LSU will be in BCS title game; so should Alabama?

    Before we kick off here, let’s get a piece of business out of the way.
    I do not have BCS Championship Game tickets. Please don’t call, please don’t e-mail.
    Of course, LSU will be there on the floor of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome Jan. 9.
    By the time most of you read this, LSU will have dismissed Western Kentucky and will be preparing to do the same to Ole Miss in Oxford Nov. 19.
    There’s a potential red-flag game in Baton Rouge on the Friday after Thanksgiving against Arkansas.
    The Hogs often play their best football against LSU. Arkansas has won three of the last four games between the schools. It is ironic that Les Miles has more wins against Alabama (five) than against Arkansas (three).
    However, Arkansas’ body of work this season doesn’t say this team can beat the Tigers. The Hogs had to rally to beat SEC bottom-feeders Ole Miss and Vanderbilt. And, three of their wins are against Missouri State, New Mexico and Troy.
    In the SEC Championship Game, the Tigers will be a double-digit favorite against the winner of the East.
    If Alabama doesn’t get to the BCS Championship Game, head coach Nick Saban can point to one of the biggest mistakes of his coaching career.
    In a tie game in the fourth quarter, Saban allowed this play to happen. Out of the shotgun, wide receiver Marquis Maze attempted a pass to tight end Michael Williams that was intercepted at the LSU 1-yard line by safety Eric Reid.
    It was a bad decision. It was Maze’s first pass of the season. And, it came with Alabama clearly having some offensive momentum. Earlier in the drive, on third-and-6 from the Alabama 27, quarterback AJ McCarron completed an 18-yard pass to Maze. Two plays later, Richardson broke loose on a 24-yard run, his longest rush of the game.
    Now, Alabama suddenly has become fans of anyone who plays the Oklahoma State Cowboys. The Cowboys play at Texas Tech this Saturday. Next week, the Cowboys go to Iowa State, before facing archrival Oklahoma Dec. 3 in Stillwater.
    The Sooners have won the last eight games in the series. Ironically, the last two wins posted by Oklahoma State in the Bedlam Series were in 2001 and 2002. The coach of the Cowboys? Les Miles.
    If Miles and his former team meet Jan. 9 on the floor of the Dome, it figures to be a long night for the Cowboys. Oklahoma State allowed 24 points in eight of its first nine games.
    Defense wins national championships.
    That is why Alabama vs. LSU, Part Two, seems like a very real possibility.
    Ed Daniels is sports director of ABC26 WGNO. He can be reached at [email protected].