LSU vs. Alabama Poised for Epic Showdown, Despite Rematch Complaints

The complaints against the all-SEC rematch between Alabama and LSU in this year’s BCS title game have been well aired.

The first game was boring. It isn’t fair to LSU to have to beat Alabama twice. Alabama already had its chance, so it’s only fair to give Oklahoma State theirs.

These are fair points. But they don’t tell the whole story.

There’s one reason that no one outside of Oklahoma should be too upset by the way things turned out. This year—for the first time since the classic Texas-USC title game in January 2006— the eventual outcome of the championship game seems legitimately uncertain heading into the game.

LSU would have been a double-digit favorite against Oklahoma State. A premier SEC team with a dominant defense has stifled video-game offenses in more consecutive high-profile games than anyone can count. An LSU game against Oklahoma State would have looked much like the Tigers’ beatdowns of Oregon and West Virginia earlier this year.

We’ve seen that movie before. Especially in national title games.

Auburn and Oregon both unquestionably deserved to be in the title game last year. But no one outside of the Pacific Northwest thought Oregon was going to win. The game turned out to be refreshingly competitive, but Auburn’s eventual win never seemed in serious jeopardy.

The two prior years, we saw the favored SEC-team dominate high scoring Big 12 teams like Oklahoma State, and the SEC prove its superiority to the Big 10 the two years before that in two other uncompetitive games.

An LSU-Oklahoma State game would have been more of the same.

Arkansas was the SEC’s third best team this season—24 points inferior to both Alabama and LSU. Friday night they stomped the Big 12’s second-best team, Kansas State, who came within five yards from taking Oklahoma State to overtime.

In light of that result, there’s no reason to think Oklahoma State would have fared any better against LSU than Arkansas did.

With Alabama in the title game, at least the teams involved are evenly matched. They proved to be so when their first matchup was tied at the end of regulation.

This LSU team, who has already vanquished the Big East champ, Pac-12 champ and Alabama and Arkansas teams that will finish this season ranked among the Top Five teams in the nation, has been mentioned as perhaps the greatest of all time.

That they needed four missed field goals and a questionable interception ruling to beat Alabama in the first matchup, shows that Alabama belongs in this game.

Alabama and LSU may not score many points, but every possession is likely to be meaningful. The game will likely come down to the last possession, and it offers compelling storylines beyond the eventual coronation of a sixth-straight champion from the SEC as well.

The winning team will be the only program in football with two titles in the past five seasons, and will cement itself as the dominant program in college football.

LSU coach Les Miles—who less than 15 months ago was on the verge of being run out of town due to repeated clock management gaffes—can officially take over the title as the best coach in college football. With a second national title and three straight wins over Alabama’s Nick Saban, his closest rival on that front, he would deserve that title.

Trent Richardson or Tyrann Mathieu can use their frustrations at being passed over for the Heisman Trophy as fuel to propel their team to victory. Alabama’s Cade Foster might get a chance to redeem himself after one of the worst kicking performances in recent history.

While it's disputable whether Alabama belongs in this game or not, it’s indisputable that the game offers a heavy dose of intrigue. While some people don’t like the idea of a rematch, everyone loves the idea of a good game.

So even fans who don’t think Alabama belongs in the title game should relax and just enjoy it.

It’s going to be a good one.