BCS Championship: 7 Reasons Alabama Doesn't Belong in Championship Game

After much speculation, Alabama will face LSU in the Bowl Championship Series National Championship game on January 9.

To earn this right, the Crimson Tide edged the Oklahoma State Cowboys by a fraction of a point. This means that 'Bama will face the Tigers in a rematch of their highly anticipated 9-6 overtime battle on November 5, which was won by LSU.

While folks in SEC territory are thrilled with this, many college football fans around the country are not. I am one of those fans who is against Alabama being in the BCS Championship Game.

While all of this could be solved with a simple "plus-1" playoff formula, the reality is that there is not a playoff system and there probably won't be a playoff system for the foreseeable future.

Keeping that in mind, here are seven reasons why I believe Alabama should not be in the BCS Championship Game.

LSU and Alabama Already Played Once

As members of the SEC West, Alabama and LSU have to meet each other once a year. Their 2011 meeting was deemed the "Game of the Century." As 'Bama and LSU prepare for their rematch it's clear that the first game now meant absolutely nothing.

Sure, teams have won and lost since then, but what was the point in hyping up this game to no end when the real game between the two teams is going to happen two months later? It makes no sense.

Perhaps because of the conference game's hype, BCS voters were swayed into thinking that it was "so good" that the rest of the country wanted to see it again. By the rest of the country, I mean the powers that be that control the BCS.

A rematch of two conference opponents is something the rest of the country has no interest in seeing.

Alabama Lost to LSU...at Home

Hanging on the November 5 meeting is something that most critics will do, but it's a very valid point to bring up.

Not only did Alabama lose to LSU, they lost at home. In front of their own fans. Ouch.

Defending home turf is something a national championship contender should do, even if it's against the No. 1 team in the nation. It's an odd situation to see a team getting a reprieve after playing so poorly at home.

Granted, Alabama had many chances to win that game, but if Cade Foster had made a simple field goal, the game never would have gone to overtime. If Alabama had defeated LSU, would we be making the same argument about the Tigers getting in? It's a possibility, but I have my doubts.

The First Game Wasn't Entertaining Enough to Draw the Average Fan

I love a good defensive game, don't get me wrong. However, most of the country loves offense. That's why the November 5 meeting between the two schools was a snoozer.

Watching the game, it didn't seem like there were two great defenses going toe-to-toe. Instead, it seemed like two offenses who couldn't get anything going.

Jordan Jefferson, A.J. McCarron and Jarrett Lee were making throws that would make Tim Tebow blush.

By that I mean they were bouncing off the turf at about five yards short of the receiver rather than three. The quarterbacks were so bad and inaccurate that the biggest pass play of the game was Trent Richardson's interception off a trick play.

It's fun to watch a defensive game. That's why most NFL fans love to watch the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the snot out of each other. However, it's more entertaining when the offenses involved look somewhat competent.

'Bama-LSU Gives the National Championship an "Evil vs. Evil" Feel

Neither Alabama nor LSU fits the "good guy" prototype for a compelling game.

When you watch any sporting event, the average fan wants to cheer for a team that makes them feel good.

For example, let's say the A.J. McCarron had one leg. You would feel good rooting for Alabama wouldn't you? Well, McCarron has two good legs, and Alabama isn't a "feel-good" story.

When you look at Alabama, you see Nick Saban.

Saban is the guy who ditched LSU for the Miami Dolphins. As soon as Saban realized he wasn't a fit for the NFL, he decided to go back to college coaching.

Alabama, who had been running through coaches like Kim Kardashian runs through husbands, boy toys, etc., threw a big fat stack of booster-provided cash in Saban's face. After that, 'Bama had bought themselves a national championship.

On the other end, Les Miles isn't a completely evil figure.

However, his team seems to be the Detroit Lions of college football. Don't forget that several of the LSU players including Jordan Jefferson were involved in a bar fight shortly before the season started.

Roughly a month later, players were allegedly suspended for smoking marijuana. I'm not here to judge either of those situations, but it makes you wonder what really happened behind the scenes.

Bottom line is that it would be easier to cheer for a team like Oklahoma State, whose star player Justin Blackmon does outstanding charity work, rather than a team like Alabama.

Oklahoma State Played a Tougher Schedule Than Alabama

The SEC may be the strongest conference in all of college football, but the Big 12 might not be far behind.

Consider that Oklahoma State had to play teams like Texas, Kansas State, Oklahoma and Baylor. The case could be made that the Big 12 might have been tougher than the SEC, because many of the SEC's traditional powers had down years.

Besides LSU and Alabama, the SEC was filled with teams like Florida and Mississippi State, teams who were predicted to do very well but fell flat on their faces. Interestingly enough, Alabama got to play every one of those traditional powers who was having a down year.

Yes, the Crimson Tide won the games they were supposed to win, but shouldn't quality of opponents be a factor?

Alabama Didn't Win the SEC

How can you be the best in the nation when you aren't the best in your conference? It's a pretty fair question to ask.

LSU—not Alabama—won the SEC this year. Alabama couldn't even be in the SEC Championship game because of how the divisions were set up.

Granted, that's not their fault, but a team like Oklahoma State, who won the Big 12, should be allowed an opportunity to compete for the national championship over a conference runner-up.

I can see how some people think it's a weak argument because teams like Stanford and Oklahoma would also be left out of the title picture if winning the conference was a requirement.

However, winning your conference should go a long way in determining whether you're worthy of having that opportunity.

Alabama-LSU Will Accelerate the Conference Expansion Era

This is probably the biggest reason why Alabama should not be in the BCS championship game: Conference expansion.

It's already becoming a problem whereby smaller schools can't compete with the bigger schools because of the BCS.

Now the BCS is making teams from the other power conferences feel like they can't compete with the SEC.

Some schools will look at an Alabama-LSU rematch as evidence that they can't compete and then will make a motion to join the conference. It's already happened with the Missouri Tigers and Texas A&M Aggies, who will join the SEC in 2012.

This is a serious problem as conference expansion is starting to water down college sports.

There is only one way to prevent all of this from happening, and that's by having a playoff system. That way, if two teams from the SEC found their way into the BCS Championship game, they will have earned it.