Texas A&M Deserves BCS At-Large Bid over LSU

Despite losing to LSU on Oct. 20, the Texas A&M Aggies, not the LSU Tigers, deserve an at-large BCS bowl berth.

LSU hasn’t looked like a team worthy of a national championship for much of the season despite its only two losses coming against the No. 2 and No. 4 teams in the nation. Strength of schedule certainly counts for something; where is the line drawn?

Near upsets by underperforming schools like Auburn, Arkansas and Ole Miss are just a symptom of the problem for the Tigers. They just don’t have a consistent enough offense. Defense will save teams at times, but it isn’t enough anymore in college football to win a championship.

You’ve got to be able to score points.

Somewhere along the line, the Tigers lost the ability to do that. After averaging nearly 50 points per game in the opening three weeks of the season, the Tigers have come back down to earth and have evened out at about 30 per game. That’s mostly thanks to that early-season explosion against inferior competition.

Eventually this debate will be moot when the college football playoff system swoops in to rescue us from the BCS computer’s calculation. Until then, the debate rages on.

Style points also count for something, and the Aggies have the advantage there by far, along with a win over the second-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide.

They’ve also got one of the most exciting players in the country and likely Heisman Trophy finalist Johnny Manziel leading their offense. His worst game of the season was against the Tigers, but he’s had plenty of highlights throughout the rest of it.

That’s including his 250-yard, two-touchdown performance in the team’s upset win over the then-No. 1-ranked Crimson Tide. He also ran 18 times for 92 yards and made beautiful throws all game.

If I was a member of the bowl selection committee, I’d give the people what they want to see in the BCS: Johnny Football and the explosive Aggies, not the hard-nosed Les Miles-led Tigers.

None of this matters if the Florida Gators somehow knock off the Florida State Seminoles at Doak Campbell Stadium.

Then again, this argument applies against the Gators as well. The Aggies should get the bid over both of these teams despite losses to both of them.

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