Experts Discussion ... Did LSU Deserve Title?

Part two of the 2008 Expert Roundtable Discussion. Upon further review, are you comfortable with a two-loss LSU being the 2007 national champion?

Preview 2008 - Experts Roundtable

Part Two - Did LSU Deserve the Title?

CFN is honored to once again get the thoughts and opinions on some of the hot topics from some of the most talented, influential insiders in the college football media, while getting to know a little bit more about them.

Along with Pete Fiutak and Richard Cirminiello from CFN in the discussion are ...

- Charles Davis, NFL Network/FOX Sports
- Dennis Dodd, CBSSports.com - College Football Columnist
- Bruce Feldman, ESPN.com - College Football Columnist
- Steve Greenberg, The Sporting News - College Football Columnist
- Teddy "Mr. Media" Greenstein, Chicago Tribune - College Football Columnist, Media Columnist
- Stewart Mandel, SI.com - College Football Columnist

THE TOPICS
- Part 1 What aspect of college football should you care about, but really don't?
- Part 2 Should a two loss LSU team really have won the national title?
- Part 3 How should college football be more like the NFL?
- Part 4 Your college football guilty pleasure
- Part 5 How/why did you get into covering college football?
- Part 6 How/why is the BCS better than a playoff?
- Part 7 I'm not buying into ...
- Part 8 Just how bad is the Big Ten?
- Part 9 Do you have any problems with Tim Tebow winning two Heismans?
- Part 10 Give the 2010 Rankings for: Florida State, Miami, Michigan, Nebraska & Notre Dame
- Part 11 How much do you care about non-BCS teams?
- Part 12 When Should Players Be Eligible for the Draft?
- Part 13 The Next Really Big Superpower Will Be ...
- Part 14 The Best & Worst Interviews You've Ever Done
- Part 15 Quick Hitters, Part 1: Greatest Players & Greatest Games
- Part 16 Quick Hitters, Part 2: The National Champion & Heisman Winner

2007 Roundtable Discussion  
- Part One The BCS, tweaks, and college football's biggest problem
- Part Two On-field and off-field changes, steroids and cheating
- Part Three Overrated, underrated, 10 years from now, & what fans don't understand

2. Upon further review, are you comfortable with a two-loss LSU being the 2007 national champion?

Bruce Feldman: Sure, I might’ve felt differently if Hawaii had beaten Georgia 35-0, but obviously that didn’t happen. LSU won the best conference and handled OSU. They also played two more games than most national titlists usually have to play.

Charles Davis: Yes, I’m “comfortable” with LSU being the 2007 National Champ with two losses, because of the way the season evolved, BUT…if ever a year that debate can rage and never be settled, 2007 was the one. As far as posterity, until there is a pattern of two loss teams winning it all, LSU will suffer in comparison to National Champs of the past. Remember, Colorado won it all with a loss and a tie, and they are not mentioned with the all time greats.

Steve Greenberg: Comfortable enough that I can just forget about it --- in my opinion, it was a bad season. No great team(s), little to anticipate in the way of huge games. LSU was as deserving as anybody else.

Richard Cirminiello: Yup.  Hey, ideally, I like my national champions undefeated, but last year was unique for its ability to dish out the unpredictable.  Regardless of the record, LSU proved it was the nation’s best with a two-touchdown win over Ohio State in the title game.  Who else makes sense, a Georgia team that didn’t win its division, let alone the SEC?  Nah.  Case closed on this one.

Dennis Dodd: Absolutely. Here's the problem: Once you lose one game in this system, it's a crapshoot. If you lose two, you've got absolutely no argument for being in the national championship game. But last season was the 500-year flood of college football -- seven teams with two losses in the top 10 of the BCS in the first week of December.

Someone had to get in. That it was LSU didn't bother me. In the end, The Tigers benefitted from winning the strongest league in the country. What's wrong with that?

It was all the outrage that followed that got to me. Why? To me, USC was eliminated because it was the victim of the biggest upset in the game's history -- losing at home at Stanford. I suppose Georgia had a beef but I really got turned off with the whole Michael Adams, Rose Bowl argument. By the end of the day, Georgia looked like donkeys because its actions were a backhanded slap at the Sugar Bowl.

Missouri lost twice to Oklahoma. West Virginia lost to Pittsburgh. LSU was basically the last comic standing when it came time to pick two teams to play for the national championship.

Fiu: Actually, no, but I have no alternative. I have no problem with LSU being considered the best team at the end of last year, because when everyone was healthy, it was, but I sort of have an issue with the Tigers losing to really average Kentucky and Arkansas teams. The loss to the Hogs was particularly galling because everything, at least at the time, was on the line. Upon further review, yeah, LSU is still my personal national champion for last year, but there’s a gnawing part of me that thinks Kansas, horrendous non-conference schedule and all, probably deserved more of a look, and I would’ve liked to have seen West Virginia get a shot. Then again, when it comes to the Jayhawks, having them in would fly in the face of a core belief that you can’t win the national title if you can’t win your conference, and KU didn’t even win its own division.

Stewart Mandel: If there had to be a two-loss champion, I was 100 percent comfortable with it being LSU. From the time they demolished Virginia Tech, I believed they were the best team in the country, and once the smoke had cleared from the West Virginia and Missouri losses that final night, there was no question they were the most deserving of those two-loss teams based on their overall resume.

Teddy Greenstein: What, would you prefer a three-loss team? Yes, I am exceedingly comfortable with the crowning of LSU. Just how comfortable? Picture yourself lying in a hammock made of marshmallows, a gentle breeze blowing while you watch a best-of compilation of Minka Kelly's "Lyla" character on "Friday Night Lights."

LSU deserved to be in the BCS title game. Ohio State deserved to be in the BCS title game. The Tigers played brilliantly and left no doubt that they were No. 1.