Defense, Defense, Defense

Recently I came across an opinion piece on WRALSportsFan by a local radio contributor concerning the BCS National Championship game.  James Alverson (@JamesAlverson), a producer for 99.9 the Fan and AM 620 the Buzz in addition to serving as the color analyst for their Friday Night Football Game of the Week, host of High School OT Gamenight and HighSchoolOT Wrap-up (probably best to simply call him the local High School Radio-based Guru/Analyst) detailed his take on whether or not the often-debated BCS system worked in setting up a rematch between the two SEC powerhouses, LSU and Alabama.  Alverson has always had solid insight when it comes to the local landscape of prep football and his take on 1 vs. 2 is worth the read.

You can find Alverson's opinion piece at the following link: Alverson discusses BCS [BCS got it right, this time]

There are numerous points that Alverson makes that are spot-on in my opinion.  One of the most compelling is the fact there appears to be absolutely NO debate that LSU should be in the National Championship game.  The debate in large measure is about Alabama's inclusion in the game based on a three-point loss to LSU earlier this year.  As Alverson points out, that game was an even match-up and to most folks that put on their anti-bias hats, the consensus would be that the game could have gone either way.  And that is where the thought that Alabama should not be included becomes a bit illogical.  If you can say the game was evenly played and Alabama may have been the better team and quite possibly walked out with the win, then with the roles reversed would you be sitting here at this moment saying Alabama definitely should be playing for the National Championship and LSU should not?  

The BCS system and the desire by many for a playoff format has led almost all of us down the road that includes a not-so-absolute fact that in general if you lose during the year, then you are probably out of the discussion unless others have lost as well, regardless of who you've lost to.  Why is that?  Because that is fair?, just?...the thought that you had your chance and 'didn't do what you needed to do?'  With regards to Alabama specifically, it would appear that many subscribe to the logic that the Cowboys , Cardinal or Ducks simply 'deserve' the opportunity to play LSU because Alabama had their shot and lost, regardless of what actually happened in the earlier match-up.  Moreover, the discussion of whether a loss to Iowa State (Okie State), Oregon (Stanford) or LSU/USC (Oregon) was more damaging than the single loss to LSU by Alabama seems to be somewhat unimportant in comparison to simply saying that someone else deserves a shot against LSU.

As always the BCS is fun to discuss and Alverson has some great points - be sure to check out his piece and enjoy the National Championship game!

Follow the DurhamFBFan on Twitter