USC Trojans (official thread)

[Taosman]

2007 LSU schedule

Thu, Aug 30 at Mississippi State (Davis Wade Stadium) 8:00 p.m.

Sat, Sep 08 Virginia Tech Baton Rouge, La. (Tiger Stadium) 8:15 p.m.

Sat, Sep 15 Middle Tennessee Baton Rouge, La. (Tiger Stadium) 7:00 p.m.

Sat, Sep 22 South Carolina * Baton Rouge, La. (Tiger Stadium) 7:00 p.m.

Sat, Sep 29 Tulane at New Orleans, La. (Louisiana Superdome)

Sat, Oct 06 Florida * Baton Rouge, La. (Tiger Stadium) 7:00 p.m.

Sat, Oct 13 Kentucky * at Lexington, Ky. (Commonwealth Stadium)

Sat, Oct 20 Auburn * Baton Rouge, La. (Tiger Stadium) 7:00 p.m.

Sat, Nov 03 Alabama * at Tuscaloosa, Ala. (Bryant-Denny Stadium)

Sat, Nov 10 Louisiana Tech (Homecoming) Baton Rouge, La. (Tiger Stadium) 7:00 p.m.

Sat, Nov 17 Ole Miss * at Oxford, Miss. (Vaught-Hemingway Stadium)

Fri, Nov 23 Arkansas * Baton Rouge, La. (Tiger Stadium) 1:30 p.m.

SEC Championship Game

So, the question needs to be asked;
Is this schedule strong enough to get them into the National Championship game?
Mid Tenn., Tulane and La Tech?
They lose one game and it's iffy in my opinion. They lose 2.....no way!

 

[Zurp]

So, the question needs to be asked;
Is this schedule strong enough to get them into the National Championship game?
Mid Tenn., Tulane and La Tech?
They lose one game and it's iffy in my opinion. They lose 2.....no way!

With the new BCS format, you don't need a tough schedule to get in. All you need to do is win all your games, and have the perception of being a good team. LSU, being in the SEC, will always have the second part of the formula. All they need to do is win all their games. Teams like Boise State, with the new BCS format, won't get into a BCS title game, because they will never have the perception of being a good team, no matter how many wins they have.

As for losing one game - you no longer deserve the "right" to be in the title game. Getting in with 1 loss, no matter who you are, is all up to chance. Getting in with 2 losses, and it's a sad, sad day for college football.

 

[808 Buck]

Nothing like having a Michigan man at a SEC school. Now, he's faster than everyone else, in addition to being smarter than everyone else. Let's see - no Georgia, no Tennessee, toughest road opponent is Alabama. If Les doesn't make it to at least the SEC Championship game, he might have some "esplainin" to do. LSU has a helluva team athletically coming back. Might be better to let things build, rather than start calling other teams out, especially potential BCS opponents.

 

[Buckeyeskickbuttocks]

There is no way in hell LSU will play USC for the title. It's entirely possible neither team gets there. SC's not as invincible as one would believe. Look for Booty to be exposed as average, at best, this year. He had Smith and Jarrett bailing him out last year. Yes, SC still has talent, there's no denying it, but I'm not handing them (or anyone) the crystal just yet. Even if they do make it to the title game.....

LSU - Les Miles. End of discussion. I actually like LSU.. or I have historically. That is to say, when I'm watching LSU v. X I find myself usually rooting for LSU instead of the other team... but I don't follow them really that closely. But, I do know that Les Miles is not the guy to take talent and coach em to a championship.

Oh.. and all the talk about how much talent LSU has coming back.... Does LSU get better losing JaMarcus Russell, Dwayne Bowe, Craig Davis and LaRon Landry, Jessie Daniels? Here again, I'm certainly not saying that LSU sucks, has no chance bla bla bla.

I'm saying LSU lost it's starting QB along with 2 starting WR's and actually, if you consider Justin Vincent's graduation, they lost a TB too.... Sound familiar?

I'm saying LSU is going to be very good - their D, even with the losses in the secondary, is likely to be very very good..... but they're certainly not a just show up and you'll win team. New QB, new WRs TB by committee.. doesn't sound like a recipe for a "Hand em the trophy season"
Certainly not if your team is Ohio State.... I guess LSU is somehow different? It must be that Miles can outcoach Tressel..

 

[Taosman]

All you have to do is listen to were all the media hype is going.
SI demanding that LSU play USC for the MNC. Odds are tough for that actually playing out.
What about a team like V-Tech pulling the upset of LSU and making a run?
West Virginia? Not enough defense.
Just as there is a media bies against us right now. There is a pro SEC media bias right now. And Les Miles knows this!
But, what happens if the SEC winner has a loss or even 2?

 

[mooktarr]

That is the USC myth. Before Pete came along they sucked for quite a few years.

Thats it

 

[Zurp]

But, what happens if the SEC winner has a loss or even 2?

Then they won't make it to the national championship game. The SEC fans will whine about it. But they always will. It's actually quite funny listening to them whine. Sometimes, it's the only reason I turn on any of those national radio shows.

 

[Buckeyeskickbuttocks]

Without doing a statistical analysis to confirm the following, I think it's pretty obvious that the NC game is typically participated by teams which are clearly superior teams playing in average or poor conferences.

Tennessee v. Flast. Tenny is one of the few exceptions to the rule, making the championship game out of a true "power" conference. Flast - especially in 98, was the only team worthy of respect out of the ACC

Va Tech v. Flast - Big Least v. ACC. Nuff said

Oklahoma v. Flast. Big XII, despite the hype is a grand total of 3 teams (at the time) OU, Texas and Nebraska (again, at the time). ACC still sucked ass if you exclude Flast.

Miami v. Nebby Here again, a superior team in a dreadful conference (Big Least) v. a Big XII "power" that has the luxury of beating up on the likes of Kansas, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and so on. Teams with reps of being occasionally decent. In fact, this particular game exemplifies my point. Nebraska was exposed, if you'll recall.

Miami v. Ohio State - Big Least champion v. Ohio State. In 02, the Big Ten was in pretty good shape power-wise, but OSU did miss Iowa that year.

Oklahoma v. LSU - Big XII v. SEC. Hats off to LSU. Yet another Big XII team getting exposed.

Oklahoma v. USC - Pac 10 and Big XII... thrilling.

Texas v. USC - OU fell off the radar and Texas took the reigns. As we all remember this Texas team was actually very very good. Again, my point here is NOT to argue the participants in these games were somehow unworthy, just that they came from conferences which were weak. Pac 10 - like the old ACC is USC and everyone else.

Ohio State v. Florida - Last year, I think it's fair to say the Big 10 was truly the big 2 little 8 (9 as it is now) again. Florida did indeed have to run through a honestly tough SEC. True they had OOC creampuffs, but I don't think it's fair to expect any school to play a top 25 power week in and week out either.

So, by my "gut" reaction to these games, I see about 15 (give or take - I'm giving OSU 02 a "power conf." rating.. it occurred to me that the B10 went 6 - 0 in bowls or something like it) out of 18 title game participants got there coming from weak conferences. Again, I have not researched actual stats to back up my claims, and I leave room that the numbers might bear out a different truth. Still, it seems the BCS era has taught us that the formula to getting there is to field a nationally competitive team against a "down" conference/schedule.

This bodes well for OSU's schedule this year, although I must confess I don't expect OSU to go undefeated like I did last year. That said, I surely did not expect it in 02... though I did in 98...

It does NOT bode well for SC or LSU. I hesitate on SC, actually. I don't feel the PAc 10 is particularly strong, even now, but their OOC is legit.

As I would say even if this was mid-October... Nothing is close to settled.

 

[CleveBucks]

One way I like to judge a schedule is the toughness of the road games. LSU's road games are:

Miss State
Kentucky
Alabama
Ole Miss

I assume that any very good team should be favored in their home games. So this LSU schedule is not all that difficult.

 

[Buckeyeskickbuttocks]

One way I like to judge a schedule is the toughness of the road games. LSU's road games are:

Miss State
Kentucky
Alabama
Ole Miss

I assume that any very good team should be favored in their home games. So this LSU schedule is not all that difficult.

A good point. Certainly in a game like football, and especially college football, where performance is based in no small part on emotion and the raise in emotion derivative of the energy provided by your crowd, where you play the tough ones is important.

 

[methomps]

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PkJAhckABM[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Zurp]

So, by my "gut" reaction to these games, I see about 15 (give or take - I'm giving OSU 02 a "power conf." rating.. it occurred to me that the B10 went 6 - 0 in bowls or something like it) out of 18 title game participants got there coming from weak conferences.

FYI - Didn't USC beat Iowa in the Orange Bowl that year? I can't remember any of the other games that year. Maybe that was the Big Ten's only loss. If so, I would consider you to be correct that the Big Ten went something "like" 6-0 in bowl games.

 

[BB73]

FYI - Didn't USC beat Iowa in the Orange Bowl that year? I can't remember any of the other games that year. Maybe that was the Big Ten's only loss. If so, I would consider you to be correct that the Big Ten went something "like" 6-0 in bowl games.

USC 38, Iowa 17 in the Orange Bowl after the 2002 season. Auburn also beat Penn St. 13-9 in the Capital One Citrus, so the Big Ten was 5-2.

 

[Buckeyeskickbuttocks]

Zurp, BB73.... thanks. 5 - 2 is close enough to "like" 6-0 for me.

Speaking of time-outs.... does anyone remember who it was last year who called 2 TOs in one possession, only to resolve to punt? It may have been in a bowl game, and for some reason Missouri comes to mind.

 

[Wingate1217]

Zurp, BB73.... thanks. 5 - 2 is close enough to "like" 6-0 for me.

Speaking of time-outs.... does anyone remember who it was last year who called 2 TOs in one possession, only to resolve to punt? It may have been in a bowl game, and for some reason Missouri comes to mind.

Wasn't it Urban Meyer in the SEC championship game???