http://www.coxsportstv.com/blogs/lsu-tigers/ CST LSU Tiger Blog en Serena.Crawford@cox.com Copyright 2012 2012-04-04T14:35:15+00:00 http://www.coxsportstv.com/blogs/lsu-tigers/mettenberger-takes-the-lead/ http://www.coxsportstv.com/blogs/lsu-tigers/mettenberger-takes-the-lead/#When:14:35:15Z This past Saturday I had the pleasure of attending the LSU 2012 Spring Football Game. In my previous Blog I expressed my anticipation of wanting to go see the new starting QB in action. I have to say that I was not disappointed. The game had approximately 33,000 people in attendance. The festivities started with a brief celebration of last year’s accomplishments including receiving the SEC championship trophy. The ceremony ended with a brief speech from Head Coach Les Miles expressing his expectations for this coming seasons and hopes of having a great 2012 football season. The game had a slow start but once they entered the 2nd quarter the new QB Zach Mettenberger started to show the crowd his accuracy along with the strength in his arm. Mettengerger threw two touchdown passes in the second quarter that contributed to the 24-17 victory over the purple team. He threw a… 2012-04-04T14:35:15+00:00 http://www.coxsportstv.com/blogs/lsu-tigers/crunch-time/ http://www.coxsportstv.com/blogs/lsu-tigers/crunch-time/#When:15:53:14Z It's crunch time for the college football national championship, and that terminology takes on a literal thunderous crescendo when super heavyweights Alabama and LSU collide.  Picture two highballing freight trains slamming into each other in an action movie -- that's the scenario Monday night, except this will be a 60-minute pileup. Who will win?  LSU, that's who ... but only if the Tigers are able to accomplish the following: 1.  Throw the ball plenty to Reuben Randle.  He'll catch it.  You wouldn't know it by only five career catches the junior has had against Alabama.  The SEC's best receiver has not been utilized nearly enough the past two seasons, and he's easily this tilt's top target for game-breaking or possession receptions.  To Alabama's credit it neutralized Randle with frequent double-team coverage in Game 1 (two catches for 19 yards).  Randle says LSU has devised ways to create one-on-one… 2012-01-09T15:53:14+00:00 http://www.coxsportstv.com/blogs/lsu-tigers/will-the-past-have-impact/ http://www.coxsportstv.com/blogs/lsu-tigers/will-the-past-have-impact/#When:16:00:33Z What transpires Monday in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome when Alabama-LSU II unfolds for college football's national championship will be based on player skills, preparation, composure, game plan and sideline decisions.  What's occurred in the past will have no impact on the outcome. Still, as millions of fans count down the time before kickoff, it's interesting to gaze on the career performances of key players in previous games between Alabama and LSU.  We'll start, of course, with quarterbacks for LSU.  Doesn't everybody start there? Tiger Offense vs. Alabama Senior Jordan Jefferson, who rescued the Tigers on Nov. 5 in Tuscaloosa with his first extensive playing time of the season, has completed 26 of 40 passes (65 percent) for 322 yards.  Jefferson has not been intercepted vs. the Crimson Tide, and he has tossed two touchdown passes.  Fellow senior Jarrett Lee, who started the first nine games this season, has… 2012-01-04T16:00:33+00:00 http://www.coxsportstv.com/blogs/lsu-tigers/doomed-to-repeat/ http://www.coxsportstv.com/blogs/lsu-tigers/doomed-to-repeat/#When:15:04:58Z We've all heard the quotation to the effect that if you don't learn from history you're doomed to repeat it.  In the interest of scoring touchdowns this time around, you can bet that the offensive brain trusts of Alabama and LSU have been noses-to-the-books in preparation for the college football national championship game. Neither team wants to repeat history when it comes to changing the scoreboard.  The five field goals in Game 1 were finger sandwiches.   This time Alabama and LSU want to take a seat at the touchdown buffet table Before we focus on individuals, here's another impressive but little-known fact about the Crimson Tide.  The Alabama defense, No. 1 nationally in all meaningful defensive categories, also defended the fewest plays of any team in Division 1 football during the regular season.  In fact, there was a difference of more than 300 defensive snaps between Alabama and… 2012-01-04T15:04:58+00:00 http://www.coxsportstv.com/blogs/lsu-tigers/showdown-2/ http://www.coxsportstv.com/blogs/lsu-tigers/showdown-2/#When:15:13:15Z LSU-Alabama II has been analyzed, scrutinized, sanitized, homogenized and prophesied to a level previously unknown in college football, and later in the week I'll add my thoughts on the championship match on this CST website.  For now, though, here are a few nuggets -- mostly meaningless but nonetheless worthy of at least a trivia question around the water cooler. Dome Sweet Dome The Mercedes-Benz Superdome has been a post-season hot spot for LSU.  The Tigers have smacked nine consecutive opponents in New Orleans, including two BCS championship tilts (Oklahoma and Ohio State) and two Sugar Bowls (Illinois and Notre Dame).  All other wins under the roof have been against Tulane. LSU hasn't lost in the Superdome since  the 1986 Sugar Bowl against Nebraska.  The Tigers have been victorious 13 times in 17 games in the Superdome. No. 1 Defense All-Time It's common (and extremely impressive)… 2011-12-31T15:13:15+00:00 http://www.coxsportstv.com/blogs/lsu-tigers/big-boy-football/ http://www.coxsportstv.com/blogs/lsu-tigers/big-boy-football/#When:14:38:20Z Presented by Brian Harris Autoplex in Slidell OK, let's get something straight right now.  The simpering from fans of the Oklahomas, Oklahoma States, Boise States, Clemsons and Stanfords of the world just needs to stop.  The contention that LSU-Alabama is not, in fact, the national championship game is growing wearisome.   You good folks should be justifiably proud of what your teams have accomplished.  But be aware that when you win the SEC West this season, much less the overall SEC championship the last five years, you've already engraved your name on the crystal ball.  Whatever game follows is just a formality, something to occupy several hours of prime time TV.   It's best for the rest in the BCS standings to realize that 2011-10-26T14:38:20+00:00 http://www.coxsportstv.com/blogs/lsu-tigers/tigers-brace-for-quack-attack/ http://www.coxsportstv.com/blogs/lsu-tigers/tigers-brace-for-quack-attack/#When:15:25:59Z Duck hunters well know the staccato sound a mallard drake makes when it's in a hurry to move out: Quack! Quack! Quack! The Oregon Ducks employ the same rapid-fire pace in their overheated offense, and that's the unique challenge facing the LSU defense Saturday night in Arlington. Oregon's output last season was prodigious.  Ten times the Quack Attack scored more than 40 points, and it missed that mark by only two points in another game.  Oregon's offensive philosophy is very direct -- maximize the chances by rattling off as many plays as possible in machine-gun fashion. Oregon put forth an astonishing 1,024 offensive plays in 13 games a year ago and averaged 16 more plays per game than LSU.  Contrary to popular notion, the Ducks prefer to run rather than fly, and they do so from many angles, primarily through the fleet and shifty LaMichael James.  He missed a game… 2011-08-31T15:25:59+00:00 http://www.coxsportstv.com/blogs/lsu-tigers/the-understatement-of-the-year/ http://www.coxsportstv.com/blogs/lsu-tigers/the-understatement-of-the-year/#When:21:45:59Z This (here comes the understatement of the year) is no ordinary Week 1 match.  On paper -- despite starters on both sides who will be absent for disciplinary reasons -- it may exceed every post-season bowl game with the exception of the national championship contest.  The nation's football spotlight will be fully illuminated on Arlington, Texas, this Labor Day weekend.  For the record, it's only the third time in history that two pre-season Top 5 teams have opened the season at a neutral site. Offensively, as it's been for the last decade, there's much at LSU with which to work.  There is, however, a pressing need for the Tigers to eliminate often-inexplicable gaps in reaching the end zone.  Ponder the fragile nature of LSU's 11 victories last season.  Many were precarious, made so by an often-AWOL Tiger offense that provided the opposition a genuine chance to render an upset. 2011-08-26T21:45:59+00:00 http://www.coxsportstv.com/blogs/lsu-tigers/new-season-new-faces-new-hope/ http://www.coxsportstv.com/blogs/lsu-tigers/new-season-new-faces-new-hope/#When:02:54:13Z By: Paul Boron, CST reporterIn Birmingham, Alabama at SEC Media Day It’s that time of year, when hope springs eternal across the hardwood in SEC country.  Everyone is 0-0 and dreaming of cutting down the nets in Indianapolis.  But, after a sub par year in the league, just getting more teams into the big dance may be a more realistic expectation. Last season just 3 teams made it to the N.C.A.A. tournament and none made it to the second weekend.  But the common theme here in Birmingham is that everyone was young last year and so every team will be better this year.  Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said his team will be better this year but could have a worse record because of the maturing depth around the league. Then there are the new faces on the coaching… 2009-10-23T02:54:13+00:00 http://www.coxsportstv.com/blogs/lsu-tigers/no-safety-net/ http://www.coxsportstv.com/blogs/lsu-tigers/no-safety-net/#When:18:10:05Z 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… 2009-10-20T18:10:05+00:00