Split Championship?

by 13 Rings on Dec 6, 2011 11:37 PM CST

I'm hearing more and more grumblings from the talk radio gasbags about the possibility of a split title if Bama wins on 1/9. I'm sure you've all heard the same blabber, along the lines of "Bama might be the BCS national champion, but the AP could still vote LSU #1." First of all, let me acknowledge that that possibility does absolutely, positively exist. The AP, although totally irrelevant to the BCS process, is free to vote whomever they choose as their national champion, and if LSU loses a close game, the AP MIGHT do that. But LSU better not accept it. Here's why.... Let me take you back to the end of the 2003 regular season. Oklahoma was undefeated, and #1 in the BCS. LSU was #2, with only a road loss to Florida. USC was #3, with only a triple-overtime road loss to Cal. LSU beat Georgia in the SEC title game, but then a funny thing happened...Oklahoma, who was being trumpeted as being among "the greatest teams of all time", not only lost to an 8-3 Kansas State, but got royally SMOKED like a blunt, 35-7. USC is now #1 in both the AP and the Coaches Poll, so it's LSU vs. USC for all the marbles, right? Uhhh, no. It's STILL LSU vs. Oklahoma. Outrage ensued. LSU beat Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl (aka BCS title game), and USC thumped Michigan resoundingly in the Rose Bowl. Sure, LSU was the BCS champion, but the AP poll rebelled, and stuck with their guns, and voted USC their champion. Depending on whom you believe, the AP poll was either kicked out of the BCS process, or asked to be removed...either way, the Harris poll was born. So, 2003 resulted in a split title....unless you ask, oh, I don't know....ANY LSU FAN. I have lived among LSU people, gone to college and law school with several, and currently work with some, and NOT ONE will acknowledge that USC has any legitimate claim to any championship in 2003. The way they see it, the BCS championship is the ONLY championship, and they won that game, so THEY were champions that year. No ifs, ands or buts, and CERTAINLY no recognition of USC as anything other than an also-ran. Okey, dokey. What's good for the goose is good for the gander. So unless they are willing to now, 8 years later, acknowledge that USC was every bit the champion that they were, then they better be willing to play by the rules that they have so fervently clung to since 2003. They may well beat Bama again on 1/9...but if they don't, regardless of what happened on 11/5, then WE are champions, and they are nothing but an also-ran. End of story, no ifs, ands or buts.

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Comments

As long as the T-town Wal-Mart...

has a Waterford crystal aisle come late Jan, I won’t be overly concerned about the AP poll.

I do see your point, however.

by TiderInTN on Dec 7, 2011 12:08 AM CST reply actions

Yup. Agreed.

You can't win. You can't break even. You can't get out of the game.

by StablerRaider on Dec 7, 2011 4:28 AM CST reply actions

As long as we win the game

I don’t care.

"Football has never been just a game to me. Never."
Paul William Bryant

by mr.peabody on Dec 7, 2011 6:31 AM CST reply actions

No.

This game is for all the marbles.

"The same things win today that have always won, and they will win years from now. The only difference is the losers have a whole new bunch of excuses why they don’t win or can’t win."-Bear Bryant

Robot Chicken Star Wars should be canon.

by the thin red line on Dec 7, 2011 7:39 AM CST reply actions

Great post and even greater point...

i live in BR myself, and aside from all the skeered Bama doesn’t deserve another chance crap…the next most often uttered statement is that “if Bama wins we (lswho) will at least get the AP #1”.

Hypocrisy to it’s fullest…they just don’t see it yet, or maybe never will. Fear is blinding sometimes.

ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!!!87
\bn

by alanbama14 on Dec 7, 2011 8:08 AM CST reply actions

Dey scurred....

"High standards come from passion within...." --Coach Nick Saban

by NiceLittleSaturday on Dec 7, 2011 8:31 AM CST up reply actions

Thanks for taken mah call pawl.

Ima hang up an lissen.

RBR resident Dogcaller.

by Crimsoncaller on Dec 7, 2011 9:47 PM CST up reply actions

AMEN my Baton Rouge brother

It’s funny how they forget all the bitching and “FUSC” chants from 2003 and now seem to think a “split championship” is something worth considering. It’s also quite comical that they are referring to NOLA as a “road game” saying “We have to play Bama on the road TWICE in one year.” It’s also funny how they forget they back-doored their way into the game in 2007, but now want to claim BCS is broken and so unfair for letting Bama back in. Delusion is a thing, and it wears purple and canary yellow.

"If wanting to win is a fault, as some of my critics seem to insist, then I plead guilty. I like to win. I know no other way. It's in my blood." -- Paul "Bear" Bryant

by GeauxCrimson on Dec 7, 2011 9:31 AM CST up reply actions

100% correct...

it just amazes me of the hypocrisy from MOST of the ones i run into…although i do have several friends that play it pretty straight. They all of a sudden put on this moral superiority because “they did it the right way”…the selective amnesia kills me. Oh and it really pisses them off when i say purple and yellow…although that is their colors…gold is the color the Saints wear.

Delusion is definitely their thing…as a matter of fact i just had to slap my brother-in-law down by telling him it is very difficult using logic with delusional lswho fans, needless to say he shut up.

ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!!!

by alanbama14 on Dec 8, 2011 5:54 AM CST up reply actions

"No man is so blind

as he who refuses to see."

In reference to your, “…they just don’t see it yet, or maybe never will. Fear is blinding sometimes.” line.

by Fredonia on Dec 10, 2011 1:31 AM CST up reply actions

Meh...

they beat us in T-town. If we win a squeaker I have no problem with them getting the AP and Bama taking hom the BCS crown. If we split the series, we should at least split the Championship. Just my opinion.

Follow on twitter @thelyell

by bammer on Dec 7, 2011 8:29 AM CST reply actions

that said..

if we win by 7+ in regulation, I think we should get both.

Follow on twitter @thelyell

by bammer on Dec 7, 2011 8:29 AM CST up reply actions 1 recs

It would be ironic...

…for the AP to offer their title to a team that lost its bowl game (see, well, just about any other year that the AP champ has differed from the BCS/UPI/whatevs champ).

"High standards come from passion within...." --Coach Nick Saban

by NiceLittleSaturday on Dec 7, 2011 8:33 AM CST up reply actions

my point is i really dont care if they get the AP.

if we win we are the BCS champions..If they are given the AP it wouldn’t bother me not one bit.

Follow on twitter @thelyell

by bammer on Dec 7, 2011 9:13 AM CST up reply actions

Or if we win by 1 in regulation.

God bless our Dark Lord.

by CarrotTop4 on Dec 7, 2011 8:44 AM CST up reply actions 1 recs

Only fair to split the National Championship

If we can split the Conference Championship too.

by zeke2029 on Dec 7, 2011 8:56 AM CST up reply actions

Nice point.

ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!

by nashvillebama on Dec 7, 2011 11:09 AM CST up reply actions

oh so?

we lost to LSU making us 2nd in the West..no reason to split the SEC title with them.

Follow on twitter @thelyell

by bammer on Dec 7, 2011 12:11 PM CST up reply actions

Then LSU loses to us making us the national champs. No reason to split that title, either.

"High standards come from passion within...." --Coach Nick Saban

by NiceLittleSaturday on Dec 7, 2011 2:51 PM CST up reply actions

We didn’t win the SECCG so we can’t be SEC champs no matter what happens in other games.
If LSU doesn’t win the BCSCG, they can’t be national champs no matter what happens in other games.

If this were basketball and there were two really good teams from the same conference, and these two teams met twice in the regular season and once in their conference tournament and team A won all three times, and then those teams met in the NCAA tourney and team B won the game and the tournament, does team A get a share since they won the series 3-1? Nope. Team A is conference champs & conference tourney champs, team B is national champs. Should be the same in football.

by zeke2029 on Dec 8, 2011 5:40 PM CST up reply actions

I really don't mind a split championship.

Truth is sometimes that is actually the best solution. You have 2 teams that are that close why not let both have “rings”?

If Auburn was in New Mexico and we never played them I would still hate them and their dumb coach and their cheating players.

by 5026 on Dec 7, 2011 9:12 AM CST reply actions

1-9 is the game that matters.

They beat us in the regular season. The way the chips fell, they have to beat us again on 1-9 if they want to be national champions. Period. In my opinion, in 2003, LSU won the national championship game, therefore, they are the national champions. USC can stick the “ap national championship” up their ass. And, if it turns out that we beat LSU, and the ap awards them a national championship, LSU can stick it up their ass.

If the situation were reversed, and we lost the championship game and were awarded the national championship by the ap, why, I would of course stick it up my own ass.

ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!

by nashvillebama on Dec 7, 2011 9:27 AM CST reply actions

Ewwww....

"High standards come from passion within...." --Coach Nick Saban

by NiceLittleSaturday on Dec 7, 2011 2:52 PM CST up reply actions

Yeah...

on second thought…

ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!

by nashvillebama on Dec 7, 2011 3:06 PM CST up reply actions

I hope the AP trophy is smaller than the crystal football...

Thirteen.

by Darth Saban on Dec 8, 2011 12:54 AM CST up reply actions

I say

we take care of business, stick to our normal offensive gameplan, win by 14+ and there is no argument. End of Story

by jobro31 on Dec 7, 2011 10:19 AM CST reply actions

Michigan St - your 2011 Big 10 Champs

they didn’t decide to do the rematch did they? Wisconsin had their chance and they blew it.

by givemhellbama on Dec 7, 2011 10:37 AM CST reply actions

They deserve a split unless we beat that butt

Wouldn’t break my heart. LSU has had a fantastic season, I’m next thing to positive that nobody else in the last half-century has a collection of wins to equal theirs. If we want ‘em both, we’re going to have to show we deserve it, and a close win won’t do that.

by glen55 on Dec 7, 2011 11:33 AM CST reply actions

Right. Definitely not closer than a FG in overtime or else we haven't proven anything.

God bless our Dark Lord.

by CarrotTop4 on Dec 7, 2011 11:37 AM CST up reply actions

Only if we win 9-6 in OT.

Admit it: that’d be kind of hilarious.

by woolf on Dec 7, 2011 1:16 PM CST reply actions

It'd be freakin nerve wracking is what it would be

by AeroEngUA07 on Dec 7, 2011 1:30 PM CST up reply actions

Yeah, pretty sure I wouldn't live to see that one finish.

Stupid fried food…

Thirteen.

by Darth Saban on Dec 8, 2011 12:56 AM CST up reply actions

If we win 9-6 in OT..

then we are national champions.

ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!

by nashvillebama on Dec 7, 2011 1:43 PM CST up reply actions

Yes!! If we win 9-6 in OT...

and take home the NC the LSU fans in my family will all have their heads explode!! I’d better call my brother and make sure he gets his blood pressure Rx refilled, but it sure would be fun to watch!

by TiderInOR on Dec 8, 2011 12:11 PM CST up reply actions

After all parties agreed to the BCS....

…I could not possibly care less about the AP title. Who do y’all consider the champions of 2003?

RollBamaRoll.com

by Nico2.0 on Dec 7, 2011 1:32 PM CST reply actions

LSU

ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!

by nashvillebama on Dec 7, 2011 1:42 PM CST up reply actions

Think again

The AP has been around for 75 years, and it has been pretty reliable the whole time. It is the best, most comprehensive list of national champions that there is. The BCS has been here, what, 15 years? And how much longer is it gonna last? 2 years? 10? I’d put the over/under around 6, personally.

Beyond doubt, the BCS is the big one right now, and that’s the one we want the most. But the AP championship definitely has meaning. It is MUCH more likely to still be around in 2025 than the BCS. What the BCS can hope for is that it gets rolled over into whatever the new form of championship is, so that its champions still get included in the list for that championship.

by glen55 on Dec 7, 2011 1:53 PM CST up reply actions

I get what you're saying..

….but to me the AP lost some of its luster when they sent a cease and desist to the BCS in 2004. They didn’t like it that USC got snubbed from the ‘03 title game and they pulled the business equivalent of "I quit. I’m taking my ball and going home." Everybody talks about winning it on the field, but the AP will still crown someone as if it were in the 60s and 70s. I’m not saying it’s completely worthless, but the AP is perpetuated by itself. If Sagarin or Wolfe or some other computer poll jumped ship, no one would care because that poll doesn’t have a mechanism for self-promotion like the AP does.

RollBamaRoll.com

by Nico2.0 on Dec 7, 2011 3:16 PM CST up reply actions

They did pull a hissy fit

But it didn’t bother me, because it was against the BCS. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

by glen55 on Dec 7, 2011 11:16 PM CST up reply actions

The BCS...

…is not inferior to the AP selection ‘process’….

"High standards come from passion within...." --Coach Nick Saban

by NiceLittleSaturday on Dec 8, 2011 10:16 AM CST up reply actions

correct

by Seabama on Dec 9, 2011 1:37 AM CST up reply actions

Alabama

CLAIMING #14 BABY!

Follow on twitter @thelyell

by bammer on Dec 7, 2011 2:51 PM CST up reply actions

Wiki says we are going for #18.

And Wiki’s never wrong.

Robot Chicken Star Wars should be canon.

by the thin red line on Dec 7, 2011 4:47 PM CST up reply actions

If only

the University claimed those other ones…

by Fredonia on Dec 10, 2011 1:37 AM CST up reply actions

LSU is Who.

Robot Chicken Star Wars should be canon.

by the thin red line on Dec 7, 2011 4:42 PM CST up reply actions

This must be some important shit

for you guys actually reading that big ass blur of words.

by Seabama on Dec 7, 2011 8:48 PM CST reply actions

actually i didn't read it. lol

skimmed through and got the main points.

Follow on twitter @thelyell

by bammer on Dec 8, 2011 7:05 AM CST up reply actions

True. Very hard to read.

Don’t be racist, people:

use white space.

God bless our Dark Lord.

by CarrotTop4 on Dec 9, 2011 7:17 AM CST up reply actions

I live in baton rouge

So obviously every single one of my friends is an LSU fan. You can imagine what I am going through. Well I put this on my facebook and got generally good opinions on it form LSU fans:

So here is my take on the LSU BAMA “rematch”…

The way I figure it, I don’t think Bama should be looking at this as a chance to “Get Back” and I don’t think that LSU should look at this as “We have to beat them again”

In every sport the postseason and the regular season are two different things, and people can play each other “again” in every one. The difference here is, I understand, there is no playoff system so the whole season is basically like a round robin and you get seeded based on how you did in the season.

Well if you really think about it, all this is is LSU played well enough to get seeded 1. FAR AND ABOVE every one else. No one has the resume that LSU has so they are seeded one. Bama played well enough to get seeded 2. I would argue that no other team showed the dominance that Bama did (besides the afore mentioned).

So basically I think everyone is looking at it wrong. You play the season to get seeded in a bowl game, and that is what both of these teams did…

Now its the bowl game, the Championship game, and the regular season has nothing to do with it. LSU has to beat Alabama to be national champions because Number one has to beat number 2 in order to be considered national champions. Bama has to beat LSU to be national champions because number 2 earned the right to get to beat number 1 to be considered national champions.

There will be no “tie” at the end of the year. There should be no complaining or whining from either side, because LSU and ALABAMA are not playing a “rematch”. They are playing for the national championship, because they both earned the right to do so, and it has nothing to do with the game that already happened.

I hope this sheds some light for everyone. good luck to my LSU friends but ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!!!!!!!!!

by tidefanstuckatlsu on Dec 8, 2011 7:05 AM CST reply actions

They'll rename that place Baton Rage when Bama gets through with them.

Roll Tide

"All I wanna do is drive around in my truck and drink Jack Daniels... and they just don't understand."- Kenny Stabler

by UtahBammer on Dec 8, 2011 7:10 AM CST up reply actions

the whole season is basically like a round robin and you get seeded based on how you did in the season.

I feel pretty confident that if we did actually play a full round robin in the regular season (if that were possible) that Bama would easily be one of the top two in the standings. That’s certainly how it worked in the SEC West. But of course that’s not possible nationally, which is why there are questions.

God bless our Dark Lord.

by CarrotTop4 on Dec 8, 2011 7:38 AM CST up reply actions

It is not really a rematch because I hear they are making

Cade stay in T-Town.

If Auburn was in New Mexico and we never played them I would still hate them and their dumb coach and their cheating players.

by 5026 on Dec 8, 2011 5:19 PM CST up reply actions

"High standards come from passion within...." --Coach Nick Saban

by NiceLittleSaturday on Dec 8, 2011 11:16 PM CST up reply actions

I agree 100%.

Another thing I hate hearing is we lost at home. And…?

Robot Chicken Star Wars should be canon.

by the thin red line on Dec 9, 2011 3:38 AM CST up reply actions

We better beat them in regulation time.

If we win, we win, but there will be a sense of a split championship if we only beat them in OT.
The BCS would still recognize it as a Bama win, but it wouldn’t be the same as if they won again in OT.
So first, let’s beat them and then argue how strong the win is, aight?

by crimson37 on Dec 11, 2011 10:11 AM CST reply actions