The BCS rematch of LSU-Alabama was a media made game by ESPN, the networks and the money clout they have over college football. Competition and rankings had nothing to do with the rematch. Fifteen minutes after LSU defeated Alabama during the regular season a CBS reporter asked LSU coach Les Miles about a rematch before he left the field. That was a telling question because as of that moment both teams had three games left to play on their regular schedule. The rematch question was deliberate and was a prelude to what would follow.
LSU made two early mistakes. Miles should have brushed off the rematch question on the field and he and LSU's President should have said early on there would be no rematch in no uncertain terms and let the chips fall where they may. Plus LSU should have known better because of their rematch with Ole Miss in 1959.
Rematches are not good for competition and it allowed an unfair advantage to Alabama in this case because they only had to beat LSU once to win the national championship and LSU had to defeat Alabama twice to win the national championship. Any one who does not see the problem with that must be part of the news media.
At the end of the regular season LSU had won a division title and conference title. Oklahoma State won a conference title and Alabama won nothing. Yet Alabama was ranked second and OKS third. So much for competition. To some, what a team accomplishes during the regular season means nothing, but it should mean everything. There are no rematches in the SEC if a division ends up in a tie. The winner is chosen by other means, namely their record of how they competed during the regular season.
The media in New Orleans where the game was played billed the rematch as the game of the century even though the century is only 12 years old, which shows how silly the media was on the subject matter. Any sports minded person who follows football actually knew it would not be the game of the century. It is ironic that there was a time in the not to distant past when the national champion was crowned at the end of the regular season and before the bowl games. The bowl games were only to give the players and their teams a little fun, reward for the season and revenue for all teams in general. It is also ironic that there was more competition under that system then under the present system. And that really says it all.
Stay tuned for Part II: The New Orleans Saints and The NFL.
