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At least that's what the BC$ wants us to believe.  It was all a figment of our imagination.  Iowa didnt upset number 15 Michigan.  Number 10 Nebraska wasnt embarrassed at home by  Northwestern.  Michigan State didnt have its hands full with a terrible Minnesota team.  Oklahoma State and Kansas State didnt have an epic shootout in Stillwater.  Ryan Broyles didnt tear his ACL in a win over Texas A&M.  And I didnt get food poisoning from a Jack-In-The-Box in downtown San Marcos, Texas.  And above all, LSU did NOT beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa on field goals.  It was all just our imagination running wild.    

The only problem is, Ryan Broyles never set foot on a college field again, and the Oklahoma offense was clearly nowhere near as explosive.  I distinctly remember throwing up anything I had even thought about eating or drinking on November 6th in a San Antonio hotel room.  I can say for certain that if November 5th didnt exist, then my imagination is WAY too overactive.  Nebraska and Michigan werent ranked as high.  In fact, this week cost both of them a shot at a division title.  Ask them if they remember November 5th.

The BC$ doesnt.  They are content to crown a team that lost to LSU on November 5th at home national champion.  They both have a claim, do they not?  They are each others' only loss.  Both lost at home (dont even try telling me New Orleans is a neutral site).  Maybe Alabama did outplay LSU in both games.  Plenty of teams outplay an opponent only to lose anyway.  You cant just act like the first meeting never happened.  The only thing that could clearly solve this is another game.  Best of three.  On a true neutral field.  Make them play on a battleship in San Diego like they did for basketball.  I dont care.  It just cant end like this.  It defies all logic.  Moreover, it reiterates the main problem with college football: Its not who you lose to, its when you lose.  If Oklahoma State had lost to Iowa State in mid September instead of mid November, it would have been them getting a chance to frustrate LSU last night.  

For those of us that are content enough to say the team with the most dominant performance is the best, then yes, by all means, Alabama is the champion.  The way they played last night, they could have beaten ANY team of the last two decades on that field.  Where was that fire in Tuscaloosa on November 5th?  Wasnt that game just as important, if not more so?  Not anymore.  The regular season was undermined by the game last night, and it makes me sad.  It makes me sad because this is probably the last college football season where the regular season mattered.  The BC$ has always had to change gradually over several years instead of making radical changes.  You have to gradually make the regular season unimportant.  This was the first step in that process.  By "erasing" November 5th, the BC$ undermined LSU's huge road win.  By crowning Alabama the national champion, they are saying that LSU beating FOUR opponents who won BC$ bowls doesnt matter in the grand scheme of things.  Only January 9th matters.  

Now that they can do away with one week of the regular season. look for a plus one to be in effect as early as next year.  Then look for an eight team playoff by 2016.  It will be 12-16 by 2020.  And the only regular season that means anything will be reduced to nothing.  Michigan slipping up at Iowa wont matter because they will still be ranked in the top 12 and have a shot at a title.  West Virginia getting stomped at home by LSU, then losing two Big East games wont matter because they still won their conference title, and will still have a shot at a national title.  Oregon losing to USC means even less since they wont have a chance at meeting them in the playoffs.  Does anyone remember the electricity leading up to the first Alabama-LSU game?  How about the Oklahoma-Oklahoma State game.  For the Big 12 title.  For a possible shot at a title.  Those games would mean much less with a playoff system in place.  

What is the solution, you may ask?  Well, there is no easy answer.  Do I have one?  Yes, but as you will see when I post it, it deserves to be its own separate entity.  it is too radical, and too in-depth to include here.  I dont want to lose the importance of this piece, so look for my solution later in the week or early next week.  Until then, congratulations to Alabama on one of the best defensive games I have ever seen.  The only one I can mention in the same sentence is the 2001 Orange Bowl when Oklahoma beat Florida State 13-2.  Alabama's performance last night was still better.  They are a deserving champion.