The College Football National Championship is here, and from the looks of it, it should be a good one. LSU against Clemson, two unbeaten powerhouses, square off tonight. The storylines write themselves: Joe Burrow vs. Trevor Lawrence, Dabo Swinney taking on the SEC again, and LSU dominating in the best conference in the country. All of this sounds just fantastic, however there is a dark underbelly to this contest. ESPN and the national media has sold the country a bill of goods once again, and they expect us to just sit back and lap it up.
Let’s start with the obvious: ESPN has always had a clear SEC bias. This dates back even before the College Football playoffs, however it became truly evident once the playoff system was created. According to ESPN, the SEC is the king of football, and if you don’t play in the SEC, you are trash. This year there were really only 4 teams that made sense for the playoffs: LSU, Clemson, The Ohio State University, and Oklahoma. This made these selections have very little controversy. However, whoever got the #1 seed had a massive advantage, as it was clear that Oklahoma was going to have the #4 seed, and getting to play OU in the semifinals was essentially a bye week. For the last couple weeks leading up to the final rankings, The Ohio State University held the #1 spot, which made a lot of sense. They were the only team that had truly dominated every game this season (LSU fans, don’t embarrass yourselves by claiming that giving up 38 to Texas and barely winning was a quality game for you). Come Conference Championship week, both tOSU and LSU had great games. The Ohio State University beat Wisconsin for the second time this season by multiple scores, and LSU trounced an anemic-looking Georgia. It appeared that the rankings would stay the same and tOSU would get the #1 seed.
Once the final rankings were released, ESPN once again showed their SEC bias. LSU ended up with the #1 seed and essentially a “bye-week” by getting to play Oklahoma, where as tOSU fell to #2 and drew Clemson. The best part is how they justified giving LSU the #1 seed. The committee kept Georgia at #5 in the final rankings, even though Georgia has look absolutely terrible all year. This was a team that lost to 4-8 South Carolina at home! Thinking Georgia deserved to stay so high is only possible with a severe brain injury. However, this allowed the committee to point at LSU and declare that they beat the #5 team, such a fantastic win! This allowed ESPN and the powers that be to fulfill the first step in their plan of making sure the SEC is in that championship game. The next step? Getting Clemson in that title game.
Before it is explored how the Clemson-The Ohio State University game was fixed to make sure Clemson won, it is important to see why the powers that be want Clemson in that title game playing the SEC. According to the national media, only one team has been successful in beating SEC teams consistently: Clemson. They also like to ignore what happened the last time Ohio State played the jewel of the SEC in Alabama, but that wouldn’t fit their narrative. The problem with Clemson beating SEC teams is that it weakens the narrative that the SEC is king: how can they be king if they lose to an ACC team? The answer is simple. Prop up Clemson as essentially a quasi-SEC team. That way, even if the SEC loses, they really just lost to another southern powerhouse, so the SEC narrative can live. Now if an SEC team loses to a Big Ten school, that doesn’t exactly connect with the narrative. Thus, something had to be done to make sure The Ohio State University lost to Clemson.
Looking at the game on the surface, it appears that The Ohio State University lost a 29-23 heart-breaker to a superior Clemson. Upon closer review of the game, it is quite evident to see the Buckeyes weren’t just playing Clemson, they were also playing against the refs. The crew used for the game was an SEC referee crew. Isn’t that just awfully convenient for the powers that be to fix the game?
Let’s start with the targeting call on tOSU DB Shaun Wade. Shaun Wade was sacking Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence, going in right for 6′ 6” Lawrence’s chest. At the absolute last second when Wade had 0 time to react, Lawrence ducked his head down and Wade grazed helmets. This was a perfect opportunity for the SEC refs to kick out one of tOSU’s best defensive players. They launched the flag and immediately threw out Wade for “targeting”. Such an embarrassing call and so transparent to keep Clemson in the game. Plus this allowed ESPN commentators Herbstreit and Fowler to sing Lawrence’s praises the rest of the game. You’d think Lawrence deserved a Medal of Honor for staying in the game after that sack; the commentators were surprisingly silent on talking about tOSU QB Justin Fields or tOSU RB J.K. Dobbins when it came to toughness, even though both players could barely move out there and were still competing.
The most egregious call came in the 3rd quarter with the Buckeyes trailing 21-16. Lawrence threw a pass to Clemson WR Justyn Ross, who appeared to secure the ball and take multiple steps before tOSU DB Jeff Okudah stripped the ball. The Ohio State University recovered the supposed fumble and took it back for a touchdown, giving tOSU the lead again. However, the SEC referees decided to review the play. Even though the call on the field was that the play was a fumble, the SEC crew decided that holding the ball with two hands and taking multiple steps wasn’t enough for possession, and reversed the call to an incomplete pass, taking the touchdown away from the Buckeyes. So much for needing “conclusive evidence” to overturn a call, the SEC crew and the powers that be decided this was a perfect chance to stop the Buckeyes from scoring and make sure Clemson won.
By the time it was all said and done, ESPN got exactly what they wanted. The SEC champion and Clemson are squaring off for the national championship. Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany dared to spur ESPN by signing a TV deal with Fox, and ESPN is still trying to make the Big Ten pay to this day. It is so clear how rigged the system is and how awful it is that they would actually fix a game to make sure Clemson won. The only way to stop such blatant corruption from happening is to show the national media that the fans will not tolerate this farce of an event. I for one will not be tuning in to ESPN to watch this game, as I refuse to give them any of my business after they showed they’re willing to spit in the face of fair competition. If you also care about integrity in sports, the best way to fight back is to not watch this game, and refuse to buy into this lie the national media is trying to perpetrate.
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