LSU beat The [Lame] Ohio State University, 38-24, to win a crystal football trophy and the right to claim they won the Bowl Championship Series. Whoopee! Fans of the Tigers can brag that they’re No. 1, but many college football fans elsewhere will disagree. In this weird college football season there was no standout team and LSU becomes the first BCS winner to lose twice.
Two-loss Georgia and USC and one-loss Kansas, all of which won their bowl game, can also claim bragging rights but absent a playoff can’t do much other than talk. Only Texas-USC two years ago, with both teams unbeaten going in, produced a game that clearly determined college football’s best.
One suggestion for next season to BCS officials: Ban Ohio State from playing in the title game. This was the Buckeyes’ second straight loss despite being ranked No. 1 both years going in. The Buckeyes led, 10-0, but LSU ran off 31 straight points to win convincingly. Last year, OSU took a 7-0 lead over Florida but got stomped 41-14.
Beating Kent State, Akron and Youngstown State in addition to winning a weak Big Ten did not prepare Ohio State for a team of LSU’s caliber. They backed in to the title game because their season ended two weeks sooner than other conferences and they watched as teams ahead of them in the polls lost; I suspect other schools will use this “bye” strategy in the future. It didn't help OSU that they had 50 days between games.
One more thing about college football -– the games last forever. The clock is stopped on all first downs and incompletions and games take almost four hours to play. Fox crammed tons of commercials in and I had time to watch “The Daily Show,” the NFL Network and “Countdown With Keith Olbermann” between the numerous and interminable breaks. The NFL, to its credit, gets virtually all non-overtime games played in three hours (and even they have way too many commercials).
Update: The TV ratings came out and this year's game fell 19% from last year. not a surprise given the relative lack of buzz for Ohio State vs. a two-loss team. -–Jim Buzinski
LSU beat The [Lame] Ohio State University, 38-24, to win a crystal football trophy and the right to claim they won the Bowl Championship Series. Whoopee! Fans of the Tigers can brag that they’re No. 1, but many college football fans elsewhere will disagree. In this weird college football season there was no standout team and LSU becomes the first BCS winner to lose twice.
Two-loss Georgia and USC and one-loss Kansas, all of which won their bowl game, can also claim bragging rights but absent a playoff can’t do much other than talk. Only Texas-USC two years ago, with both teams unbeaten going in, produced a game that clearly determined college football’s best.
One suggestion for next season to BCS officials: Ban Ohio State from playing in the title game. This was the Buckeyes’ second straight loss despite being ranked No. 1 both years going in. The Buckeyes led, 10-0, but LSU ran off 31 straight points to win convincingly. Last year, OSU took a 7-0 lead over Florida but got stomped 41-14.
Beating Kent State, Akron and Youngstown State in addition to winning a weak Big Ten did not prepare Ohio State for a team of LSU’s caliber. They backed in to the title game because their season ended two weeks sooner than other conferences and they watched as teams ahead of them in the polls lost; I suspect other schools will use this “bye” strategy in the future. It didn't help OSU that they had 50 days between games.
One more thing about college football -– the games last forever. The clock is stopped on all first downs and incompletions and games take almost four hours to play. Fox crammed tons of commercials in and I had time to watch “The Daily Show,” the NFL Network and “Countdown With Keith Olbermann” between the numerous and interminable breaks. The NFL, to its credit, gets virtually all non-overtime games played in three hours (and even they have way too many commercials).
Update: The TV ratings came out and this year's game fell 19% from last year. not a surprise given the relative lack of buzz for Ohio State vs. a two-loss team. -–Jim Buzinski
