Tusk I hate to say it But - I got a Auburn feeling !

Bama would embrace the challenge and the opportunity to show they are the best. Miles sounds like he feels the same.

This is the truth of it, there just ain't nobody out there of the caliber of these two giants. If either one is not there, it's beyond absurd and ridicules. For two teams, to not only come out of the same conference, but the same division, is historic. This may never occur again and just think, you were there.

 

OSU and VT could slam their next games by 100 and it won't matter. Bama is too high in the point averages to drop. The fix is on, it will be a rematch.

 

Sitting may come back to haunt them. It's one more week we stay in tune though given the length of the stretch it may not be a factor. Barring serious injury, we'll have plenty of time to get rested up.

Be careful about saying a fellow SEC members' SOS is a joke. Playing in the SEC, by it's very nature, has been an argument FOR SEC teams in the past. :wink:

 

I agree with this. The problem is that most people, especially outside of the SEC, aren't going to want to see BOTH of us there. For all I know, even the TV carrier and sponsors won't want to see it. In the old days, that right there would nix it. We'll see.

 

According to ESPN, it's already over, we might as well pencil in Bama right now.

I love ESPN logic. According to them there's no way Okie State can jump Bama, but it's possible they can jump us if we lose to UGA next week, even with 1 loss and a vastly superior SOS.

 

Normally, I'd agree, but you discount the effect the voters could have in the last poll to tilt things. It's not like this has never been done before. Remember this: coaches poll = 1/3, Harris Poll = 1/3, computers = 1/3. If OSU beats OU, they will stay ahead of bama in the computers. It'll probably come down to more of the Harris voters.

 

I'll come out and say it then. UGA's SOS is a joke, they've played nobody of consequence this year. We should keep that in mind looking at their inflated defensive stats.

 

I think you underestimate the appeal of the SEC nationally. People were all over the first contest, to the point of overkill. The media and populace were lapping it up with both hands and will again. This game has gone nuclear on the national scene since coach Saban made his way to Tuscaloosa. It seems each year the stakes have gotten higher, now we get a chance to bring this argument to the big dance. This feud was made for the national scene and the sports media can hear those TV's clicking on, even as we speak.

 

I don't under-estimate anything. In recent years, I have lived on the east coast, Texas and the west coast. Living in Alabama, you may have an inflated sense of how people are demanding a rematch. All we need to do is look at the Mich-OSU example from 2006 to see how this might be avoided. That is very recent history. At any rate, I don't know of anyone out here demanding that Bama be put in the game against LSU. In fact, if anything, it is the opposite. Interest in the game will be minimal out here if that happens. People want to see if someone else can beat LSU. The end.

 

Let me clarify my earlier point.

Since OSU has a considerable, though not total, lead over Bama in the computers (Penn State's loss hurts Bama even more), they don't have to get a majority of #2 votes in either poll. They just have to get about 40% of them. Remember, the actual ratios of votes count, not just the place the two teams end up. While a considerable number of voters will say Alabama is the second best team, many others could vote them down just to prevent a rematch. After all, what motivation do the coaches in the BIGXII have to vote for Alabama over their own conference champion? If that pattern holds true in the BIG or PAC12, Alabama could get left out.

Va Tech has a different problem. First of all, they absolutely need OSU to lose, because they can't afford any split in the anti-Bama #2 vote. Alabama has a considerable lead on them in the computers already, and it would be bigger with an OSU loss, so they would have to truely jump the Tide in both polls by big vote margins. Even if coaches from other conferences voting big-time against Alabama, they will probably have enough votes in the Harris to hold on. After all, they pretty much have destroyed everyone by the same numbers as LSU. That's why I just don't see Va Tech in the mix.

Politics will come into it, and that's a pretty lousy way to settle it. But this year is jacked up already. A lot of Alabama fans point out that playoff rematches happen in the NFL. Yes they do, but if a team wins it's division, the wild card team they beat out has to play their playoff games on the road, and have a 50% chance of having to play an extra game (and divisional rivals can't play each other in the Super Bowl either). The opposite is in play here. Alabama needed help, but once they got it, they had to play fewer games to get there. I think the voters would notice that if LSU loses to UGA, but since that won't happen, we'll never know.

It's either LSU-Alabama or LSU-OSU.