LSU-Bama Rematch in the BCS Title Game

The No. 1 undefeated SEC Champion LSU Tigers will play the BCS Championship game against the No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide on Jan. 9th in New Orleans at the Superdome.

And that has some LSU fans upset that they're having to play a team they already beat in regular season.  Remember the game of the century on November 5th when LSU beat Bama in overtime with a last minute field goal down in T-Town?

Though it's a rematch, what's at stake makes the game bigger than Nov. 5th,   according to  LSU coach Les Miles says.

Miles was quoted by sports writers as saying, "The opportunity to go play for the national championship is a completely different scenario," Miles said.  "It's a different place.   It's the same opponent.  But it will be played with the title at stake."

For all those not looking forward to a rematch in the BCS  title game between No. 1  LSU and No. 2 Alabama,  Bama coach Nick Saban says look to the NFL.

NFL teams play their division foes twice, playoff teams meet opponents they've played during the regular season and sometimes Super Bowl teams have played each other before,  he said.

"All those games play out different," Saban said.

According to USA Today,  a  rematch seemed like a foregone conclusion heading into conference championship weekend until Oklahoma State narrowed the gap behind Alabama in the polls.

But the Crimson Tide edged No. 3 Oklahoma State by .0086 in the final BCS rankings released yesterday, the closest margin in the eighth year under the current formula. The previous closest margin between No. 2 and 3 was .0157 separating No. 2 Oklahoma and No. 3 Auburn in 2004.

The real controversy was the Sugar Bowl matchup. The Sugar Bowl bypassed BCS No. 7 Boise State and No. 8 Kansas State in favor of No. 11 Virginia Tech and  No. 13 Michigan.

The Hokies, the most surprising pick, were routed by Clemson 38-10 in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game.

I think the national championship game matching up the No. 1 and No. 2 teams holds true to form,  so I don't think its out of the way to have the LSU Tigers playing Alabama for the national championship.

Oklahoma State had one loss as Bama did and if you take into account how close the LSU Bama game was,  LSU winning in overtime by a last minute field goal, it's clear this will be a fight down to the wire between the two best teams.

And that speaks well for the SEC - that they're both from that conference, which I consider the toughest, seeing how the last five national championship titles have been won by SEC teams.http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:7316840