In all fairness, why aren't NCAA D-1 Football Championships also played in the North

Nothing like giving a team (LSU) a fucking home field advantage. Kind of like giving Belichek a camera!

in what their fans would consider a comfortable environment?

But, I agree. Lets have a Tundra Bowl in Lambeau or something similar. The same applies for Super Bowls.

or was it the 24th? Check the weather for that day over the last 30 years or so. When was the last time they played in weather below 30 or 40 degrees?

God these people can come up with excuses.

Regarding home field.... Last years game had a 70% Ohio home crowd over Florida because they got in the champ game in Mid November and Florida didn't get until Dec 7th. Ohio fans got to buy up all the tickets. And Florida hadn't played in that stadium anymore than Ohio had. And Ohio still got smoked.

Too much time off after the last game.
Mean referees called 5 personal fouls on the jack leg Ohio team.
Game played (indoors) in too perfect conditions.

You people need to think about moving Ohio to a better climate. You may not have noticed but people like going to and living in places with warmer weather. (See massive population growth in Florida, for example)

I never met a person in Florida who couldn't wait to get to retirement age and move to friggin' Akron or some damn place.

For example, here in Maine today it's going to be 56! You can't make SEC teams play is such nightmarish conditions!

Also, there is no Division I football championship. It's the BCS championship, or as I've come call it: the last game of the season.

Are there any French Quarters in Maine? 30,000+ hotel rooms within walking distance of a stadium? I think a bowl game (College or Pro) in Lambeau or Buffalo in January or February would be outstanding.

Say what you will about the NCAA's choice of nomenclature, but App. State did win the Division I Football Championship game.

... in mid-January. Football is a fall game, not a winter game.

Same reasons Superbowls, and most college bowls, are typically in southern climes.

A) They want people to attend.
B) They want the game to be decided on the field, not by the elements.

NFL late-season and playoff games are sometimes in snowstorms, but they simply can't schedule every playoff game in some other venue. You can schedule the Superbowl, though, and bowl games. Do so in Pittsburgh, or Ann Arbor, or wherever, and you run the risk of having to cancel the game altogether. No one would like that.

LSU didn't schedule this game in the Superdome years ago, nor did they know they would play in it. OSU and LSU had to play like champions to become the champions... wherever the game was played. LSU did. OSU didn't.

Cactus Pollen?

... I'd say playing the game in the dry desert of Arizona was a tremendous disadvantage for Florida.

Nevertheless, they overcame it.:D

since they ended their schedule on Nov. 17th.

Florida had 37 days off and Ohio had 51.

Question.... who set your schedule, Ohio?
Answer... Your own AD, did.

Seems like you could have, perhaps used the extra time to learn how to play football, Ohio.

playing in the Dome, in the South cost OSU at least three touchdowns. And yet they keep coming south. Gotta love em.

Heck, they got 74,000 for an outside hockey game. It was fantastic!

Let me rephrase. TRUE football fans aren't wimps.

Although I wasn't born when it was played, the gold standard of football games to me is the "Snow Bowl" played between Michigan and Ohio State in the 1950s, when they had to scrape the yard lines! Awesome.

And responding to repeated posts that the game was "f^%&ing" home field advantage and that was somehow unfair.

Realistically, I feel those are the reasons why more bowl games aren't up north. Traditionally as well, bowls were a "reward", a treat after the season for a team that did well. Part of this was to go down south and enjoy a little mid-winter vacation (fans and teams) while playing the game. That's why most bowls have traditionally been in the Sun Belt.

I didn't invent college football. That's just the way it is.

That Hockey game in the snow was great. But it's a winter sport. And by necessity, many people who learn how to play it growing up do so outdoors, in the middle of the winter. But snow and ice isn't the natural surface for football. Grass is.

Scraping the yard lines and all makes for a great and memorable game (there was also a famous NFL game in the snow in the 60s, I believe). But it doesn't always make for the best game. Wikipedia says this about the legendary "Snow Bowl" : "Michigan won the game, 9-3, despite never getting a first down and failing on all nine pass attempts. The teams punted 45 times, sometimes on first down, which is highly unusual in football."

Legendary, yes. But not necessarily the most exciting of football games. I'd venture a guess that most people wouldn't want the National Championship decided that way.

Now, with all the national championship blather, the stakes are huge. Hence, if there is going to be a playoff system, home field advantage should factor in.

I assume by this and your posts that you mean teams (the higher seeded team) should be allowed -- and scheduled -- to play on their home turf in an NCAA football playoff set-up; and not I presume, that an LSU should NOT be allowed to play a "neutral" site which is actually close to home (which is what some are complaining about, but I don't see how anyone can predict years ahead).

But why should teams should be scheduled to play this way? I'd think there's just as much of an argument to say neither team should have home-field advantage BECAUSE the stakes are so high. NCAA Basketball tournament games are always scheduled at "neutral" sites (although the Regionals are usually top-heavy with teams from the general area of the country). So is the Superbowl.

Yes, the NFL playoffs before that are at teams' home fields. But I don't think the NCAA will ever schedule a playoff system with games being played like that. They will always stick by some use of the bowls for tradition, and if that means the chances of a northern team playing close to home is lessened for the logistical/weather reasons I mentioned above, that's just the way it is. Southern teams may be more likely to get what is basically a "home" game (USC nearly always plays on their home field for the Rose Bowl, but I don't hear the Big 10 complainging about it). But usually, teams will play on a "neutral", warm weather, field.

Ohio State was the home team last night.

Are you saying that a national championship game played at night outside at Lambeau Field in January is not the exact same reward for LSU fans as say a trip to New Orleans would be for OSU fans? Thats just downright crazy. I bet the night life just cooks in Green Bay. And fishing through cut holes in the ice is just as exciting as taking a swamp tour 30 minutes away from New Orleans, then spending the evening watching slightly inebriated coeds (most from up north) exposing their breasts for beads and trinkets. No doubt GB can top that.

No shortage of things to do OR hotel rooms in Chicago.

I believe the Big Ten should push for a BCS bowl way up north. Most likely the NCAA would be looking at domed stadiums.

I also recall the Bears saying "I don't know why anyone thinks this (winter weather) gives us an advantage. We aren't any more used to this than the Saints".

I also recall some saying that snow would give the Saints the advantage, b/c of the pounding running game featuring Deuce McAlister.

Alas, it was not to be. But we Saints fans didn't blame the weather. We gave credit to a better team.

I have, however, heard of them being cancelled in New Orleans and this year, in San Diego. So what's your point? Afraid of a little cold?

A Cat 5 hurricane in NO--- and massive fires in SD... You're comparing a little cold to that?

You fucking Big 10ers are the biggest babies on the planet.

Everyone knows the wildfires and Hurricane Katrina were extreme circumstances, okay? The point being made is that poor weather -- not weather catastrophes -- rarely results in a game cancellation in the north. There are delays for lightning but snow, sub-zero temperatures, gale force winds, and driving rain, or not, the game goes on. I remember my senior year of college the high temperature during the Michigan-Ohio State game was 32 degrees and that was at kickoff. We'd had six inches of snow that MORNING and the field had to be shoveled off.

For all we know the SEC does have superior talent and would run all over any team anywhere. But, how will we ever really know? SEC teams never play in the north after September and all the bowl games are in warm weather states. Florida, Southern Cal, and LSU essentially played home games in their bowl games under weather conditions that are very well known to them. Nobody knows how they would play in front of a majority crowd that was hostile to them in weather conditions that were relatively unfamiliar to them. We are talking about known versus unknown and you can crow about the superior SEC all you want but until they actually play a game up north, in the cold and snow, we don't know that they are always better.

If that makes me a Big Ten baby, okay then, wah even though my team BEAT its SEC bowl opponent. But don't declare anything as an absolute until the playing field is leveled by both conferences playing in each other's weather conditions.

Most of their seasons are concluded before winter really gets going. Northern teams (even Minnesota) rarely play in blizzards. That's b/c football is a FALL sport, meant to be played on GRASS, and meant to end before it gets too much into winter. That's by design. The game wasn't invented as a mid-winter sport. There are very few outdoor activities enjoyed by thousands very far north. If championship games were played more often up there, BOTH teams would probably play worse in cases of inclement weather.

The games are played where they're played. Yes, usually in relatively mild weather or indoors. But they are not scheduled to give Southern teams an advantage, and I frankly don't see how they do (I don't see how playing in a dome makes it harder for a northern team to play football). By the results of the last two BCS Championship games (whether one was played in one of the teams' home state or not), and this year's bowl season, the SEC stacks up better than the Big 10. That's on-the-field results, not some unproven hypothetical.

You can blame where the games were played, but I don't think even OSU is doing that this morning. They just know they were whipped.

Playing in cold weather is lot different than playing in warm weather. Bodies react differently; it's a different game. And it gets darn cold here in October and November, snow notwithstanding. The vaunted speed of the SEC could be not so great in 40 degree temperatures or below.

At least that's a more realistic, common, difference in conditions.

But I guess it comes down to: Should ANY team have an untoward advantage? Maybe cold and/or snow MIGHT make a Southern team play worse; but does playing in a dome or a temperate climate make a northern team worse? Does it give the southern team an advantage on the field? I don't see how.

Yes, a southern team might be more likley to play somewhat closer to home, and yes, LSU played in their home state last night. But they didn't plan it that way. It wasn't a conspiracy. And OSU should have played like a National Championship team if they were one.

Overall, a neutral site in a temperate climate puts the two teams on a more even playing fiels, with less likelihood of an untoward advantage being given to either team. Let them play it on the field. Like the Superbowl. Like the NCAA Final Four.

It's just that hearing "if you SEC guys came up HERE, it'd be DIFFERENT" two years in a row starts to sound like sour grapes. I don't think OSU is saying that this morning.

Weather can be a factor. Everyone knows that. Was it last night? Probably not. But this is about the bigger picture/broader perspective.

LOL

I'm talking about records, style of play, etc. SEC teams play in warm weather all year long. Their style of play is based on speed because warm weather permits speed. Cold weather does not. So, even if the game is played on an indoor field, the northern teams have been playing a cold weather game for the second half of their seasons and have to readjust when they come south whereas southern teams don't have to alter anything throughout the course of the season. That can give them an advantage.

I think LSU was the far superior team Monday night and probably would have beaten anyone. But all of this head to head comparison between the Big Ten and SEC; that the SEC is far superior is flawed because the SEC has no history of competing in cold weather. Nobody knows what the record would be if the SEC team had to come north and play the northern team in the cold because it's never happened.

Have you ever played football in September in Florida?

Speed... didn't Ohio State live on speed with Ted Ginn?

But my father coached for years so I do know a little about the game. September weather in Michigan can be comparable to September weather in Florida. November weather in Michigan is NOT comparable to November weather in Florida. Florida can play a warm/hot weather game all year long. Northern teams can't; their game adjusts as the weather changes. And Ted Ginn was a lot speedier in the warm air then in the cold.

The ONLY point I have been trying to make is that we don't know how SEC teams would play or adjust to cold weather because they never have. Until they do, I refuse to accept that the current SEC is the greatest conference ever.

I'm not afraid of any teams playing anywhere (for the record, LSU would take on all comers in any weather). But the powers that be who schedule college football (and newsflash, more are probably from the Northeast and Midwest than from the South) want to see the games played cleanly and don't want to risk weather interfering with what is NOT a mid-winter sport, at ANY latitude.

Yes, some games have been played in heavy snow, but they are not the norm, even up north. By design, the season ends before it gets much into winter.

Yes, a game was cancelled in SD due to fires recently (as I'm sure games have been cancelled throughout college football history for a variety of weather-related and other reasons). And Katrina was an anamoly no matter which way you cut it.

But the risk of weather interfering with football games (or with ANY other outdoor activity) is much greater in mid-winter in northern climates than at any time of year in southern climates. You can say "it's never happened" (as in games have "never" been cancelled in Ann Arbor due to snow). But that's largely because football is never played much into winter. And there's a reason. WINTER!

The season used to be a lot shorter. Michigan's season was wrapped up by mid-November. It's the southern schools that keep extending it.

Heck, look at college baseball and softball. I think the seasons officially start in winter (in March) - is that right?

and should make everyone happy. The SEC championship game will be the National Championship Game from now on then northern schools won't have to be bothered.

Whoever wins the Ivy League wins it all! That should make everyone happy. If they hadn't forged the way, we wouldn't have the sport we all love, so props to them, and let's make them relevant again!

And I WAS rooting for LSU last night; I called my LSU friend to congratulate her. She was on Cloud 9.

after Arkansas beat LSU. I was on Cloud Nine that night.

And 1gobluedem and I rooted for Arkansas in their bowl game this year.

But tell the truth. Weren't you actually rooting against Missouri? Thats fine, I always root against whomever might effect the rankings of my team.

Did you call the Hogs - WOOOOO PIG SOOOOOOOOIEEE

Did I ever tell you I used to (briefly) work with Orville Faubus' granddaughter, and I saw her once wearing a pig nose? (I think Arkansas played in the final four out here - she lost a bet and then I saw her in UCLA duds).

Orville Faubus was God to my right of center Grandparents. I don't have a HOG nose (its a Hog Nose My Dear, show some respect) but I do have a HOG HAT!

I believe they played UCLA in 78 or 79 and again in 1995.

I barely knew her, but I think her politics were not those of her grandfather.

(but great idea!)

LSU had two losses. Both conference games. Where do SEC teams get beat up? In conference games.

The rest of the US can fight over the other spot.

it would have to be in Minnesota or Detroit every year.

and to be fair to Southern Cal: they do travel to Seattle, Corvallis and Spokane, it can be bitter cold in Spokane.

has been in Atlanta for years, which is a bone of contention for me, but it works. But wouldn't the point be to have the Big Ten game outside? Year after year when a Big Ten gets spanked its all because the weather favors the other team. I have a hard time following that logic but if the Big Ten wants to show the world its toughness have a championship game, have it at Lambeau and have it at night.

But it is a fall sport, designed to be played outdoors, on grass, in the prevailing weather conditions. For a LONG time, that has meant anything from hot, humid conditions, to heavy rain, to dense fog, to snow, to below-zero temperatures. Rewarding teams who fail to build for those conditions is to shit all over history.

But the problem here seems to be more about warm weather teams not needing to travel, and playing home games, against cold weather teams that must travel every year. How about no team can play in a bowl within 750 miles of home? I have a problem with USC playing in what is essentially a home venue, not having to travel and benefiting from a hometown crowd. Same goes for LSU, Miami, and so on.

Massive flooding cancelled a baseball game at the old Astrodome because fans couldn't get to the game. Sissys.

and tourism.

The NCAA and the bowl committees want people to spend spend spend in the days before and after the game - and it's a lot easier to do that if the game is held in a warm-weather site.

Sucks, but that's reality.