FanPost

Frankenstadium....


1zqc7td_medium

"But success SHALL crown our endeavours. Wherefore not? Thus far we have gone, tracing a secure way over the pathless seas, the very stars themselves being witnesses and testimonies of our triumph."

Tonight, as more than 102,000 manic citizens of Tiger Nation make their way into the belly of the reanimated Pantheon of concrete and steel that is Tiger Stadium, the college football world will witness the awakening of a giant. Les Miles and his young Tiger squad will take the field with a unified attitude, one that will allow the future stars of the program to experience all the joys that Death Valley has to offer it's purple and gold clad defenders when the sun reaches it's home in the Western sky.

The Modern Prometheus

After a monumental comeback win away from home against #14 Wisconsin last week, this team has already proven to Coach Les Miles that it has the heart that it will take to build a championship contender in Baton Rouge. Now, Miles and staff must use these next two games to create a monster out of all of the formidable pieces at his disposal in order to be prepared when Mississippi State arrives in two weeks.

If the Wisconsin game was indeed the igniting spark that brought this team to life, Miles must now harness that lightning in a bottle to be carried over the course of the season with the threat of the SEC scheduling gauntlet looming. While many of the young stars got their first taste of college football last Saturday, most have yet to find their natural footing that will allow them to truly play to their capabilities.

Much has been made of Leonard Fournette's modest stat line last week, but there were many factors that played a part in his limited success in his first game. No LSU players had much success in the first half against the ferocious Badger defense, when he received the bulk of his carries. As the team began to rally, Miles stayed with the motivated senior Kenny Hilliard as the hot hand, which he always does, and which was well deserved by Hilliard. Once the Tiger offensive line began to impose its will, Fournette could have just as easily made many of the plays that Hilliard did, which is not to take anything away from the senior leader in the backfield.

Miles will likely give Fournette ample opportunity to make plays tonight, as the release of the tension and anxiety will allow Fournette to play more naturally. Plus, the cheers from the record crowd will possibly send a jolt through the young Tiger that will have him running harder than ever before as he feeds off the energy of the rabid crowd that has waited years to see him in the Tiger Stadium end zones. The unity from Tiger Nation will certainly generate the attitude that Buga Nation has promised since his freshman year of high school.

Trey Quinn played nearly every snap last week as a perfect complement in what looks to be the makings of a montrous blend of speed and power with Travin Dural and John Diarse in the receiving corps. Quinn may have already had his moment of inception when he caught the 2 point conversion that put LSU up by a field goal in the 4th quarter. HIs excitement and release from that moment will also now allow him to play more naturally, which will mean trouble for defenses focused on stopping the electric Dural and brutish Diarse. Quinn should be ready to shine early and often in his role from here on out.

Many others will also be allowed to work out the kinks in their new purple and gold armor as two non BCS programs come to Tiger Stadium in consecutive weeks. Davon Godchaux and Deondre Clark have already made their presence known on the defensive line, still the weakest unit on the team. With Frank Herron, Maquedius Bain, Greg Gilmore, Sione Teuhena and perhaps in the near future Trevonte Valentine available to contribute, the unit could make strides quickly.

Jamal Adams and Ed Paris will work their way onto the field in a secondary overflowing with talent, especially once Rashard Robinson returns from suspension this week.

Perhaps Malachi Dupre may even find an opportunity to shine in the surprisingly effective receiving corps. And Brandon Harris will still be given ample snaps despite a very strong statement by Anthony Jennings in the second half leading the Tigers to another impressive comeback.

The Creature Lurking

The Bearkats of Sam Houston State have firmly established themselves as one of the best teams in the Football Championship Subdivision over the past several years. They played in the national championship game in 2011 and 2012, and a made another playoff run in 2013, going 34-10 the past three seasons.

They have an explosive offense that has racked up over 1,200 yards and 86 points in their first two games, and run at a break neck speed that could very well give the Tiger defense fits.

Despite the electric offense, however, the Bearkat defense has been inversely horrifying, giving up over 950 yards and 76 points in those same two games.

All of which means the new scoreboards could be lighting up early and often on Saturday night in the newly reanimated Death Valley.

To the Victor

While LSU should win this game comfortably, don't forget how FCS Towson University was leading the Tigers 9-7 until just before halftime in 2012. LSU also trailed the Furman Paladins late in the 1st quarter last year, and were up only 20-16 at halftime.

Ironically, it is likely the youth and inexperience of this monstrosity that will prevent this group of Tigers from taking a team like Sam Houston State for granted. These young Tigers are hungry, and they do not care against whom they are fed. They will play with a ferocity that more battle hardened teams sometimes reserve for the "big games", and will strive for perfection, as they battle for playing time and depth chart mobility.

Hopefully, if these Tigers step up to the challenge and are able to strive to put their perfect game together, perhaps they ride that wave of momentum all the way through the SEC gauntlet, one which they have been given no chance to complete. Success is addictive, and simply seeing how much fun it can be to execute at the highest level can be the best motivator there is.

Still, for this week against an FCS opponent in Sam Houston State I will repeat my offering from last year's message before that Furman game, The Pool of Tears, imploring Tiger Nation never to take domination for granted, and to collectively maintain a level head no matter how the game plays out:

"In football, not unlike in life, there are few things more damaging to the pleasures it has to offer than the picture in our heads of how we think it is 'supposed to be'.

Anyone that has undertaken to compete at any level of sport understands that nothing is guaranteed when you step onto the playing field. Advantages in 40 times, bench press reps, vertical jumps, height and weight, all become less relevant as they become part of a chess board that forms the tapestry of how a game plays out. Things don’t go according to plan, momentum takes over, and the game takes on a life of it’s own.

The present becomes illogically and inexplicably tied to what happened in the past, while the future becomes something no one could have imagined.

It’s what makes the game of football the most thrilling, yet frighteningly unpredictable form of competition in modern sport.

Any given sunday, as they say. And that holds even more truth all over the country on Saturdays, when amateur athletes often are unable to perform as expected, and just as often an underdog may play far above anyone’s expectations.

The final third of the season will begin against the Paladins of Furman on Saturday Night in Death Valley. Perhaps even Charlemagne himself wouldn't be able to rally these knights to victory in Baton Rouge, but once again, competition is a strange and glorious thing.

Perhaps the challenge and nothing to lose circumstances create an atmosphere where the Paladins are inspired to play better than they ever have in that Pantheon of concrete and steel that stirs such pride within all who look upon it. Perhaps even then they won't be able to overcome the odds and advantages stacked against them.

But maybe, just maybe, Furman could find the stitch in the fabric of the game that ripped open against UAB in 2000, or nearly did against Troy in 2004 and 2008, or Towson just last year."

Coach Les Miles created the perfect encapsulation of the energy and mystique of the monstrous stadium that sits upon the banks of the mighty Mississippi when he declared it "a place where opponents' dreams come to die". While the Bearkats of Sam Houston State are likely dreaming of the chance to pull off an upset within the hallowed gridiron cathedral, those dreams will take no life within these walls.

For the young and hungry group of Tigers in purple and gold, however, there is not only refuge here, there is rebirth and life itself. Within this laborotory, Coach Miles will harness the electricity of Tiger Nation as it pulses throughout this new yet all too familiar stadium as it leaps from the ether to the stands and onto the field to those electric gold helmets.

While that surge of power is lethal to the unfortunate foes that wander into the path of the ever watchful Eye within this lair, this reanimated Death Valley shall become the place where the dreams of these young Tigers have come to be born.

-"What can stop the determined heart and resolved will of man?"

5e3160a7c9a38c1f200f6a706700805c_t610_medium