LSU Tiger Blog

No safety net

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009      Email Print

LSU is no longer working with a safety net in its quest for an SEC West championship.  It's nearly certain that LSU's first league loss against Florida will be the only one the Tigers can absorb and still play for the SEC championship.  Alabama , which may well be the top team in the SEC, isn't likely to stumble twice, especially after another dominating defensive performance against Ole Miss.

Still, the "what if" game yields a potentially intriguing scenario.  It goes like this.  What if the Tigers win their six remaining games to win a tiebreaker trip to Atlanta over Alabama?  What if LSU is triumphant in a return tilt with the Gators, this time for the SEC championship?  And, what if that seven-gane winning streak propels LSU into the national championship game?  At worst LSU would play in the Allstate Sugar Bowl, and a BCS bowl is not an expectation too lofty or unrealistic for LSU football.

Do not fall prey to any sort of "inevitability" regarding the 2009 Tigers.  We already are mired in that muck when it comes to our politicians, and I don't need to explain the consequences.  Yes, this LSU team continues to have championship potential.  No less an authority than the head coach and the offensive and defensive coordinators said so repeatedly over the summer.  I believed it then, and I believe it now.

Everything is in place at LSU to consistently hold membership in the club of the football elite.  The athletic administration, with the unyielding financial support of thousands generating millions, has fashioned a suitable environment.  Facilities -- athletic and academic -- are top drawer.  Coaches don't leave for more money.  LSU enjoys national recognition.  This coaching staff recruits high-caliber athletes as well as anybody in the land.  And the passion surrounding LSU football never has been more feverish.

Well, there is one thing missing -- touchdowns.  LSU's inexcusable inability to get to the end zone makes me yearn for the good old days -- 2008.  Just two years ago the Tigers set school scoring records.  Not only has this year's output disintegrated by LSU standards, there are only a handful of Division 1-A schools in the land with worse production.  None are in the SEC.

This isn't exactly breaking news, and coach Les Miles even appologized to LSU fans after the Tigers failed to score a touchdown for the first time since 2006.  The most overriding concern, though, is not statistics.  It's the puzzling absence of continuity, the scarce use of skillful offensive players, and, especially in the last two games, the backward nature of the offense after halftime.

LSU's next opponent, Auburn, stumbled through a woeful offensive drought in 2008 and with a new game plan already has rebounded with more points in the first half of 2009 than it scored last season.  It won't take LSU that long to reverse course.  The open date could not have come at a better time as LSU takes aim at the rest of the West.

The LSU defense, which held Florida to the second fewest points in the Urban Meyer era, has come to the forefront.  The opportunity clearly exists for the other half of the team to do the same.

 

Post Comment | Read Comments (0)