Johnson: BCS isn’t perfect but doing its job

Published 8:30 pm Wednesday, November 23, 2011

With the chaos in the SEC West and all the what if’s being thrown around, one thing is known … the two best teams will play for the national title.

My mind is stuck right in the middle of the debate on which is better for college football, a playoff or the BCS. I see positives and negative from both sides.

Honestly, I keep coming to the conclusion that college football will be great no matter what postseason format is used.

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Whatever happens this weekend, I don’t think I can be convinced that whoever ends up No. 1 and 2 do not deserve to play in the BCS National Championship game.

LSU and Alabama are by far and away the two best teams in college football and have already played. So, do I think there should be a rematch? If the cards play out that way, then absolutely.

I know Alabama has already had their chance at the Tigers but who else would give LSU a better game?

We’ll find out where Arkansas stands in tonight’s game. We already know where they stand against Bama … 24 points behind.

Does Oklahoma State deserve it? They give up over 27 points per game. You know what 27 points per game gets you in the SEC? Auburn at 7-4 (they have actually allowed 28 per game).

27 points per game does not win you a chance at the national title in the SEC.

As a matter of fact, of the six ranked SEC teams only Auburn allows more points than Oklahoma State.

Can Virginia Tech sneak in? Their defensive numbers are OK but you know those victories over Appalachian State and Marshall are really impressing voters.

How about Stanford? Anyone buying them?

Again, back to the schedule. Outside of a USC team that’s on probation, the only team with a record better than 6-5 that they have faced beat them like a drum (Oregon, 53-30).

So who is it? Only two teams can complete for the title of national champion, LSU and Alabama.

Arkansas can be respected by being evolved in the conversation but there is no way they beat LSU. Yep, I said it. NO WAY.

So that leaves us with the Crimson Tide and the Tigers once again and I think that is exactly what the BCS was created to do. Get the two best teams in the game.

It doesn’t matter that they have already played or that they are in the same division of the same conference, they are the two best teams in the country.

Let’s tackle another debate.

With all the ramblings on the radio, television, and internet against a potential rematch, I began to wonder why none of this is said when two teams play again for a conference title. To me that is more pointless than the situation we have here.

For starters, what is the purpose of a conference championship game? To determine a conference champion? Really?

Maybe some years it does but what about as recently as last season?

Auburn had already defeated South Carolina once. Did we need a rematch to tell us Auburn was the best in the SEC? No, what the SEC needed was another game on national television. It’s all about money with these games there is no true purpose to have them. It kills me to see a team with an 8-0 conference record play a want-a-be at 6-2. Come on.

So if the 6-2 knocks off the 8-0, are they really conference champions? NO. Teams play eight conference games to determine a champion. If there is a tie, why not take a page from major League Baseball and have a one game playoff to decide who take home the league hardware?

If everything works out like my crystal ball tells me it will, a 7-1 Georgia team will face an 8-0 LSU team. In my mind 7-1 is not equal to 8-0 and there should not be a game. But that’s why I’m not the head of the most powerful college sports league in the country.

Back to the national championship.

It’s clearly Bama and LSU but each team has to take care of business before getting their rematch. Teams don’t get do-over and slip-ups can happen. Ask Oklahoma State, Stanford and Oregon.

It’s nice to have all this debate to fill airtime and page space. Think about it. We could be spending our time watching the spoiled children of the NBA play instead.

While, having the topic of college football to discuss is always entertaining., none of this matters until the BCS rankings come out the Sunday after the “pointless” conference championship games.

So, pick off another piece of Turkey, kick back and enjoy the trills of college football in November.

Wes Johnson is Sports Editor at The Messenger. He can be reached at wes.johnson@troymessenger.com or you can follow him on Twitter @messenger_wes.