LSU's Grip on AP National Title Strengthens With Oregon, West Virginia Wins

When LSU beat Georgia to win the SEC title, I told y'all that barring a blowout loss to the Crimson Tide LSU had won the AP title.

Now others are starting to see the light.

With Oregon and West Virginia notching impressive BCS bowl wins, LSU's resume is only strengthening, in fact teams the Tigers beat in the regular season have gone 5-1 in the bowls. The only loss? Georgia's choke job in overtime against Michigan State.

West Virginia just put up 70 points last night.

LSU beat them by 26.

On the road.

The road, you know, the same place that LSU also beat Alabama in November.

No matter what happens on a neutral site field in New Orleans between LSU and Alabama, isn't a road win more impressive? Especially to anyone who was there that day in Tuscaloosa. There wasn't any other team in the country that could have walked in to that lion's den and emerged the victor.

Not one.

LSU did.

What's more, the Tigers have done it time and again. No one in the country disputes that LSU is the best team in the country after 13 games, so why should a 14th game change anything? Especially when no other team in a top six conference in the country will even have 13 wins?

Read that sentence again, LSU is going to have one more win than every other team in a major conference no matter what happens on Monday night. 

The entire purpose of the college football title is based on rewarding the totality of the season. This isn't the NCAA tournament, this isn't the NFL, this isn't major league baseball. 

This is college football. 

Every. Game. Counts. 

Except, you know, the first one between LSU and Alabama.

If Alabama notches a unanimous title despite a head-to-head split with LSU, what's the point of the entire season? That game on November 5th between LSU and Alabama, the most watched regular season game in decades, didn't even count.  

What's more LSU's win in that game isn't even the entirety of its resume, look at what the Tigers have done all season.  

Consider LSU's AP top 25 wins in the final poll: at Alabama, neutral site against Oregon, Arkansas, neutral site against Georgia, and at West Virginia.

Only one of these five games was even played at home.

Here's Alabama's present final poll AP top 25 wins: Arkansas.

Alabama's resume pales in comparison to LSU's. No matter what happens on Monday the Tide will have less wins, and it will have lost the division and conference title to LSU.

Are you telling me that's the resume of a unanimous national champion?

Nick Saban wants to argue that this game is the equivalent of the Super Bowl, but he's flat out wrong. Super Bowl teams earn their way to the big game by winning on the field in the playoffs. Alabama earned their way to the title game by other teams losing.

The only reason Alabama would even get a share of the national title with the win is because the coaches are bound up in a totalitarian pinkie swear to reward the game's winner with their title.

Don't you think the coaches would vote a 13-1 LSU team national champion if they had the freedom to do so?

After all, college coaches know the value of a division and conference title even more than you and me. College coaches are more likely to look at resumes and value actual wins. College coaches can look at LSU's 14 games and Alabama's 13 games and readily see that LSU's resume is much more impressive. But college coaches can't make this decision because they've already traded away their title votes before the game even kicks off. Here's a question I'd love for someone to answer -- what happens if college coaches voted LSU the champ? Do their ballots get tossed out? Is this the equivalent of a Saddam Hussein "election" where a false unanimity is enforced?

Say Alabama wins by a point on a controversial late touchdown. Or say this game goes to four overtimes and comes down to a two-point conversion win for Bama.

What would happen if the coaches didn't go along with the plan and voted LSU number one?

Wouldn't a vote like this be an awesome way for rebel coaches to occupy the BCS?

No matter what the coaches decide to do I believe LSU will win on Monday, but if even if it doesn't the AP title already belongs in Baton Rouge.

Because if every game truly counts, then LSU is the only possible AP champion.