If LSU beats Alabama in the BCS Championship Game on Jan. 9, there is no doubt that the undefeated Tigers are national champions. But what if the Crimson Tide wins? Should Alabama or Oklahoma State be national champions?
Notice I said national champions, not BCS champions. I know the rules. Alabama wins, and they’re BCS champions. To me, however, there is a distinction between being a BCS champion and being a national champion. A team can be both–as LSU certainly would be with another victory over ‘Bama–but until this ridiculous post-season format is abandoned and replaced by a playoff system, debates will rage over whether BCS champion and national champion mean the same thing. I say that they do not.
A Case for Oklahoma State
The Cowboys capped their 11-1 regular season campaign, Big 12 championship, and No. 3 BCS ranking by escaping Andrew Luck and No. 4 Stanford in overtime in the Fiesta Bowl, 41-38. Oklahoma State finished a microscopic .0086 points behind Alabama in the regular season’s final BCS rankings, despite winning its conference and playing the 5th-most difficult schedule in the country–a difficulty that may increase after its win over the Cardinal is factored in. Alabama’s schedule was ranked No. 26 in difficulty.
With one of the most potent offenses in the nation, the Cowboys beat nine bowl teams throughout the season–10, including Stanford–and only lost on the road to Iowa State in double overtime. This is the same Iowa State team that beat Iowa and annihilated Texas Tech. Oklahoma State throttled Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III and Baylor, obliterated Oklahoma, and defeated BCS-bowl-bound Kansas State.
The Cowboys’ offense averaged 49.3 points per game (second-best in the country), 557 offensive yards per game (No. 3), and 386.3 passing yards per game (No. 2). Their weakness was on defense–in part because the offense scored so quickly that the defense was on the field for more plays than any other team in the nation, according to the Fiesta Bowl announcers.
A Case for Alabama
The Crimson Tide also went 11-1 in the regular season, beating seven bowl teams throughout the season. The most notable knock against ‘Bama is that it didn’t win its own conference–or even its own division–since LSU shares both, and the Tigers beat the Tide at Tuscaloosa, 9-6 in overtime. Aside from LSU, though, Alabama basically hammered every other opponent on its schedule, including BCS-bowl-bound and No. 6-ranked Arkansas.
While Oklahoma State thrived on offense, defense is Alabama’s forte. The Tide allowed a paltry 8.8 points and 191.3 yards of offense per game–both of which were best in the country. Interestingly, FCS opponent Georgia Southern scored 21 points against ‘Bama, but no other team scored more than 14 against them. Alabama held seven of its opponents to single-digit scores and shut two of them out. In the SEC, especially, that’s darned impressive.
‘Bama’s offense isn’t bad, either. It ranks No. 16 in the nation in scoring, putting up 36 points per game, and No. 27 in moving the ball, gaining 445.8 yards per game. One, then, could easily argue that Alabama is a more balanced team than Oklahoma State and that if not for a narrow overtime loss to the undefeated No. 1 team in the nation, the Tide would have won their division and likely would have won the SEC, and maybe we’d be dissecting LSU here, instead.
We’ll Never Know
Could Alabama’s suffocating defense have stifled Oklahoma State’s electric offense? Would the Tide roll on offense against OSU’s questionable defense? How would each team’s strengths and weaknesses have matched up against each other?
Unfortunately, thanks to the demented BCS system, we’ll never know. The Cowboys and Crimson Tide will never have the opportunity to play against each other. They didn’t even share any common opponents, so there’s no coach or team that we can ask to compare the two squads, based on experience.
If LSU wins on Jan. 9, this entire conversation is moot. But if Alabama wins in the rematch–as they’re currently favored to do by a point–is that enough to claim that it is the best team in the nation? The best team under the stupid BCS structure, sure. But the best team in the nation? I honestly don’t know.
Alabama would make a real strong case to be named national champion if it throttles LSU. Just whips them up one side of the field and down the other. That would be a pretty good indicator that the Tide is the best team in the land. But if ‘Bama escapes with something along the lines of a 9-6 overtime win, the debate is going to rage on and on and on and on.
Just another reason why we need a playoff system.
The author is a Featured Contributor in Sports for the Yahoo! Contributor Network. You can follow him on Twitter at @RedZoneWriting and on Facebook.
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