BCS Rankings: If There's a Rematch, Should It Be LSU vs. Oregon?

Last weekend, the big debate between most of us writers was whether or not Alabama and LSU should replay their Nov. 5 clash for the BCS national championship. Many argued they should, while many others argued they shouldn't.

I'll straight-up be honest, though: I argued that they shouldn't. In addition to some nice reasons of how if there's a split, there would be major debate and all, one of my main reasons was that I hate rematches. 

Rematches in college football should not happen. There are too many teams out there for two squads that matched up during the regular season to be forced to play each other again in the postseason bowl games. It's ridiculous to argue otherwise.

I will concede, however, that if there were going to be a rematch of two teams that already played this season, the most likely (and most supported by me) would be Oregon-LSU, especially after seeing how impressive the Ducks were last night.

However, I stick by my first argument that rematches should never happen in college football. Consider this: There are six BCS automatic qualifying conferences (SEC, Pac-12, Big Ten, ACC, Big 12 and Big East) that contain a grand total of 66 teams, and that's not even counting non-AQ schools like Boise State, TCU and Houston. That's more than double the number of NFL franchises, making sure that rematches remain at an absolute minimum of zero.

Unlike the NFL, college football plays shorter seasons and doesn't have a playoff system, forcing each game to mean much more in the overall scheme of things. Without a longer season or a playoff system, the original LSU-Oregon matchup means too much for a rematch to be considered by the BCS. 

In addition to that, let's suppose that the BCS goes haywire and somehow Oregon and LSU end up in the national championship. In that game, let's say that Oregon beats LSU by a close margin. LSU could argue that since they already played earlier in the season and won, Oregon's win wouldn't fully cover the national championship in that they are now essentially tied.

As ridiculous as that sounds, crazier things have happened before.

If college football was forced to have a rematch, though, LSU vs. Oregon would be the perfect matchup. Them playing earlier in the season at a neutral location in a somewhat close game gives this game a certain aura that could not be matched by any other combination of teams, especially LSU-Alabama.

Oregon's singular loss to the Tigers seems like it will be the only loss it retains all season, and with a possible Oklahoma State loss in addition to the Ducks beating Stanford and Boise State falling to TCU, Oregon is in a great position to possibly jump into the national championship game.

LSU vs. Oregon would be one of the best national title games in recent history, as an explosive offense would take on a dominant defense. However, there is still one downfall.

It's a rematch.