Some BCS National Championship Thoughts

I got kind of lucky and was able to go the the BCS National Championship game.  It's kind of lucky, because although I got to go, it wasn't with a ticket.  I worked at a nacho booth on the first level for the Greater New Orleans Drum Corps Association.  Although we had a steady flow of customers for most of the game, I got to see bits and pieces of it.  Here's where we were at three hours before game time, with the LSU Band rehearsing its halftime show.  I took the picture from the nacho stand.

   Hats off to Alabama for its dominating 21-0 performance over LSU.  The Crimson Tide proved they were the best in the nation.  Alabama executed on offense and LSU didn't.  On a few LSU plays, I tried to count to three to see when quarterback Jordan Jefferson would get his pass off.  On some plays, I never made it to three and on others, he ran before I got to three.  The offensive line provided Jefferson little protection against the Bama front four, but there were times Jefferson didn't have to run.  Maybe he should have had a long talk with Drew Brees on how to pick apart opposing defenses.  AJ McCarron must have, because there were times he played like Brees.  On one play, he threw a low out pass to Marquis Maze who made a diving catch for a first down in front of the Honey Badger himself, Tyrann Mathieu.

   About the fans...we were stationed behind an Alabama section, but served fans of both teams.  Except for a few idiots, both Tide and Tiger fans were well behaved.  And the Bama fans were just as loud as Tiger fans during the game to the point we were yelling just to barely hear an order.  It was almost like a Saints game.  Starting in the fourth quarter, Alabama fans started to celebrate, but at least where we were, they didn't rub in the fact they were about to win.  The few LSU and Alabama fans who started trouble were quickly arrested by the New Orleans Police Department.

   The AP has Alabama at #1 and LSU at #2.  No argument here.  LSU beat more top ranked teams than the others, including a win over Alabama, and should be #2.  What's notable is the three of the top five teams are not only from the SEC.  They're from the SEC West.  Next year should be fun, especially if Trent Richardson stays at Alabama.  Expect some teams from the Big Ten and Pac-12 (especially Oregon) to make their cases against SEC dominance.

    Here's a little trivia.  There was only one bowl shutout game in the 2011 season and it was the national championship.  The next two bits of trivia involve the Nebraska Cornhuskers.  The last shutout in a bowl game was in 2009, when Nebraska blanked Arizona 33-0.  The last shutout for a national championship was in 1991 when the Miami Hurricanes blanked Nebraska 22-0 for a share of the championship with Washington.

   Congratulations to all the bowl game winners and the 2011 BCS National Champion Alabama Crimson Tide.