fans want to be beaten twice by LSU? Glutton for punishment
BullDogMike
November 30th, 2011
11:05 am
BCS.You really believe the system is working huh? I’m SEC all the way, but I’m sorry man. Ala. had their chance and blew it. Let another 1 loss team try to beat LSU. Like ( as I stated earlier) it will be tigers because the win in SEC game is a lock for them. By talent or not……
Strange Murphy
November 30th, 2011
11:06 am
Hey Prove It! GEORGIA BULLDOGS 2011 SEC EAST CHAMPS!! WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!
ARdawg
November 30th, 2011
11:07 am
After the BCSNCG, Bama will be 0-2 versus LSU. Why does that have to be a championship game. What happened to the “Game of the Century” a few weeks ago? It doesn’t count?
Prove It!
November 30th, 2011
11:08 am
@Strange Murphy
CPJ has a special pet name for folks like you.
DawginLex
November 30th, 2011
11:08 am
Prove it must be spurrier
You lost bud. To Auburn
we destroyed them
Your team had a drunk QB who was covered for numerous times until he got booted.
Karma is something else
Enjoy watching us play in the SEC Championship Game!
Vince Drooley
November 30th, 2011
11:08 am
SEC “Haves” and “Have Nots”:
“Have” Won a Crystal Football – Alabama, Auburn, Florida, LSU and Tennessee. “Have NOT” Won a Crystal Football – Georgia, Ole Miss, Miss State, Arkansas, Kentucky,Vanderbilt and South Carolina. Georgia, you are the company you keep.
WDE
November 30th, 2011
11:08 am
If in the last week of the season the no 12 team in the nation beats the no.1 team in the nation how is the no.12 team not then the no.1 team? To the victor goes the spoils correct? Let try this slowly if we beat LSU and yes that is a big if, how can we not be better than LSU ?? Only the blowhards at Bama think once they lose to a team on the field of play that team is not better than they are, we lost to USC the second game of the season they were better then, now 10 weeks later is that still true unless we play again yes but USC lost more SEC games as the season progressed and we passed them in the SEC standings…but now its the last week of the season if we beat LSU we are better and will have proven that on the field.
please...
November 30th, 2011
11:08 am
If the SEC allows this game TO BE called to protect LSU to play in the NC game, then my opinion of college football, especially the SEC just went down the toilet. And Mike Slive should be fined and sent packing. That would complete career suicide. Mike Slive should let everyone know this game will be called with the utmost sportsmanship. Georgia fans will be closely watching this from the opening kickoff. To even consider this type of behavior warrents to be monitored by the NCAA. I hope they understand what could happen if the game is called that way. Georgia will not go away.
Dawglasville
November 30th, 2011
11:09 am
What if Bama beats LSU? Is there a chance that LSU would still have more BCS points? Bama beat Arkansas and Penn State. LSU beat Arkansas, Bama, Georgia (ranked 14), Oregon, West Virginia. If Bama gets into the championship game, wouldn’t it stand to reason that even with a Tiger loss that LSU will still have more points than them thus deserving the title? If the BSC system is so fair to put two teams in why wouldn’t it award the championship based on the same criteria?
BullDogMike
November 30th, 2011
11:09 am
Proove It….what a joke. We scored 42 pts on yall’s sorry as# defense. You all scored on turnovers. Without them it would have been a blow out. Crap! S.C. couldn’t even beat Auburn. If they played now, Carolina couldn’t even score LOL
Alphare
November 30th, 2011
11:09 am
Yes, dawg fans,
UGA lost to SC but UGA can represent East in SECCG. I thought SC proved they are the best in East.
BAMA lost to LSU, why cannot BAMA represent #2 in NC?
DawginLex
November 30th, 2011
11:10 am
Rematch with Bama winning equals split title and the BCS will have once again solved nothing
B'dawg
November 30th, 2011
11:10 am
So everyone on tv thinks UGA will lose. LSU hasnt faced a qb like Murray all year. HUGE difference.
munsondawg
November 30th, 2011
11:11 am
@ Number 14
I bought mine last Sat. on stubhub. paid 70 bucks more than face value. I’m not complaining about the price. I’m a 17 yr. season ticket holder w/ UGA, but I like to pick out where I sit sometimes. I didn’t go through UGA for these tix. Hope you get what you are asking for them.
True Skool
November 30th, 2011
11:11 am
Forget the SEC champioship game, I’m watching the PAC-12 championship!
GT FAN
November 30th, 2011
11:11 am
@ GT MNC. ESPN showed worst blow calls ever and the CU 5 down win was the worst. GT should have won the NC outright that year and everyone knows it.
DawginLex
November 30th, 2011
11:11 am
Alphare you thought wrong
UGA 7-1 SEC
SC 6-2 SEC
SC or bama did not win their division
LSU and UGA did
a season is more than 1 game
Charles
November 30th, 2011
11:12 am
No chance…Bama would move back, not LSU.
bruce mac
November 30th, 2011
11:13 am
Number 14, just sold my 4 tix for $800 each. Try Stub Hub if you really have any tickets.
Strange Murphy
November 30th, 2011
11:13 am
Prove It! GEORGIA BULLDOGS SEC EAST CHAMPS! I typed that slowly so you’ll better understand.
Alphare
November 30th, 2011
11:13 am
Dawglasville,
if Bama beat LSU in overtime by 3 points after missing 4 field goals, LSU might have more BCS points.
Otherwise, no way.
npgator
November 30th, 2011
11:14 am
LSU will crush Georgia – just crush them!