I watched most of the Alabama LSU game last night, though for all the hype that was around it I think the game was disappointing. It was annoying that ESPN basically spent two weeks talking about nothing but this game, and then to watch a game were both teams were more concerned with not losing than they were with winning the game. I don't think I've ever seen two goods teams play where both of them played so timidly. I do think that LSU is the team that should be ranked #1, but there is no way that Alabama deserves to play LSU in a rematch for the National Championship. If Alabama couldn't be bothered to play to win the game the first time, why should they be given the chance to play not to win for a second time?
Clemson is #9 in the BCS standings that are out this week. They will play Wake Forest this weekend with the winner getting a spot in the ACC championship game in December. As it stands right now the winner would likely play the winner of the Ga. Tech Va. Tech game this Thursday. There is still an outside chance that Virginia could wind up winning the Coastal Division, but I think that is a long shot. Personally I would like to see Clemson play Virginia, just so that the ACC title game is not a rematch, but I think that it is most likely that we will play Va. Tech again.
The SEC also announced the Missouri has joined the conference and will start play next season. Apparently they are going to stick them in SEC East, which does not make any sense based on geography, but is probably the simplest thing to do in the short term. In the long term I think that they will move to the West division after a season or two and that Auburn would move to the East division. I can also see the SEC going to a 9 game conference schedule in the next few seasons in order to preserve as many of the rivalries as they can. The biggest problem is that if Auburn and Alabama are in different divisions then they might not play every season on account of Alabama and Tennessee currently being in opposite divisions but having a long standing rivalry. However, moving Alabama isn't the easy answer since that could put the Auburn Georgia game in doubt, since they are also old rivals. One of the easy solutions that presents itself with a 9 game schedule is the chance to have two fixed opponents from the other division. This would allow Alabama to keep playing Tennessee and Auburn, if Auburn is the school who switches divisions. If the SEC does go to 9 conference games and two permanent opponents, I wonder how many teams in the west will pull a tendon raising their hand to volunteer to play Vanderbilt every season?
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