Conference Championships

[AHF]

1. UGA did me proud today. The final score was a route but the Dawgs showed up better than I expected before running out of steam. The drops were bad and the worthless replay official didn't help, but LSU was the better team without a doubt and I was happy to see Georgia hang in there as long as they did.

2. Michigan State got screwed. Royally. That is all.

3. Clemson took Va Tech to the woodshed in the second half. Congrats to the Tigers fans on the board here.

4. For all the commentators that seem to think Oklahoma State won a conference championship game and Alabama didn't, you are half right. Unlike UGA, I wouldn't feel good if I were a Sooner's fan. I'm not sure I saw worse tackling this season than I did today from the Sooners (and that includes my four year old daughter).

[Diesel]

The question that comes to my mind is:

Is Alabama really better than OK State?

You can't just look at the losses without looking at the nature of the losses. Bama lost to #1. OK. OK state lost to a nonranked opponent. OK. BUT... OK State lost during an emotional week in a double overtime game. As you look back over the story, OK state may have played better teams. And I say that as an SEC fan.

[jhay610]

I think Alabama is better but it shouldn't matter what anyone thinks -- they should decide it on the field.

The BCS is the biggest farce in major American sports. The proponents of the system say that 'every week is a playoff game' -- if that's the case, then why are we having, if things play out as expected, a rematch of a playoff game that already happened weeks ago?

If UGA had somehow pulled off the shocker yesterday it is very conceivable that LSU-Alabama would have happened regardless, so you'd have two non-conference champions playing for the national championship just 4 years after the talking heads said UGA could not play in the game because 'they didn't even win their own conference'.

What a joke.

[Eddielives]

I'm more disappointed than impressed with GA's performance yesterday. I mean the drops were bad and they're gonna happen but LSU adjusted and made it look like men against boys the second half of the game. What happened? Did the dawgs just simply run out of steam or did LSU stop messing around and just man up? Without the two drops and getting the ball to start the second half, the dawgs squandered their only opportunity to really win the game and if they remained composed, they had a very good chance to. But, they wet the dog house instead.

[AHF]

I'm more disappointed than impressed with GA's performance yesterday. I mean the drops were bad and they're gonna happen but LSU adjusted and made it look like men against boys the second half of the game. What happened? Did the dawgs just simply run out of steam or did LSU stop messing around and just man up? Without the two drops and getting the ball to start the second half, the dawgs squandered their only opportunity to really win the game and if they remained composed, they had a very good chance to. But, they wet the dog house instead.

Georgia was never that good a team this season and was never good enough to be competitive in this game without playing over their heads, IMO. LSU manned up and UGA stopped playing over their heads, IMO. The only real dissappointment for me was literally dropping the two opportunities we had to build a sizable lead.

I really cannot wait for the UGA rivalry to be renewed!

Agreed. The Clemson/UGA rivalry is one I have missed since the schools let that fall away. It has always been an underrated rivalry.

[jhay610]

UGA needed to play perfectly and win special teams in order to have a chance in that game. I think they just did not have the resolve or talent level needed to play LSU for 60 minutes when they left those plays out on the field and then saw Mathieu streak for the punt return TD. That singular play changed the tenor of the game -- UGA had dominated both sides of the ball to that point and held but a skinny 3 point lead to show for it.

A 21-0 halftime lead was feasible and could have very well played out differently -- perhaps LSU begins to feel pressure and UGA, with momentum on their side, carries on fighting to the end in a close game. After the Murray fumble and subsequent Tiger touchdown, you could see UGA was mentally defeated, feeling it had done all it could and yet still trailed.

I loved the initial aggressiveness and by Richt and Bobo -- they came out playing like they should've, with nothing to lose, and it was certainly unfortunate that they did not have more to show for their efforts. I could not understand why, however, UGA got conservative on the first drive of the second half when it was very obvious that Carlton Thomas was not going to be successful running into the teeth of that defense. Passing to set up the run had proven to be the only chance at success to that point -- to come out after the half and run two plays between the tackles set up Murray to fail with a 3rd and long.

It was painful to see the game unravel in the 2nd half but that is how LSU wins -- they maul you for 4 quarters with their superlative depth until you are physically and mentally worn out. UGA has some players to compete with LSU's combination of size, strength and speed, but not nearly enough of them. It was instructive to see the line of scrimmage slowly shift from UGA's favor in the early parts of the game to sheer domination by LSU in the 3rd and 4th quarters.

LSU was obviously the superior team but I felt like UGA could have kept it interesting if they played a perfect game. Mathieu is quite a player and his punt returns changed the tenor of that game -- he made the coverage look like high school walk-ons on the second big return.

I am a UGA fan, but I actually wanted them to pull the upset more because it would have made even more of a mockery of the BCS to have two conference non-champs play for the title. As it stands, there is still plenty of room for controversy. If only Boise State would have gone undefeated this year..

Edited December 6, 2011 by jhay610