My heart says the only undefeated eligible team should go to the national championship game, otherwise why have a regular season?
But no one is going to “vote” Hawaii into the championship, so who’s left?
Ohio State I suppose. They’ll lose once there, and it’s always fun to laugh at the Big 10 in bowl games, so there is the sentimental factor.
And Louisiana State. LSU would be undefeated (11-0-2) if this season had been played as in old without a tie-breaker. Furthermore, LSU won its conference championship with its starting quarterback hurt. That’s quite an achievement — just ask USC, Oregon, Oklahoma and West Virginia what can happen when the starting QB can’t play.
Ohio State vs. LSU — and LSU will win by at least ten.
By the way, a generation ago college teams played ten regular season games and a few played an eleventh game in a bowl. Now teams play 12 regular season games, some play in a conference championship, and many (too many) play in a bowl game. The season is more than a quarter longer than it used to be. I never hear this mentioned when so-and-so breaks some old record for rushing or TD passes completed in a season. Where’s the Roger Maris asterisk?
And, if you’ve been watching you may have seen the run down of the 25 Greatest Players In College Football. All but the last two spots have been announced — they’re being saved for broadcast during the Rose Bowl. By process of elimination we figured the best players who haven’t made made it to the top 25 so far are Red Grange and Barry Sanders.
Unless you think O.J. Simpson would be number one or two.
[At the time this was posted, ESPN hadn’t posted the names of all-time players numbers 3, 4 and 5. They are Herschel Walker (Georgia), Doak Walker (SMU) and Sammy Baugh (TCU).]