Tomorrow, the most anticipated matchup of the college football season, Alabama-LSU, will finally be played out for all to see. Fans of both storied programs have been posturing and thumping their chests for weeks, making their cases for why their respective team will emerge from the gridiron battle victorious. Hopefully, the game will live up to the hype and be the momentous contest most fans have been expecting. More times than not, however, these so called, "Games of the year," seldom live up to the billing and usually result in one team grinding the other into a fine powder.
Whatever the outcome, a rematch between these two teams would be neither interesting to most folks, nor would it be practical. Who outside of Louisiana and Alabama, in this vast college football nation would want to see a rematch to determine a national champion? Wouldn't such a game necessarily diminish the the importance of tomorrow's game? In lieu of a college football playoff we have the regular season schedule which is supposed to be a weeding-out process moving toward the BCS title game. The loser of Alabama/LSU, in a very direct way, will be eliminated from title contention--at least as it relates to the victor of tomorrow's contest.
Nothing should preclude the loser from rising to the top once more to face a new title contender. But, if tomorrow's victor runs the table and remains number one following the SEC Championship game, then a remach is pointless. Any undefeated or one-loss team that hasn't already faced that number one team would be the preferred choice of the vast majority of college football fans.
Also, objectively speaking, we don't even know if the best team in the nation is Alabama or LSU. At the moment, in week 10, they are perceived to be, but it's all conjecture. One of them probably is, but who really knows. Oklahoma State and Stanford have highly talented and balanced offenses that would provide interesting tests for either the Alabama or LSU defense.
So, let's allow tomorow's game its full weight. There will be no second opportunity. It is, in essence, a playoff. The winner moves closer to the finals. The loser, although not emphatically eliminated, must step aside and make way for new challengers. They must also then see to the business of winning the remaining games on their schedule and hope that their vanquisher falls, providing them with an avenue to the title game.
