Sorry, Oklahoma State, BCS contestants are A-OK

Oklahoma State beating Stanford in the Fiesta Bowl in overtime proves OSU should have been in the BCS National Championship game instead of Alabama?

Seriously?

Settle down there, Cowboys. T. Boone Pickens was out riding the range in the sun without a hat if he truly believes that.

This is really simple, but some folks have short memories. Their recollections don’t extend back even a mere six weeks. It was Nov. 18 when then-No. 2 Oklahoma State lost … to Iowa State.

Yes, the same Iowa State that went 6-7 and was last seen falling by two touchdowns to Rutgers in something called the New Era Pinstripe Bowl.

What makes Oklahoma State more viable than say, Boise State? Not much, if anything. The 12-1 Broncos have just one loss, also — and it was to TCU, which went 11-2. Granted, BSU’s schedule was BS compared to the Cowboys’, but the blue boys took care of business except for one little 39-yard field goal.

I agree it could be fun to see what one of the country’s top offenses might do against the Tigers — but we already have, way back at the start of the season when Oregon dropped 27 points on LSU, most by any team this season. The problem for the Ducks was LSU scoring 40.

Is Oklahoma State better than Oregon, which beat Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl? Extremely debatable, considering Oregon crushed Stanford 53-30.

Now, before we get too far into comparing schedules, back to the original question. Oklahoma State instead of Alabama in Monday’s national championship game?

Alabama has one loss. It is to LSU. LSU has zero losses.

Like I said, simple. Let’s pretend we’re weighing them in extended palms.

Left hand: Alabama’s one loss, to LSU. Right hand: Oklahoma State’s one loss, to Iowa State.

Left hand wins every time.

PART OF what is really happening here is Oklahoma State trying to play on the fact that so many college football fans hate the BCS and don’t want a rematch of a game that ended with LSU beating Alabama 9-6 in overtime. The fact that both are from the they’re-great-and-they-know-it SEC creates more hating points for anyone north of Kentucky and west of Arkansas.

Even people smart enough to appreciate defenses full of NFL talent are using this as an opportunity to bash a matchup of clearly the two best college football teams in the country in the national championship game. Put any other defense in there against Alabama or LSU and it gets torched.

The lack of sieves instead of real defenses won’t make for enough pretty offensive highlights? Too bad. The national championship game is about determining the best team in the country, not the flashiest.

That brings us to another ridiculous point, that Alabama winning this game would merely mean a series tied at one. If Pittsburgh beats San Francisco in the Super Bowl, next month, will it have mattered that the 49ers beat the Steelers in the regular season? You know the answer to that.

And yes, we all know college football needs a playoff. But there isn’t one and Alabama vs. LSU is the correct booking for this year’s national championship game.

Many reasons exist to hate the BCS, but this matchup isn’t one of them.

Reach Dave Reardon at email dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783.