The LSU football team’s 38-3 blowout of Georgia Tech in the Chick-fil-A Bowl surprised the nation, as the Tigers were five-point underdogs to the Yellow Jackets. What might not have been as surprising was Florida’s 24-14 win against Oklahoma in the BCS National Championship game, the Southeastern Conference’s third straight national title.LSU students had a lot to say about the Tigers’ victory and the rest of the bowl season as they returned to campus. “I think [LSU’s win] had a lot to do with recruiting,” said Jeremy Galasso, kinesiology junior. “The bowl game showed the recruits that we have a lot of promising players for our team.”The Tigers struggled following their national championship campaign with a 7-5 regular season record before the win.”I don’t know where we’ve been the whole season,” said Kathleen Johnson, kinesiology junior. “I think we played great [in the bowl game], and it showed that we really do know what we’re doing.”True freshman quarterback Jordan Jefferson threw for 142 yards and a touchdown in the victory, which left some fans believing he should have been leading the Tigers for most of the season.”I think they hung with [redshirt freshman] Jarrett Lee too long, and they should have given Jefferson a shot earlier,” said Rusty Ware, kinesiology graduate student. “I was impressed with his maturity at the position and his willingness to step up and lead the team.”Dakota Johnson, biological engineering freshman, said LSU’s bowl victory was the team’s best performance all year, but it didn’t redeem the Tigers’ season since it was not a BCS game. “I wish they would have been playing like that the whole year,” Johnson said. “But it’s good to end on a positive note.”Fans and experts alike have expressed frustration with the BCS process. Teams like one-loss Texas and undefeated Utah had to watch at home as Florida and Oklahoma played for the national championship . Utah is the only team to finish the season undefeated twice in the BCS era, but the Utes have not played for a BCS championship. Ware said he watched very few bowl games this season because he is so frustrated with the BCS.”Useless bowls like the New Orleans Bowl don’t mean anything,” Ware said. “The clear answer is a playoff.”Ware argued that all other levels of college football have a playoff, and so do all other college sports. Many fans enjoyed watching most of the bowl games this season despite their disappointment with the BCS. “I had nothing to do during the break, so I pretty much watched football the whole time,” said economics senior Christopher Roberts.Most fans thought the Fiesta Bowl, which pitted Texas against Ohio State, was the most exciting game of the bowl season.”Texas had a really good finish with a few seconds left,” Johnson said. “That was probably the highlight of the bowl season.” Fans also enjoyed watching SEC underdogs such as Ole Miss in the Cotton Bowl and Vanderbilt in the Music City Bowl take home a victory.”Ole Miss was down 14 really quick, and I thought the game was over with,” Roberts said. “They fought back.”Ware said he enjoyed watching Vanderbilt because they haven’t won a bowl since 1955. “It was pretty exciting to watch them win,” Ware said. “It’s good for Bobby Johnson, and it’s good for the SEC.”– Contact Jarred LeBlanc at [email protected]