Les Miles Saved Again...

...by a bad replay call and some seriously shoddy handling of the football by JP Wilson.

YET AGAIN Les Miles made some ridiculous moves (that 10 player shift meant to simulate a snap thus penalizing his team with the aptly named "simulated snap" penalty... nice one Les) and yet his team (esp. Early Doucet who made a ridiculous touchdown catch and run on a critical 4th and 3 in the final quarter) pulled him out on top yet again....

And you know what's the best part of this "magical" LSU run? Because they aren't playing that great and so they end up only squeaking out wins against moderately good SEC teams, everybody across the nation is watching their games instead of, say, the Oregon games and thus they get more national hype and are seen as the team that refuses to lose. All this because they happen to play fairly mediocre week in and week out.

But oh no the haterade doesn't stop there... the fact is that those mediocrely played, uneccessarily close SEC games also make the conference itself look better. After all, look at all these teams that are good enough to play a great team like LSU so close... hmmmm seems like a viciously stupid cycle (or, rather, logical fallacy) to me. Maybe the pac-10 would do well to have USC, Cal, Oregon and ASU give up some easy points to the Stanfords, Washingtons and Oregon States of the conference. It'll only help their ranking in the long run.

I think the worst part about it though is that probably LSU should have lost the game because the overturned 40 yard grab by Alabama receiver Matt Caddell was clearly a catch. The way I saw it (and I went over it several times in slow-mo) Caddell caught the ball went to the ground the ball touched the ground with Caddell still grasping it firmly with two hands. Then as Caddell rolled over the ball it jostled the tiniest bit but at that point both of Caddell's hands were under the ball and it wasn't touching the ground. If that review was conclusive enough to OVERTURN a catch then I don't know how you can possibly make a diving catch in college football and have it count... that shit was ridiculous....

That said, the catch would have given 'bama the ball inside the LSU 20 but who knows if they would have scored points at that point or how the game would have changed from there on out. Obviously 'bama scored on a punt return so they still had the lead and should have had a decent chance to win had not John Parker Wilson held the ball out like he was fucking Michael Vick while he was getting sacked. If somebody's foot can knock the ball loose as you fall to the ground.... maybe you're HOLDING IT WRONG.

Ok, after all the madness is over I'm guessing that not enough people have watched Oregon go ape shit on USC and ASU the past two weeks and that LSU will now move to #2 in the BCS despite playing so-so for the 3rd week in a row. You know it, I know it, that's what's gonna happen.

BC might drop out of the top ten because of who they lost to (and Matt Ryan won't win the Heisman either... thank God) and how moderately good they've played as of late. But I think
ASU should just barely stay in. Here's how I think the BCS top ten SHOULD look (if things were fair, but they aren't because for some reason the computers (and everyone else for that matter) have a massive hard on for the SEC):

1) Ohio State
2) Oregon
3) LSU
4) Oklahoma
5) Kansas (that was a legitimate route on A&M)
6) West Virginia
7) Missouri
8) Arizona State
9) Georgia
10) Boston College

I'm guessing that somehow, even though Oregon just beat an undefeated #4 team and their only loss was to a good team on an iffy call that was made by a matter of centimeters, they won't leap frog LSU in the real rankings and that ASU will probably get kicked out of the top 10 as well. After all the Pac-10 gets about as much respect as the coarse grooves of my taint do. Wait what? Anyway...

Here's an interesting thought though... because I really still do feel like LSU is playing with fire and will get beat (probably in the SEC championship game, I still think by Georgia). Let's say Oregon is number 2 going into the conference championships and neither Oklahoma nor Kansas have lost at that point leaving them 3 and 4 in whatever order. I don't see how the winner of that Big 12 championship (whoever it is) can be denied a BCS title bid. After all it would be such a huge win for either squad esp. if Kansas went undefeated and beat oklahoma in the process. You couldn't possibly keep them out at that point. You couldn't say that Kansas controls their own destiny really b/c they need OK to win too but they definitely have a legitimate shot. It's all very interesting, but the fact that they need another team to win in order to make their undefeated season "legitimate enough" is retarded... we need at least a 4 team playoff (one added bowl) NOW. Stop saying 'when the money is there, we'll get it' Kirk Herbstreet... the money IS clearly their fucktard! Sorry I'm getting worked up again, mama needs her vapors.

Then again who knows what will happen with those top 6 teams by the time the season ends: Ohio State could easily lose (even Illinois could be tough), and Kansas still has OSU and Missouri, and West VA still has some great games coming (Louisville, Uconn, Cincy) so I shouldn't get ahead of myself... perhaps the one thing we know is that (barring Dixon's sprain being more severe than it looked) Oregon is a sick team and will have to REALLY fuck things up to lose another game...

Final thoughts: the PAC-10 would be mightily helped in the BCS picture if they got themselves a title game but it's unlikely to happen, and once we get playoffs the point will be moot. Also, to my beloved LSU, I really don't hate you, in fact you've provided some incredible college football moments this year and I thank you for that immensely. I just... don't think you're that awesome I guess. Nothing Personal....

PS. Les Miles I actually do hate you. Lucky bastard.