COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- There is one moderately interesting game on the schedule this weekend.
LSU visits Alabama. Unfortunately, as high as I was on LSU at the start of the season, I don't think they're all that, and Alabama -- off an uninspiring performance and a bye week -- should stomp.
Granted, there will be games that entertain this weekend. They're just impossible to find. That said, I'm hopeful LSU will give 'Bama a run. The Tigers have been getting better, and they kept it relatively close against Florida.
Where they'll run into trouble is on defense. The Tide have been able to score points for most of the season, and LSU has had their share of struggles stopping people. Even against Florida, they may have gotten stops, but they had trouble taking the ball away from the Gators and shortening possessions.
The Alabama defense will make things very difficult on LSU to move the ball consistently. Jordan Jefferson has to have a huge day, and that's probably not going to happen.
No matter what, this is the first major SEC elimination game that will be played. Georgia wasn't ever a serious contender, and neither was Mississippi after their South Carolina loss. The loser of this game has virtually no chance of playing for the SEC title, and therefore their national title hopes are pretty much gone.
For the anti-playoff contingent in college football, you better hope Alabama wins. The last thing you need is LSU winning and then beating Florida for the SEC title. The most notable anti-playoff argument is that a tournament would de-value huge regular season games. People are absolutely right when they say that, because playoffs do take meaning out of the regular season. The goal isn't to win every regular season game. Instead, the idea becomes to win enough games to make the playoffs.
If LSU wins the SEC title and gets in the BCS title game, after losing a regular season game to Florida at home, it casts a great pall over the meaning of regular season games, thus causing great harm to a major part of the anti-playoff case.
Just sayin'.
Oh, and I'm taking the home team.
The pick: Alabama
Other games (home team in CAPS)
IOWA over Northwestern
MINNESOTA over Illinois
Wisconsin over INDIANA
Oregon over STANFORD
PENN STATE over Ohio State
Houston over TULSA
CLEMSON over Florida State
CINCINNATI over Connecticut
Oklahoma over NEBRASKA
IDAHO over Fresno State
Two weeks ago: 8-3
Season: 63-34
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