BCS Rematch for Title Doesn’t Work

          It must be the end of the college football season. Everyone who cares about the sport is griping about the championship game. This year it’s a rematch between Alabama and LSU, which is a joke.

          I don’t care a little bit about the argument that they are the best two teams. They already played (a ridiculously boring game) and the Tigers won. In the current system, which I don’t pretend to be an expert in understanding, there is no room for a rematch – even for a game that ended in overtime.

          I’ll admit that if the first game hadn’t been by far the most boring college game I saw all season I might not bother to make this argument. I would still agree with it, I just wouldn’t make it. Anyone kidding themselves that the 9-6 snooze was a great defensive battle should just quiet down. It was a game where the offenses of both teams were completely overwhelmed by the defenses. That’s not a great game. It wasn’t the defenses making great plays. It was more like a much older brother swatting the shot of a 6-year-old in the driveway. No one should be impressed.

          But even if it had been exciting, a rematch resolves nothing -- certainly not the championship. Alabama lost at home. If they win in January there’s absolutely no way to suggest LSU has no claim to half of a title. It makes no sense, and gives credence to guys like Tony Bruno in this town who prattle on about meaningless college football.

          I’m not even arguing that they aren’t the best two teams in college football. It just doesn’t matter in the current BCS system. I think Stanford or Oklahoma State, despite one loss each, deserved a shot at LSU in the national championship game over Alabama.

          Of course, the real problem is the lack of a playoff. This morning I read a blog post by 97.5’s Nick Kayal that lays out the system many have touted for years – an 8-team playoff that merely incorporates the current Bowls. It’s really not that hard to create a playoff except for having someone overrule the greed of the people who benefit from the current system.

          I believe college football added a 12^th game to the schedule just a few years ago, so the excuse about too many games for the “student athletes” is bogus. In fact, eliminate the 12^th game, have the playoffs over the Christmas break, and it would actually put less pressure on the athletes . . . I mean, students.

          I’ll leave the endless squabbling – there’s really no debate – over a playoff system to others. I don’t have a horse in the race. I pretty much enjoy the games in isolation, pick a side (literally), and just have fun watching good games. I hope the powers that be leave all the other Bowls intact, and hopefully people crying about how meaningless they are eventually just shut up. Here’s a tip for them: Just don’t watch.

          But at the very least the money brokers of college football have to do better with the national championship game. Without a playoff system, a rematch doesn’t cut it.