LSU v Alabama – Reason for Playoffs?
Did anyone see the game between what should probably be the national championship for college football on Saturday? In case you were not paying attention LSU played Alabama in a SEC match-up that just so happened to include the number one and number two ranked teams in the land. If you happened to catch the game, you would not have been disappointed. It was a low scoring defensive brawl that ended regular time with a tied score and in the end a win by LSU in overtime.
While the game was definitely exciting and met all the expectation put forth by the hype, I want to touch on something else just a little bit. Really and truly the rematch between these two teams, unless something drastic changes between now and the end of the season, should be the title match. Of course, this would go against the general tradition. Generally a team, once beaten is out of the running, unless of course all teams take a loss.
That would especially be the case this year, as there as of yet three other remaining teams that are unbeaten, right? Of course, you could argue that none of those other teams could beat Alabama as a general rule. But in order to see an Alabama/LSU rematch it would have to have the acceptance of two teams from the same conference playing as well. That becomes the double of why it is not likely to occur.
All of this of course points me to the strongest argument since back several ears when Virginia Tech got passed over for going to a play-off system. Keep the bowl game labels for the championship, final four, and consolation games. Take the top eight teams as they are rated at the end of the season and let them play it out. If you have to, get rid of one of the lame three gimme games everyone has on the schedule now to help their bowl eligibility and shorten the season by a game. By doing so, all the teams would only the top two teams (or four if you have that consolation game) would have an extra game at all. And lets face it, what program would not want the money and such associated with that extra game the chance at the championship?
** – Image from the internet and maybe in the public domain?
