And The Valley Shook

Week 12: Around the SEC, Part 2

2008-11-20T19:00:08Z

I'm a little late this week in getting to this segment, as I've been more interested in doing other things. And considering the deafening silence this "Around the SEC" feature usually gets in the comments, I may consider discontinuing it, or perhaps retooling it in such a way that it features more photos of hot coeds.

For example.

LSU 40
Troy 31

Alright, it's not like we've been silent on this game so far. We all know what happened. We all know that I was among the people who got pretty upset about the fan behavior, both in the stadium and on the interwebs. But, there are a few finer points that deserve mention.

Redshirt freshman defensive back Phelon Jones got more playing time in this game than he saw in the rest of his career combined. He was the dime, or perhaps the nickel, for much of the night, and the Troy offense focused on him heavily.

Troy threw the ball a whopping 72 times and 36 of those times they threw Phelon Jones' way. He started a little slowly but he got better when the rest of the team got better. Towards the end of the game, he was shutting everyone down left and right same as Patrick Peterson and Chris Hawkins were. I'm sure it was a very memorable night for him.

Florida 56
South Carolina 6

I'll just say I called this one. South Carolina is a solid team, much improved from its very uninspired open to the season. They're solid. Solid is good. "Solid" isn't nearly good enough to be beat Florida. The Gators are great.

Vandy 31
Kentucky 24

Congrats Commies! They have made it to 6 wins for the first time since football players wore leather helmets, which was back in the early 1980s. As already discussed, they did it by riding their inconsistent senior quarterback, Chris Nickson, who had one of the best games of his life.

Kentucky, who had been looking good for a pretty decent bowl, slides down to one of the lesser ones. There's still no telling which one though.

Ole Miss: Preview

2008-11-20T12:30:06Z

This is the second image that comes up when you google "ole miss football" without the quotation marks. Don't believe me? Try it.

What is there to say about Ole Miss? They are a solid team. Unspectacular, but solid. They rank 5th in the SEC in scoring offense (although the teams behind them are generally considered wretched, and their own ranking is skewed by their 59 point explosion against ULM). They are 7th in scoring defense (ahead of LSU, btw, but they give up a ton of yards where they rank 11th in the SEC).

It seems strange to me that they are 3rd in the conference in rushing offense, and that they are actually 2nd in the league in yards per carry. I would not have guessed that, as no one on Ole Miss strikes me as being all that great of a runner. Statistics don't lie, though, but I guess they will sometimes fib, or lie by omission.

The Ole Miss weaknesses include being last in the SEC in passing defense. By a lot. They are extremely vulnerable to the pass, and I hope we can take advantage of that. Their personnel in the secondary was expected to be subpar this season, and it is meeting that expectation. They are giving up 225 yards per game in the air, which is 16 yards more per game than the 11th place team. It's not a fluke, as they are also last in the SEC in passing efficiency defense, which is at bottom a rating of yards per attempt with a few weighting factors thrown in.

Ole Miss is all around solid on special teams, and excels at covering kickoffs. Who would have guessed that LSU would be last in the SEC at kickoff return average?

That's all well and good, but what should we expect? The Ole Miss offense revolves around Jevan Snead and Dexter McCluster. The former is a very talented passer who still hasn't quite put it all together. The latter runs a "Wild Rebel" formation that has been effective, but not nearly as effective as the Wild Hog run by Darren McFadden was. To illustrate, Darren McFadden was a solid passer, while Dexter McCluster has attempted 4 passes, two of which have been intercepted and the other two of which fell incomplete. His passer rating is -100.

No, when McCluster is taking the snap it will almost certainly be a run, and while he's good at it, he's no Darren McFadden at that either.

The Rebels with Snead behind center is pretty scary, as Ole Miss has some very athletic receivers and Snead has a tremendous arm. His arm is just about as good as Matthew Stafford's, but his decision making and accuracy aren't quite up to that level yet.

With Snead back there, they feature a running back by committee approach with Cordera Eason, Brandon Bolden (true freshman from Baton Rouge), and Enrique Davis all getting the ball several times per game. They're very similar backs physically, as all 3 are listed at between 5'10" and 6'0" and all are listed between 220# and 224#. Eason has been the more effective lately, averaging over 7.0 yards per carry in each of the last two games, and scoring more than 100 yards in each.

Defensively, Ole Miss features an athletic defensive line that is a very good match for LSU's solid offensive line, particularly if Greg Hardy is healthy, which is unknown to me right now. When healthy, Hardy is one of the very best players in the conference regardless of position, and he is a handful for any tackle when he rushes off the end.

As mentioned, their secondary has problems, but if they have their best personnel on the field they will pressure the passer. This is one of those guys where Lee will either tear it up, or get torn up, depending on how it plays out.

I think we learned our lesson last week that we cannot have success if we are one-dimensional. We need to pass, and we need to run. We need to be unpredictable, and passing at unpredictable times gives Jarrett Lee the best chance for success.

It's also senior night, and we'll have more on that later.

The Cotton Bowl usually pits a Big 12 team vs. a Southeastern Conference team. But the Cotton Bowl...

2008-11-20T02:57:49Z

The Cotton Bowl usually pits a Big 12 team vs. a Southeastern Conference team. But the Cotton Bowl can select Notre Dame over an SEC team once in the next two years.

And apparently, they just might bypass the SEC this year, which could be bad news for LSU,

Week 12: Around the SEC, Part 1

2008-11-19T19:30:04Z

OK, now that we've gotten a few things off of our chests, it's time to get down to the business of looking at SEC football. There weren't really any big surprises this week. All the clear favorites won, and there was really only one game that appeared to be a 50-50 game going in. As expected, one of them won it. Does it really matter who?

Oh, OK, I guess it matters, especially to Vandy.

This week, instead of looking at the games in chronological order, we'll just take a look at them in random order.

Vandy 31
Kentucky 24

Did anyone notice that the Kentucky basketball team lost to VMI on Friday night? Well, the weekend didn't get any better for Kentucky athletics. Staring an opportunity for a pretty good bowl in the face, Kentucky fell behind early and never recovered. Now, instead of sitting at 7 wins with a winnable game against Tennessee looming in the future, they sit at 6 wins with a losable game and a date in the I-Bowl still a possibility (on the low side).

Yes, I know that Vandy is a solid team. And congratulations to them for gutting out a much-needed win. They rode out a career night by the normally inconsistent Chris Nickson (155 yards passing with 3 touchdowns, 118 yards rushing) and the versatile DJ Moore (two touchdown receptions and two interceptions). I have a feeling one of those guys will be in consideration for an award later on this week.

Now Vandy is one of 8 bowl-eligible teams in the SEC, and there probably won't be any more added to the list. They have two more games in which to jockey for position.

Georgia 17
Auburn 13

A missed extra point came back to bite Auburn, who actually showed a bit of life in this game. I wouldn't have expected this one to be this close, but Georgia did a good job of putting up enough yards and points to get the win. It wasn't easy.

After trading punts for a while, Auburn scored the first points of the game late in the first, but missed an extra point. They maintained the lead for most of the second quarter, but fell behind 7-6 by halftime. Auburn re-took the lead in the 3rd quarter, and Georgia again took the lead with a pretty touchdown pass to AJ Green.

Auburn was driving late and got into the red zone, but couldn't get into the end zone, failing on a 4th down attempt, finally sealing the game for the Bulldawgs. Had they made the extra point on their first touchdown, they could have kicked a field goal.

UGA remains the clear #3 team in the conference with 9 wins, poised for a Cap One Bowl slot unless they somehow sneak into the BCS. It's a disappointing season that was supposed to see Georgia play for the BCS National Championship, but injuries along the line seem to have killed that possibility.

Auburn remains at 5 wins, and time is running out to get a 6th. They have one more game, and it's the Iron Bowl. I know that anything is possible in the SEC, but this is a real long shot.

Ole MIss 59
UL-Monroe 0

Well, this certainly wasn't the 2007 ULM-Bama game. LSU didn't have the biggest quarter in the SEC this week. Ole Miss scored 31 points in the second quarter, scoring a touchdown on the first play and a field goal on the last, along with 21 points in between.

In beating ULM, Ole Miss is now bowl-eligible, and they head to Baton Rouge as a pretty hot team, winners of 3 in a row including this blowout. The team they just blew out, by the way, beat Troy earlier this year.

We'll See a New Attitude

2008-11-19T12:30:06Z

This week has been marked by the LSU fan base getting an earful from a lot of different quarters. First, ESPN commented on the empty seats during the broadcast of the Alabama vs. Mississippi State game. Second, this blog and many other printed quarters delivered editorials on the sorry state of some small section of our fans. Third, Troy coach Larry Blakeney commented on how his team ran the fans out of Tiger Stadium.

And most recently, the LSU players have gotten in on the action:

"The fans' leaving did kind of upset me," [starting offensive lineman Herman] Johnson said. "Then they did upset me when they started to boo. It was weird to see the fans leaving. It was crazy. The coaches were really upset with (fans).

"They are the home fans and they are supposed to cheer us. Hopefully, the fans will stay next week and not boo us.

Senior kicker Colt David acknowledged that it bothered him to see the stands more than half empty.

"I'd like to have the fans here," David said. "That's what makes Tiger Stadium. It hurts when they leave. The ones who stayed are the true fans."

Yikes. If that doesn't tell the tale, I don't know what will.

With all this said, I think starting now you will see a different attitude from the LSU fan base. I think the "negatigers" as they have been called have been somewhat chastened, and they will slink away for a while. The more positive elements are conversely emboldened and you will see them make a point of being more vocal.

Once again, let me reiterate that I think it is perfectly OK to be critical of a coaching staff or even a player to a point. It's even OK to call on that coach to be fired or the player to be benched. Heck, I know I've done it.

There comes a point when fans become fixated on criticism to the exclusion of all else, and to the point where it really does bleed over into the team's performance and the strength of a program.

A lot of people don't agree with that, that fans can weaken a team, but if you believe that a good group of fans can strengthen a team, why is it so hard to believe that a bad group of fans can weaken it? After all, a good crowd is the essence of a home field advantage. And I think pretty much everyone will agree that the home field advantage exists in sports at least to some degree. If good fans give you a home field advantage, why can't bad fans give you a disadvantage? Or at least minimize the advantage?

And then there's the recruiting angle. If the raucous Tiger Stadium crowd is a recruiting draw, why can't a dysfunctional and overly critical crowd be repulsive to recruits? If you believe that being a good fan can help your team, you absolutely have to believe that being a bad fan can hurt it.

But I digress. I think the era of negativity among our fans has closed. It reached its zenith late in the 3rd quarter last Saturday night, and you won't see that any more.

BlogPoll Returns

2008-11-19T02:47:13Z

Rank	Team	Delta

1	Texas Tech	25
2	Alabama	24
3	Florida	23
4	Texas	22
5	Oklahoma	21
6	Southern Cal	20
7	Utah	19
8	Penn State	18
9	Boise State	17
10	Ohio State	16
11	TCU	15
12	Michigan State	14
13	Oklahoma State	13
14	Georgia	12
15	Missouri	11
16	Cincinnati	10
17	Maryland	9
18	North Carolina	8
19	Boston College	7
20	Georgia Tech	6
21	Florida State	5
22	Miami (Florida)	4
23	Ball State	3
24	Pittsburgh	2
25	LSU	1

Dropped Out:

I was admittedly depressed last week and didn't submit a blogpoll. That was my bad, people. I just couldn't bring myself to talk about football after the Bama game. I did, however, get this poll in on time, I'm just posting it late because I was more interested in talking about our fan meltdown. So let's break this thing down.

The top two. I'm choosing Texas Tech over Bama because I am more impressed by their wins. I had been selling Tech short all season and was very reluctant to put them in the top ten due to their truly awful OOC schedule. But now that they have beaten Texas and blown out Okie State, i'm a believer. Even if they lose to OU, Tech is legit.

The lurking powers. Florida is playing better than anyone in the country, but they did lose to Ole Miss. UT gets ahead of OU by virtue of the head to head win and the fact UT played a brutal four-week stretch and went 3-1. USC looks good not great, but they get the 6 slot.

The mid-majors and Big Ten. I think there are some legit teams here. Utah has proven themselves, and I'm still a huge believer in TCU. Boise St has earned the benefit of the doubt. There's the trio of Big Ten teams which are yet to completely sort out: PSU, OSU, and MSU.

The flawed. Oklahoma St is a good team who has proven that they aren't as good as the monster teams in the Big 12 South. Mizzou and Georgia have beaten the teams beneath them and lost to the teams haead of them. And I love Cincinnati and the way they are fighting through injuries.

The ACC. Throw a dart to rank the top six ACC teams. I honestly have no clue. It's guesswork.

Lucky to be ranked. Ball St is undefeated but has played a joke of a schedule. Pitt has finally lived down an embarrassing opening loss. And LSU could very easily not be ranked. I thought long and hard about BYU or Oregon St. The difference is that I still think LSU hasn't lost to a poor team and they d have some good wins. I'm anti-BYU, as no good team should need a miracle to beat Washington. And OSU? i'm running out of excuses not to rank them. I probably should have. I'm a shameless homer, I guess.

Week 12: ATVSSECOSPPOW

2008-11-18T19:00:05Z

There were some good choices available for the ATVSSECOSPPOW this week. We could have gone with Percy Harvin of Florida, who had 167 yards rushing on only 8 carries. We could have gone with LSU's own Brandon Lafell, who had 12 receptions for 126 yards and a touchdown. But no, today we go with one of the more maddeningly inconsistent players in the league, who put up great numbers this week:

Sadly, this picture is from two years ago. I couldn't find one of this week's game with Chris Nickson in it. At least this has the right player going against the right team.

Vanderbilt's Chris Nickson had one of those great days he has a couple times a year. This time, he completed 15 of 27 passes for 155 yards, with 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, and ran for 118 yards on 20 carries. This is someone who sometimes plays so poorly that he can't keep his starting job.

Nickson was most of the offense on this night, as he went the whole way at QB and also led the team in rushing. It took putting the ball into the hands of Nickson and turning cornerback DJ Moore loose on offense to get the key 6th victory of the season that guarantees Vandy a bowl spot this year.

They had come up just short of bowl eligibility each of the last two years.

The Great Push Back

2008-11-18T12:27:03Z

Well, there has been quite a boisterous hew and cry from the masses lately. Yesterday, all throughout the LSU intertubes, the Silent Majority pushed back against the force of unrelenting negativity. There was my post about it, then Poseur's post, and then there was a post at Bayou Bengal Blog, a truly epic post about the state of the program in general:

And then for the last 20 minutes of the game, when at long last LSU finally began to put some things together, we got to see not only the performance we should have seen all game, but actual brilliance. LSU played sensational defense, they found a comfort level for Jarrett Lee, they found some new leadership to replace the unremarkable/lackluster/failed leadership they've been getting and most of all they charted a course for the program to return to relevance as a championship contender.

...

Last, the booing. I noticed that it died off big-time as the crowd thinned out during the game, and so if you're one of the folks who booed and THEN left early I hope you'll e-mail me with your place of work so we can get up a group of folks to show up at your office, boo you and then punch out in time for a three-martini lunch. But what I don't understand is why these cretins persist in booing Jarrett Lee. What are you trying to gain from doing that? Are you booing because you want to see Jordan Jefferson? Congratulations. He played enough to prove why Lee is the starting quarterback. Do you want Andrew Hatch? He's still in a walking boot. Ryan Perrilloux? He can't hear you.

Read the whole thing. It's a great read.

After reading all of this and the reactions on the message boards, I think it is safe to say that the bulk of the LSU universe has soundly rejected the intense negativity shown by a few scattered but disproportionately audible people.

I do so hope the team can build on that second half, with the myriad strategic adjustments made on both sides of the ball, and find a "sweet spot" where this team can have success. It is not out of the question that this team could still finish in the top 10 if we win out, and there are no more Floridas, Georgias, or Alabamas on our regular season schedule. All that remains are games against Ole Miss and Arkansas, both of whom are capable but neither of whom can be described as outstanding.

It's good to see the fans reject the harsh negativity, which only makes us look whiny and desperate. And yes, it is entirely possible that a whiny and desperate fan base actually hurts the program. It's good to know that the whiny and desperate aren't the majority, but only a small and vocal minority that is finally getting seriously challenged.

Let me first speak for about three-quarters of the LSU fanbase first: thank God John Brady is...

2008-11-18T04:06:50Z

Let me first speak for about three-quarters of the LSU fanbase first: thank God John Brady is finally gone. I don't think I have ever loathed a coach as much as I loathe Brady. Eleven years of doing just enough to not get fired, Brady finally got shown the door as he followed up a fluky Final Four appearance with two last place finishes in the SEC West. OK, that's cheating, LSU was in last when Brady got canned, but rallied down the stretch, going 5-5 with an interim coach. So excuse us if we're a little shell-shocked, LSU fans have learned an important lesson over the past decade: don't get your hopes up.

FanHouse NCAA Hoops BlogPoll: No. 23, LSU Tigers. Also, the lead paragraph of Poseur's guest blogging over there.

Assorted Grumbling

2008-11-18T02:47:18Z

HAVING FUN

I said last week I haven’t enjoyed this year that much. And it’s true. And I was going to take this week off, hanging out with some old friends who couldn’t care less about LSU. Then that score popped up on the screen: Troy 31, LSU 3. I scrambled to find a computer, loaded up LSU Sports Net, and listened to the fourth quarter. And it was awesome. That was an enormously exciting game, especially when you don’t suffer through the whole falling behind part. Rude? Yes, but this is LSU’s season on the brink.

By the end of the game, it was like we had won the national title again. OK, we never should have been that far down to Troy, but I just enjoyed the hell out of that comeback. It showed heart. The team had their backs against the wall and the season looked like it was about to spiral out of control, and instead the team rallied and launched a huge comeback. You can question the talent or the play-calling, but don’t question this team’s heart. This was gut check time and the team came through.

Games like this are why we are fans. LSU turned what looked to be the most depressing loss since UAB into a pretty magical night. In five years, you’ll be able to meet 100,000 people who were at the game and were one of the few who didn’t leave early. I was proud to be an LSU fan because the team showed grit. They didn’t throw in the towel. They didn’t let themselves be embarrassed.

I was proud of this team.

OUR HISTORY AS FANS

Pittman and I went to LSU at the same time. We were there for the end of the Curly Hallman Era and the beginning of the Gerry Dinardo Era. I think it is safe to say, we were students during the absolute nadir of LSU football history. And I went to every game and cheered my fool head off for the Tigers.

I don’t think this makes me a better fan than anyone else or anything silly like that, but those losing years have definitely shaped my attitudes towards rooting for LSU. Somewhere around the sixth straight losing season, I made a promise to myself that I would never, ever bitch about an LSU team that wins eight games. Because, frankly, that’s what got us into the Archer/Hallman mess. The fans demanded LSU fire a coach who went 8-3 every year and then we ended up praying one day we would go 8-3 just once ever again.

It’s a scene that has been repeated at other programs as well (ask an A&M fan about RC Slocum). Going 8-3 and being ranked in the top 25 every year is a very healthy program. Would I rather we win a national title every year? Of course. But that doesn’t happen most places, and it’s never been the case at LSU until this last half decade. I’m not saying we shouldn’t complain about 8-3 because we shouldn’t demand excellence, I’m saying going 8-3 every year IS excellence.

The sense of entitlement our fanbase has acquired in such a short period of time is truly staggering. I can understand the student body not getting it, but they have actually been the same rowdy student body we should expect. It’s the alumni in the stands who are leading the boo birds and leaving games early (yes, I understand people leave early sometimes – but three-quarters of the stadium? What about the Georgia game when people left in droves as well?). Who the hell are these 30+ year old fans with no memory of losing games in the 1990s. We’re not talking like it was eons ago. The bring back the Magic Game was a mere thirteen years ago. You’d think we’d remember the losing years a little more clearly.

I can't bring myself to be upset over a team headed towards a New Year's Day Bowl. I live in Dallas, so if it is the Cotton Bowl... party at my place.

LEE

The comments here over the past week have renewed my faith in the LSU Nation, and I’m hoping we do represent the Silent Majority of LSU fans who are disappointed, but still go out there and cheer our fool heads off for the Tigers. We don’t take joy in the failures of players, and we certainly wouldn’t boo or harass these kids who represent our university to the best of their ability for no pay. These guys sacrifice their bodies for our enjoyment, and most of them don’t have an NFL paycheck waiting for them. The payment they receive is the cheers of the crowd and the status of being an LSU football player. We should remember that before we open up our big fat mouths to talk bad about them.

Criticizing a player is certainly inbounds, but it shouldn’t cross the line into nastiness. Personal attacks, it should go without saying, should never happen. And taking a perverse delight in a player’s misfortune is just mean-spirited. So, on behalf of Jarrett Lee, who I think has composed himself with a great deal of class and dignity this season, I will say what I’m sure he would never say to those who have booed him, made fun of him, or threatened him: f*** you, you losers.

I’ll be honest. Jarrett Lee is becoming one of my favorite Tigers ever. Because it takes a lot of strength to listen to so many boos and so much negativity only to keep coming out there. I find it hard to relate to great players, but I can relate to Lee. He has failed, sometimes spectacularly so. I hate to lay the Alabama game on one player, but he did play a pretty miserable game. But he also had a great drive in the fourth quarter of that game. He never, ever gives up. He knows there is no one to back him up, he’s the only option. In the spring, he was our third string quarterback, and now he’s the only quarterback we have. He wasn’t ready, but he hasn’t whined or complained. The fans have turned on him pretty viciously, but he still plays his heart out for them. And he has delivered. Not always, but enough. He has this team at 7-3, which isn’t too bad for a third-stringer.

I may be proud of the team, but I’m especially proud of our quarterback. I don’t care who Pittman hands out the hardware to, but Lee is my ATVSSECOSPPOW. Thanks, Jarrett. We’re cheering for you.

LSU's Other Sports on the Weekend

2008-11-17T19:00:05Z

It may still be football season, but some other sports were in action for LSU this weekend, with mixed results. Poseur has already discussed the play of the LSU Women's Soccer team. Despite the loss, the Kickin' Kittens (I made that up) had a darn fine season, and the program is improving into something we can all be proud of. I sincerely doubt that the LSU soccer program will compete with the teams from the mid-Atlantic states any time soon, but we take what we can get.

The focus here, though, is on basketball. Both the men's team and the women's team were in action this week. The men beat the Jackson State Tigers 79-65 in a game that was pretty close until pretty late.

I didn't watch the game or listen to it on the radio, so I can't comment that much, but some things stick out on the box score.

Marcus Thornton only played 18 minutes and only scored 5 points on 1-of-9 shooting. That can be either good or bad, as you have to figure he is not going to do that very much and LSU will be a much better team when he's shooting well. Or, you can look at it and think that one of our best players is in the doghouse and isn't even playing half the game. Or it could just have something to do with foul trouble, as he ended the game with 4 fouls.
Bo Spencer provided the offensive firepower with 21 points, leading all scorers on the game. Spencer hardly scored at all last year and is not expected to be a key offensive weapon this year, but if he can hit the open shot, drive to the basket, and hit free throws it will help this team immensely. I don't think it's realistic to expect 15 points a game or anything, but if he get about half that most games it will be very helpful and unexpected.
Despite the fact that the score remained close for much of the game, Trent Johnson used his bench a lot. Only Bo Spencer played more than 28 minutes, and 9 Tigers logged more than 10 minutes. I have to imagine that the bench will shorten as the season progresses.
As expected, LSU had trouble defending the big guys. Jackson State's big man (all 6'8" 200# of him) was their most effective player, getting 13 points in only 23 minutes on 4-of-5 shooting before fouling out.

The women's team did not fare as well, losing to higher-ranked Notre Dame 62-53. This is a team that lost 5 starters to graduation and will struggle early in the season. The most seasoned player on the team, junior Alison HIghtower, struggled with only 6 points on 3-for-12 shooting.

Notre Dame's supposed to be a good team, and there is no shame in this loss, but Hightower will have to produce for this team to have success. It's hard to say if she was just trying too hard or if her shot selection was off, or if she was just cold. This team probably isn't a Final Four team, but should be at least pretty good, and the recruiting is there to build a good team for the future.

LSU 40 - Troy 31: General Thoughts on the Fan Base

2008-11-17T12:30:06Z

That's the face of a man who is darned relieved.

I think in a couple weeks we will look back on the second half of this game as the half of football that saved the season. Sure, we will not be winning any SEC or national championships this year, but a 10-win season and a top 15-or-so final ranking is still available to us. It boggles my mind whenever I read message board posters talking about how a 10-win season and a Cotton Bowl berth is somehow a profound disappointment.

A Bama fan I know recently perused the LSU message boards and told me, "Your fans suck." Sometimes, I think she's right. We have a handful of successful seasons in a row and all of a sudden we morph into the Atlanta Braves. Our fans think that they somehow deserve their team to be great every single year. And woe be unto those players and coaches who do not deliver uninterrupted and unmitigated success.

Personally, I think that the fans who are so intensely negative all the time actually deserve to be disappointed, and it's the rest of us who are not so quick to judge and not so enthusiastic in condemning the team who raise the curve on what we "deserve".

I'm not even talking about the people who left at halftime on Saturday. I know it was cold and windy, and that all seemed lost. I know that many people have small children who were uncomfortable, and who probably needed to go to bed. I have one myself and I know how important it is to get a toddler to bed on time. Leaving doesn't make you a hero, but staying does, unless you were one of the ones booing vociferously.

No, I'm not talking about them. I'm talking about the awful message board denizens who post such hateful things, and the people who leave hateful messages on certain Facebook pages, and the people who boo the team at the slightest failure. You people do not help, and in fact you only contribute to the damaged psyche of this team and its players, especially one player in particular.

As one astute poster commented, they seem to take a "twisted pleasure when LSU plays poorly." Criticism is one thing, but reveling in our shortcomings is another, especially for people who consider themselves and call themselves fans. You expect this from the opposition, not from the fan base.

I will tell a story. The last time I went to a game in Tiger Stadium was in 2003. I went to see undefeated LSU take on Florida. I was seated in Section 13 near Gate 8 in the North End Zone. There were fans in that section who booed the OPENING KICKOFF because it didn't reach the end zone. And it wasn't one person or even one small group of people. There was a smattering of people all around my range of hearing who booed and criticized and moaned at every conceivable juncture of the game. And this was an undefeated team!

We lost that game. I went home and asked the people who gave me the tickets if it was like that at every game. I was told that it was. The negativity of that section appears to be consistent with the negativity of the fanbase as a whole. I haven't been able to bring myself to return to Tiger Stadium for a game since.

We played poorly in that game, but the opening kickoff showed me that it hardly mattered to the fans. Even if we had won, they wouldn't have been able to enjoy the success because they were too busy looking for the little failures. That's the way we are now as well.

This is not to suggest that it is not the right of a fan to criticize his team, but if all you ever do is search for the flaws in a team, I have to ask what it is about the game of football that you enjoy? Why do you pay attention to something that does nothing but torture you? If the game of football upsets you so much that you find nothing but flaws in a team and in a season that is still one of the better teams and seasons LSU has ever had, maybe you should consider spending your time, money, and attention on something else; something you enjoy.

And yes, this is one of the better seasons in LSU history. It's not going to be our best season, but most seasons at LSU have not been quite this good. Since 1936 (since the AP poll was started), we have finished the season unranked in the AP more often than we've finished it ranked. Since 1950, when the Coaches' Poll was started, we've finished unranked more often than we've finished ranked.

Assuming we finish out this year by beating the teams we're supposed to beat, we'll finish this season ranked, possibly fairly highly.

And for those of you who think this little downturn is because Les Miles is an inferior coach, I would only point out to you that the last time LSU finished a season unranked was in 2002, when a certain other coach was in his 3rd season. The last time we finished a season ranked outside the top 10 was in 2004, when that certain other coach was in full-on Legend Mode and had a roster full of players recruited by him and him alone. He had disappointing seasons too, and you people sure let him know about it at the time.

So let's all just sit back and enjoy the fact that we have a football program that can view a season in the back half of the top 25 as a dismal failure. We exist in a conference where the slightest flaws get magnified because every team has ability. We're a little down this year, and it shows, but even in a down year we're STILL one of the best teams in the conference. Let's try to enjoy that.

In publishing this, I speak for what I hope is a Silent Majority of LSU fans who enjoy success enough to not worry about the little failures that inevitably come with it.

LSU Gets Another Commitment

2008-11-17T02:05:50Z

via vmedia.rivals.com

Earlier today, LSU received another commitment for the 2009 football recruiting class, this time from projected fullback Dominique Allen of Paris, TN. Allen is built like a truck at 5'11" and 250#. He is a specialty player who will probably never be a featured ball carrier, but he could end up being a solid contributor for 4 years in a specialized role as a blocking fullback, with the occasional carry along the way.

Despite the fact that he is not really a headline grabber, he could end up being one of the most important recruits of this class, as he is in position to literally step into a solid contributing role from the first day he is at LSU. With Quinn Johnson set to graduate this year, LSU football does not have a single blocking fullback on scholarship unless we move someone from another position.

Allen is not all blocking, as his videos show him to be a very solidly built power runner with nice hands. It is especially funny when the videos have an arrow pointing to him, as he is unmistakable even without an arrow. At 250#, he is almost always the biggest player on the field in his high school games, and certainly the biggest player lined up behind the line of scrimmage.

He's not a speedster by any means, but he gets from here to there OK. I don't think he'll ever be running wide sweeps or anything, but if he can put a linebacker on the ground he'll be doing great.

LSU 40 - Troy 31: Initial Thoughts

2008-11-16T14:29:32Z

Lafell scoring a big touchdown

This is not supposed to be the story. When a national power having a somewhat disappointing season plays a decent non-BCS-level team following a dramatic loss to another national power, it is supposed to a) put the game away early and coast to a boring victory, or b) lay an egg and lose.

That team is not supposed to come out and play its worst half of the season and then recover from it just in time to rescue victory from the arms of defeat. A fourth quarter like we put up is simply not supposed to happen, especially when your team has played so poorly all night.

Actually, I shouldn't say the team played so poorly. Sure, the offense was miserable until scoring a touchdown in the final minutes of the third quarter, but the defense actually played well all night after giving up touchdowns on Troy's first two possessions. After that, the LSU defense held Troy to only 10 points, with the other 7 coming on yet another defensive touchdown.

The defense didn't give up much after the first quarter, but oh what it gave up sure looked like a killer. After falling behind by 28 points early in the second half, I think most people thought the game was pretty much over. We grinded out a touchdown late in the quarter, and that's when the floodgates opened. Jarrett Lee, who had been having a terrible night, came alive and was 18 for 26 in the second half. The success of the passing attack then opened up the run, and once the game was close again we were able to run the ball effectively. The defense which had been playing passively all night became aggressive again, and was aided by a Troy team that was clearly self-destructing and playing scared.

There are certainly concerns about this team that come out of this game. I do believe the coaches need to take a long, hard look at how the team got to the point of needing a miracle comeback against Troy to salvage a chance at a respectable season. I'm sure I will have my own thoughts on that, but that's for later. For now, I'm just happy we got another notch in the Win column and that we still have a real shot at a New Year's Day Bowl.

I am also still sorting out my thoughts on the fans leaving in droves. I know it was probably a combination of the cold, the wind, and the bad football, but it sure is embarrassing that the ESPN highlights show a mostly empty stadium.

The biggest news of the game is that Jarrett Lee has ended his long streak of poor play from the quarterback position. After 5 consecutive poor halfs of football, he had a sterling 2nd half, and led the team to a win. That's enough reason to celebrate right there.

Troy @ LSU Game Thread

2008-11-16T00:00:06Z

ost your dire predictions or you despondent thoughts about LSU football here. I'm celebrating the day by cooking jambalaya, which I will then put in my family.

SBNation BCS Hub

2008-11-15T22:11:23Z

And The Valley Shook is, in case you never realized, part of a network of blogs covering many different teams among several different sports. One of the newest features, for those of you interested in following the BCS race to its conclusion, is a new BCS Hub, following all scores of teams ranked in the BCS and chronicling how they move.

Click the picture above to go to it, and a semi-permanent link will be placed on the site as well, though I haven't figured out quite where yet.

Soccer Loses As Well

2008-11-15T17:19:48Z

LSU's women's soccer team was up 2-0 in the 60th minute in their first round matchup against Washington. The lead lasted about 20 minutes. Washington tied the game in the 83rd minute, forced overtime, and scored the game winner in the first five minutes of the extra session.

Now, I can't claim to be any sort of expert on LSU's women's soccer. But it would have been nice had they won a tourney game. Being up 2-0, you should win. So I want to treat the not quite as popular LSU sports the same as we would the big boys like basketball and football. They choked.

OK, just kidding. It was a nice season. In 2005, LSU was a below 500 team, and two years ago was the first time the team reached the 500 mark. So the team has come a long way in a short period of time. It's a disappointing loss, but the team is headed in the right direction. We are in the Golden Age of LSU Athletics. Even women's soccer is emerging as a top team.

Week 12: SEC Preview, Part 2

2008-11-14T12:24:08Z

Yesterday, we tackled the first half of the SEC slate. Today we go over the second half of the SEC slate, beginning with the last game on the schedule.

Troy @ LSU, 7:00pm Central, ESPN360.com

I get a bad vibe about this game. I sometimes get these vibes, and more often than not I am dead wrong. Troy does not have the talent we have, but they seem to be built to exploit our weaknesses. High percentage passing; good pass blocking; good pass rushing; lots of weapons.

I don't want to play around with Troy. Let's not get cute. Let's just do what we have to do to get the W. This isn't North Texas or Tulane, who could not have beaten us no matter what we did. This is Troy, and they're capable of winning a game like this is the more celebrated team is not at their best. Coming out flat and/or hung over from the Bama game will make this an ugly game.

That means, if we can have success running the ball 80% of the time, let's do it, no matter who the quarterback is. For all of Troy's strength, I seriously doubt they can match our physicality. We should press that advantage as hard as we can.

Defensively, I think we should pretty much stay in nickel and dime, and we should keep our quickest pass-rushing units on the field at least half the time.

I think I'm more scared of Troy than I am of Ole Miss.

Mississippi State @ Alabama, 6:45pm Central, ESPN

Alabama looks to knock Mississippi State out of bowl contention here. I know that MSU has won this matchup a couple times in a row, and there is an embarrassingly long streak of Bama failing to score an offensive touchdown against the Bulldogs, but I just don't see it happening here. Bama is so much better than MSU that it's hard to imagine how the Bulldogs can win this one.

Well, let's think about it. Tyson Lee has been hot and cold all year as MSU's quarterback. That's an improvement over Wesley Carroll, who was nothing but cold. A hot Tyson Lee gives MSU a viable passing attack. The Bulldog rushing game is adequate, but not spectacular. OK, best case scenario, I think MSU can score probably about 20-24 offensive points against Bama.

The MSU defense is a pretty decent unit. They held Auburn to a total of 3 points, and while Auburn's offense is/was awful, that's a pretty good result against any team at all.

OK, so it's not exactly impossible. Let's just say it's very unlikely that MSU can beat Bama. Alabama will be highly motivated in this one and will come out as strong as they have all season to avenge their recent losses in this game. The SEC will probably be down to 10 possibly bowl-eligible teams.

Vanderbilt @ Kentucky, 7:00pm, ESPN2

A month later, Vandy still sits at 5 wins, trying to get that 6th to make it to a bowl game. I'm rooting for Vandy here. I want to see the Commies go bowling. Heck, with a win here and a win next against Tennessee, they could go into their final game of the season with a legitimate shot at the Peach or even the Outback Bowl, though I still think that South Carolina will make the Outback.

After that fast start, Vandy just hasn't been that good, and when they've gotten a winnable game they just didn't play up to their abilities. Losing to Duke and Mississippi State is just killer.

Kentucky is a solid team, and I wonder right now if Vandy is solid. They don't look solid. They look like a team that doesn't know how to play offense.

OK, we know a win by Vandy probably puts them in a bowl game. A win by Kentucky means they can start thinking Liberty Bowl, Music City Bowl, or Peach Bowl. I don't think anyone in Lexington could have thought they'd reach 7 or 8 wins this year, and they can really set themselves up to have a very nice season.

Week 12: SEC Preview, Part 1

2008-11-13T19:00:05Z

It's getting to be crunch time around the league. Lots of teams are playing their way into a bowl game. Lots of teams are trying to play their way into better bowl games. Two teams are trying to win it all. No one except Tennessee is completely out of it, but a couple still have a ways to go and may not get there. Let's get to the previews of the action.

Georgia @ Auburn, 11:30am Central, Raycom Sports

Who would have thought that this would be the morning game? Everyone assumed this would be a prime time game between a team fighting for a spot in the BCS National Championship Game and a team trying hard to make it to the SEC Championship Game. It may even have been a preview of the SECCG.

Instead, it's a game between one good but not quite great team and one team that is very close to packing in the season before December.

Georgia clearly looks like the vastly superior team at this point, but I keep waiting for Auburn to put together that one great game they'll play this season to salvage a little pride. If they don't put that game together here, they'll lose by 3 touchdowns. Auburn just can't hang with Georgia if they flounder like they have so far.

A win here by Georgia moves them one step closer to a possible BCS game, but more likely the Cap One at this point. Unless someone beats Alabama or Florida before the SECCG, both of those teams appear headed for the BCS. If either of them lose, Georgia could come back into the BCS picture, but the national championship is no longer in the equation for Georgia.

I'll be watching this one, just to see if Auburn plays with spirit. If they play with spirit, they may be able to hang with Georgia. If not, it will be a blowout.

Louisiana-Monroe @ Ole Miss, 1:00pm, no television

Does ULM play every single team in the southeast? It sure seems like every week some SEC team is playing ULM. They took down Alabama last year, and nearly took down Arkansas this year.

They got blown out by Auburn earlier this year, but this game could get interesting. ULM has played well of late, beating Troy 31-30 and nearly beating Middle Tennessee State and North Texas. OK, those teams are awful, and they both beat ULM. Work with me here though.

Ole Miss is one win away from bowl eligibility, and they get a game they should win here. After that, they get LSU and then Mississippi State. Seven wins is a distinct possibility still. I maintain they could end up in the Peach Bowl or the Music City.

South Carolina @ Florida, 2:30pm Central, CBS

A decent team takes on the best team in the country on the best team in the country's field. This should not be close, but South Carolina plays tough defense and may be able to make a real game of it. Florida's offense is otherworldly, though. It's one thing to be stingy against Tennessee, Kentucky, Vandy, and even Georgia. It's another thing entirely to do it against Tim Tebow, Percy Harvin, and the rest of the incredible array of weapons Florida can bring to bear in any given game.

The most points South Carolina has given up in any game is 24 (twice). The least number of points Florida has scored in a game is 26. Florida's median score is 42. They've scored below 42 points four times, and they've scored above 42 points four times. LSU has not scored 42 points in a game yet this season, and Florida has done it 5 times.

South Carolina is a good, solid football team, especially late in the season this year, but they aren't Florida. No one is.

This Isn't Fun

2008-11-13T17:41:57Z

I’ve been unable to watch football since that game. Life has gone on, and it’s not like I’m balled up in the fetal position in my bedroom or anything, but I have been completely and totally unable to watch even a moment of football since Alabama-LSU went final.

I know who won the Texas Tech game, but I didn’t watch one second of it. I skipped all of the highlight shows. I didn’t watch one snap of the NFL on Sunday. Instead I went to church, prayed to God and made no mention of football except maybe a small prayer for Jarrett Lee not have to deal with a bunch of internet jackasses giving him too much grief. It was a beautiful day and I walked in the park, read a pulp book, and then went to the movies. Anything to avoid football.

I’ve peaked in on our site here, and Pittman’s been carrying the load, but I’ve been unable to post anything, because that would mean playing the game over in my head. I’ve avoided the message boards and the football columnists. And not just LSU, all football. I’ve been in a total media blackout. That’s how much this loss hurt.

It’s time to make an admission: this season hasn’t been much fun. Pittman’s right that if we win out, LSU will be 9-3 and headed to the Cotton Bowl (Right down the street! Tailgate at my place!). That is, by any objective measure, a successful year. And as far as it goes for State of the Program, that is completely true. This has been a successful year.

But sports are entertainment. We care too much about it sometimes (and some people care way too much about it – if you know anyone who has tried to contact Lee and leave him a nasty message, do me a favor and kick that guy in the nuts for me). And the games this year have not been entertaining. Which is fair, considering 2007 might have been the most exciting season for fans of any team, ever. 2007 was nail-biter after nail-biter, capped with the euphoria of a title. So I’m a little spoiled. This year has been blowout after blowout, capped so far with a dismal and depressing loss to Alabama. Not every year is a winner.

I guess I’m gonna have to talk about Lee. He played terrible. If he even plays a merely below average game, we win. It was the worst display I’ve seen from an LSU quarterback since Melvin Hill and the purple pants game. Lee’s body language just looks terrible. It’s not that he doesn’t have the physical tools, the kid has been mentally beaten down. He’s just in psychic hell right now. Every time he touches the football, you can almost hear him thinking “what is about to go wrong?” I feel so bad for him because so many of his problems are in his head, and it’s hard to work through the bad vibes when half the fanbase is calling for your blood.

I remember when Jamie Howard was getting the same abuse heaped upon him. He said something along the lines of, “I love LSU, but apparently LSU doesn’t love me.” And Howard, for all of his faults, was a pretty good quarterback who will always be remembered as the guy who threw 6 picks against Auburn. Which is a shame. He deserves better than that. Lee is walking the same kind of career path.

I’m not enjoying this because not only are the games not close this year, I don’t enjoy watching Lee sink deeper into this pit of helplessness. It’s like watching a guy’s career go up in smoke in front of your eyes. It’s painful to watch. I hope he can turn it around. I hope he goes on to win the Heisman as an upperclassman. I hope he goes down as an LSU great and this year will be part of his legend as he put it all together. That would be nice. But watching it right now, it’s no fun for me. And I’m sure it’s even less fun for Lee.

Which is why I’m not watching football. Last night, I sat on my patio and listened to music and looked at the stars. It was a gorgeous night, and football didn’t even cross my mind.