Quote:
Originally Posted by Zurp
Many of you LSU fans seem to be pretty classy so far, so I'll ask you.. what do you think of these "there is no national champion this year" comments?
|
At the beginning of this season, I could have told you that these were the most stacked teams this year, in alphabetical order: Florida, Georgia, LSU, Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, USC.
Because all of these teams play in major conferences, had any of these teams finished with the best record this year, I would have had no doubt that they were a legit national champion contender in the NC game.
Of those 9 teams:
--One team (Ohio State) finished with only one loss, the only team in college to do so besides 11-1 Kansas.
--Four teams (Georgia, LSU, Oklahoma, USC) finished with only two losses, the only teams in college football to do so besides 11-2 VT, 10-2 BYU, 10-2 Boise State, 11-2 Mizzou, 10-2 WVU, 10-2 ASU.
So to me, there is absolutely no doubt that Ohio State is THE legit #1 team in the NC game. The only real issue to consider was: "Who should be the #2 team that gets the chance to beat #1 Ohio State for the title?" It should have gone to Georgia, LSU, Oklahoma, or USC. Georgia didn't win their own conference, so that would be lame to let them play #1 Ohio State for the championship. That left LSU, Oklahoma, and USC.
LSU had more quality wins that Oklahoma or USC. LSU beat Florida and Tennessee. Oklahoma beat Texas. USC didn't beat any major powerhouse this year.
You could also look at the 2nd-tier powerhouses that they played. LSU had VT, Auburn, Arkansas, Alabama, and South Carolina. I doubt that USC or Oklahoma beat as many 2nd-tier powerhouses.
As for their losses, LSU's losses weren't as bad as the losses that Oklahoma and USC had. LSU lost to 7-5 Kentucky and 8-4 Arkansas. Oklahoma lost to 6-6 Colorado and 8-4 Texas Tech. USC lost to 4-8 Stanford and 8-4 Oregon. In other words, LSU is the only team that lost to teams that had winning records. Neither Colorado or Stanford was ranked at any time this year. Kentucky spent 8 weeks in the Top 25 (and they were already in the Top 25 when they beat LSU). In addition, Kentucky actually has some superstars on their team this year. Who does Colorado or Stanford have?
Point is, it seemed pretty obvious to me that Ohio State would be #1 and LSU would be #2. When I found out the the AP, Coaches, and Harris poll all agreed with me, I wasn't surprised at all.
