A Great Weekend for a Great Sport
by Poseur on Nov 21, 2011 10:07 AM CST
in Football
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Before we move on to the most recent Game of the Century of the Week, let's just sit back and appreciate how wonderful college football is. Going into this weekend, I don't think anybody expected much from this slate of games, and instead we got another reminder that college football is the greatest sport on earth.
One of Les Miles' greatest attributes is not just that he appreciates LSU's football tradition, he respects all of college football's tradition and his small place in it. He reminds us, the fans, to stand back and take in the whole scene.
There's lots of great things about this sport, but this weekend highlighted two things in particular: each game has consequences and that each conference championship matters.
Winning the national title is great, but a team cannot control whether they will play for the title or not, just ask Auburn. College football is not one league like the NFL or the NBA, it is a loose affiliation of several independent leagues, more like international cub soccer. No one cares who wins the AFC North, but schools celebrate the anniversaries of their conference titles.
This also means that every game matters. OK, some games matters more than others. But Vanderbilt-Tennessee isn't just another instance of Lucy pulling the football from Charlie Brown, it is a struggle for Vanderbilt to become bowl eligible. And as an SEC fans, we care more about this game because it is within our own little galaxy.
SEC teams, like every other conference teams, largely play the same schedule each year. We see the same teams over and over again, breeding both familiarity and contempt. And this year's humiliation becomes motivation in next year's showdown. I still want LSU to beat up on Auburn because of the cigar incident, and that was almost ten years ago. Let's just say that I think that Victory Formation is going to come up again in Ole Miss lore.
But the games with the largest consequences were those with the national title implications. I hate the line that "every week is a playoff" because it really isn't, but still, every game has consequence. Had this been an NFL weekend, it would have been some nice upsets, and then we would have moved on with our lives. Not in college.
Clemson flew a bit under the radar this weekend, but their loss killed their title chances. The Tigers had a chance to climb up the BCS rankings and just blew it. Oklahoma played in perhaps the most exciting game of the weekend, and its consequences were twofold - OU saw its title hopes go up in smoke and RG3 saw his Heisman campaign gain a second wind. Alabama fans had an incredibly exciting weekend, watching all of their competitors for the title game drop like flies. It doesn't mean Bama's in the title game, but their chances are a lot better today than they were 72 hours ago.
We didn't see this weekend coming. It was supposed to be a light slate without much interest. But when you least expect it, this sport reminds you just how unpredictable it is. And that's what makes it so great.
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And how great it is...
To sit atop this wonderful universe of college football as galactic overlord. Being #1 and winning handily just made it all that much easier to really get into the weekend as a whole.
great point
Poseur, great write up. It is too bad I wasn’t able to fully enjoy all the upsets, as I don’t want to play bama again…b/c those were some great games. w/o the bama aspect, I would have been totally soaking in all of these games…but i couldn’t fully appreciate them b/c i was cheering for OK and Oregon.
Baylor Law alum
So I cheered my guts out for the B. But I also enjoyed Oregon losing not because I hate the Ducks, but because I like it when timidity is punished. Never play for a field goal in college. Never.
Fake Pundit. Real Fan.
And The Valley Shook!
I self-indulgently tweet @ATVSPoseur
i love the ducks and still hate USC
so i wasn’t for this one. i love that oregon never panics when they get down by 20. chip kelly has done a great job w/ that program.
also, i love RG3. as a wake alum, we played baylor when he was a freshman and I remember how lucky we were to get them when he was so young…you could tell he was going to be awesome. I think it is awesome that he punts for baylor at times too.
I used to really like the Ducks (except those LSD uniforms)
but after they booed injured players I moved on. I didn’t realize how far I moved until I found myself cheering USC on – which still feels dirty.
"They play violent football at risk of injury for their team and for their school. The gift that I'm given is to be allowed to be on the sideline with them and coach them." Les Miles
by ZimmZimmZalaBimm on Nov 21, 2011 11:53 AM CST up reply actions 1 recs
I was very pissed to see Bama getting a muligan for home loss, and ducking a champ game
but I’m on the Miles Train now. Bring those whiny bitches on. If we were to lose the title game, I’m just going to use their logic – no, we clearly gave you the game cause we already proved we can even beat your ass in your backward, so we are the real champions. And if we win, we get two slaps on the nose of $6 million man in one year. Wow, that is good stuff.
Bring’em on.
"They play violent football at risk of injury for their team and for their school. The gift that I'm given is to be allowed to be on the sideline with them and coach them." Les Miles
by ZimmZimmZalaBimm on Nov 21, 2011 11:56 AM CST up reply actions
Great post Poseur
and really, this is another example of why I do not want a playoff. I think it will devalue the bowls, the conference games, and the regular season. I am just fine with what we have – or a plus one. And I love that teams that have no shot at the national title or a playoff (if there was one) still have something to play for – like UVA.
See, and I want a playoff
But only with conference champs. It keeps the value of the regular season and if you lose your conference, well, shut up. You can hang a banner saying you’re the second best team in the country.
I don’t think valuing the regular season and a playoff are incompatible ideals. In fact, I value conference titles above all else. I’d be happy if we went back to pre-BCS bowl chaos.
Fake Pundit. Real Fan.
And The Valley Shook!
I self-indulgently tweet @ATVSPoseur
I'm pro BCS
There is just too much drama and discussion to be had on its behalf.
2011 LSU Accolades:
"Saban thoroughly outcoached by Miles" -Jen Engel, Fox Sports
"I really like corndogs" -Sparky
"Imperial Intergalactic Overlord Barkevious Mingo" -Andy Staples
"If Alabama's defense is a boa constrictor, slowly sucking the life out of opposing offenses, LSU's is more like a goon that throws the offense into a burlap sack and starts beating it with a stick." -Matt Hinton
"Oregon’s Chip Kelly is generally considered a coaching mastermind. Miles toyed with him here Saturday night." -Dan Wetzel, Yahoo Sports
"I don’t want to say that I think Mo Claiborne is faster than Patrick Peterson…..but I think Mo Claiborne is faster than Patrick Peterson." -Les Miles
The recent talk of BCS only doing the champ game seems promising.
That way you get back to the old bowls, and if they do it right, you get the BCS selection after the bowls. That lets the bowls work as a defacto playoff with the conference champs – and still let’s Bama claim another title from some high school paper’s poll after they fail to win their division.
"They play violent football at risk of injury for their team and for their school. The gift that I'm given is to be allowed to be on the sideline with them and coach them." Les Miles
by ZimmZimmZalaBimm on Nov 21, 2011 1:05 PM CST up reply actions
IF
they do the BCS Championship game AFTER the bowls then that would be AMAZING!
All the major bowls then get significance. Then the top two teams in the land would be playing a real championship.
B1G Championship game leads to Rose Bowl
Pac12 Championship game leads to Rose Bowl
SEC Championship game leads to the Sugar Bowl
ACC Championship game leads to the Orange Bowl
Big XII Championship game (when resumed) leads to the Fiesta Bowl.
That would leave three open slots for the “next best team” (and yes I left off the Big East from Automatically qualifying as they don’t have a championship game.
"I solemnly swear to tell the truth as I know it, the whole truth as I believe it to be, and nothing but what I think you need to know."
Yeah, I see your point...
But I am not sure it improves much in a typical year. Assume LSU and other current conference leaders win out. That means a playoff with LSU, probably VA Tech, the Bedlam winner, one of wisconsin/penn state, stanford, Houston, TCU, and some random big east team.
Right.
How is that better?
Does anyone think the random big east team, houston, tcu, and whoever comes out of the Big 10 has any business in a playoff with LSU? Same with Va Tech really.
This example leaves out a team that is clearly one of the top four in the country at a minimum (Bama) and replaces it with teams that should arguably be unranked (TCU/Big east team).
I think conference titles are extremely valuable, but they are not equally valuable, and I have no particular affinity for a playoff that equates them. It’s also why I do not like AQ conferences – or the two BCS team max. This year, LSU, Bama and Arky should all be in BCS bowls and the big east winner should go to Shreveport.
stupid edit
Not sure it improves much this year – or in a typical year…
many times
the second best team is a team that finishes second in their conference. I am all for a playoff that gives conference champs a leg up (easier or no first round game) but if there were a playoff this year and teams like Alabama, Arkansas, Stanford, or Oklahoma were not included while teams like whoever wins the Big (L)East and ACC are included then you would not have a tournament of the very best to become National Champions.
"I solemnly swear to tell the truth as I know it, the whole truth as I believe it to be, and nothing but what I think you need to know."
I don't want a playoff either
Not even with conference champions. Because some years divisions are wrapped up with a few weeks still left to go in the regular season. Or, for those conferences without a championship game, they wrap up the conference outright by virtue of record with a few weeks to go. In those cases, I absolutely, 100%, NEVER want to see college teams pull an NFL, and rest their best players to keep them safe from injury before the conference championship game and the playoffs. How many times in the mid-2000’s did I watch the Colts secure home-field advantage, and then Peyton sat out and they lost the rest of their games. People say that would never happen in the Iron Bowl, etc…..but all it would take is one key injury one year and I’m pretty sure we’d start seeing it become common.
I love college ball because of the way it is, not in spite of it. The way we crown champions is a little arbitrary, I can admit that. But playoffs are also arbitrary, just a different kind of arbitrary. Playoffs reward the “hottest” team at the end of the year. College football as we know it rewards the season-long resume. It depends on how you want to pick your champion. Do you want to crown the “best” team at the end of the year? Or do you want to crown the team that had the best whole season? The Packers didn’t win their own division. Does anybody really think, looking at the entire 2007 season, the Giants were better than the Patriots (who beat the Giants in the regular season finale)? I don’t begrudge the way the NFL does things. It even makes sense to me given that the relative parity of the NFL compared to college makes it a somewhat different game. But in a sport where talent mismatches are rampant, as in college football, I like rewarding the team with the most outstanding resume. And again, we know the best team doesn’t always win, so playoffs are every bit as arbitrary as what we have right now. Statistically speaking, the best team won’t make it through a playoff run either, so I think playoff champions are just that—playoff champions. Neither playoffs nor the BCS say anything definitive about who the real BEST team is.
We’ve got an NFL. I just don’t want another one. And if I had my druthers, I’d really like to ditch the BCS and go back to the old bowl system. Even though the BCS has done some good things and given us some great games we wouldn’t have otherwise gotten to see, I like how the post-season used to have the capacity to hold promise for several teams. Several different teams could go into their bowls hoping to sway the AP and other polls, all of them alive and hoping for a shot at a national championship. That was kind of exciting. Now every team except for two knows they are just playing glorified exhibition games.
by MikeDeTiger on Nov 21, 2011 2:17 PM CST up reply actions 2 recs
I think we agree on that
I don’t want another NFL either. Conference titles matter. No one cares who wins the AFC North.
Fake Pundit. Real Fan.
And The Valley Shook!
I self-indulgently tweet @ATVSPoseur
You might think I'm crazy
Conference titles matter more to me than anything, including national championships. I’d rather LSU win the SEC than a national championship. Obviously doing both is even better, but I’d rather win the SEC than say, not win the conference but win a NC as Oklahoma had the chance to do in 2003. For me, I recognize that there is a certain element of being a beauty pageant to a national championship. A team doesn’t control that. USC couldn’t get a crack in 2003, Auburn couldn’t get a crack in 2004, on and on….. But winning a conference…..that’s real. That’s definitive. A team absolutely controls that. It’s material and indisputable. It means that out of all these guys we’ve been playing for 100 years over and over, we’re the best this year. I guess that’s part of why I liked the old bowl system. Seemed winning the conference was paramount back then. That was everybody’s biggest goal. Now with so many games on TV, more exposure than ever, and the BCS, it seems the attention has shifted to being national champions. It’s all about who’s the best in the country. As if being conference champions isn’t enough anymore. I love the SEC, being the best in the SEC, and if we get NC trophies to go with it……icing on the cake.
I absolutely agree
The SEC title matters more to me than anything else. As it should.
Fake Pundit. Real Fan.
And The Valley Shook!
I self-indulgently tweet @ATVSPoseur
Seconded.
Win the SEC. If that comes with a good enough record to qualify for another championship game, so be it. It will more often than not, but it’s the first goal.
Writer (and a handsome one at that),
And the Valley Shook
by Billy Gomila on Nov 21, 2011 3:22 PM CST up reply actions
I agree here as well.
I’ve been more excited at the prospect of clinching our division and going to Atlanta then anything else. To be able to say we are the SEC Champions means a lot to me. It means we won the conference, we won our league. Out of all the quality teams in our league, we won, and are the best. To do so with a perfect record is just as awesome.
As for the idea of the old bowl system, I like that idea but I don’t know how great of an idea it is that the national champion is left up to the opinion of the few. Although I guess it’s the same way now.
It looks to me like we might be going back to that old system.
I don't see how a playoff could devalue the regular season
anymore than it will already be devalued if Bama gets a rematch with LSU and the “Game of the Century” becomes essentially meaningless.
My idea is that every specific body strives to become master over all space and to extend its force (--its will to power:) and to thrust back all that resists its extension.
except if this happens -a rematch
it will be the first time ever under the BCS. Under playoff, it would likely be a regular occurrence.
You nailed it with this piece
Very much a great weekend for a great sport. Seems to me this whole season has had a number of exciting weekends and great games. Lots of late game and OT thrillers. Just a great year overall….and I’m pretty sure I’d think the same thing even if my team weren’t killing it. Good point about Les too. I think he “gets it.” He knows we’re just a piece in the great machine that is college football. But he knows we’re the best piece, too :D
This season reminds me a little of 2007
Remember what happened that year….
Les Miles is the lord of chaos. I think this might be a crazy year where LSU is undefeated and everyone else (of significance) has two losses.
(formerly Gregatron)
Respect the bucket, son.
by Eggplant Wizard on Nov 22, 2011 12:31 AM CST reply actions
Note: 2007 was, imo
the greatest cfb season ever. 2011, as great as it is, pails in comparison to 2007’s awesomeness.
(formerly Gregatron)
Respect the bucket, son.
by Eggplant Wizard on Nov 22, 2011 12:32 AM CST up reply actions
Agreed. It was non-stop action...
…starting with the previous year’s I-AA champ (no FCS for me; I’m old school) beating the Michigan team that would, in turn, wind up the season beating the previous year’s I-A champ in a bowl game. That is the 2007 season in a nutshell.
First time poster here...
…but I’ve been keeping up with the site for a while. I’ll get to my point here in a moment.
First, a note about why a native-born Omahan like yours truly has kept tabs on this website: Like many Omaha residents, I developed an affection for LSU because of the awesome fans your school routinely brought up to the College World Series. My interest in the Bayou Bengals began in high school as a result of attending these games.
My brother then married into a Louisiana family. His father-in-law was a real gem of a man and also a diehard LSU fan, and we spent many hours on the phone talking about NCAA football and life in general. He recently passed away, and I can’t tell you how much I miss having a Southerner to talk college football with.
ANYWAY…to my main point…this is a great article about the awesomeness of college football. I can’t speak for y’all (if a Yankee can use that term), but the basic gist of this article runs through my head at least a half-dozen times a season.
It usually happens when I am watching a big game or a scintillating upset, and some late-game play causes an entire sideline to erupt with joy. If I am watching the game with my Dad, as is my wont, I turn to him and say something like “Is this an awesome sport, or what?”
I think we all know the answer to that.
by HailVarsity on Nov 22, 2011 4:05 AM CST reply actions 1 recs
All I can say is...
Geaux Huskers.
Glad to have you around and yes, you may use “y’all”. Anyone from Omaha is an honorary LSU fan.
Fake Pundit. Real Fan.
And The Valley Shook!
I self-indulgently tweet @ATVSPoseur
Thanks so much...
…Geaux Tigers! Lemme tell you, two weeks ago I personally watched Nebraska lose to Northwestern, and then watched on TV as LSU beat Alabama. Let’s just say you guys made my day quite a bit better. I’m rooting for you all the way out.
I’ll have to arrange and then post a picture here sometime of myself at the College World Series decked out in LSU Mardi Gras beads. What an atmosphere. We routinely get LSU fans up here even when the Tigers aren’t playing. And then there’s the cuisine. My goodness, what a show.
THIS
Anyone from Omaha is an honorary LSU fan
Though when we’re at the College World Series it’s spelled “Eauxmaha” for 2 weeks!
To Hail, a good friend of mine is a Husker. Y’all can party with us any time.
"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." - H. L. Mencken
"The 2011 Tigers, on the field at least, are boring. See target, swing war club, rinse the brains and skull fragments off and repeat." - Billy Gomila
by Curtis Bleaux on Nov 22, 2011 3:46 PM CST up reply actions
Great welcome around here, thank you.
Can’t remember ever hearing the “Eauxmaha” thing before but it is totally awesome.
Per the Mencken quote above your name, let me say that I want Les Miles to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and start slitting throats! I hope in the (seemingly inevitable) rematch, you guys beat Bama by three TDs!!!!
By the way...
…(assuming your Husker friend is a Nebraska native)…what town is he from? Tell him Geaux Big Red from me!
He's actually from Wyoming
Went to Wyoming for undergrad & Nebraska for grad school. He claims both teams but of course leans towards Nebraska more.
"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." - H. L. Mencken
"The 2011 Tigers, on the field at least, are boring. See target, swing war club, rinse the brains and skull fragments off and repeat." - Billy Gomila
by Curtis Bleaux on Nov 22, 2011 6:40 PM CST up reply actions
HailVarsity...
…Welcome to the Dark Side! Take your shoes off, have a beer, enjoy yourself. You’ll never be the same again!
Booing = farting. Booing can’t come with caveats and neither can farting. . .You drop that bomb and it’s going everywhere, spreading out evenly across the kill zone. You can try and blame it on someone or something else, but no one is buying. Just don’t do it. - tigerarchitect (2011)
Awesome, thank you!
I’ll tell you what, one of these days I’ll get around to attending an LSU night game, and see things for myself. I’ve heard great things about it – although, since I would like to both attend said game and still remember it the next day, I’ll have to take it easy on the sauce. ;-)
Just remember
that when someone eventually calls you a corndog, wear that moniker with Honor. They’re just jealous because we have consistantly beat all of their asses.
Plus, everything is better deep-fried. Case in point: The Deep-Fried Crystal Burger! Yum(said while arteries are screaming)!
Booing = farting. Booing can’t come with caveats and neither can farting. . .You drop that bomb and it’s going everywhere, spreading out evenly across the kill zone. You can try and blame it on someone or something else, but no one is buying. Just don’t do it. - tigerarchitect (2011)
by Purpletiger006 on Nov 23, 2011 5:57 AM CST up reply actions
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Team Name = Eliminated from SEC Tournament
| West | Conf | Overall | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | W | L | |
1 LSU Tigers  |
19 | 11 | 42 | 14 |
|
16 | 14 | 39 | 17 |
| 7 Mississippi St. Bulldogs |
16 | 14 | 34 | 21 |
|
14 | 16 | 34 | 22 |
| 10 Auburn Tigers |
13 | 17 | 30 | 26 |
| |
9 | 21 | 21 | 34 |
| East | Conf | Overall | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | W | L | |
| 2 South Carolina Gamecocks |
18 | 11 | 39 | 15 |
| 4 Kentucky Wildcats |
18 | 12 | 41 | 15 |
| 3 Florida Gators |
18 | 12 | 40 | 16 |
| 5 Vanderbilt Commodores |
16 | 14 | 29 | 25 |
|
14 | 15 | 31 | 24 |
|
8 | 22 | 24 | 31 |
