Alabama made its way into a second BCS National Championship game in three seasons despite failing to win its own conference, much less division. Of course, the Crimson Tide were edged out in the SEC West by the No. 1 LSU Tigers for their lone loss of the season. Still, some are irked that two teams from the same conference will be playing in a rematch for the national title crown. Alabama head coach Nick Saban wants those people to know that he doesn't care.
"We are not going to apologize for being in the game," Saban said Sunday night after the University of Alabama's football banquet concluded. "Our players created this opportunity, and they deserve it. That's the system, and according to the system, we should be there."
Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy had the most to complain about, with his team winning the Big 12 conference title with a 44-10 win over Oklahoma last Saturday. The Cowboys finished third in the final regular season BCS rankings.
"If we'd have taken care of business at Iowa State, we wouldn't be having this discussion," Gundy said. "I think it really comes down to what I said last night, and I really meant it was: `They had their shot. We want our shot,' and it didn't work out that way. That kind of disappoints me a little bit that enough people that have some say-so in it across the country wouldn't say, `We already saw them play once, at home."
There are no shortage of complaints when it comes to the BCS. For now we just have to be satisfied what is still a pretty darn good matchup between two great teams. Alabama leads the all-time series over LSU, 45-23-5.
For more on each bowl game pairing, check out SB Nation's college football bowl game coverage. For more on this game, visit Alabama blog Roll Bama Roll, LSU blog And The Valley Shook, SEC blog Team Speed Kills, as well as the official site of the BCS National Championship game. Stay tuned to SB Nation's college football news hub for more analysis.
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