Sports

LSU Wins the Championship (Sweet!)

LSU took it to Ohio State tonight. It was a great ending to a tough, injury-ridden season. Now that it’s all said and done and we are all basking in our moment of victory, a few thoughts.

[audio:https://www.dennyburk.com/Music/LSU-Fight-Song.mp3]

1. LSU deserves to be the undisputed national champions, despite their two losses this season. LSU’s two losses were both in triple overtime, and they both occurred when LSU was pretty banged up from its grueling SEC schedule. Another way to look at it is that LSU went undefeated in regulation. LSU convincingly defeated the number one team in the nation tonight. They deserve this championship without any jawing dissents from the USC-loving media. For more on this, read Ray Glier’s argument on MSNBC.com.

2. The post-game analysts are already suggesting that USC could make a case that they are the best team in the nation. The guys talking this nonsense need to remember that USC is also a two-loss school, but one of their losses was to Stanford. Stanford was unranked, and USC was favored to beat them by forty points. USC also plays in the Pac-10, which is a much weaker conference than the SEC. At the end of the day, LSU’s body of work is much more impressive than USC’s.

3. The SEC is the best conference in college football. Tonight’s victory marks the second championship in two years for the SEC. The SEC had more teams playing in bowls this season than any of the other conferences (9 teams in all). The SEC won 7 of its bowl games and only lost 2. The SEC is now 4-0 in BCS title games (Tennessee in ’98, LSU in ’03, Florida in ’07, and LSU in ’08). Pound for pound, no other conference is as tough as the SEC.

4. Congratulations to Ohio State on a great season and a great game. They return almost all their starters next year, and they will be a force to be reckoned with.

5. Laissez les bon temps roulette!

29 Comments

  • Carlito

    Congrats to the Tigers! We are jealous here in Knoxville that y’all have a coach like Miles. I wish our AD had the guts to get rid of Fulmer, but it looks like it will be several more years of mediocrity… Oh well, at least we have Pearl on the hardwood.

    And I concur wholeheartedly on Point #3!! There is no doubt that the SEC is the best team in the country!

    Just think – after the Vols win the B-ball Nat’l Championship, that will be 4 straight for the SEC in football and basketball..

    OK, maybe not, but a guy can dream, right? 🙂

  • Jeff Lash

    Well…it seems every year ends in disappointment for us Big Ten folks. If you remove the middle portion of the game, OSU played pretty well. But LSU just toyed with their defense in the 2nd and early 3rd quarters. But this is nothing new. OSU and Big Ten teams seem to have trouble putting together a complete game. It’s been a tough year watching my Fighting Irish play like a high school team (a bad one at that) and then to see the Big Ten put up poor results in bowl games. Oh well…there’s always next year. Hats off to LSU.

  • colin

    Without a playoff, it is impossible to say anyone is undisputably a National Champion, especially in a two loss situation. LSU certainly earned the crystal, but we all witnessed a roller coaster of a college football season, and LSU could just as easily lose next week to a handful of other teams in the nation, including USC.

  • Lance

    Congrats to the Tigers! They deserved it. Woulda been nice to see them play USC, since the Trojans are always well prepared for their bowls, but your argument still stands.

    Also wish the stinkin’ Pac-10 and Big-10 would jump on board a conference championship. That would at least serve to narrow the field a bit, especially if Hades becomes tundra-esque, and a playoff arrives.

    As for me, I am in my annual Sooner despair. Somehow, Oklahoma has forgotten how to win a bowl of consequence.

  • Daniel

    I’m so pumped that Pelini is going to Nebraska.

    Unfortunately this season there is no clear cut best team. LSU is a good team, but USC, Georgia, and West Virginia were also good teams. Clearly Ohio State didn’t belong in this game. We didn’t need to see the 2nd Annual Big 10 Smackdown. What a joke! Big 10 isn’t up to par. Next to the WAC, it’s the weakest conference.

  • Lucas Knisely

    As an OSU fan, I’m satisfied with how things turned out. OSU was supposed to be 3rd in their conference this season. All the talk about OSU being weak and LSU and the SEC being so much better seems a bit funny after watching the game. LSU didn’t walk over OSU, and they [b]should have[/b] considering OSU’s lineup.

    Going into the game I knew LSU would win, but OSU performed much better than I expected. Especially after all I heard was that LSU was going to crush OSU and that the Big 10 is weak, and that SEC is so much better, etc.

  • Jim Hamilton

    Hey Denny, serious question:

    Let’s suppose for a moment that you weren’t from Louisiana, and let’s suppose that you were going to give an objective assessment of who you thought really deserved to be called the national champions this year.

    Who would you say?

    Jim

  • rafe

    LSU is the national champion hands-down! They definitively beat the best team in their bowl game. The only other team that has any argument, in my mind, is West Virginia (because they beat OU). Georgia beat Hawaii. USC beat Illinois. So what?

    Also, any team that loses to Stanford (no matter how many injuries they sustained) deserves any consideration for the national championship.

  • micah

    colin, you’re exactly right that lsu could easily lose next week to usc. or georgia. or wvu. or even ou, had they not lost. or even oregon state, were dixon still healthy. the list of possibilities has limits not defined by time or space.

    what you’re exactly wrong about is that lsu are not the national champs. you may not think that lsu is the best team, and you may be justified in your reasoning, but no one asked you to determine the best team in the nation. the accepted system, for better or worse, decides through polls, computers, and sometimes arbitrary matchups which team should be fairest in the land. and that system has chosen a worthy candidate: lsu. if you can’t accept that, so be it. but they are undisputably the national champions.

    but if usc wants to share the crown, or rather if voters want them to share the crown, let it be shared! we may as well have a repeat of 2003.

    rather, if usc wants the crown then let them kiss tradition good-bye, savor the memories of the rose bowl, help shorten the regular season to 11 games, and argue to put 12 teams in a playoff.

    and may the national champion win.

  • Benjamin A

    With the BcS system the way it is, this is as good as it will ever get. LSU was the better team last night, so the BcS system says they are the National Champs. However, it doesn’t mean they are the best team. Ask the Arkansas fans about that. So, good for LSU, they won a football game and can rightfully call themselves National Champs.

    Come soon March Madness!!

  • Jason

    AP already voted. There is no split championship. I think we should skip the NFL playoffs and let the Cowboys play the Patriots tomorrow. Who’s with me?

  • micah

    Cowboys? How about the Packers? We seem to have this unfortunate idea that the best teams are always champions and that champions are always the best team.

    Is that true?
    Does it matter?

    It’s often said that “the best team always wins”. Really? Why and how? A simple test of ESPN’s College Football Bracket should remind you that things don’t always turn out the way you expect them or think they should. In theory, the best teams will prevail in the long run. Nobody gets that opportunity. Hail to the victors, let the rest weep.

    “Winners win and losers lose. Right now, you’re a winner.”

  • Mason Beecroft

    There is nothing undisputed about the BCS title this year, and it has hardly proved to fulfill its promises for such any year to this point.

    I hardly watched the yawner of a game this year, being more interested in a Dallas Stars hockey game than the trumped up BCS championship.

    And Pac-10 dissing from SEC/Big-12 folks and media is tired and usually uninformed, especially in this era of unprecedented parity! Come on Denny! In a down year we did quite well in the bowls (4-2) and out-of-conference schedule.

    I would love to see how LSU would do against any number of teams, including WVU.

    Anyway, congratulations. At least it wasn’t OU or a Florida schoo….

  • blackhaw

    The last undisputed champion was Texas. That was one of the few years the BCS had it easy. This year OSU did not deserve to be in the game.

    in a few years though not many will remember that LSU might not have the best team this year. Everyone will just remember that LSU was the national champion. I guess one thing we can learn from this year is that national championships do not always means as much zs other national chzmpionships.

    Carl

  • The Hoodlum

    LSU and Les Miles STINK! I wanted Ohio State to win simply because Les Miles is so cocky. My favorite press conference was the one where Les Miles referred to Arkansas as Ar-Kansas. Then, Ar-Kansas came into his house and “pantsed” him. HA HA!

    Georgia deserved a shot at spanking the Tigers. And next year, Georgia will be “a force to be reckoned with”.

    OhMyLanta, I’m sick of this LSU love-fest from all of you LA Tech alumni! Get some school pride! As Rafe always says, “Have you considered those Bulldogs?”

  • Denny Burk

    I’m still a Bulldog fan, Stephen! I still pull for the Dawgs, but they didn’t happen to be competing for the National Championship. If they had been, I would have been pulling for them.

  • Ray Van Neste

    The SEC dominates!
    Come on Jim! You don’t have to be from LA to see that LSU is #1. If you win the toughest conference in college football and have as good a record as anyone else then you deserve to go to the championship game. Crystal clear. 🙂

  • Don

    LSU is and should be # 1. In a crazy way it all worked out for LSU and o-state to get there. Good teams lost the last 2-3 weeks to open the door for state and LSU. I’m sure West Virgina is still kicking themselves over the loss that knocked them out. Sorry it did not work for Miles to go to Michigan but that’s the way it goes.L. Carr made sure he put a monkey wrench in that. Nice to see Blue kick the crap out of urban meyer…..and the gators. Go Blue.

  • rafe

    Hoodlum,

    Beware of the masses! They only like to identify with that which is popular. As soon as their image loses it’s appeal, they will be–once again–without a face. Such insecurities are laughable to those of us whom have considered those Dogs!

  • micah

    Hood, Burk, and Semmes. I adore your love for the alma mater as much with as much magnitude as the sorrow I feel for you. Take heart in Bruce Feldman’s hype that LaTech is on the upswing, for one day your Dawgs may just compete for the Championship!

    [The WAC Championship]

  • blackhaw

    Ray Van Neste,

    By your own logic LSU is not #1. Kansas played in an almost as tough of conference and had a better record than LSU. And I think they beat a better team in their BCS game also. But again by your own logic Kansas should be #1 instead of LSU.

    BTW the SEC is not far and above better than every other conference. Only SEC Homsers think that. The Big 12 had 4 teams in the top 10. Also the Big 12 had a very good bowl record this year. OU was the only team that did not play well but I do not know of anyone credible that thinnks OU is not a good team. UGA played one of the worst BCS teams in BCS history this year. So I do not know if that win means anything. And MIZZOU destroyed Arkansas which beat LSU not very long ago. I am not saying MIZZOU would have beat LSU (although I think MIZZOU was better than OSU) but it does say something about MIZZOU and the BIg 12.

    So you can hype the SEC all you want but that is all it is.

  • micah

    blackhaw, don’t let yourself get so wound up. it will only frustrate you and maybe cause you to say something foolish.

    kansas deserves commendation for their great season, but don’t forget that they did not face ou or texas. when kansas beats these two, who traditionally are the class of the big 12, or wins the big 12.

    and don’t be caught up in the circular arguments created by teams that win or lose a single game. that only creates confusion and foolishness like the following:

    lsu defeated and is therefore better than alabama, who defeated and is therefore better than colorado, who defeated and is therefore better than oklahoma, who defeated and is therefore better than kansas, which totally destroys your first statement.

    in the end, the sec had a better conference this year. that is the conclusion of most analysts. that is the conclusion of most nfl scouts. that is the conclusion of most stats (including the 9 out of 12 teams in bowls with a 7-2 record as denny mentioned). and that is the conclusion of most fans.

    so there, so what.

  • colin

    micah,

    you are right. LSU is the BCS National CHampion. I will concede that argument. However, they are not the undisputably best team in the nation. Then again, who could be? In any event, they were rewarded for a game, not a season. But hey, I can live with that.

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