The Importance of Beating the Gamecocks

by Poseur on Oct 16, 2008 10:21 PM CDT Comment 1 comment

This game is huge.

Because football season is so short, it is so easy to overreact to every game. With each win, it feels like a team is never going to lose again, and with every loss, well, it feels like this week. The truth usually lies somewhere in between.

But it is hard to understate how important the USC game. The fact is, almost halfway through the season, we have no idea how good of a team LSU really is. Was the Florida game an aberration or is LSU really that bad? Can the defense stop anyone? Can the offense work against a team that actually plays defense?

We find out this weekend. South Carolina is a good team. They aren't awesome, but they don't stink. They have a really good defense, maybe even the best we'll face all season, and the offense may or may not have turned the corner.

If LSU wins, we're an SEC title contender. If LSU loses, we probably have to make New Year's Day plans at home. Look at the remaining scehdule:

Georgia
Tulane
Alabama
Troy
Ole Miss
@ Arkansas

Tulane, Troy, and Arkansas should all be wins. Ole Miss is a toss up. Georgia and Bama are obviously the two toughest games, but we get both at home. It's not that LSU can;t rally from a USC loss, it's just that this game will finally tell us the quality of LSU. A loss pretty much tells us we have almost no chance to beat UGa or Bama. A win tells us we have a shot in those games, especially since they are at home.

I really think this game is the difference between 8-4 (or 7-5) and 10-2. I'm beyond nervous about it. This weekend we find out if the real LSU team stands up.

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I disagree...

on one point, no matter what happens in this game we have a shot at UGA and Bama. Both of those teams are very beatable.

I think this game is actually a little bit MORE important than even you outlined here. If you look at Miles’ career here at LSU, he’s never really “over achieved” on sensible fans’ expectations. I mean in 2005, I think we expected to win the west, in 2006 we expected to win the west, and in 2007 we expected to win the SEC, and most thought the NC as well. So while I think Miles is a great coach, I don’t feel like he’s ever accomplished anything that made me say "WOW, did you see THAT coming?

This season is the perfect opportunity for Miles to change that. LSU wasn’t picked to win the west and I think most realistic fans thought 9-3 was pretty likely this year and probably par for the course, with 8-4 being a disappointment and 10-2 exceeding expectations. 10-2 and winning the west are both very realistic goals at this point, but a loss to SC pretty much poopoos both in my opinion, destroying any opportunity Miles had to exceed expectations. I think this is important because while you can argue what happened last year got the “saban monkey” off of Miles’ back, I still think he needs to have years where his team over achieves to fully step out of Saban’s shadow. This is a perfect year for this to happen since we’ve already won in Auburn (something Saban never did) and the west is still ours for the taking!

by LSU Jonno on Oct 17, 2008 8:13 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs