Posted on 12/03/2007 11:06:43 AM PST by Bulldawg Fan
Les Miles didn’t need to go to Michigan for a chance to coach a team to victory against Ohio State, Michigan’s archrival. The LSU Tigers, to whom Miles reaffirmed his commitment over the weekend, will play Ohio State for the BCS national championship.
LSU (11-2) climbed five spots Sunday to No. 2 in the USA Today Top 25 Coaches’ Poll, enabling the Tigers to make the same jump in the BCS standings to set up a Jan. 7 date with the No. 1-ranked Buckeyes (11-1) in the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans.
“This is the most astonishing 36 or 48 or 72 hours I think I’ve ever seen in athletics,” said LSU Athletic Director Skip Bertman, who has 45 years in coaching and administration.
“Of course, it turned out to be magnificent for LSU. Not only did we get the coach, but we get the chance at the national championship in the same weekend, and of course, going in, we didn’t know either one of those things.”
Miles, a former Michigan player and assistant coach, walked away from a possible offer to coach at his alma mater when he announced Saturday he would stay at LSU.
A few hours later the Tigers defeated Tennessee 21-14 in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game, keeping slim hopes alive for a shot at a bigger prize.
When No. 2-ranked West Virginia lost 13-9 to huge underdog Pittsburgh and No. 1-ranked Missouri lost 38-17 to Oklahoma later that night, LSU’s long-shot possibility — described a week earlier by BCS experts — was no longer a desperate daydream.
LSU sports information director Michael Bonnette stayed up until 3 a.m. Sunday, e-mailing the 60 coaches who vote in the USA Today poll and as many Harris Interactive voters as possible. He set forth the case for LSU to be in the championship game. Miles made appearances on national TV after sunrise, doing the same.
By early Sunday afternoon, LSU was No. 2 in the USA Today poll. The Tigers, who did not receive a first-place vote in last week’s Top 25, received 11 this week.
LSU’s move ahead of Missouri and West Virginia, plus Georgia, Kansas and Virginia Tech, was a promising sign that the Tigers would be in the top two when the BCS standings were announced Sunday night.
“It was done at that point,” said Brad Edwards of ESPN, a BCS analyst who spelled out LSU’s long-shot hopes the previous weekend.
A jump from No. 5 to No. 2 in the Harris poll followed the larger jump by the Tigers in the USA Today poll Sunday. Those polls and an average of six BCS computer rankings are equal parts of the BCS formula.
“The only surprise to me was that LSU was such a comfortable No. 2 in both polls,” Edwards said. “I obviously expected them to be in that position, but I thought there would be a lot more support for all the different contenders out there.”
LSU finished No. 2 in the computers, trailing Virginia Tech. The Buckeyes moved from No. 3 in the BCS to No. 1 largely on the strength of a majority of first-place votes in the polls.
“I knew that LSU had the computer advantage on Oklahoma and USC,” Edwards said, citing schedule strength and quality victories as key components. “In my mind it was only a matter of whether a team like Virginia Tech might be able to be ranked ahead of LSU.” Edwards said when he saw LSU’s margin in the USA Today poll — and that Oklahoma, not Virginia Tech, was No. 3 in that poll — he knew the Tigers were a lock for No. 2 in the BCS standings.
Ohio State coach Jim Tressel voted his team No. 1 and LSU No. 2.
Miles voted LSU No. 1 and Ohio State No. 2.
The BCS is pure junk and has to go. If the other divisions in college footbball can have a playoff, Div 1 can also. Get rid of this crap.
UGA was screwed ... but who didn’t see it coming?
“..Georgia would smash either..”
I am not a U of Georgia alumnus but I fully agree with you.
Three chances to be number One? Who ever heard of this sort of crap?
No one, how many times have this many top teams had two losses?
The whole point of these bowl games derails the universities. The country and the school forget their prime reason for existence is academic education - not entertainment/sports/games, etc. The push for state champions at high school level and national champion at college level have distorted the education process and pushed it into the background.
Lots of parents sacrifice their kids on the altar of performance in the sports arena, to their shame.
Sports are a religious experience for many, a “new drug” for others. Too much.
It’s the BS title.
Their starting QB was injured for those two games. That said, they don’t play smart and they lack discipline as a team. A fairly common theme for Pete Carrol teams.
Because this year had too many teams getting knocked off who were in the #1 or #2 spot. Never seen it before on this scale.
What exactly is a “desperation interception”?
This is from the same coach that kept referring toArkansas as Ar-Kansas.
USC is not the best team in the nation.
Big 12 I could buy. Who did Georgia lose to?
Virginia Tech also has a good argument to have gotten into the championship game... JMHO.
UGA needs to win their division first before whinning.
Tell us how you really feel. Geaux tigers!
Tennessee, by a bunch. They also lost to South Carolina, which at the time didn’t seem too bad. In hindsight, that was a really bad loss.
Not coincidentally those two bad days happened when their injury list was brutal. Now that they're healthy again they're back to the top-tier.
I'd like to see GA vs. HA. ....not in the Sugar Bowl, in the championship game.
Maybe one day NCAAF will have a system where teams actually have to win games to make it to the championship game rather that rely on a computer program and the votes of AP hack writers. ....you know, a playoff system -- like every other major sport, college or pro. Voting and judging is for freaking figure skating, not football.
GA couldn’t even get into the SEC championship game, lost to TN [lost 35-14] and SC, and narrowly beat Vanderbilt and Alabama. LSU deserved to be picked ahead of GA since it did win the SEC title and beat TN.
You can’t argue that Georgia was screwed. If you can’t win your conference’s division title, much less the conference, you have no business playing for the national title. Georgia shouldn’t even be in a BCS bowl, much less the title game.
The only teams with any business playing for the championship are Ohio State, Oklahoma and, yes, LSU.
You can talk about Ohio State’s non-conference schedule all you want, but since none of the four have non-conference losses it loses some relevance. Good wins against Michigan and Wisconsin, with a respectable loss to a tough Illinois team. Good wins and a respectable loss, but not dazzling enough to be a clear #1.
LSU, Oklahoma and USC have two losses. USC’s two losses were inexcusable. LSU and Oklahoma both play in tougher conferences, but LSU’s two losses were triple-overtime squeakers, one on the road at Kentucky and one in a rivalry game against a Heisman-quality star. Oklahoma’s Texas Tech loss isn’t bad, but the Colorado loss is.
I’d go with LSU and Oklahoma instead of Ohio State, but OSU isn’t a bad choice. There’s parity in college football now, so the #1 and #2 aren’t clear-cut anymore.
Except that LSU killed them.
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