Previewing LSU vs. Bama: The Rematch

Boycott implies interest.

I have fierce disinterestedness.

Oh that’s right…that regional championship game is this week! I’m sure it will generate a lot of interest in the tri-state area.

LSU will roll the Tide leaving the Interested in the nation with the question: WHO thought a rematch was a good idea?

Excellent read, Nickel Rover.

And yes. I will be boycotting. But I do agree, it will be a higher scoring affair this time around, but what do I know. Could be 3-2 for all I care.

I’m rooting for sinkhole, that way everyone is a winner.

Except the SEC. They lose twice.

Nickel — thanks for going deeper than “Two best defenses evar, PAAAAAWWWWWL!”

A couple of other things to watch for:

- Eddie Lacy returning to full strength. He’s Trent Lite, and fits into the same packages. He missed most of the back half of the season with turf toe, and his absence in the last meeting meant LSU didn’t have to respect the run when Richardson was on the sidelines getting a breather.

- Barrett Jones is healthy. In the last meeting, he got banged up, and he is a true weapon on the offensive line, able to play any of five positions. With Barrett anywhere on that line, the unbalanced fronts will be more effective.

- Tight ends, especially Brad Smelley, who came on in the back half of the year.

- Jordan Jefferson’s brain. Will he be the world-beater, or will he lay an egg like he did against Georgia in the SEC championship game? Honestly, I’d rather us be facing Jefferson than to allow Jarrett Lee to return and conquer with a storybook ending.

I know you guys really don’t care, but the BCS isn’t designed to program what you would believe to be the most entertaining matchup. If it were, we’d vote in Notre Dame vs. New England, just to see the Patriots beat up on some Catholics.

Semi boycotting, may watch a bit of it, toss up, I say whoever wins the rushing yards and turnover battle wins, how is that for wimping out.

Nickel,

I have a question, with Mack and co. trying to build this SEC offense and defense, where are we going to find these type of players to run those schemes?

In my estimation it seems that since the Texas high schoolers have primarly gone to the spread in the past 10-15 years, the state is not developing those big boys as much as they used too.

Thoughts?

Nickel — thanks for going deeper than "Two best defenses evar, PAAAAAWWWWWL!"

Haha!

I was listening to Trailer Park Rome (aka PAAAWWL) the other day and heard almost the exact same thing.

Some guy on the show who sounded like he just started into his second six pack of Old Milwaukee, told Paul that LSU would lose because their players were too busy partying and would be hung over.

Paul asked him what he was basing that on, and said he was pretty sure that wasn’t the case. The classic response:

IT DON"T MATTER PAAAAAWWWWWWL!!!!! BAMA’s GONNA WIN!!!!!!!

So I’m going with Bammer based on that analysis. I would like to boycott, but I know I can’t. Living in SEC country with SEC friends (and wife) makes this game hard to stomach.

For me to even think of not watching a CG shows how little I care for this rematch and the BCS. FWIW, I quit the first game midway through the third quarter.

I will watch college hoops until they are over, then check the score.

Not watching. My daughter has a basketball game. I will tape it, but I’ll only watch the replay if it involves some last minute Miles Miracle or Les Clock Management. I admire both teams and programs enormously. Good luck to both.

Will probably watch, but if the wife is really interested in something else, I’ll probably let her catch up on whatever she has on the DVD.

If someone can tell me who winning will give us the best chance at a playoff, I will pull hard for that team.

I have a question, with Mack and co. trying to build this SEC offense and defense, where are we going to find these type of players to run those schemes?

“Plan A” is to have Sandra Bullock adopt a huge guy she finds on the side of Bee Caves.

@WanderingHorn

Oh, you mean that +1 playoff that Slive proposed a couple of years ago, and that Beebe and Delaney shot down?

And for those of you who thought the first game was boring, are you really fans of football, or of touchdowns? I don’t recall any other game where every single play felt like it could determine the entire outcome. One missed assignment is all it takes. (Just ask the Steelers.)

Vulcan - that is EXACTLY the one I am talking about. My comment wasn’t meant to be critical of either team - or the SEC for that matter - just this damn “system” we have.

On your other point, I didn’t find the first game boring, exactly, but I didn’t find it all that exciting, either. It was sort of like watching a wrestling match between two evenly-matched heavyweights who both knew that the other could pin them in an instant if they made a mistake, so I remember thinking there was a lot of playing it safe on both sides.

The last time I watched these two teams they played 55 minutes of rugby and 5 minutes of soccer. Yawn.

Jefferson has brought up comparisons to this LSU team and the all time greats—- they will lose— when you are worried about history, you aren’t worried about making it

I’d rather watch the Smurf movie than the “Game of the Century” redux, which rhymes with acid reflux, which is what I get when I think of Bama vs Tiger.

I’m sure you considered that first game exciting if your avatar is of that godawful statue on the hilltop in Birmingham. (That IS a statue of Paul Finebaum, right?)

The BCS isn’t designed to give the best matchup. It’s for determining the SEC champion.

I’m not interested in watching to half teams (very good halves).

I hope it’s 0-0 at the end of regulation and the media tries to spin it as an exciting game.

I might watch, but only because the Bruins aren’t playing tonight.

Nice preview, Nickel. I liked this part:

Unlike most Big 12 offenses, which project championship hopes around the development of a QB while hoping the supporting cast is strong his junior & senior year, Alabama’s system is designed to emphasize the running game and whichever skill positions are strongest that year.

Saban only needs a caretaker to run this system. If the QB can avoid turnovers the running game will limit possessions for each squad and Alabama vs. your defense will generally prove to be more efficient than your offense vs. the Alabama D.

When Sailor Ripley started Recruitocosm he asked whether team success is more down to “Xs and Os or Jimmys and Joes”. 2011 was the Year of the Recruiter. Bama and LSU are running two of the more vanilla offenses in the country.

Saban in particular wants to take the game out of his quarterback’s hands every year it seems because he doesn’t want one of his teams loaded with superior athletes to have a down year because the quarterback wasn’t ready or underperformed for some other reason. As for LSU, they pretty well handled two of the better schematic teams in the country (at least offensively) in Oregon and WVU.

One more thought. If the situation were reversed and UT was getting a second chance to play OU for NC I would be excited to watch my Horns.

However, if there were other teams within fractions of a BCS point of the Horns, and those teams had the same record and played a similar SOS, I would not begrudge their frustration for getting excluded from the NC game. They have a valid argument.

The season records and bowl records show that the Big12 should have been allotted two BCS teams this year. If I were Big12 commish, I would constantly remind everyone of this all the way until next year’s bowls.

okay, that’s two thoughts actually.

I’ll watch — I won’t watch one moment of the pre-game (have pretty much avoided all the hoopla so far).

I was reminded again yesterday on another benefit for having a 20-year deal with ESPN. While driving, I heard Wendy Nix breathlessly ask LSU Coach Les Miles,

"This is the most anticipated game in BCS history, what will be your last word of advice to your team?

It isn’t just the money you want from ESPN — you want their hype machine clearly on your side.

I’m just glad I won’t have to listen Verne Lundquist and Gary Danielson drool all over their beloved SEC teams. It will be refreshing to hear another set of commentators drool all over them.

Texoz: Of course, you would watch Texas-OU in a BCSCG. And no one would argue that you shouldn’t. I don’t begrudge LSU and Alabama having the game and claiming the title. But I don’t have to watch.

Wow, srr. Glad I missed that.

srr - that right there is a big part of why we linked up w/ them for LHN

LSU vs Bama is bogus championship. They would never let two teams from Big 12; PAC 12; Big 10 play for the national championship. NEVER!!! They wouldn’t allow Texas to play OU for the same trophy….never. Hope LSU puts a big time spanking on Bama because Bama has no right to be there in the first place. And for the record…I don’t like LSU or Bama. If Bama happens to beat LSU it should be a co-championship because they would be 1 and 1.

Heh. In fact. I so clearly remember how ESPN had anointed USC the very best team in the history of college football in 2005… a full month before Texas proved USC wasn’t even the best team on the field.

I will watch the game, because I know a hot chick who went to Alabama and I need to be conversant in the game to get somewhere.

Also, I’m going to track what Bama does with Maze as a preview of what Texas will do with DGB.

Boycotting, only because I already saw this game on Nov 5 and the girls will want to watch the Disney Channel tonight. You can tell how inspired I am to watch a snoozefest if I’m granting the girls’ wish.

I won’t miss the game but I also won’t watch it either.

Tebow > (Miles+Saban)

I won’t be watching, and I can’t wait to see the ratings.

can’t wait to see a team that did not even win it’s own division in its conference potentially win the National Title… Hooray Beer!

I will watch, but using only an hour and a half of my time, having previously DVR’ed the program while whupping some ass at some golf, a much better use of time. I figure an hour and a half is enough to cut out all the media’s fellatious treatment of the SEC, the commercials, and all the dead space between plays…….Make that 45 minutes.

@Vulcan

There were numerous blown assignments in pass coverage, but the offenses were just too inept to take advantage of them.

As to your main point, it’s fun to watch a great defense trying to stop a great offense. Watching a pair of great defenses choke a pair of poor offenses is just tedious. It’s hardly a “defensive struggle” if the defense isn’t struggling to stop anything.

And if you can’t “don’t recall any other game where every single play felt like it could determine the entire outcome,” I seriously doubt that you watch much football. As it turns out, the first Alabama-LSU game was not the only game in NCAA history to go to overtime. Some of those other games even featured offenses good enough to actually score on any given play and kickers who can actually kick field goals.

I’ll watch because 1) It’s the last college football game for a loooooong time and 2) I don’t have cable so I’ve been spared the bullshit hype.

I’m amazed at how little I’ve missed ESPN since I pulled the plug.

Like many others, I couldn’t give Jack and/or Shit about this game. Which is not to detract from Nickel’s excellent analysis (As Usual) of what to expect should you choose to watch this mulligan of a football game.

I will treat this game as if a proverbial turd had floated to the top of the punch bowl, and choose to walk away. I only hope enough folks in the country agree to do likewise, so that the ratings will clearly show how unimpressed college football fans are with the BCS. Since money is the only thing that matters maybe, just maybe, abysmal ratings of the MNC game will be the pebble that causes the rockslide so that one day we can actually have a system that works.

“"Plan A" is to have Sandra Bullock adopt a huge guy she finds on the side of Bee Caves.”

That would be Estelle Kennedy!

When they weren’t playing each other, LSU and Alabama cranked out 40+ a game. Yes, their offenses are vanilla - almost the exact same thing I see on Sundays, in fact, which explains how they can recruit guys like Randall, Shepard, Richardson and Jones in spite of their “vanilla schemes.” Alabama’s had two Outlands, a Heisman, and a Heisman finalist in the past, what, five years? Good thing these teams know nothing about offense. Otherwise, they might be really good.

I understand the complaints about two teams from the same conference, but I don’t get complaints based on the quality or style of the two teams. I’d love to have a Texas team or two look exactly like either one of them. We’d be talking about them for decades.

A Nickel Rover analysis is always football-sharp. This one gets it right on the other aspects in play too.

I’m with bevobackside… actively boycotting would indicate more interest than I can possibly muster for tonight’s farce. Here’s hoping both teams come down with a mild, transient case of myasthenia gravis and cover themselves in ignominy tonight while I enjoy reruns of I Love Lucy and, during commercial breaks, fire off angry emails to my cable company demanding they sign up the Longhorn Network.

Neither team could beat Okla. State. The Cowboys can both run AND pass.

Boycotting. Interested in football. This game is a complete farce as a championship game.

Yeah, Vulcan, the first game had plenty of missed assignments. It just so happened that the offenses let them off the hook with dropped passes, terrible throws, and general incompetence. It didn’t help that Charlie Brown was kicking for Alabama, either.

I’m boycotting because i want to see us move toward playoffs and a championship game rather than continued SEC idolatry.

Re ratings, the TV numbers are going to be HUGE. The regular season game was the second most watched regular season game on CBS in 24 years. I’d be surprised if this year’s game doesn’t surpass last year’s record setting performance for cable.

Re quarterbacks, I wonder if a guy like McCarron doesn’t regret going to Alabama. Yes, he gets the play in big games all the time which I’m sure is fun. But, nobody talks about him. Even Nickel didn’t mention him by name. He was a big time recruit - Rivals #7 pro QB - and could have gone just about anywhere, but instead he is thought of as a handoff machine and “game manager.”

Huck, you adjustedstats got me to 93.7% against the general population. I’ve gone 23-11 with just the NC game left. The big ones I missed on were Pitt (29 pts), FIU (23), and SDS (20). Louisville, Tulsa, and WMU kind of hurt too. Still a lot better than I’d done picking myself I’m sure.

VA Horn:
We haven’t had much trouble assembling SEC-level defenses because of our access to Texas DL and the best athletes in one of the best football states.
Building an offense like LSU’s or Alabama’s that have systems that can be sustained year to year regardless of the level of QB play mostly comes down to the OL.
If you can evaluate and choose OL well, then redshirt them and develop them slowly you can achieve this.
Everyone remember when Tech would rotate in another 5th year senior at QB and roll to 40 ppg and 8 or 9 wins? That’s what you want on your OL. Always having guys in reserve who have been developing and practicing for years before they take the field as upperclassmen. We have the resources to accomplish this, we just need to keep playing catchup so that our incoming guys can actually sit on the sideline a few years before having to come in to replace incompetent juniors and seniors.

Longcat: My point was this, if either LSU or Bama made a mistake that resulted in six, the chances of being able to catch up and rectify that mistake later were pretty minute.

In the Big 12 and most of HS and college football you can get down 17-0 and still have a reasonable chance of making a comeback and possibly even winning by a large margin. You get down 17-0 against Bama or LSU and it’s all over.

If you are disgusted with the process and don’t want to watch I can’t blame you. I won’t pretend like it isn’t good, compelling football to me though. I’m very interested in watching these teams play football at a high level.

Phenomenal Smith:
That’s a pretty good point. McCarron is said to have some pro-potential. He’s not there yet. Both LSU and Bama have offenses that do better with a strong-armed QB but intelligence and reading defenses is a much higher value so they often end up having to be pretty vanilla to avoid risk because while their QB’s may be able to make every throw, they’ll end up taking risks that aren’t necessary to achieve victory if they don’t have a tight leash.

It’s really hard to develop a Brady or Brees at the college level before they graduate unless throwing the ball a lot is what your system is designed for. Then you’re at the mercy of QB evaluation and development. The AirRaid seems to answer that problem but the major programs with big resources are still mostly playing it safe with the run-centric schemes.

Vulcan, I picked ‘Bama in the first "Game of the Cenury. Two things I’d like to ask/discuss.

First, I didn’t know your field goal kicker was that shitty. Has there been any improvement there? If not, it’ll be hard to win a game that looks like it’ll be close again. He was beyond terrible!

The Saban pucker factor. This guy is as good as they come in understanding the game on all 3 sides of the ball and in recruiting and preparing a team. But he’s been known to go into a shell on offense when confronted with equal talent and McCarron isn’t a fourth year senior like McElroy was in the Rose Bowl. Miles, on the other hand, may be zany as hell, but his teams play well in big games because he’s loose and they play balls out for him. When he was at OSU, he had more success with less talent against Stoops than we did because of that approach.

Any thoughts on either of these two areas?

Television once made the Olympics great theater. Now the competitions are suffocated and TV spits out an overly hyped commercialized soap opera. We are about there with College Football and many fans of the sport (like me and clearly others) are tuning out unless the home team is winning gold.
 
The SEC is the old Soviet Union and "Faster, Higher, Stronger" has become "Faster, Dumber, and Dirtier".

I am officially boycotting the game. I am even flying my OSU flag today to send the message to my LSU neighbors that someone other than Alabama belongs there.

That having been said, I may “accidently” see some of it as I am dialing around……

Great breakdown of the defenses and offenses by Nickel Rover.

Jake, the issue with the kickers was no secret. We have an accurate guy with no distance (Shelley) and a distance guy with less accuracy (Foster). Knew that going into the season.

And you’re right about the Pucker Factor to a degree. There are times Saban decides he has enough, and goes into a shell with the least possible risk. In the MNC ‘09, he dialed the offense into autopilot after McCoy was hurt, reasoning that Texas’ best chance at getting back in the game was a turnover.

I don’t think that happens tonight. Jim McElwain is leaving for Colorado State, and will be free to call a more wide-open game. After all, if Nick doesn’t like it, what can he do? Fire him?

Calling a more wide open game isn’t the answer for Alabama, it’s more effective running and more Richardson. McCarron is not ready to try and win the game against the LSU secondary, that’s inviting disaster.

I hope it ends with the same score as the first meeting (9-6?), but with Alabama on top.

That way LSU will have beat Alabama in Alabama and Alabama will have beat LSU by the same score in Lousiana and the national championship will only be decided by which game was played last.

Nickel -
 
I’ve read a lot on this matchup and this is by far the most informative piece I’ve seen in terms of breaking down the salient match ups. Hats off, man.
 
One interesting piece of data - Georgia Southern destroyed this Bama defense running option and LSU had a little success with it in their first game. What is a “look” for LSU is Georgia Southern’s entire offense, so that’s not predictive, but it reveals some deeper truths.
 
As scary as it might be to put the game on Jordan Jefferson’s shoulders, if LSU will attack the edge and mix it up with some bootleg and some play action deep shots (some old school Syracuse freeze option step back deep balls) to Randle, they have a real chance to break out of the defensive handcuffs Saban placed them in during their first meeting.
 
If LSU’s offense plays Bama in a broom closet by running Ware repeatedly off tackle and then throwing on 3rd and 9, this game is over before the first snap. Bama won’t just win - they’ll win by three touchdowns.
 
If LSU will spread them out a little and make Bama’s big boy safeties and linebackers make plays in space, they can get enough offense on the board to get the 20 points they need to win if the Bayou Bengal D does what it’s supposed to do.
 
That takes a coaching staff who will put their nuts out on the guillotine and Les Miles will do it.
 
I’m a little irritated it’s an All-SEC matchup and I’d have like to have seen OSU get their shot, but it’s also pretty clear to me that the two best teams are playing, so my outrage is stymied.
 
Great stuff, man.

Phenomenal, I am on record as saying I don’t expect better ratings than for the first game. I may be wrong about that, but I am sure they won’t be colossal. There are too many people expressing unhappiness with the rematch.

Listening to the Paul Finebaum Show is like seeing a Gathering of The Juggalos.
 
It’s funny at first, but it doesn’t take long for depression to set in when you realize these people are driving up your auto insurance rates.

American Juggalo from Sean Dunne on Vimeo.

…just as long as you realize that Paaaaawwwwwwl’s callers are not representative of the fan base, and are compensated to play Juggalos on the radio.

There’s a reason you’re listening.

Pawwwwwwwl’s callers are all Alabama and Auburn magna cum laude graduates. I’m sure of it.
 
There’s also a reason I used to pause on Jerry Springer for three minutes when the DNA paternity test results come out and Ray-Ray hits MeShonne with a folding chair while Billy Bob nods on in approval.

Thanks for the response Vulcan. I’d submit that what Saban can do is simply override Jim at any time, so I’m not sure his leaving will change things and I think the pucker factor is still alive if not well. As to the kicker, most of us didn’t realize it was that bad until we actually saw it since we aren’t close Bama followers, but I certainly agree with your assessment. And it doesn’t seem to me to be getting the media attention that it should, IMO, because I feel it’s one of the most important differences in LSU’s favor.

As for Paul’s show, the regular callers are the primary reason I listen. There is true comedic gold there if you grew up in the South, as I did. A couple of minutes of listening to Tammy, et al, lifts my spirits just knowing that they sound like 90% of the people from my little hometown and that I managed to escape with minimal damage—-I think. The culture shock when I got to Austin almost sent me into a coma, however.

I enjoy your visits over here. Sweet Home!

Scipio Tex said: January 9th, 2012 at 2:48 pm

“Pawwwwwwwl’s callers are all Alabama and Auburn magna cum laude graduates. I’m sure of it.

There’s also a reason I used to pause on Jerry Springer for three minutes when the DNA paternity test results come out and Ray-Ray hits MeShonne with a folding chair while Billy Bob nods on in approval."

Just to be fair to my home state, Scip, some of the most famous regulars are from Gawga, Arkesaw and Gator Country, but your point is well made.

Great write-up. I’m watching. Although, I’ll skip all the pregame bs.

Can’t wait to see if either of the QBs are allowed the opportunity to crack under the pressure and make critical mistakes. I’ll be disappointed if Richardson doesn’t play great. Still thinking LSU wins.

Phenomenal, I am on record as saying I don’t expect better ratings than for the first game.

It’ll certainly be better if only because while the GOTC was going on there were other games on. I didn’t watch the first game because I was watching my Tigers flail against RG3’s team. The Okie State/K State game was also on at the same time and that was compelling all by itself.

Besides, great ratings are driven by the die-hard boycotters. They’re driven by the casual fan and I bet casual fans will be watching.

But, it will be interesting. The first game was watched by 18M viewers. Last year’s NCG was watched by 27M. Personally, I’d be surprised if that wasn’t surpassed, but there may be something to the idea that CFB is regional and this game isn’t expansive enough. We’ll see.

I meant “great ratings are NOT driven by the die-hard boycotters.” And, I should probably also delete the “great” part of the sentence. Not my finest work.

I believe the most watched NCG involved your own VY. That’s something.

RE: Juggalos, just watched that video, please tell me that is fiction and not a documentary. Please? Are juggalos the same thing as Occupy protesters just with better accommodations?

Re: Tonight’s game, I’m hoping for a 3-0 game to punish everyone who tunes in. That said, boycott is a bit too Aggie for me, but I don’t plan on watching for any sustained amount of time. I’ll probably turn it on and if its good I’ll keep watching. I have to say I’m not optimistic after watching the crappy first version.

PS: I’ll concede more viewers than the first time, but fewer than last year’s BCSCG. That’s my story.

It’s a regional game and, as hard as this may be to believe, a lot of people don’t care about CFB. My wife works with a lot of career people who did not go to college. They care about pro sports, not college sports.

PS: I’ll concede more viewers than the first time, but fewer than last year’s BCSCG. That’s my story.

Probably, the final numbers for the first game were 20 million, and as Phenomenal said it was 27 million for last year’s game.

BTW only two BCS championship games that have had over 30 million viewers were the 2006 Texas-USC and 2009 Texas-Alabama contests. It isn’t a coincidence that both games had traditional programs — and by traditional I mean programs who have been on the national stage longer than 20 or 30 years (i.e. Miami, Florida State).

The two games closest to the 30 million mark were the 2003 Ohio State-Miami game and the 2007 Ohio State-Florida match.

A soccer match? You don’t say. I drew a similar comparison after the first game, although with a decidedly less favorable take on it.
http://recruitocosm.fantake.com/2011/11/07/2013-prospects-talk-game-of-the-century/

May those tuning in be delighted by the broadcast equivalent of torture, but I’ll find a different way to spend the time.

I’m sure I’ll see a SI commercial informing me of the winner someday.

Scipio,

I used to travel for work to Bham once a month and the highlight of my drive from the airport to the hotel was listening the the PF show, if folks have never heard it, its worth a listen, I cant compare it to anything other than Springer. But if you have heard one show you have heard them all.

Ratings were down 14% from last year, but were better than Round 1. Still the most watched cable program since last year’s BCS Title game.

Either the boycott worked somewhat or the game sucked and everyone went to bed.

I think I called this one:

http://barkingcarnival.fantake.com/2012/01/08/previewing-lsu-vs-bama-the-rematch/#comment-317810

Phenomenal Smith -

If you think about it - this would exactly what we would like Ash to be, next year!

“Even Nickel didn’t mention him by name. He was a big time recruit – Rivals #7 pro QB – and could have gone just about anywhere, but instead he is thought of as a handoff machine and "game manager."

Re ratings, the TV numbers are going to be HUGE. The regular season game was the second most watched regular season game on CBS in 24 years. I’d be surprised if this year’s game doesn’t surpass last year’s record setting performance for cable

I know that Mizzou just moved to the SEC….but this was silly to say yesterday, given the generall reaction of the rest of the country, and even sillier today when we know that it was the lowest-rated BCS title game in history.

Mizzou joining the SEC had nothing to do with my comments - frankly, I didn’t want a rematch.

The reasons for my comments were that there were two national programs involved and I thought if there was anything the game promised was that it’d be close. People watch close games. They don’t watch one-sided affairs.

Finally, the media is running wild with this “lowest rated game in BCS title game history” stuff and, of course, people are eating it up. Context people. The game was on cable so millions fewer people had access to it. If you look at it as a percentage of homes with game available to them, then there were several title games worse % outcomes, and those were blowouts too. Why did they move it to cable, anyway? That seems like a bad idea.

Clearly I was wrong about the ratings, but I was also very wrong about the game.

The final ratings will probably not look like the overnights — they are only from the Top 50 markets. But it should be close enough to keep it lower than just about every other BCS title game.

Finally, the media is running wild with this "lowest rated game in BCS title game history" stuff and, of course, people are eating it up. Context people

Well in context, the game will be lower-rated than last year’s championship game on ESPN, that is pretty much assured. But It will still be — as pointed out already — the 4th-highest rated live event ever on ESPN.

Why did they move it to cable, anyway? That seems like a bad idea.

For college football fans? Maybe.

For the BCS and ESPN? Not really.

Heard an ESPN executive once explain their business model. One part of it is the mantra:

“We Don’t Buy Games - We Buy Content.”

Ratings are important, but they are not as key a component to ESPN’s business model as you might think.

They negotiate on the whole of content with distributors (NFL, College Football, BCS, NBA, College Basketball, etc). They paid an outrageous sum for the BCS games (much more than any network was willing to pay) because it helps their overall content profile.

It’s why they are getting $4.69 per subscriber per month from every carrier for ESPN and why they are getting over $6.50 per month, per subscriber for the bundle of ESPN channels (ESPN2, ESPNews, ESPNU, ESPNClassic).

That’s before they sell a single ad.

For those thinking that the lower ratings will put pressure on ESPN to work for a play off system, you are probably going to be disappointed.

The ABC/ESPN family of channels carries 34 of the 35 bowl games. ESPN owns six of them outright.

It’s all about Content.

Now the lower ratings and lower game attendance across the board this season (minor, but it is the second drop in three years with even the SEC seeing a slight decrease), should get the attention of the conferences and the Athletic Directors.

They are the folks who will drive a move to a play off.

Agree w/Phenom Smith. As I fell asleep, literally, mid 3rd qtr, maybe before as my 12 yr old gave up on me and went to bed. But I was purdy tired, LSU was purdy bad and EST is not late-game friendly.

And… Great post Srr.

Gracias.

Yes… Bama did its share contributing to LSU’s goose egg.

So, when was the last time the #1 team was scoreless in it’s final game of the season (bowl or regular)?

Gotta’ be a record or very close to it.

So, when was the last time the #1 team was scoreless in it’s final game of the season (bowl or regular)

1953: Maryland was #1 under Jim Tatum. They got beat by OU 7-0 in the Orange Bowl. Tatum has coached at Oklahoma for just a year before moving on to Maryland - but he did turn the job over to Bud Wilkinson.

Just re-read this bit from Scipio Tex:

“If LSU’s offense plays Bama in a broom closet by running Ware repeatedly off tackle and then throwing on 3rd and 9, this game is over before the first snap. Bama won’t just win – they’ll win by three touchdowns.”

21 points. Good call.

What the folks whining and pining for a playoff don’t get is that a playoff will certainly mean LESS chances for teams like OKlahoma State to win a NC game. This year, after Bama screwed up in Nov. against LSU, all OSU had to do was stay undefeated for a shot at LSU. If the playoff whiners get their way, watch for the SEC to win the next 10 NC games, because a playoff just guarantees that great SEC teams like Alabama this year, will be guaranteed a shot at the title, rather than having to hope that every other undefeated team out there gets a loss. The SEC were the first ones to whine for a playoff when undefeated Auburn was left out in 2004. The SEC knows that a playoff means more titles for us. I personally hate the idea of a playoff because it will cheapen the regular season games. No longer will they be “do or die, or pray for a miracle”, but simply doing well enough to make the playoffs. If you want that, why don’t you just watch the NFL and leave college ball alone.

RTR: read “Death to the BCS” for an answer to your objection and a better understanding of what the BCS actually is.