College football has come to this: One SEC team can sit out the conference championship game and maybe play for the national title; another SEC team could lose the SEC championship game and play for the national title.
It's the equivalent of lapping the field.
The buildup began in 2006, when the SEC won the first of five consecutive national championships. Now, it has reached runaway proportions.
So what if No. 1 LSU loses to Georgia in the Georgia Dome on Saturday evening. It still would have accomplished more than anybody else.
The undefeated Tigers have beaten No. 2 Alabama and No. 22 West Virginia on the road. They have beaten No. 6 Arkansas by 24 points and No. 8 Oregon by 13. They have won eight games against bowl-eligible teams.
Even if they would lose to No. 12 Georgia, who could match that body of work?
Alabama would come the closest. The Tide can take off "championship Saturday" and still make a convincing argument why it deserves a rematch against LSU, which beat it in overtime 9-6 in the regular season. Aside from an ever-so-close loss to
the No. 1 team, Alabama has won six games against bowl-eligible teams. Not one of the victories was by fewer than 17 points.
The SEC is accustomed to winning national titles.
But it's not accustomed to winning like this. It's at least supposed to sweat out the conference championship game.
It sometimes has had to agonize over other games as well. Both Florida in 2006 and LSU in 2007 needed help on the final weekend to qualify for the BCS national championship game.
A two-loss LSU team needed so much help, it would have lost money on the bowl trip if it had bought rings for all of its contributors.
Close championship calls have given way to an SEC stampede. And the stampede includes more than the nation's No. 1 and No. 2 teams.
If Alabama and LSU had taken the season off, Arkansas might be on its way to the national championship game — even though its best player, running back Knile Davis, suffered a season-ending injury in August.
There's also South Carolina, 9-2 overall and 5-2 against bowl-eligible teams despite dismissing its starting quarterback, Stephen Garcia, at midseason, and also losing All-SEC running back Marcus Lattimore for much of the season to injury.
South Carolina's 21-point victory over Clemson on Saturday gave the SEC non-conference victories over four teams still in the running for BCS bowls. The SEC won all those games by double-digit margins.
How strong is the SEC? It's so strong that even the last-place team in the East had a BCS impact other than the contributions it made to Alabama, LSU and Arkansas highlight packages. Tennessee lost seven of eight SEC games, including five by double-digit margins. Yet it beat Cincinnati, which enters its final regular-season game against UConn in contention for the Big East championship. And the Vols beat it by 22 points.
The second-worst team in the SEC can beat a possible BCS conference champion by three touchdowns. Put that in your BCS computer. And it should tell you that the SEC now deserves at least one team in the BCS national championship game by acclamation.
Let the rest of the BCS battle it out with the second-best SEC team for the other spot.
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Comments » 15
BigVolinCarolina writes:
Case well-made, Mr. Adams.
murrayvol writes:
Good column John.
It would require some really strange goings on in the polls to prevent a rematch. The computers should be impervious to such shenanigans.
imw8n4u writes:
here's a question...If LSU loses to GA in the championship game but only falls to #2 in the BCS behind AL, wouldn't that cause an issue with allowing more than 2 SEC teams in to BCS games? Currently a single conference can't send more than 2 teams, and GA would get the automatic bid for winning the SEC. Would they have to make an exception to the 2 team limit? If not, who would get left out?
born2ride writes:
The SEC should have their own playoff. The winner is the national champion.
hewwheel writes:
The BCS created an exception to the 2 team rule a few years ago when Texas, Oklahoma, and Texas Tech were 1,2,3 with a couple weeks remaining. The third team would have to win the conference and the other 2 would have to be 1,2 in the bcs standings.
ClemCash writes:
If nothing else, Dooley finally has that signature win. Thank you, Cincinnati!
DwayneElizondoMountainDewHerbertCamacho writes:
"The second-worst team in the SEC can beat a possible BCS conference champion by three touchdowns."
Not to rip on that game, but the ONLY reason that Cincy is competing for BCS bowl is because they have an automatic bid being from the Big East. Honestly, they are not better than Boise State, Houston, or Tulsa. Uconn got blown out last year because they didn't belong in the BCS. None of the Big East teams belong in the BCS. That conference is dying and someone should just take it out behind the shed and shoot it.
DwayneElizondoMountainDewHerbertCamacho writes:
One other thing. I really really hope to see a bunch of plain white signs with blue and yellow letters at the championship game:
BCSEC
wildmed writes:
All this makes perfect sense to me as it would to most rational folks. However, West Coast writers still claim it's "unfair" for the BCS Championship Game to have two teams from the SEC. Sounds like nothing more than whining to me.
wildmed writes:
Amen! The Big East as a viabl entity and a factor in any championship is a dead man walking.
BamaMark writes:
Everyone in the country....East, West, North....sports writers, fans....know they cant compete with the SEC and are clueless as to what to do about it. We just get stronger and stronger and they are desperately seeking anyway they can to hurt us...so for now...all they can do it whine and complain. Sad but true.
RealisticVol writes:
Oh my, you just made the political correctness hit list. : - )))
volbike writes:
Maybe Adams is stating the reason that the other major conferences are going to 9 game conference schedules so they won't be able to play SEC teams during the year?
Though for the sake of the royally screwed season ticket holders, I wish the SEC would do so as well.
FanNotSheep writes:
Tennessee needs to find some big ol' offensive and defensive linemen from the junior college ranks and fill out the rest of this recruiting class with them. That is the best chance Dooley has of saving his job. Get ahold of that guy in Mississippi and find out what the going rate is this year. Find a 4-star running back to go with them and we might win a few games next year.
utjunkie writes:
Let me see, LSU has to beat bama twice to win the national title. But bama only has to beat LSU once to win the title. Makes all the sense in the world. LOl!!!
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