Tide poised for national championship number 14, but...
LSU is a great football team...
LSU started the season with a romp over highly regarded Oregon. Later they beat West Virginia and Geno Smith on the road. They beat Arkansas, Auburn, State, Mississippi, and Alabama to win the Western Division. The Georgia Bulldogs did not as quickly and quietly as most thought, but in the second half of the SEC Championship game the Tigers showed why they are the Champions of the SEC. What else must a team do to win a national championship. The answer is simple - they have to beat a team that didn't even win their division in the SEC. To me the elimination of the tie football game was an error on the part of the NCAA. Two teams slug it out, or if you are in the PAC 12 or Big 12, run yourself into the turf scoring points, and then you have to play a stupid shortened version of a game.
It is hard to imagine a bigger build up for a football game than the BCS National Championship Game which will be played tonight at 7:30. What if the two teams had ended game one in a tie. Both teams enter tonight's contest undefeated, and they tied in the regular season. That would be beyond big. That would be galactic. Most people think the two teams are pretty even. What if they were exactly even? There would have never been a bigger game played in NCAA football history.
Alas, there was an overtime and LSU won the game when Alabama decided to play one truly horrible offensive series. You have to respect the Bengals, even admire them, for coming into Bryant - Denny and beating the Tide. Now, the Crimson Tide goes into Louisiana, on the home turf of the LSU Tigers, and a win will mean even more. Fair? I don't know. By the rules? Absolutely by the BCS rules. And as we noted in our article yesterday that re-match may finally give college football something that approaches a playoff. Well, sort of at least. This season if you had two semi-final games and then a final game the Tide and Tigers would have played each other again at some point. This season the argument of who should be there is a moot point. The two best teams in College football arrived non-stop to the Championship game instead of one stop trip elsewhere first. So who wins? First of all. Mike Slive and the SEC are the big winners. The SEC can't lose the national championship tonight.
But, which team wins. I suspect that all fans are going with their hearts and not their heads in picking a winner. I cannot imagine any set of circumstances that you should bet against Alabama, the most successful football program ever, to lose. How can you pick the Bengals to lose either? Odds makers have now made the Tide around a 2 point favorite. Favored or underdog I don't think either team will be effected by what other people think. This is going to be a game that is going to be highly personal to the players, the fans, and the coaches. Despite what each Coach preaches about doing being on a business trip, this game has the makings of the best two assassins in the world going against either. When someone is shooting at you it becomes highly personal.
When I look at all the factors involved my head makes me say LSU should win. I think they are by the smallest of margins the better team. That doesn't mean they will win, but I think in all fairness to the Tigers, the default setting is LSU. Alabama has to prove they can win after they have lost. All this revenge stuff in hogwash. These are going to be two highly talented, highly motivated teams, with great coaches vying for the national championship. There can be no higher motivation than that. I don't think the either team will play a perfect game.
The Tigers have two advantages in my opinion. The quarterback and the kicking game. Alabama has a better defense by a hair and Trent Richardson. I think the coaching is even. Saban is better at preparation but I think Miles may be a bit better on game day. Miles has a tendency to takes risks that pay rewards, but if those risks don't work it hurts. Saban has a tendency to be to conservative, and that might hurt the Tide. I don't think that conservative will get it done tonight. Coach Mac has a chance to shake things up. Miles will shake thing up, but he played it close to the vest in game one. That shows me that Miles can go either way. I also remember the plays that Bama used against Texas in '09. It seems like the more you think about advantages the fewer you find.
The bottom line for me is how well Saban has done when he has time to really prepare for a game. Ask Michigan State how that works. If we still could have tie games I'd be tempted to pick one. We don't so I'm going to say that Bama will win 17-15 because of the Saban's record when given time to prepare for one game. I keep remembering Michigan State looking dazed and confused. The old dog agrees its Bama. I like the old dog. He knows a lot.
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LSU is a great football team...
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| Lucky or good? Does it matter? You sometimes 'create your own luck. |
It is hard to imagine a bigger build up for a football game than the BCS National Championship Game which will be played tonight at 7:30. What if the two teams had ended game one in a tie. Both teams enter tonight's contest undefeated, and they tied in the regular season. That would be beyond big. That would be galactic. Most people think the two teams are pretty even. What if they were exactly even? There would have never been a bigger game played in NCAA football history.
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| Hard to pick against Saban |
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| Preparation against Michigan State was Key |
When I look at all the factors involved my head makes me say LSU should win. I think they are by the smallest of margins the better team. That doesn't mean they will win, but I think in all fairness to the Tigers, the default setting is LSU. Alabama has to prove they can win after they have lost. All this revenge stuff in hogwash. These are going to be two highly talented, highly motivated teams, with great coaches vying for the national championship. There can be no higher motivation than that. I don't think the either team will play a perfect game.
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| Hey, turn on the TV and let's rumble |
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| Pick against Bama? Are you crazy? |
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| SEC OPINIONS brought to you by Ellis & Boyd, LLC A full service law firm Pree Consultations for TI fans 205-274-7799 Oneonta, Alabama Ellislawfirm@aol.com |
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