They played a game Monday night that was, in theory, for the national championship in major college football.
The game was played, millions watched and certain people tried to convince us all is right with a broken system of determining a champion. Only in major college football is this fraud of a system forced upon the fans and to some degree, it’s actually the fault of those fans.
LSU and Alabama played for it all Monday night although I did not watch one play of it. I purposely stayed away in my own form of protest since this way of determining a national champion is such a farce.
In big boy college football they try to convince us that all games matter. The regular season is, in reality, a playoff system, the people behind this monstrosity tell us. Baloney. If that’s the case then why didn’t LSU’s win at Alabama during the regular season not mean anything? Afterall, Alabama got a second chance to defeat LSU, proving that the Tigers’ win during the regular season was in fact meaningless.
How can Alabama, a team that did not win its half of the conference, play for the national title? The Crimson Tide lost a game on its home field during the regular season to a conference foe for crying out loud.
And why should LSU have to play and defeat a team twice? Going into the game we were told Alabama need only beat LSU once (in the rematch) to be No. 1 while LSU would have to defeat Alabama again (proving the first game meant nothing.) It’s enough to make even the most die-hard college football fan sick as a result.
You can’t say a playoff system doesn’t work when it works at every other level of football (including college.) You can’t say winning your conference title means something when a team cannot even win its half of the conference and still play for a national title. Of course, the powers-that-be of college football will continue on this path simply because they can. The talking heads at the four-letter network tell us the best two teams played for it all Monday night, therefore, it must be true. Afterall, if you are told something enough times you have to believe it right? If ESPN says it, then it must be true. Give me a break.
Unfortunately, nothing is going to change. When viewing records are set each year for the game tagged as being for the national championships, then there’s no hope for a change in the system.
For those who support LSU and Alabama, I supposed all the pre-game hype was fun. However, I think if LSU was my team, I would have to loudly question why I had to defeat an opponent twice and that opponent only had to defeat me once.
I can’t imagine this scenario playing out for two teams in any conference besides the SEC. The four-letter network is now in bed with the conference and would never point out the hypocrisy of airing the national title game.
I realize my one-fan protest meant nothing Monday night. However, it was done more for the principal of the matter. If you feel strongly about something, you should always make a stand, be it in the sports world or otherwise.
For me, I refused to watch Monday night. I haven’t watched highlights of the game on Youtube or on the four-letter network, which to be honest has become a little too big for its britches.
But hey, North Dakota State won a national championship by being the last playoff team standing at the FCS level. These players are champions. I’m not sure you can say that about the winner of Monday’s game. Afterall, what about Oklahoma State? What about Stanford? What about Boise State? Don’t these teams deserve a chance? I guess not.
Chris Bridges is sports editor of the Barrow Journal. You can reach him at cbridges@barrowjournal.com.
