LSU Football: Beating Alabama once won’t be enough for the Tigers

The LSU football team finally proved what we all knew to be true with their win over Alabama: that they are the best college football team in the country.

The LSU football team beat ninth-ranked Texas in the second game of the season, it was enough to get them in the top-four, but just barely. They were outside the top-four four weeks later.

The Tigers then went on to defeat ninth-ranked Florida a few weeks later to regain the team’s status in the top-four as the second-ranked team in the nation. It was not enough to get the coveted first ranking.

Two weeks after that the Tigers defeated ninth-ranked Auburn, giving the team three wins against teams in the top-10, all ironically ranked ninth. That barely was enough to give LSU the coveted first ranking, a ranking that voters took away the very next week.

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Finally, the Tigers went into Bryant-Denny Stadium and stood toe-to-toe with Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide. The Tigers not only stood toe-to-toe with Alabama but outdueled and outperformed them en route to a 46-41.

There is no more denying: the LSU football team is the top tea in the country, although Ohio State still received five votes and Clemson received three in the AP Top 25.

The Tigers’ win over Alabama was a culmination of several years of failure and the entire country failing to recognize them as the best team in the country. It was a defining moment for both Ed Orgeron and Joe Burrow. Now they have to finish out the year, win the games they are supposed to win and head into the College Football Playoff as the undoubted first seed.

The only problem is that the Tigers cannot enjoy that win over Alabama, as in typical Alabama fashion, they are going to get another crack at the Tigers and winning the National Championship, just because they are Alabama.

The Crimson Tide ranks fourth in the nation right now, and with two more easy games and a game against Auburn, they will probably do enough to stay there. They will destroy Mississippi State and Western Carolina and probably will get the best of Auburn, which will be enough of an excuse for the committee to include their darling Crimson Tide.

It is a shame, really, because if LSU lost this game they would not be given the same treatment. They would probably be ranked fifth right now and would be the first team out when the College Football Playoffs were announced.

However, since Alabama is Alabama, they are given chances that no other teams get. Heck, the 2017-2018 playoffs were the only playoffs that two teams from the same conference were selected—all because Alabama lost to Georgia but was still deemed a top-four team.

The exact same thing will happen here and the LSU football team will end up having to play Alabama yet again in the first round of the playoffs.

And while the Tigers certainly can beat Alabama a second time, it will be tougher and it is just a shame that the Tigers cannot soak in their accomplishment knowing it won’t really mean much for Alabama at the end of the day.