Mitchell: Show me Bama's ONE Good Win?
By Russ Mitchell
CollegeFootballNews.com
Posted Dec 4, 2011
It's pretty simple - show me just one win that says Bama deserves the privilege of a rematch of a game it already lost
By what measuring stick do you argue that Oklahoma State doesn’t deserve to play in the national championship game? The “eyeball test”. Please knock that crap off. Outside of a strip club, the eyeball test fails weekly…WEEKLY – WEEKLY – WEEKLY. As every CFB analyst worth his weight knows.
You are just guessing if you’re going on something so nebulous as that. Which means you have no real argument. Instead, until we finally get the playoff our sport and its players/fans so desperately deserve, let’s just go on a few facts.
FACT: This season the SEC is very top heavy. 2011 has been LSU, Bama, an overrated but still above average Arkansas squad…and then crickets. That’s it. No, not Georgia. If Georgia had played LSU, Bama and Arkansas this regular season, they’d have losses to LSU, Bama and Arkansas.
This year’s rankings slipped off SEC teams faster than wedding rings off Kardashians...and for good reason. As a result, sweeping the conference in 2011 doesn’t carry nearly the same weight as it has in previous years. Just a fact – not debatable. By nearly any standard, it’s been a down year for SEC football.
FACT: Why are we talking about losses? Up until Saturday Houston had zero losses and no one was talking about them as a viable challenger. Why? Because they had no viable wins. So, who are mighty Alabama’s big wins? A Penn State squad currently ranked fifth in its own conference with the 110th scoring offense, or an Arkansas team whose best win itself is either Texas A&M (the seventh place team in OSU's Big 12) or an Auburn squad that’s surrendered 208 points in its five losses. That’s it, Grandma. So, where is Bama’s great win? Just point me to one.
Meanwhile, OSU has beaten seven teams with winning records to Bama’s three. OSU has beaten five ranked teams to Bama’s two. It’s not even close, folks; in a world where we only play a dozen or so games, that spread is massive
OSU just absolutely annihilated the #10 Oklahoma Sooners 44-10, and it could have been much worse – to his credit, OSU head coach Mike Gundy pulled off the gas in the fourth quarter; all 44 points came in the first three. Raise your hand if you can remember the last time an Oklahoma team lost that decisively, and I’ll tell you you’re a Trojan fan. The Sooners lose games like that three or four times a decade.
I’m an SEC guy first and a CFB man second, and I’ll go, watch and report on an LSU vs. Bama rematch if it happens… But if it’s truly so neck-and-neck between Bama and OSU, I’ve already seen Bama play LSU. On Bama’s home field.
Why would I want to watch it again when I could see the other neck play LSU?
Just because I’m a lover of all things SEC? Damn right, I am. But that doesn’t mean I’m ignorant to the fact that other conferences also play football. And given the weak nature of the SEC this year – the SEC that can’t even fill out all of its bowl responsibilities, and even that fails to accurately convey our ineptitude in 2011 – I don’t think we deserve two teams playing, particularly given the fact that Bama has no real win on which to hang its hat.
For me, if the man behind the curtain at ESPN calls out LSU vs. Bama on Sunday, the college football season is over, and LSU is your national champion. I’m not obligated to vote for the winner of the “invite only” one-game of a crappy BCS system, like the “coaches” are in the “Coaches" Poll.
Why would I vote Bama over LSU if they win? In that scenario the teams are 1-1, with LSU 13-1 to Bama’s 12-1, the Tigers will have won both the SEC and SEC West crowns, will have more wins than Bama, more wins against ranked opponents by far, more wins against teams with winning records, more wins against top three opponents, more wins against conference champions (Oregon and WVU to Bama’s zero), AND WILL HAVE BEATEN THE TIDE IN THEIR OWN STADIUM.
Tell me again why Bama would be the champion?
One side note – if you’re wondering why nearly every voice at ESPN is united in proposing the single argument that there IS no argument on who should be playing LSU… If you’re wondering how a network that usually encourages us to debate every possible nuance of CFB has now for two weeks been unified in selling us a single message, I remind you of this little ditty:
The Entertainment and Sports Programming Network recently paid $2.25 billion, that’s with a B, for broadcasting rights to the SEC for 15 years…AND ESPN now owns the broadcasting rights for our sports’ BCS Championship game as well.
Yes, ESPN has its fingers in nearly every conference, but nothing to the scale it has invested with the SEC. That’s a lot of motivation to support the LSU/Bama brands…in a neck-and-neck situation, especially. Somebody bang a gavel and keep it in the family.
