I know this isn't a sports blog but the college football season got turned on it's ear last night as the number 1 and 2 teams in the country lost, leaving the championship picture wide open. Ohio State at #3 was the big winner as having only one loss, they move into the #1 slot. But then valid arguments could be made for any of the next 8 teams as to who should be #2 and play the Buckeyes for the championship. Georgia is currently #4 so traditionally they should move up to the #2 spot. That's how the polls have always behaved in the past but not now. All the sports media are clamoring for LSU #7 to bounce over everybody, all the way to #2.
"But Ed" you wonder, "how can the media justify LSU breaking the polling tradition and leapfrogging all the other teams into the championship game, when there are arguments for all the other teams to be there too, except maybe for #5 Virginia Tech?"
Well, here's why: Les Miles is the LSU coach and the current darling of the sports media. He's an alum and native of Michigan, he played there, coached under Shembechler, and met his wife on campus. He's also the odds on favorite to take the Michigan head-coaching job, vacated by Lloyd Carr because he couldn't beat Ohio State, Michigan's biggest rival. How perfect a story if Les Miles, in effect, auditioned for the Michigan job by playing Ohio State for the national championship?If he were to prove that he could beat Ohio State on the national championship stage, Michigan would offer him twice the previous offer.
The frothing sports-media jackals have practically an erotic obsession with this story and so they're arguing LSU's angle so they can write about it for the next month and a half. Put it this way, if Les Miles were at Georgia, they'd be arguing the Georgia angle so they could still write the Home-Boy-Returns-to-Michigan-to-Beat-Ohio-State story.
I know, I know, Les Miles said that he'll be back at LSU next year, but if he manages to beat Ohio State and win, Michigan will renew it's offer to get him to come home.
Look, I'll admit that any team in the top 8 or 9 have a legitimate argument for being in the big game, but don't pretend that this is about the rightful team getting there, it's about writing the story that's bigger than the big game itself.
2 comments:
Georgia should be in the title game, plain and simple. Im not a big fan of the whole don't win your conference, don't play in the championship game, but this is one instance where I will make an exception, because no team should be able to jump 3 and four teams that didn't lose to get there. You have announcers making comments that USC and Oklahoma should be in the title game! Look, if the polls say Georgia is next in line, they should let them play, this would take care of a lot of problems for the BCS, as they would have a predictable system that people could not complain about, but now since they pick favorites, people hate them because the team next in line is getting its fair shot. If you can make an argument for any of the 6 through 10 teams for playing in the title game, does that mean that they are all going to jump Georgia and Kansas? Probably not. Also I would like to note that the CBS commentators blames LSU's National Championship hopes on a single chop block during the Auburn Game. If it weren't for that chop block, LSU would still have Glenn Dorsey and undoubtedly would have never lost the Arkansas game, because as we all know, there is only one player on the LSU defense. I am appalled at CBS commentary.
I found a guy who agrees with me. Read this Fox Sports article, he pretty much lays it out on behalf of Georgia.
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