BCS Bowl Projections: 5 Matchups We'd Rather See in the BCS Title Game

If you like watching football games with a lot of defense, no offense and too many field goals, you're going to love the BCS National Championship Game between No. 1 LSU and No. 2 Alabama.

Yup, this is a dance we've seen before. The first tilt between the Tigers and Crimson Tide was dubbed the "Game of the Century," and it ended up being a mere 9-6 overtime kinda-sorta-not-really thriller. It was a decent game, but certainly not a great game.

And as far as I can tell, relatively few of us want to see these two teams play again. We would be much better off if the BCS title game featured a different matchup.

For example, here are five matchups that would be much more fun to watch.

5. LSU vs. Boise State

Boise State haters will point out that the Broncos blew their chance at making it to the title game on a missed field goal.

I would point out that missed field goals nearly caused Alabama to miss out on the title game as well.

Truth be told, Boise State is not as good this year as it has been in years past. In fact, I'm of the mind that the Broncos were a little overrated in 2011.

But hey, we still haven't seen a non-AQ team make it to the title game, and I think that's something that needs to change. We need to know once and for all if the BCS conferences and the SEC in particular are really that much more superior.

If LSU won this imaginary matchup, the status quo would hold. If Boise State won, all hell would break loose.

4. Alabama vs. Oklahoma State

This likely would have been the title game matchup had LSU found a way to lose the SEC Championship Game to Georgia. And in my humble opinion, it would have been a good one.

The key matchup in this, um, matchup would be Oklahoma State's high-powered offense against Alabama's brick-wall pass defense. Statistically, this game would feature the No. 2 passing attack in the country against the No. 1 passing defense.

Beyond that, it would have been fun to see how Trent Richardson managed against an Oklahoma State defense that allowed over 180 rushing yards per game during the regular season.

Put simply, you would actually get to see some fireworks in this one. That's more than you can say about LSU vs. Alabama II.

3. Alabama vs. Oregon

We've already seen LSU play Oregon. That was a good one, and a game that I wouldn't mind watching again.

But in keeping with the "no rematches" theme of this piece, I think it would be better if we got to see Oregon go against Alabama.

The cool part about this matchup is that it would allow us to see Trent Richardson and LaMichael James on the same field. They're arguably the two best running backs in the country, so it would be pretty awesome to see them go head-to-head.

This is, of course, assuming James would be able to find any holes in Alabama's top-ranked rush defense.

2. LSU vs. Stanford

The one knock on Andrew Luck is that he would surely fall flat if he had to go against a top-flight SEC defense.

Well, here you go. What better way to test Luck's quality than by putting him up against the best defense in the country?

Just as exciting, I think, would be the matchup in the trenches between LSU's defensive line and Stanford's offensive line. Both units are elite, and the winner of this battle would likely be the winner of the game as well.

If Luck and the Cardinal managed to pull out a win, his legend would grow even bigger.

1. LSU vs. Oklahoma State

No surprise here, am I right?

This is the one most of us want to see, and it's the matchup that many of us thought we were going to see. But alas, the Pokes didn't get enough voter support to make it happen.

We can still dream, though. The parameters of this matchup would be largely similar to those in the proposed matchup between Oklahoma State and Alabama, as it would be a classic great offense versus great defense matchup.

As many have already opined, it might just take a team with a great offense to beat LSU. If so, then we know that Alabama won't be getting the job done.