CBS college football analyst Gary Danielson breaks down the Alabama-LSU game, and which non-SEC team has a chance to knock off the Crimson Tide with The Post’s Justin Terranova.
Q: How does this game compare with the hype surrounding last year’s showdown?
A: We thought last year’s game was The Game of the Century, but an unbelievable set of circumstances occurred to allow Alabama back to the title game. So now, the consequences of this game are bigger than last year’s cause there isn’t going to be a rematch.
Q: If LSU wins, what do you think of the possibility of a national title game without the SEC champion?
A: That’s my biggest problem with the BCS. Everyone unanimously agrees that the SEC is the best conference and its champion could be watching two other teams play for the national championship. I don’t care what anyone says, that doesn’t make any sense.
Q: Can LSU beat Alabama?
A: I don’t think there’s any way LSU can win without its quarterback, but I don’t know if it can win with its quarterback. That doesn’t mean [Zach Mettenberger] has to throw it 35 times. That means Alabama has to be convinced that it has to defend the pass on every snap. If the Tide is convinced that they don’t, LSU is not going to beat them.
Q: Of the other three top five teams — Kansas State, Notre Dame, Oregon — which has the best chance of beating one of these SEC powers in the title game?
A: The toughest matchup is Kansas State. They have the one wild card that has given this conference a problem in the past: a physical, spread, rushing quarterback [Collin Klein]. This conference in championship games has always been able to handle the finesse teams. It’s the physical quarterback — Cam Newton, Tim Tebow — that has given LSU and Alabama problems. Kansas State reminds me of the 2008 Florida team with Tebow.
Q: If those three go undefeated, who do you think will end up playing Alabama in title game if the Crimson Tide win out as well?
A: I would rank it Kansas State, Oregon and Notre Dame. It depends on what Oregon does at the end here, though. Kansas State looks better, but the Pac-12 is the better conference. I would put Notre Dame third because they are not in a conference and the Big Ten hasn’t been good enough to get enough value out of those wins over Michigan and Michigan State.