Absolutely meaningless...

Alabama is 9-1, currently number three in the BCS standings, a mainstay of CBS and ESPN college football broadcasts, one of the teams involved in the latest "game of the century," and the subject of innumerable national sports roundtables, radio talk shows, news articles, and blogs. In two weeks, however, Alabama's football season will be rendered absolutely meaningless.

Alabama lost to the only team that mattered on the schedule, and is now reduced to observing the relevant teams from a distance, hoping one will lose, and that the victor will not be voted past them in the BCS. In my opinion, Alabama's time in the sun for 2011 is over. If Oklahoma State beats Oklahoma, they play LSU for the national championship. If Oklahoma wins, they will play LSU. If not Oklahoma, Oregon will play LSU in a rematch. If Alabama wins out, they will likely play in the Sugar Bowl, against the likes of Houston or Cincinnati, in what will be the least watched, most boring, meaningless Sugar Bowl in recent history. I would even go so far as to suggest that a match up like that could bring the same, or similar, results as the Alabama-Utah game in 2008.

Regrettably, this will one of the rare times in college football history that a 12-1 team wins absolutely nothing. Alabama can't win the SEC West, the SEC, or the BCS. Optimists will say that a bowl provides 3 extra weeks of practice, additional recruiting, and prime time TV revenue. There is also the little pittance of shared monies within the SEC for post-season success. While slightly relevant facts at best, it's not reality. Alabama gains virtually nothing. LSU gains everything. Money, recruiting, and national exposure. Alabama players get a vacation in New Orleans and pride in a meaningless victory. If you're not challenging anyone at a conference or national level, you're accomplishing nothing.

Dreamers are holding their breath for Arkansas or Georgia to beat LSU. It won't happen. Arkansas is a larger version of Oregon, whom LSU slaughtered in week one. Georgia is a Cinderella team in a division of slipper-less Cinderellas. The reality is that LSU will play Georgia in the SEC Championship game, and will emerge as SEC champions. LSU will fill the coffers of departing seniors with even more talent from this year's recruiting pool, and train them in upgraded facilities from BCS earnings.

Whether you like the BCS system or not, a loss ends everything. In this case, it's a loss to a division rival - in fact, the seventh loss to LSU in the last nine games. The 2011 Alabama season is over. Pride is all that's left. Revenge against a four-loss Auburn team means something in Alabama, but nowhere else. A Sugar Bowl victory against Houston or Cincinnati means something to Alabama fans, but no one else. I recall the 2005, 2008, and 2010 seasons, in which Alabama lost the only meaningful games on the schedule. The result was a forgettable Cotton Bowl victory over Texas Tech, a notorious loss to Utah, and a meaningless blowout of Michigan State. Looks like this year will be the same.