A Story from the Blog New Orleans Rising shows more rumors bubbling out about the surprisingly flat showing of LSU at the BCS Championship game. This one posits an altercation between Miles, his OC, and some offensive players that ended up with certain players benched. Here is a small taste:

The LSU team did not arrive at the dome until shortly after 6:00 PM. It seems that T-Bob Hebert & Russell Shepherd met with Les & told him that they were not happy with Jefferson's preparation & attitude leading up to the game. He was purportedly at Harrah's a couple of nights & drinking heavily.

If that wasn't enough, we also get some great conspiracy theories in the comments wherein QB Lee supposedly has a secret medical disability. No word yet on alien abductions or Voodoo Centric Cajun Cabals, but it is just a matter of time.

Bumped from FanPosts.--ed

I realize some people seem to not grasp the fact that the SEC's 6 straight National Championships prove the assertion that the SEC is the greatest conference in the nation, so here is another stat line that further proves this FACT. I have been watching ESPN basically my entire life and here over the last 3 months I have heard a bunch out of Oklahoma State that for some reason with one year where they was rather good means they deserve the shot at a national title; for some reason they think their schedule is more deserving of a spot in the title game than an SEC team with an equal record to them. I have heard this so much over the last several months, I decided to dig into this bowl season, since you know, it was all about offense and that is what Okay State seems to rest their argument on.

Without further ado, THE SEC's DOMINANCE IS SETTLED. After the jump...

And FYI any Almost Competitive Conference fans, may want to look away. It is really bad for you guys.

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Reporting Year: 7/1/2010 - 6/30/2011 for most teams and determines conference affiliation. Service Academies N/A. I sorted them by football revenues because that is usually the biggest money-maker.

White=SEC

Green=Big 12

Yellow=ACC

Cyan=Big 10

Violet=Pac 12

Salmon=Big East

Grey=Mountain West

Magenta=Conference USA

Red=WAC

Orange=MAC

Blue=Sun Belt

Some of y'all have probably heard by now that Mark Richt was cited as having made secondary NCAA violations. His great crime was that he took money out of his own pocket and gave it to people on his staff. Seriously? That's an NCAA violation? Is it also wrong for a coach to have his staff over for a Christmas party or something like that? I mean, you might be able to argue that providing food and maybe even a small Christmas gift to people who actually work for a living might be improper too. After all, giving anything out of your own pocket to someone with the expectation of nothing in return might actually give some people the impression of decency or integrity and we all know that the NCAA frowns on that sort of thing. If you are going to kickback some funds you better be doing it to NCAA or university officials. A nice long cruise in the Caribbean is fine as long as you are greasing the palms of the right people. Whereas giving money out of your own pocket in a manner that has absolutely no effect on anyone else much less giving your program an unfair advantage is just over the line.

Is the NCAA run by Communists? Is that the great Trojan horse the Soviet Union set in motion so many years ago? I'm starting to wonder. These people have never seen a rule too trivial, too pointless, or too intrusive. Who actually thought this was a good idea? Who cared enough to even bring it up that first time? These people never cease to amaze me.

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Bumped from FanPosts -- ed.

Reorganize the out-of-control conference expansion into 7 BCS conferences based on region of the country. 10 teams each. 9-game conference schedule (everyone plays everyone). 1 out-of-conference BCS game (permanent rivals like FSU-Florida, GA Tech-UGA, Clemson-Sakerlina). 1 non-AQ game vs WAC, CUSA, etc. 1 FCS game against an in-state opponent. 12 regular season games.

No. 1 & No. 2 in each BCS conference play each other again in the Conference Championship game. 7 Champions enter an 8-team playoff with 1 at-large team. Takes 16 games to win the National Championship. 16 teams get a crack at it. 6 playoff games to be played at Rose, Fiesta, Cotton, Sugar, Orange, & a new bowl in the new Indianapolis Colts domed stadium. Game No. 7 the National Championship rotates between the bowl sites like it does now.

So this year, LSU goes 12-0 (9-0), Bama goes 11-1 (8-1) & they play each other again in the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta. 1 team wins & is the No. 1 seed. If Bama loses they're at-large team, maybe No. 6 seed. LSU loses & is No. 2 seed.

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[Bumped from the FanPosts. -Y2]

(But not really.)

So, I can understand the need to defend the counter-argument in a debate. To at least mention the other possibilities. But in his ESPN article all Rick Reilly really did was make the case for a non-LSU Alabama rematch in the worst possible way. While there's the real possibility that this was the end-goal, well... Let's just look at his argument, shall we?

But that's not why there should be no Dullapalooza II on Jan. 9 in the Superdome. There shouldn't be one because it makes the BCS honchos liars. This is their Twitter handle: @EveryGameCounts. But how can every game count if it doesn't matter who won the first one?

Whom would I rather see? Any team that hasn't already blown its chance.

I can understand the rational of not wanting to see a rematch in the national title game of a regular-season game. It almost happened a few years ago with Ohio State and Michigan, and we can all agree that choosing "no" to them was a good idea. What's to say that this year wouldn't be the same, with one of several teams that Reilly puts forwards beating LSU, and someone else drubbing Alabama. Heck, LSU could probably lose to Georgia on Saturday and still be in the National Title game. Is that a problem?

No. Because, as Rick Reilly mentions in his article, every other team has blown their chance.

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[Ed: Promoted from FanPosts]

It’s no secret that I like to look to non-American sports for ideas about how to fix issues here. Taking a whole different idea about how to run sports and blending it with uniquely American ideas (like college sports for instance) tends to lead to the best-of-both worlds, so far as you make sure to respect both ideas.

The best example is the College Basketball Champions League, an idea that was fleshed out by fetch9 over on Rock Chalk Talk. Between it and an FA Cup-style NCAA tournament, it would take many of the great things about college basketball and stretch it over the season with more significant conference games and two season-long tournaments culminating in two huge championship games.

A College Football Champions League is an intriguing idea, but it runs into a few problems. It would be impossible to play full conference seasons and a full Champions League schedule without expanding the football season and putting more wear and tear on student-athletes. Qualifying for the Champions League could be based on the previous season, but this would be problematic given the turnover in football, a problem solved by freshmen impact in basketball.

College football though looks less like European soccer leagues. Bigger rosters mean regional recruiting is more important. While they occur every week, college football games feel like one-off events. And they often bring together whole states or regions in a way that college basketball does not seem to do.

In short, college football is a lot more like international soccer than professional club soccer. So instead of the Champions League, an internationally-inspired college football playoff would look more like the World Cup. This would be the format for a World Cup of College Football. And the best part? It includes no more games than the current college football season and requires just one change to NCAA bylaws.

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The BcS computers regard the BigXII (-4) as the best conference.  That alone shows that the BcS computers need a reformat and a reboot.  The computers have Oklahoma State as their #1 team, Oklahoma #4 (tied with Boise State) Kansas State #10, Texas #11, and Baylor #19 makes no sense to me. (more below)

OSU has played tree teams that were ranked at the time they played.  Texas, Texas A&M and Kansas State.  A&M is no longer ranked and Kansas State was ranked only because they were a one-loss team playing an even weaker schedule.  I honestly don't know why Texas is ranked in the top 20.  Also, their attempt at playing defense is sad, letting these weak teams pile up massive amounts of yards and points.  If OSU had to play LSU, Alabama, Arkansas, or even South Carolina OSU would fall way short.

Oklahoma lost to an unranked (and still unrakned) Texas Tech.  OU has wins over an over-ranked Kansas State, way over ranked Texas, and unranked Texas A&M.  The Sooners' win vs Florida State is hollow as FSU has dropped from top 10 to out of the polls.  Oklahoma was the only BigXII (-4) team that was somewhat playing defense.  They have been riddled by season ending injuries (to their top RB and WR in the last two weeks).  OU is the class of the BigXII(-4) but that really isn't saying much.

Kansas State is a weak team, playing a weak schedule, with a weak defense, and weak offense.  Their "best" win is vs Baylor who was ranked 15th at the time played.  Baylor has since fallen from the rankings.  When they played OU they were totally dominated and almost had a chance to win vs OSU, but both Oklahoma teams put up well over 50 points each on KSU.

Texas has played very weak teams and looked weak, two ranked teams and looked very weak.  The human polls have Texas 21 and 20 but due to the unknown quantity of the BcS computers Texas is ranked 16th.  The Longhorns' best win is vs an unranked Texas Tech squad or a 5-4 UCLA team.

I can only speculate that offense rankings is what is driving the BigXII(-4) so high and those offensive numbers are due in part to no BigXII team having a upper ranked defense.

Looking at the CBS Sports rankings I see a tragic injustice.  Look at these Strength of Schedule rankings:

BigXII(-4) teams: OSU #7, Oklahoma #4, Texas #6, Kansas State #14, and Texas A&M #2

SEC teams: LSU #12, Alabama #15, Arkansas #56, South Carolina #16, and Georgia #40

HOW?  LSU has played, and beaten, the #2 and #7 teams in the nation with a game vs another top 10 team coming up.  They beat West Virginia, Auburn, Mississippi State and Florida when they were ranked.  Arkansas has lost to the #2 team, then beat #9, and a top 25 ranked Auburn.  Arkansas also beat a then ranked Texas A&M team.

No top ranked BigXII team plays more than three ranked teams (and they are all conference games).  Also, none of them play more than one top 10 ranked team.

The Out of Conference wins still don't tip in the BigXII's favor.  The SEC has out of conference wins vs Oregon, West Virginia, Texas A&M, Penn State, Connecticut, and Cincinnati.

The BigXii(-4) has OOC wins vs TCU, SMU, Arizona, BYU, Connecticut, Florida State, and Miami.

NONE of the BigXII(-4) OOC wins are vs teams that are now ranked. 

The SEC's OOC wins are teams that are currently ranked (Oregon #7, Penn State #12, and Cincinnati #23).  Two of the teams were ranked but they are either current BigXII(-4) members (Texas A&M) or future BigXII(-4) members (West Virginia.

Please someone let me know how we can get these computers reformatted and rebooted as there is a problem with their programming.

[Ed: Bumped from FanPosts.]

Thus far this season, Alabama and LSU have shown very few weaknesses. There is a reason these teams are ranked 1 and 2. But neither team is entirely without flaws. Especially given the wrong matchup, these teams are fallible and this game could be the wrong matchup for either team.

Alabama's big flaw – No deep threat

The last few seasons, Alabama had Julio Jones to go deep and take the pressure off the running game. Thus far this season, there has been nobody in that role. It was hoped before the season that Marquis Maze would step into that role, but he has been more of a possession receiver and he has the 12.4 YPC average to prove it instead of the 14.5 average that Julio Jones put up last season.

On its own, Maze becoming more of a possession receiver than a deep threat is not a problem. Some of the best teams both in the NFL and college have had a possession guy as a top receiver. I recall the Dallas Cowboy teams of the early 90s having Michael Irvin as a possession guy (though he could go deep when needed) and Alvin Harper as the deep threat on the other side. The problem for Alabama is the lack of the deep threat. Other than Maze (who did finally get a big play against Tennessee), the longest receptions are by running backs.

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