Writers want a rematch, Coaches do not.

This is not meant to take sides on the current argument, but without the SEC Championship Game victory over Georgia in 2003, LSU would not have made it to the BCS title game.

An extra game meant a chance for another victory over a top-10 team.
An extra game also meant a chance to lose, but in this case, there was nothing to lose, because if the SEC had no championship game LSU had no shot.

 

And it wasn't Tennessee's fault for being in a conference that DID add a game . . . and cost them a chance to play for the title in 2001.

But it WAS Tennessee's fault for screwing up and losing that game.

Just like it WAS Michigan's fault for losing last week.

When you are given a chance to control your own destiny with one game, you have NO chance to complain later if you are on the losing end of that game.

 

Yes it is Michigan's fault. As a member of the Big 10 Conference, Michigan officials vote on such things.

Time and time again, they decided that they don't want a conference title game. Simple as that.

 

This will go on ad nauseum until there is a playoff...

 

Isn't it an NCAA bylaw that you have to have 12 teams to stage a conference title game?

 

It might be, but the Big 10 has been consistent in leaving that 12th spot open for Notre Dame, which won't ever happen. I'm guessing the NCAA could grant them an exception, if they asked for one, but they never bothered to go there.

And the more I think about it, it's funny Alexander is whining about this. Teams like Tennessee and Kansas State have missed chances at national title because they lost a conference title game.

I'm guessing USC the last three years and 2002 Ohio State were happy they didn't have that extra game.

 

And you can add 2006 Ohio State to that list.

But Michigan wants it both ways. They want to brag about the purity of their conference and how it won't succumb to greed . . . but they still demand the second chance that conference title games offer, and then they have the hubris to demand that this second chance come in the national title game.

 

For the Big 10 to add a champ game, it needs to add one more team. For sake of the argument, let's assume its Notre Dame.

Would you divide the conference on east-west geography or north-south? If you wanted a possible OSU-MU rematch, you'd have to go with North-South.

But keep in mind, the Big 12 did that, splitting up Nebraska and Oklahoma and in essence destroyed one of college football's great annual games.

 

How soundly did Mississppi State beat Oregon in 2002 and 2003?

How soundly did Alabama beat UCLA in 2000 and 2001?

How badly did Mississippi beat Wyoming in 2004 and 2005?

LSU sneaked past Oregon State, and has beaten the Arizonas recently (so has everyone else in the Pac-10). And yes, outside of USC, the SEC beat up on the Pac-10 this year, in games all played at SEC stadiums.

Might be different when Tennesse plays the return game at Cal. And we all know there's not a chance in hell that Georgia ever goes to Boise State, or that Tennessee goes to Fresno State, or that LSU goes to Oregon State.

It's to bad there are so few intersectional games between the conferences. I'd love to see a Pac-10/SEC challenge, with teams playing home-and-home.

SC didn't need a conference title game. In 2005, it whipped Oregon, the second-place team. In 2004 it beat Cal, the second-place team. And in 2003 it beat Washington State, the second-place team. No need for a rematch.

 

I'm none of the above (check the logo), but I am a college football fan.

 

LSU has played home-away games with Arizona and played Arizona State on the road (granted that was because of Katrina, but the storm just pushed up the timetable). I think a trip to Oregon State isn't out of the question.

 

I don't know all the particulars about Big 12 scheduling, but why did that have to happen?

When the SEC split into two divisions, each team was assigned a "permanent" opponent in the other division that they face every year. The other five teams rotate onto the schedule.

Tennessee's permanent opponent in the West is Alabama. Rivalry preserved. Georgia's permament opponent is Auburn. Rivalry preserved.

How come the Big 12 couldn't or didn't do that?