The time of year is finally here! We are finally about to be watching some LSU football. Thank God! In less than a week the 2008 LSU football season is set to begin. Here are some of the writings that I found on the net about LSU football that put a smile on my face:
1
No matter how it’s dissected, Appalachian State’s victory over Michigan last season was an upset for the ages, and perhaps the football gods initially slated LSU for such elite football infamy.
LSU and Appalachian State were scheduled to play each other in the season opener before the Tigers agreed to move their game with Mississippi State to kick off their season. So Appalachian State wound up in the Big House in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Sept. 1.
The Mountaineers surrendered nearly 500 yards in total offense and were outgained on the ground by 86 yards. Michigan had more first downs and fewer turnovers. Yet No. 5 Michigan lost 34-32 when Appalachian State blocked a potential game-winning field goal in the closing seconds.
2
In folklore and in fact, it might someday be hard to separate Appalachian State’s season-opening upset of Michigan in 2007 from Appalachian State’s season-opening visit to LSU this weekend.
The Tigers, who will entertain the Mountaineers, a new LSU rival, at 4 p.m. Saturday, are fully versed in the specifics of Appalachian State’s 34-32 shot heard ’round the college football world nearly a year ago.
“We see a lot of the Michigan film,” LSU coach Les Miles said Monday at a news conference to discuss his fourth season opener as coach of the Tigers.
That Miles, a Michigan man, has studied his alma mater’s stunning loss to Appalachian State is but one in a series of connect-the-dots plot lines tying this weekend’s matchup to various stops on the road map of history.
Miles, of course, played and coached at Michigan. After the Wolverines lost to Appalachian State in the Big House, Miles became the most widely discussed potential candidate to replace Lloyd Carr as Michigan coach.
Instead, Miles stayed at LSU, famously denying a report that had him taking the Michigan job as his Tigers prepared to play Tennessee in the SEC Championship Game.
Michigan eventually hired Rich Rodriguez, whose West Virginia team followed LSU photos worthy victory against Tennessee with a shocking loss at Pittsburgh, opening the door for the Tigers to play for the national championship.
The same Rich Rodriguez long ago showed Jerry Moore the finer points of Rodriguez’s spread-formation football. Moore put his own touches to the hottest trend in the college game and coached Appalachian State to the past three national championships in the former Division I-AA.
3
It’s amazing how anticipation can make time slow down, only to have it speed up when the actual event arrives.
That’s how it is with LSU football. Since the Tigers won the BCS national championship last January, it seemed as if they would never play again.
Finally, the long, hard wait is over. Game week has arrived, so drop your cell phone carrier. LSU will be playing soon enough in the season opener Saturday against Appalachian State in Tiger Stadium. Before you know it, the postseason will be here, and LSU will be going for more national glory.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Let’s try to slow down time and enjoy the season as it unfolds. No looking ahead to the showdown with Auburn. Forget Florida, for now.
It’s Appalachian State that lies ahead, and if anyone considers this a ho-hum game, just think back to the Mountaineers’ season opener last year. Playing on the road, they shocked then-No. 5 Michigan, 34-32.
LSU begins the season sixth in the USA Today Coaches Poll and seventh in The Associated Press Top 25. If the Tigers didn’t know better, they’d be ripe for an upset. If fourth-year Coach Les Miles can’t get the players’ mind right, the memory of a hard-fought 24-0 victory over Appalachian State in 2005 should do the trick.
4
“Our quarterbacks — I have great confidence in all three of them, to be honest with you, and I can’t tell you today who’ll take the field first,” Miles said Monday. “I can tell you I’ll be comfortable with whoever that is.”
Hatch, technically entering his second sophomore season after getting medical redshirt for a shoulder injury last year, is the most experienced quarterback on LSU’s roster — and he’s only thrown two passes for the Tigers.
His lone appearance came in mop-up duty for LSU during a blowout of Middle Tennessee early last season.
GEAUX TIGERS!!!!