The 2011-2012 December Delirium National Championship

Imagine this – a true national championship playoff, and four teams remaining: Oklahoma State versus Alabama, and LSU versus Kansas State. Such is life in the final two weeks of the 2011-2012 December Delirium.

Yes, it is all my imagination. I keep dreaming that maybe someday it will actually happen. The proposed “plus one” format for the BCS is a step in the right direction, but please, stop teasing us with a sorta-kinda National Championship and give it to us for real!

At this point, we’ve seen all of the key teams play in various bowl games. Most of these games have had little to no relevance to anyone other than, well, maybe an athletic director or school president or two. There have been plenty of intriguing match-ups, but that is about the only way to describe them: intriguing at best.

Onwards to the semifinals and finals of this year’s December Delirium!

An LSU – Kansas State game would have probably been a yawner. I think Kansas State would have kept the Tigers to a reasonably low-scoring affair. Based on their end of season real-world performance against Arkansas, I can’t imagine them shutting down LSU or being able to score enough points against the LSU defense or both. Chalk this one up to LSU, and put them into the national final in New Orleans.

An Oklahoma State – Alabama game would have been a game for the ages. Epic Big 12 offense versus the best defense the SEC can produce (if not the best in the nation). Oh, and then there would be a rather anemic Alabama offense against a takeaway-leading OSU defense. I just can’t see this game being decided by field goals alone. It would take at least 20 or so points to win (in my humble estimation) because OSU just has too many offensive threats. With that said, I do have to say that the “Bama defense would pull out the win over the Cowboys. Defense, as they say, does win championships – even against Brandon Wheeden and company.

That brings us to a National Championship – with LSU against Alabama. Oh, wait, didn’t we see that one last night? Yes, we were presented with another underwhelming national championship game. Two words can describe 60 minutes of football – Alabama defense. They were stunning. Les Miles looked like the proverbial deer in the headlights. In case you forgot, Les, the quarterback’s name is Jarrett Lee – you could have put him in. LSU chose a bad day to not show up to play. After 15 points worth of field goals, Alabama finally scored a touchdown. A national championship with only one TD? Really? Yawn.

Many of you might argue that if we ended up with this combination of teams, then why would there be a need for a playoff anyways? Isn’t the BCS working well enough on its own?

In a playoff system, it doesn’t matter if you are a have – or a have-not. Everything is decided on the field, every minute of every game. You have to get into your conference championship or be prepared to play a tough schedule throughout the season. You have to play tough teams to advance. And you have to bring your “A” game when it counts. TV viewers would love it as March Madness has shown us with college basketball time and time again.

I will say it one more time – goodbye, BCS. It is time for a change. Please.

Congratulations to the Alabama Crimson Tide, the 2011-2012 December Delirium National Champion!

Photo credits: “lapolab”