Alabama outplayed LSU twice this year.

OK, now the Boone's Farm is getting to you. The first game was as close to a draw as you can get. No one "outplayed" anyone.

The funny thing is, without OT, that game goes down as a tie and we get skip about 90% of the BCS whining that we got this year because everyone would have wanted to see the two best teams get back at it and play until one of them won.

Alabama outplayed LSU twice this year.

By what measure?

By what measure?

By watching the actual game. This was simply a replay of the last game except Alabama was able to kick field goals...well I guess LSU was a little sorrier this game.

"Yeah, a bit of "revision" but I could give 2 shits, Alabama has been on the other side of being robbed by teams like Notre Dame for national titles back in the day. I will take 9, still the most of all-time."

Hard to claim that a system where voters pick who's the best instead of a playoff has generally screwed a team that has the most overall wins by that method.

I guess it's 8 titles by vote, and 1 by winning a title in a year where the team didn't even win its division, much less conference?

nice work if you can get it, some might say.....

I'm no SEC homer, but these are the two best teams, Bama punking LSU doesn't diminish LSU, they dominated plenty of talented teams this season. This year's champion, simply isn't a great offensive champion, but D is clearly the calling card, and that turned out to be Bama tonight. Bama's D is about as good as it gets. Did they blitz at all? Somehow, tOSU v Fla., had less yards than LSU. Bama may not have won a division or a conference championship, but the Patriots are on the verge of playing for an AFC championship having defeated zero team with a winning record.

This was simply a replay of the last game except Alabama was able to kick field goals.

I disagree, to say the least.

I disagree, to say the least.

How so. LSU moved the ball a better the first game, but 2 of their fields goals were set up by great field position. Alabama was able to move the ball against LSU in the first game, but couldn't hit field goals. Today they could...and they played better defense and special teams as a whole.

How so. LSU moved the ball a better the first game, but 2 of their fields goals were set up by great field position. Alabama was able to move the ball against LSU in the first game, but couldn't hit field goals. Today they could...and they played better defense and special teams as a whole.

Like Dagoberto said above, that game was as close to a draw as you can get. Both teams were able to move the ball decently at times but weren't able to string enough first downs together to get meaningful scoring chances. I don't know how anyone could watch both games and conclude this one was essentially a repeat.

Bama's missed FGs in the first game were 44, 49, 50 and 52. To say they just "couldn't hit field goals," as if to imply these were great opportunities they just failed to capitalize on, is disingenuous.

In the first game, it almost seemed like Alabama was trying FGs they knew they couldn't make as a way to stake a claim to the voters, if they lost, to a BCS berth without even winning their division.

Claim you only lost due to missed FGs, so....

.... nah

Did you miss the USC blowout of Oklahoma? The Miami blowout of Nebraska (who did not go to their conference title game), the Oklahoma 13-2 win over Florida State? The Tennessee win over Florida State and their 4th string QB?

A nice one-sided blowout would have been way more enjoyable than this to a neutral fan. The others all count as "a long time" in my sports viewing world.

To be clear, no blame to Alabama for the general wretchedness of the game. Their offense looked reasonably competent and their defense was really good. The game was awful because LSU's gameplan relied on god or a punt return to get them into Alabama territory, and they didn't bother to adjust when it became clear that God was still tapped out from the Broncos game.

The general suckiness of the game was exacerbated by the fact that Alabama winning didn't tell a clear story. I don't know whether Alabama is the best team in the country. I don't know whether the SEC is really that much better than other conferences. Of course, a one-off between LSU-Ok. St. (or Alabama-Stanford) wouldn't really have settled that either, but we could have at least pretended it did. That was drama that the other games you mentioned had, even if they were underwhelming in other aspects.

Too bad Oklahoma State couldn't trot out the same one after blowing the game against Iowa State. Should have done it against Kansas State instead.

I'm not much of a College Football guy, but I'm just baffled at the decision to leave Jefferson in there. Maybe Lee would have been worse, but there was absolutely no risk in making the change, because if you don't you just lose anyway. At least maybe if you give Alabama something different to defend besides the option and screen passes, things change a bit.

I didn't watch the game last night, and based on the score and recap it looks like that was a good decision. I'm not deeply surprised. In LSU's other big games, they always needed one huge, semi-unrepeatable play to break the game open. A fumble return TD against Oregon, a kickoff return TD against WVU, a punt return TD against Georgia, a ridiculous interception on the 1 yard line against Alabama. It's impressive they were able to do it so often, but I did have a feeling it wasn't quite sustainable.

Inge is being a classless winning fan, which doesn't surprise me.

Can we nuke this thread now and start a new one? The post count is messed up by 25 posts and it's throwing off pages.

Les Miles was being merciful. the other quarterback has less mobility and might have gotten hurt given the Alabama pass rush which seemed to come in waves.

Just submitted a postseason thread.

Inge is being a classless winning fan, which doesn't surprise me.

Just enjoying my fraudelent national title by playing in the most terrible bowl game in the history of college football, thank you very much!

Now onward to (over)Signing Day!

Les Miles was being merciful. the other quarterback has less mobility and might have gotten hurt given the Alabama pass rush which seemed to come in waves.

If Miles can be taken at his word and the lack of mobility is the only reason Lee didn't play, I think this shows that only one team actually spent the long layoff really preparing for this game- there is no excuse for having a month to prepare for a team they had already played and not having a plan in place to deal with a strong pass rush.

the most terrible bowl game in the history of college football

Oregon St-Pitt Sun Bowl. 3-0. It was at least interesting to see how good Alabama's defense is, even if they were barely on the field because LSU had 5 ####### first downs all game.

Bama's defense looked awesome last night, historically awesome. I have no problem saying that a team that did that to LSU is the Mythical National Champion for the season.

Florida has apparently hired Boise State offensive coordinator Brent Pease to replace Charlie Weis. I am reasonably pleased, though I'm always a bit leery of coordinators who...coordinate under a head coach who specializes in their area.

Alabama was going hard after Brent Pease as well, so next grab. Not sure where Alabama looks next.

Is there some reason Pease isn't getting Head Coach offers? Seems like he would be a great option for a school that can't get/afford a big name HC. Not that the Florida OC is a bad gig, but I didn't really hear of him even interviewing for top jobs. Seems a little surprising given Boise's success.

Is there some reason Pease isn't getting Head Coach offers? Seems like he would be a great option for a school that can't get/afford a big name HC. Not that the Florida OC is a bad gig, but I didn't really hear of him even interviewing for top jobs. Seems a little surprising given Boise's success.

This was Pease's first season as offensive coordinator, he was just a position coach previously (also, as mentioned, there is the fact that head coach Chris Petersen is an offensive genius in his own right). If I'm not mistaken, Texas' current offensive coordinator had been the OC at Boise prior to Pease.

Alabama was going hard after Brent Pease as well, so next grab. Not sure where Alabama looks next.

Dirk Koetter seems to be the popular name for that gig.

Pease isn't completely unfamiliar with the offensive coordinator's position. He held that job at Kentucky when Jared Lorenzen was breaking records and scales in Lexington. Of course, it turns out that Lorenzen really, really hates Pease, and he went on Twitter this week to say so.

WVU has lost their DC and 2 other defensive coaches to RichRod at Arizona. I think Rodriguez has assembled close to the final staff he had at WVU in '07.

Jeff Casteel is a good coordinator and coach, he will be missed here.

WVU's staff will more than likely have just one coach that has previously been at WVU. WVU also has almost no ties to their previous recruiting areas of Western PA, South FL, Baltimore-area, VA beach area. With an entire new staff and joining a new conference, this program will see a complete overhaul in recruiting, hopefully for the better.

He held that job at Kentucky when Jared Lorenzen was breaking records and scales in Lexington.

This is both hilarious, and (by the way) extremely hard to do, since they have unlimited access to umpteen horse farms, and thus horse scales, in and around Lexington. Yet Lorenzen managed the trick.

Oh, it gets better. Here's a picture of Lorenzen in the sub-AFL arena football league for which he plays.

Jeff Casteel is a good coordinator and coach, he will be missed here.

I am sad to see him go. The defense was really coming on towards the end of the season and I think the young guys would have flourished under his tutelage. Here's hoping Holgorsen can figure out a way to replace him effectively.

WVU's staff will more than likely have just one coach that has previously been at WVU. WVU also has almost no ties to their previous recruiting areas of Western PA, South FL, Baltimore-area, VA beach area. With an entire new staff and joining a new conference, this program will see a complete overhaul in recruiting, hopefully for the better.

Hopefully! I am nervous about this though. WVU's Florida pipeline has been pretty invaluable lately. They are going to be pretty far down the list in the Texas area. I hope they try to schedule OOC games in FL as often as they can just to keep WVU on the brain of Florida prospects. Of course, they've already tried to back out of the FSU game next year, which isn't a great way to start IMO.

BTW, both ESPN's make believe rankings and College Football Reference's more respectable SRS rate the Big East ahead of the ACC this year.

This computer ranking compilation has BE ahead of the ACC. scroll to the bottom.

It also has Bama barely ahead of LSU

Hopefully! I am nervous about this though. WVU's Florida pipeline has been pretty invaluable lately.

WVU's pipeline to Florida started in the 90s with Doc on Nehlen's staff. WVU was only capable of landing the 2nd/3rd tier Florida recruits though. Doc was let go when Rodriguez came in, and he went on to NC State and later UF. I'm not sure who on the initial Rodriguez staff ran the FL recruiting ground. If you look back, there was not a lot of upper-tier talent coming from FL then (outside of Devine). Doc came back when for Stewart's staff, and that's when the major influx of high talent FL kids really started. Former WVU LB Damon Gogdell is the HC at Miramar HS, and he has been more responsible than anyone on the staff in actually getting Geno, Baily, etc to commit to WVU. I would hope that line would remain in tact, as Miramar has been putting out several 3-4-5 star recruits every single year the last 4-5 years. I'm extremely nervous about how all these quick changes will effect the recruiting for the program.

Of course, they've already tried to back out of the FSU game next year, which isn't a great way to start IMO.

Assuming WVU has to drop a game for '12, I'm not sure which one is the best to drop. The neutral site JMU game is a guaranteed 1 million dollar payout. Hard to pass up that kind of money for playing a 1-AA opponent. Marshall, legislative pressure in the state would never allow that one to happen (though I think the '12 game is the last one in the 7 year series). Maryland is an actual border rival, whom WVU has a history against.

Oh, it gets better. Here's a picture of Lorenzen in the sub-AFL arena football league for which he plays.

Its funny how the UK QB that gets talked about more isn't the guy who went #1.

Yahoo!'s absurdly premature preseason top 25.

Big East pushing for Boise to join in 2012. I guess they don't have too much confidence in WVU staying. If i'm Boise I try to make it happen. Much easier road to a BCS game in what could be a down year for them.

oops I bumped the wrong thread

i'm just gonna give a quick update:

Investigators have obtained internal e-mails that show former Penn State President Graham B. Spanier and another top university official agreed it would be "humane" not to report to authorities that Jerry Sandusky had an encounter with naked boy in a university gym shower, NBC News reported Monday.

NBC said state prosecutors are continuing an investigation and that Spanier, who was forced to resign over the scandal, could now face charges.