When No. 1 ranked LSU and No. 2 Alabama take the field at the Superdome on Monday night for the BCS National Championship Game it's quite possible that college football fans would welcome just the sort of 9-6 quagmire that we were force fed in November. Billed as the latest "Game of The Century," the initial SEC matchup between the Tigers and the Tide was a defensive tug of war. The sporting world tuned in ready to be wowed by the impressive collection of Sunday-ready talent on both sidelines but left hungering for some touchdowns.
That certainly isn't the case this week. Between the 70 points that Geno Smith and West Virginia hung on Clemson in the Orange Bowl, the high-scoring shootout between Andrew Luck's Stanford and Justin Blackmon's Oklahoma State squad in the Fiesta Bowl and offensive fireworks of the Alamo Bowl featuring Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III, football fans might actually be feeling overwhelmed by scoring plays. Even if just as a palette cleanser, a defensive battle could be just what we need.
It also might not be a coincidence that all of these high-octane offenses are burning out scoreboard switchboards in lesser bowls while the two of the stingiest defenses in the land are contending for the only trophy that truly matters. As legendary 'Bama coach Paul "Bear" Bryant is often credited with saying, "defense wins championships." Of course, the first half of that phrase was "offense sells tickets but..." Anyone watching closely throughout this bowl season has noticed that all of this offense hasn't been selling a ton of tickets.
Of course, the Bear's concern was winning football games rather than watching them. For the rest of us, we might be better off looking to someone at least as concerned with enjoyment as victory. Perhaps someone like actress and libertine Mae West, who famously said "Too much of a good thing can be wonderful." So, maybe we should just hope that the jaw-dropping offensive pyrotechnics keep on coming.
With the over/under sitting at 40 points, bookmakers don't except the BCS title game to deliver wall-to-wall scoring plays like the 2012 editions of the Rose, Sugar, Alamo and Orange bowls. But who knows? Honey Badger don't care what the oddsmakers say.
In the meantime, here are the highest-scoring editions of several high-profile bowl games. Surprisingly, not all of the games that make are from the past few weeks. Let's hear it for the 1970 Peach Bowl.
