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The last college football game of the season is also the last BCS Championship ever. The first half of that statement makes me sad. The second half makes me rejoice. Oh, the conflict.
Whether you take one position, the other, or both, that one game tonight pits #1 Florida State and #2 Auburn on U.C.L.A.'s field and the winner gets the coveted glass football. Kickoff will be at 5:30 Pacific and the game is televised on ESPN. As usual, the game features the obligatory SEC team and another highly ranked east coast team.
Florida State is that highly ranked east coast team, and they are definitely used to domination this year. The Seminoles were a perfect 13-0 this season and no game was close. They led the nation in scoring for and in scoring defense, giving them an obscene average margin of victory of 42 points per game. Even Quarterback Jameis Winston won the Heisman by a landslide. FSU has not had the toughest schedule in all the land, but they have boat raced everyone they've faced and they deserve a shot at the title game.
Auburn's path through the SEC to the BCS title game was less definitive. After barely beating Washington State in their opener, a loss to LSU in Week 4 made them play catch up with the BCS leaders. Their improbable run included a miraculous tip and catch of a last minute 4th down bomb against Georgia, the once in a lifetime Kick 6 final play win over Alabama, and a tough shootout win over Missouri in the SEC Title game. Then, after all of that, the Tigers still needed tOSU to suffer its first loss in the B1G Ten title game. This promptly happened and ESPN got its annual SEC participant.
The SEC has won the last seven BCS Titles, but I think the streak ends tonight. The difference in tonight's game to me will be the FSU defense, and the absence of the Auburn defense. As a result, the Seminoles should be able to put up a lot of points while the Tigers will be hard pressed to keep up. This will hopefully be an entertaining game for at least a half, but I expect Florida State pulls away and wins comfortably.
And then next year we'll have a 4 team playoff we can shelve the ridiculous BcS polls forever.
What do you think? This is our BCS Title Game open thread. Have at it.
GO BRUINS!