And The Valley Shook

Welcome to the new And The Valley Shook and SB Nation

clockwerks — Tue, 06 May 2008 05:52:17 -0000

Hey And The Valley Shook,

Today is the big day. We've switched your community over to the new SB Nation sports blog platform. My name is Trei, and I'm here to help you get adjusted to the new home we've built for you. If you have questions or trouble with the new system, post a comment in this thread and myself or one of the team (lovitt, sixfoot6 or odacrem) will try to point you in the right direction.

Before we begin, I want to let you know we still consider this a beta platform, so don't be surprised if you find a few bugs or if everything isn't exactly right yet. We hope you'll take the time to report any problems you encounter at bugreport@sbnation.com. We'll be continuing to make changes and improving things.

Please take a few minutes to read about what's new below. But if you just can't wait to jump in, here are some quick things to check out:

Sign up for your SB Nation network account and claim your old blog accounts
Once you're logged in, press your Z key in any thread with new comments
Explore your dashboard and setup your profile
Read the guide to the new FanPost editor
Install the FanShot bookmarklet and post videos to And The Valley Shook from YouTube or images from Flickr
Click the "Rec" button on posts and comments to help other people find the good stuff.
Customize display options on your Edit Settings page

What Has Changed

SB Nation Network Accounts - the Big Change

Readers across all of our blogs told us they wanted one account to use on every SB Nation blog. To make this work, we're requiring that everyone create a new SB Nation network account. In most cases you should be able to keep your old username, but a few of you may have to choose something new, since every other community in SB Nation will be going through this same transition. We tried to be as fair as possible in deciding who gets to keep which name, using a formula that takes into account length of membership and frequency of activity.

We want to make it as easy as possible for you to participate on all of our blogs, but we don't want to encourage everyone to start visiting rival team blogs and initiating flame wars. To maintain friendly communities we ask that you explicitly join each blog in order to participate. It's a two-click process, but it does means accepting each blog's community guidelines. Just as you join each blog individually, you can be banned on each blog individually.

You can claim old accounts from multiple SB Nation blogs, and your new username will be retroactively attached to all your old comments and diaries. So now you'll be able to access all your writings from your single profile page... like magic.

To get started, click here to claim your old blog accounts and create a new SB Nation network account.

FanPosts (the Section Formerly Known as Diaries)

We changed their name. Why? Because we took this major upgrade as an opportunity to leave behind some vocabulary that never made much sense for a sports blog. SB Nation is the network of, by and for fans, and these are the blog posts we make. So we call them FanPosts. When you're at a bar telling someone to check out your online sports opinions, you don't have to suggest they read your diary.

FanPosts are displayed differently on the homepage - we include your avatar to give more credit for the time you spend writing great posts. The new post editor has a WYSIWYG view that provides easy formatting. It also auto-saves drafts so you don't have to worry about losing your work when you compose a post within the web browser. And you can now associate teams, players and games with your posts: these tools promote your FanPosts on our new team, player and game pages - across the entire network.

The new system does not work like the old diary editor. For example, in HTML mode the new editor doesn't auto-create a new paragraph from two line breaks. But it does offer a whole array of new features. Look for the blinking help button on the right side of the FanPost editor for quick tips, and take a look at our full guide to writing FanPosts on the new platform.

IMPORTANT - if you write your posts in Microsoft Word or some other off-line editor, you will get the most reliable behavior if you cut & paste your post into the HTML view of the FanPost editor. And if you do that, remember to wrap <p></p> tags around each paragraph so your text doesn't run together.

Visual Redesign

This one is probably the most obvious change of all. Like other major websites working to improve readability for their audience, we've adopted a fixed-width layout optimized for the 1024 x 768 resolution used by the majority of And The Valley Shook and SB Nation network users. Use the switcher below the user menu if you prefer the wider layout designed for 1280 monitors. We've introduced a top navigation bar with quick links into old and new sections of the site. We also polished a few edges, made some things larger, others smaller and moved a few boxes here and there. More changes and adjustments to come.

Search

We've completely replaced the old search engine with a new one. We're excited to make it easier to find old posts and comments, but we've only taken our first pass on the tools we're offering. We're focused on making search even better than what you had before, so please know that we're aware search is missing key features and we're working on it.

What's New

Schedule, Scores, Stats and Roster

And The Valley Shook now has all the basic information about the LSU Tigers and hundreds of other teams. During games you'll see a regularly updated line score, and as the season progresses we'll track team stat totals and leaders. This is just our first step, so look for us to publish more detailed and archival stats in the future. The best part about all this sports data is that we've integrated it directly into the blog so. We now have special pages that aggregate all blog posts written about games, players and teams.

Recommending FanPosts

Some writing deserves more attention and more conversation. If you want to bump a FanPost up to the top and keep it there for awhile, just click the 'Rec' link under the body of the post. When a FanPost receives enough recommendations it will make the recommended list.

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You no longer need to refresh the page to see new comments. If you're logged in, new comments will automatically appear on the page every few seconds. When you post a comment, the page will not refresh either. If you want to quickly cycle through all the new comments, you can press the C key on your keyboard. Unmark a new comment after you've read it with the X key. And use the Z key if you want to umark comments as you're cycling through them.

As you use these shortcuts to cycle through comments, press the R key to reply to the current comment. All these helpful keyboard shortcuts are listed at the top of each comments section for reference.

Recommending Comments

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Flagging Comments

To help the moderators on a site, we've built-in tools that let you flag comments that are spam, trolling or just plain inappropriate. Only moderators can see those flags.

FanShots

Many members of the community just want to post that one link, video, photo or quote, but don't need a full FanPost. We've got you covered: FanShots let you share YouTube videos, Flickr or PhotoBucket photos, quotes from articles, portions of chat transcripts, top 5 lists and simple links. If it's a video or image we'll put a thumbnail on the homepage when you post it.

For those of you who are experienced internet hunter-gatherers of LSU Tigers material, install the bookmarklet onto the links bar of your browser and share FanShots with the community from wherever on the web you find that killer quote or photo.

Avatars

Upload an image so folks can see your custom avatar on your profile, your FanPosts, and all your comments.

Network Profiles

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Network bar

The top bar stays with you on all SB Nation blogs. It's a quick way to login and logout. When you're logged in, you'll see your avatar and screen name which links to your profile. The icon to the right leads to your Dashboard area where you can edit your settings, profile, account details and any FanPosts or FanShots you've published. As we add more blogs to the new SB Nation network, the My Blogs menu will be a handy way to navigate between the blogs you've joined.

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There are plenty more small changes and additions we've made, so please take a careful look around and explore this new system. We appreciate your patience and hope you'll help us improve the new platform for this and all the other SB Nation blogs.

And in case you missed it, you'll want to start by claiming your old blog accounts and creating a new SB Nation network account.

Forever LSU Book - We Need Stories!

Fri, 02 May 2008 15:42:49 -0000

Hello Tigers!

We need YOUR stories for our upcoming book coming in 2009!

n partnership with The Booksmith Group we are creating the Forever LSU memory book: a fun, oversized, high-end book crafted from the stories, traditions and folklore of the LSU alumni. Not only will the bulk of the book be your stories, but the book itself will be a unique tactile experience with inserts and memorabilia included. Your university. Your memories. Your LSU brought to life. The finished product is a must have for any Tiger's coffee table or office credenza.

The bottom line is our story isn't complete without your stories. We want to hear about your experiences as a student and how the tradition continues now as an alumnus.

If possible, we'd love to be able to be included in your newsletters, eblasts and would most certainly love placement on your websites... I can provide you assets. We have photos, a video sneak peek preview (you can check it out on Myspace or Facebook), etc.

Our deadline for story submission is May 31!

Visit us on Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/foreverlsubook

Join us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1227082950

To submit your story, fill out this survey: http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/survey.zgi?p=WEB227MVW4K7JQ

To take a peek at a few story examples, go here: http://lsualumni.wordpress.com/

To learn more about the project and to participate, please visit www.lsualumnibook.com.

TDs: The Runs Batted In of College Football Statistics (Part Two)

The Boy — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 02:48:38 -0000

Okay, so last time around, I talked about Points Per Play (PPP) as the football version of Slugging %. In baseball, OPS (On-Base + Slugging) is one of the most telling, easy, reliable stats around. It's great because it's flexible. There are two different ways to put together a strong OPS--either by getting on base a lot or by hitting for power--and the best hitters do both. You find consistency and explosiveness in one measure.

So if PPP is equivalent to Slugging % (explosiveness), what's equivalent to On-Base % (consistency)? Success Rate, that's what.

In its most basic form, Success Rate is simply the percentage of time in which a play is deemed `successful'. It is a measure I culled from Football Outsiders and tweaked to fit my own purposes. How is `success' determined?

Here are the rules according to down:

1st Down: 50% of necessary yardage. If it's 1st-and-10, you need 5 yards for 'success'.

2nd Down: 70% of necessary yardage (rounded up to the nearest yard, of course). If it's 2nd-and-10, you need 7 yards for 'success'. 2nd-and-15? 10 yards.

3rd and 4th Downs: 100% of necessary yardage. I figure this requires no explanation.

In all, any given play has about a 43% chance of `success.'

Success Rate measures consistency the same way that On-Base % does for baseball. It's a lot harder to score in baseball if you're not getting on-base. Sure, you can still hit a homerun, but in general, less people on-base leads to less scoring opportunities, which leads to less runs.

In football, a low success rate limits your chances in the same way. Sure, you can score on a 99-yard TD run, and sure, you can consistently gain 10 yards on 3rd-and-9 to sustain a drive (leading to something like a 33.3% success rate)...but you're playing with fire. The odds of consistently moving the ball like that are minimal.

To illustrate the usefulness of Success Rates, let's look at the success rates for each of the Big 12 Offenses.

1.    Texas Tech 53.6%
2.    Missouri 51.0%
3.    Oklahoma State 50.2%
4.    Kansas 50.1%
5.    Nebraska 48.8%
6.    Oklahoma 48.9%
7.    Texas 47.4%
8.    Texas A&M 45.7%
9.    Kansas State 45.5%
10.    Colorado 39.6%
11.    Baylor 38.5%
12.    Iowa State 36.5%

Aside from a couple exceptions (Nebraska above Texas?), that's pretty much a rundown of the conference's top offenses, is it not?

Success Rate is a fantastic tool, and I used it more than just about anything else when I was previewing Mizzou games this year (example here). It can be used to judge teams in every possible way--how they do in close games, how well they run (or defend the run), how well they play in the redzone, et cetera.

And it becomes an even better tool when teamed with the Points Per Play (PPP) measure we discussed in Part One. Quick recap: based on the average number of points scored from any yardline on the field, I came up with a way to create a `point value' for each play of a game by comparing the beginning value of a play compared to where it ended up. It is the "slugging %" to Success Rate's "on-base %" in the OPS equation. So if On-Base Plus Slugging = OPS, then what is Success Rate plus Points Per Play? S&P!

S&P, like Success Rate, is an extremely versatile tool. You can compare offenses, defenses, running backs, just about anything. To illustrate the usefulness of S&P, let's look at the four Heisman finalists.

Tim Tebow

PASSING: 52.5% success rate + 0.62 PPP = 1.15 S&P
RUSHING: 54.8% success rate + 0.54 PPP = 1.09 S&P
ALL PLAYS BEHIND CENTER: 54.6% success rate + 0.53 PPP = 1.08 S&P

Colt Brennan

PASSING: 53.7% success rate + 0.53 PPP = 1.07 S&P
RUSHING: 47.2% success rate + 0.38 PPP = 0.86 S&P
ALL PLAYS BEHIND CENTER: 52.9% success rate + 0.44 PPP = 0.97 S&P

Chase Daniel

PASSING: 51.4% success rate + 0.46 PPP = 0.97 S&P
RUSHING: 47.1% success rate + 0.38 PPP = 0.86 S&P
ALL PLAYS BEHIND CENTER: 50.4% success rate + 0.39 PPP = 0.90 S&P

For the three QB finalists, you can start to see how this single number--S&P--can take into account everything from Tebow's rushing TDs to Brennan's insane yardage totals to Daniel's nation-leading third down percentage. They had similar numbers, though when schedule strength is taken into account (I've got ways to do this, but not until I have everybody's games entered), Tebow comes out far ahead. It's why I'd have voted for him even though I wasn't remarkably impressed with the 20 mostly-short-yardage rushing TDs.

Okay, so I just came up with a complete different way to determine that Tim Tebow should have won the Heisman. Woo. I could have used yards and TDs to figure that out. What use do these new-fangled stats have if they're just going to lead to the same conclusions as the, uhh, old-fangled stats? That's where Darren McFadden comes in.

Darren McFadden

RUSHING: 46.8% success rate + 0.34 PPP = 0.81 S&P

And he was the QB in the WildHog Formation, so...

ALL PLAYS BEHIND CENTER: 48.3% success rate + 0.71 PPP = 1.19 S&P

As a point of comparison, McFadden's 0.81 S&P would have been #13 in the Big 12. Jorvorskie Lane (ATM) had a 1.09, DeMarco Murray (OU) a 0.97, and Chris Brown (OU) had a 0.85.

McFadden is obviously very good, but the consensus "best RB in college football" wasn't as effective at running the ball in 2007 as he was at being a threat to run the ball...if that makes any sense. With McFadden sharing the backfield, Felix Jones pulled off an insane 1.17 rushing S&P, and the WildHog was quite effective in giving McFadden the option of running, throwing, or handing to Jones and Peyton Hillis. But for every highlight reel run McFadden ripped off this season, there were about 10 1-yard runs. This is why a theoretically explosive offense like Arkansas' ground to a halt against good defenses like Auburn (lost 9-7) and Missouri (lost 38-7). The offense was perceived as better than it actually was, and its low success rate (44.6% for the season) and S&P (0.81...the same as stagnant Texas A&M's) betrayed it throughout the season.

(And here's another interesting stat: McFadden accounted for 111.04 `points' running the ball in 2007. Tebow accounted for 107.05.)

In other words, there's a reason why Darren McFadden didn't deserve the Heisman, no matter how good he looks in the open field. It wasn't his fault that Arkansas' passing game sucked, and it wasn't his fault that defenses did whatever they could to force other players to beat them...but you have to be more than a threat to win the Heisman--you have to still produce as well.

Okay, time for another plea. I really want to be able to test the limits of S&P, PPP, Success Rates, and lots of other stats I have yet to reveal, but I'm in need of some volunteers to help me plow through the remaining 2007 games. As I mentioned last time, games take about 30 minutes to enter (once you figure out what you're doing), and you can feel free to enter games for whichever team you like (other than the ones I've already done, anyway--Big 12, Hawaii, Florida, Arkansas).

If you want to help either shoot me a response on this thread with your e-mail address, or contact me at BillConnelly1@gmail.com. Thanks again.

LSU VS. Ohio state

Sun, 13 Jan 2008 02:59:58 -0000

Ohio state sucked . Matt Flynn did awesome at QB that game and definetly deserved the Most valuble player award . Keelin Williams did not have very many carries but was a beast when he did get the ball !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

# 1

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 05:49:09 -0000

LSU is national beast champions . There not as good as the 2003 championship team but still beast mode . It would be great to see another championship team in 2008 . Then we would be four time national champs 1958 , 2003 , 2007 , and hopefully 2008 champs . 2 loses this season I can understand the Kentuky lose but not the Arkansas game . Our defense sucked that day .

TDs: The Runs Batted In of College Football Statistics (Part One)

The Boy — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 00:29:26 -0000

Hey, this is The Boy from Rock M Nation. Congrats on the title...was really hoping we'd get a chance at you guys in NO, but alas...

Anyway, I posted this over at Sunday Morning QB a couple days ago, but I figured I might as well post it on some other blogs too...let me know what you think.

OFFSEASON PROJECT! Over at RMN, I've been playing with the `Beyond the Box Score' idea (calling it that as an ode to the wonderful SBN sabermetrics blog of the same name) as it applies to college football stats.

I've been cranking out play-by-plays for 2007 games as fast as possible--as I post for a Mizzou blog, I've focused on Big 12 teams, Mizzou opponents, and teams with fellow Heisman finalists--but this is a massive undertaking, and I need some volunteers to enter play-by-play for the games I have yet to enter from the 2007. They take about 30-45 minutes each, and I'm figuring I'll need about 6-10 volunteers to finish this stuff in a timely enough fashion to do something about it before the 2008 season starts orbiting everybody's attention span, so...actually, how about I just show you why I'm doing this?

It's fair to say that the Bill James Revolution has reshaped the game of baseball over the last 25-30 years (for some franchises, anyway...my Pirates sure haven't paid any attention). I'd go into detail about all the different statistics that have come about due to James and his disciples, but I'm going to be honest here--if you don't know/care about Bill James, then you probably won't care at all about this post.

The typical statline for a hitter hasn't changed much over the years. Chances are, when a guy is at bat, the stats they'll show on TV are Batting Average / HRs / RBIs. However, as thousands of words are spent in deciphering baseball stats each year, it's becoming more and more obvious that those categories--the last one in particular--are pretty worthless in evaluating the quality of a hitter. Who cares about a .300 batting average if it's all singles and it's not complemented by any walks or anything? Who cares about 25 HRs if you strike out 200 times and don't ever get on base otherwise? And who cares about 100 RBIs if it's complemented by a .225 average and only comes about because the guys in front of you are fantastic hitters?

Having a high number of RBIs does say something about your propensity for timely hits, but it says even more about the ability of the folks ahead of you to get on base. If the dude in front of you in the batting order has a .220 on-base %, you're probably not going to get too many RBIs no matter how good a hitter you are. It's the same way with touchdowns, really. Jerome Bettis's final season was great for my fantasy team, but his "2 carries, 3 yards, 2 TDs" lines really didn't contribute much to the team overall. I loved The Bus as much as the next guy, but just about anybody could have come in and plunged in from the 1. Getting the ball to the 1 was the much bigger accomplishment.

(Since I'm a Mizzou fan, you can probably gather that I wasn't all that impressed by Tim Tebow's "20 passing TDs/20 rushing TDs" stat that everybody was in love with since half his TDs came from a couple yards out and Chase Daniel could have done the same if he never handed the ball off either. That's true, but in the end I'd have probably voted for Tebow to win the Heisman anyway. You know...if I had a vote...)

I've been entering play-by-play for Big 12 games for the last two seasons, and I've been able to do a lot with the data...enough that I want to be able to do it with the entire country's data. The biggest thing I've accomplished so far is coming up with measures called EqPts (Equivalent Points) and PPP (EqPts per Play), based on the chart below, which shows the average number of points that could be expected from any specific yard line.

As you see, gains in certain areas of the field are worth different amounts. I did the same thing for each down.

So a 5-yard gain on 3rd-and-5 from your opponent's 39 would only be worth about 0.19 points on the first graph, but it's worth a huge 2.24 points on the second one. Stuff like that is interesting to a nerd like me. And here's the most interesting part--averaging these two EqPts figures together, and adding in a measure of turnover costliness (into which I go into more detail in my Beyond the Box Score glossary), ends up doing a pretty good job of coming up with how many points were scored in a given game.

For instance...on December 1, Missouri beat Kansas, 36-28. MU's offense accounted for 29.47 EqPts (from the first graph) and 42.98 Down-Dependent EqPts (from the second). That averages out to 36.23. KU had 30.69 EqPts and 33.95 DD-EqPts, averaging 32.32. KU also had 6.83 points worth of turnovers (again, click the link above if you want information on that), and applying half of that to KU's score and half to MU's, you end up with an EqPts final score of MU 38.98, KU 28.91. Pretty damn close. On the same day, OU beat OSU, 49-17. The EqPts score was OU 47.88, OSU 15.65.

Of course, it doesn't always calculate closely--the ball's oblong and simply doesn't always bounce the way it's supposed to--but looking at things this way gives you a lot better indication of who accounted for a team's points than total yards or TDs or yards per carry.

For now, let's pretend that PPP is the football equivalent of Slugging %. What's the football equivalent of On-Base %? We'll get back to that in Part Two...if anybody's actually interested, anyway.

And if you want to help me enter play-by-plays, either shoot me a response on this thread with your e-mail address, or contact me at BillConnelly1@gmail.com. Thanks!

BCS Title Game Animated Drive Chart

GeauxTigers — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 22:28:01 -0000

Joel from Rocky Top Talk has once again done the hard work and put together his animated drive chart of the BCS Title game, so go on and relive last night's glory HERE

1st touchdown

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 02:14:44 -0000

LSU ROCKS! We are at home with our own fans and New Orleans is the greatest city in the world tonight! I hope everyone is wearing LSU gear but if not you can still sport it after the game by going to www.tigerdistrict.com. There is nowhere to go but up. OSU will be going home soon and will know who the real champions are!

GO TIGERS!

Ohio State's offensive line has plenty to prove

Sat, 05 Jan 2008 16:13:22 -0000

Lee Corso had made the comment that Ohio State had the best offensive line in the nation.

I beg to differ, based on the stats:

http://www.cornnation.com/storyonly/2008/1/5/102416/2186

Obviously, Nebraskans will be watching this game with great interest. I'm sure all y'all will either thank us or hate us depending upon the outcome.

from an OSU alum

Sat, 05 Jan 2008 04:06:33 -0000

I heard about you on "Around The Oval" and really liked the "home and home" interviews. I've waded through too many forums where the only dialog is "we rock...you suck"...it's nice to hear some honest evaluation.
I, and many Buckeye fans like me, love college football at it's best. I thought I would give you guys my personal "humble" opinion.
I'll tell you right off who I like on LSU's team. Couldn't you guess? I grew up with "3 yards and a cloud of dust" Woody...
Jacob Hester..that guy is a stud. I don't think we really have to worry about him reeling of a 40-yarder or anything, but who can't appreciate a blue-collar guy who never stops pumping his legs? Like that mohawk kid from WVU..whats his name?....oh yeah, Schmidt.
I've been hearing a lot from Mark May(ESPN..IDIOT) about how OSU isn't good at defending mobile quarterbacks, like Juice Williams. He seemed to compare Flynn to Williams or Dennis Dixon...I don't see the comparison. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Matt seems to be a QB that only runs when necessary.
No, I don't buy any of that "sec speed" crap...I think that this game will be won in the trenches.
And if you're going to jump up and down and say "Florida kicked your as*es last year", go to sports illustrated's blogs and post there, there are idiots lined up 50 deep on that forum.
OSU has caught more flack from 1 loss than any team in the history of CFB. Different year, different players. And I assume that Les has made sure that the LSU players know that.
I think most Buckeye fans would disagree, but I hope Dorsey is really at 100%. What better way to show that we really deserve to be there than to compete against the best?(although we have a pretty good DE ourselves..If you don't know who that is, you will find out Monday)
I truly believe that the game will be decided by one factor...
Can the LSU defensive line stop OSU's running game???
There hasn't been anything that I've seen(and I've watched every LSU snap repeatedly on tape) that would suggest that LSU will score more than 21 points...and that's generous.
If for some reason this game turns into a shootout, ala Hawii-vs-TTech or some such nonsense, The Buckeyes are in trouble.
If Beanie Wells is able to get 5 or 6 yards on first down consistently, LSU is in BIG trouble. If, on the other hand, OSU ends up in 3rd and 9 or 10, it will be a LONG night for the Buckeyes.
Anyway....
May it be a good, exciting game...
unlike Ga-vs-Ha
unlike USC-vs-Ill
May everyone play to the best of their abilities
May any injuries be minor
and of course,
May the Buckeyes prevail!!!!
thanks for letting me come by and visit :-)
I know this is pathetic but if Dorsey plays badly, maybe he won't go to the Dolphins, but will be around long enough that the Bengals can snag him..our defense has sucked for awhile..we could use a monster pass rusher :-)

Something interesting for LSU fans

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 15:58:34 -0000

Hey LSU fans. I just found the site here and I must say that Im glad to have foud this site!

I currently live in Baton Rouge and fully support LSU and hope to see them beat the crap out of OSU this month.

I found this site that is actually Google - but is customized for LSU fans and I thought that since I am here, I'd share it with our fellow fans.

Check it out:

http://lsu.enformayshun.com/index.html

I've set it as my default search since I use google anyway. At any rate im glad to be here and look forward to talking with out fellow family fans!

See ya!
Jason

Offical: Les Miles To University of Michigan

tommyguniii — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 15:18:06 -0000

Editor's note: This is a diary from one of our faithful users, so I figured I'd push it to the main page. -GT

Well on ESPN College Game Day they just reported (9:03 AM CST) Les Miles has been offered and accepted the University of Michigan job and will be officially announced in the next couple days. John Tenuto has also agreed to go with him. They are also reporting with 110% certainty that Bo Pelini is going to Nebraska.

Update: And I thought ESPN was a news source. I am happy I was grossly mistaken!

Well no surprise for me. As I wrote in comment here (before the last lose):

Yeah, if offered the job he is going and I don't have a single issue with it. There is a part of me that wants to yell, "Are you crazy Miles, why would you leave Baton Rouge? LSU Football is the PRO sport in Louisiana. If you win .... there maybe no place in sports you'll be more loved!"
But if I am honest with myself that is cause I am biased. My dad got his PhD at LSU. I was born there during that time. The pictures of some of my first steps are walking around campus. Then I went to grad school there myself. Have visited for at least a week for 37 of my 38 years on this earth.
The pull of Baton Rouge for me is based on personal history. And Miles personal history, which has to be much stronger then mine to LSU, is with Michigan. It is as simple as that.
I just ask he keeps his focus (and the team) for the rest of the year. Bring us an SEC Championship and then a BCS Championship and then he should follow what much be a dream. To be the head coach of where he went to school, played for, and was an assistant under one of the greats of the sport must be something that will be pretty special for him.
I wish him all the luck in the world if that is the choice he makes!

They were pretty downbeat on LSU's options, since AD Skip Berman is set to retire in June '08.

Well I am not as down. Although I am a homer I think LSU is a top 10 national program. A place like Michigan, Bama, Notre Dame, USC, et al. A state with great high school players where you are the only major program. Rabid fans. 100,000 seat stadium. Best conference. A decade of winning at the highest level.

We'll get a coach that will keep that tradition going.

Ok, off to pack for a week long vacation.

Garbage In - Garbage Out

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 14:42:43 -0000

First of all, my heart goes out to all the players whom continue to play hard the entire game and to fans who support the Tigers no matter what.
Now what may a simplistic view of some problems:
1) I see a team that's very heavily penalized.
That usually tells me that the details are not being emphasized during practice. Practice does not make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect.
Hence the GIGO title.
That resides with coaching.
2) "Clock" management. What's your opinion?
I feel we have mis-managed the clock on numerous occassions. That resides with coaching.
3) The nature and type/timing of the plays being called at different points in the game. That resides with coaching.
4) The nature (aggressiveness)of the plays being called (offense and defense) or lack thereof seems to have died off ever since LSU got the #1 ranking the first time. It almost seems as if we are coaching to "not loose our ranking" instead of to "win" the game. That resides with coaching.
I know nothing is absolute, nor are there any guarantees, but with the talent and effort being displayed by the players...there is no excuse.
Input welcome.

CFB Weekly podcast

GeauxTigers — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 00:24:46 -0000

I forgot to throw this up earlier, but I participated in this week's CFB Weekly podcast to discuss my thoughts after the LSU-Bama game.

Upon further consideration, I'd say that there is a decent chance we could make it to a BCS bowl game if we made it to Atlanta and lost in the SEC Title game to Georgia or Tennessee, but as Tiger fans recall, it didn't happen in 2005 when we went in with just one loss. At least last year we'd picked things back up by the end of the year and our two losses were early enough that the voters forget that kind of thing so we were high enough to get in to the Sugar, with Florida being called away to the title game. This year, with mediocrity abundant in college football, perhaps we could still sneak in to a BCS game with a second loss. I must say though, it's not a scenario I even remotely care to consider.

LSU-Bama animated drive chart

GeauxTigers — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 05:41:07 -0000

Our fellow SBN blogger RockyTopTalk has put up his animated drive chart for the LSU-Alabama game. This is always neat stuff so go check it out. Thanks Joel!!

We're Predicted to go to the BCS Championship Game

Sat, 03 Nov 2007 18:42:08 -0000

This site is freaky wierd about predicting the BCS rankings for the end of the season.
www.PlayWhatIf.com
Right now, we're ranked #2 playing Oregon in the national championship game. I recommend playing with the "Coulda Woulda Shoulda" ranking. All you have to do change our score against Florida and see the new ranking.

Is it just me? what's wrong with this picture?

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 12:45:36 -0000

It appears that since we became ranked # 1 we have started to call offensive plays so as to "not loose", instead of playing to win. While at the end of the game, the number of "pass plays" seem balanced (ie Fla game), it seems as if too many of them are passes that the receiver gets at /or behind the line of scrimmage. We seem to shy away from some of our strengths and become very predictable. Maybe the last play at the KY game last overtime is an example
Any comments??? Here is another ex...even though we managed to win the game, in spite of ourselves, we continued to try to run the ball against Fla. when that is their strength...they had not allowed any 100 rushing games prior to ours, and Auburn beat them passing the ball..yet, we continued to push the issue. Should we not be attacking the other team's weakeness instead of their strengths ? or has the # 1 ranking altered our ego.

MGoBlog profiles Les Miles

GeauxTigers — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 04:04:55 -0000

Looks like Michigan blogger Brian of MGoBlog (one of the best CFB blogs out there) wouldn't be disappointed if Michigan hired Les:

Accusations that he's living off Saban's players ring hollow. This is his third year, and while the guys playing may have been recruited by Saban they have largely been coached by Miles. Tyrone Willingham is not responsible for Notre Dame being 0-8 and Nick Saban is not responsible for LSU being #1. Maybe he's not a super genius like Weis E. Coyote, but he's forged a gorilla with a chainsaw for a penis out of an acknowledgment of his own limitations, a willingness to defer to those more expert than him, and general good management of players and coaches. There is a skill in that generally gets you paid lots of money, be it on a football field or in a boardroom, and it should not be dismissed.

Meanwhile, Miles has proven in the past couple years that his recruiting is not solely because of LSU's status as the flagship program of Louisiana. He can recruit monster classes to a school with a lot of built-in advantages. Michigan is one of these programs. There is unlikely to be a huge dropoff if Miles should leave; will they accuse the next coach of winning with Miles' players?

Improprieties proven are insufficient to disqualify him from the job, and those rumored are just that: rumored. Miles has never been in trouble with the NCAA; he played and coached at Michigan for a total of 15 years; he knows what the program and the school are about. Unless there is some proof he he cutting corners, the insiders should be ignored and Miles should be a strong candidate for the job. Just hire someone (me!) to call timeouts.

It's interesting, many of the Michigan guys clearly seem to like Les, while all around the blogosphere we tend to have those who continue to think he's a boob, and will never win a national championship. I can't entirely blame them for thinking so, but I'd be interested to hear the naysayers' takes on whether Les has increased his appeal in their minds at all so far this year (after all, both Va Tech and South Carolina have proven themselves to be relatively good teams). I'll certainly be looking for their commentary if we win tomorrow.

All-Time All-LSU Team

Fri, 05 Oct 2007 06:26:06 -0000

I was playing online tonight and came across SI's all-time All-SEC team. While I disagree with some of the selections (Billy Cannon over Bo Jackson at running back, how did Matt Stinchcomb not make the O-Line, Wilber Marshall from Florida at LB, and where was Derek Abney as a returner), they did a very good job.

But it sparked a little thought in my head for the all-time All-LSU team. And I'm bored, so I put my team together. Here we go:

OFFENSE

QB: Tommy Hodson

RB: Billy Cannon, Kevin Faulk

WR: Josh Reed, Wendell Davis

TE: Doug Moreau

OL: Ben Wilkerson, Eric Andolsek, Alan Faneca, Nacho Albergamo, Tyler Lafuci

DEFENSE

DL: Anthony McFarland, Glenn Dorsey, Gabe Northern, Marcus Spears

LB: Michael Brooks, Mike Anderson, Warren Capone, Bradie James

DB: LaRon Landry, Greg Jackson, Corey Webster, Tommy Casanova

SPECIAL TEAMS

K: David Browndyke

P: Chad Kessler

KR: Eddie Kennison, Domanick Davis

PR: Skyler Green

Quarterback - Tommy Hodson was the all-time SEC leading passer when his career ended. Apologies to: Bert Jones, the 1970 Heisman Trophy runner up.

Running Back - Billy Cannon, duh. The 1959 Heisman Trophy winner and the only LSU football player to have a number retired. Oh yeah, he has one of the most famous plays in college football history with his 89-yard punt return against Ole Miss on Halloween 1959. As for Kevin Faulk, he's only LSU's all-time leading rusher, an All-American and the player that resurrected LSU from six-straight losing seasons. Apologies to: Charles Alexander, the two-time All-American and player who holds LSU's single-season rushing yards per game record at a rediculous 153 ypg.

Wide Receiver - Josh Reed is by far the LSU's all-team leading receiver and won the 2001 Biletnikof Award. Wendell Davis was the SEC all-time leading receiver before the Spurriur explosion in 1993 as well as a two-time All-American. Apologies to: Eric Martin, who ranks third all-time in yards and was a two-time All-SEC honoree.

Tight End - Doug Moreau was a 1965 All-American and a two-time All-SEC honoree. Apologies to: David LaFleur, who is considered one of the best tight ends in SEC history. However, he played in a time when tight ends where much more important in the offense.

Offensive Line - Ben Wilkerson won the Rimington Award as the best center in the nation in 2005. Eric Andolsek was a two-time All-SEC award winner and, along with Faneca, the best guard to ever wear the purple and gold. Nacho Albergamo was by far the best center in LSU history until Wilkerson came along. Alan Faneca nearly won the Outland Award and was the Jacobs Award winner for the SEC's best blocker in 1997. Tyler Lafuci won 1973 All-America honors after leading LSU to a trio of bowl games. Apologies to: Lance Smith, a 1984 All-American and eventual third-round NFL draft choice.

Defensive Line - Anthony McFarland was a first-team All-American on a defense that couldn't stop you, me and nine friends. That is a tremendous accomplishment. As good of players as LSU has had at defensive tackle since 1997 (starting with McFarland), Dorsey is the best to come through. He's a man amongst boys, and coming back for his senior year solidified his spot on this list. Gabe Northern was a dominent end in his time at LSU, even though most of the time LSU was not winning. Marcus Spears anchored the nation's No. 1 defense in 2003, winning a national title and ended up as one of the top sackmasters in LSU history. Apologies to: Ron Sancho, who ranks second in LSU history in sacks and sixth in tackles for a loss. He could have replaces Spears on this list and I wouldn't have complained.

Linebacker - Michael Brooks was a standout from his very first start at LSU. After earning All-America honors as a junior, he was a cinch for the same in 1986 before a knee injury cut his season short. Mike Anderson, as well as owning a phenomenal restaurant, was a 1970 All-American by everyone that names All-Americans. Warren Capone followed Anderson as the third in line of three-straight linebacker All-Americans from LSU. Capone earned the honor twice, in 1972 and 1973, before moving onto the NFL. Bradie James, the 2002 All-American and second-leading tackler in LSU history. Apologies to: Trev Faulk, if only you had stayed another year.

Secondary - LaRon Landry was a four-year starter, winning a national championship, earning All-America honors and leading LSU to a top-five defense in each of his four years. Tommy Casanova is only considered one of the best players in the history of college football as a three-time All-American and Sports Illustrated cover boy. Greg Jackson was a 1988 All-American, leading LSU to the SEC Championship anchoring the defense. Corey Webster is the best cover corner to ever don the purple and gold. After moving over from wide receiver (good choice), he led LSU in interceptions twice and was a two-time All-American. His 16 career interceptions are second best all time at LSU. Apologies to: Chris Williams, LSU's career interception leader.

Kicker - David Browndyke. Duh. Apologies to: John Corbello, who was great, but still not in Browndyke's class.

Punter - Chad Kessler, as bad as he was at pooching, holds the NCAA all-time record for punting average. He's the only player to ever average more than 50 yards per kick. Apologies to: nobody, this was a no brainer.

Kick Return - As bad as LSU was in the early 1990s, there was always hope when Eddie Kennison touched the ball. Despite never taking a kickoff back for a touchdown, he was one of the most feared return men in the nation. Like Kennison, Davis never took one to the house, but he is LSU's all-time leader in kickoff return yards. Apologies to: Kevin Faulk, who teams kicked away from for four years.

Punt Return - Skyler Green was a gamebreaker waiting to happen when he touched the ball. With four return touchdowns, he leads LSU all time. Apologies to: Tommy Casanova, one of the greatest players in history. He has three return touchdowns, but only half the career punt return yards as Green.

What now...

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 03:40:05 -0000

Auburn just upset Florida, 20-17 on a field goal.

This completely destroys all major interest in next week's Gator game in Death Valley.

(Last time they came to Tiger Stadium was October 15, 2005, considered the greatest single day in college history- and that year's LSU/Florida game was completely anonymous)

Will that game still get the ESPN treatment or not?

Is it also safe to kiss a College Gameday visit goodbye?