Sorry for the absence. We've got some downtime till the big game and I needed to really buckle down on my actual job. Oh real world, how you intervene.

So, we've had Les get his contract extended to 2012, which I think most of us are fairly pleased with (especially given the results of the poll we conducted); but then he spoke to Michigan, only to tell 'em he's staying with us. I have no idea what to think of this, nor will I prognosticate (like that?), but I don't think anyone would be wise to take anything as the gospel truth until Michigan officially names someone else as coach. For the record: clearly Les thus far has been a FAR classier individual than, say, Bobby Petrino (see below), but so has Britney Spears. But who the hell knows what could happen next?

The awards have been piling in for Glenn Dorsey: Lombardi, Outland, Lott, and Nagurski. Meanwhile, he's on every All American team imaginable (and kudos to Steltz and Highsmith for getting 1st and 2nd team AP All American honors, as well).

The Advocate's Sam King wonders if he's the best DT LSU has ever seen. It's an impressive list (hell, even the last decade alone produced all time greats like Booger McFarland, Chad Lavalais, Claude Wroten, and Kyle Williams), and I don't think there's any doubt he's at the top (two-time All-American? Come on, it's no contest.).

I'll say this much: I'm taking a helluva lot of flak about LSU from just about every random college football fan I meet. While they all acknowledge Dorsey's injury has meant something, not a damn one seems to realize just how ridiculously good Glenn Dorsey really is.

Yes you are #1, big guy.

I was on last week's CFB Weekly radio show discussing the madness of the Michigan coaching rumors and our berth in the national title game.

I think even the vast majority of the Saban-hating LSU populus (of which we are not a member, we're part of the "Saban's still okay but Bama sucks anyway" populus) would have to agree that we now have an even more monumental prick in our division. Bobby Petrino, kick 'em while they're down why don't ya? I'm certain every big name recruit will take your word when you tell them that you'll be there to see them through all four (er, three) years of their careers. Anyway, Geaux Saints for destroying that rat bastard in his final game with the Falcons, and now as a Saints fan I have to say, as much as I hate the Falcons I can't help but feel sorry for the franchise's fans. I won't wish them success, not while we share the division, but I do wish 'em SOMETHING better ahead. Good riddance to bad rubbish, and I'll love LSU beating the tar outta the Hogs henceforth (although it might be difficult if Petrino actually does manage to get some talent with which to work). Anyway, head over to The Falcoholic for their grumblings over the whole ordeal.

I would say something about the basketball team's horrific blown 21-point lead with 8:30 left against 'Nova, but I actually turned off the game not long after we got to that 21, so I can't constructively comment. Scott Rabalais has some advice.

Pat Forde gives his take on the Game of the Year:

Bruce Feldman tells us what we at AndTheValleyShook.com have known all along. Glenn Dorsey is the best player in the country.

Ah, something to look forward to.

It should come as no surprise that Jacob Hester was named the SEC Offensive Player of the Week. After a performance that will place him among the greats in LSU lore, it seems like Hester should have a nickname. Is "the Big Diesel" taken by any current/former Tiger athletes?

If you hadn't heard, LSU and Auburn will be televised by ESPN at 8 p.m. CT. Gee, another Saturday Night in Death Valley. Time to start preparing.

In case you haven't been paying attention, and judging by the attendance, you haven't, the LSU women's soccer team is ranked for the first time ever, and features the National Player of the Week in Michell Makasini.

The 2008 recruting class is building some steam. I'd write something here but I think the guys at Geaux Tuscaloosa have the high schoolers pretty well covered. In all honesty, I'm not going to be able to tell you that a linebacker out of Kerrill, TX, happens to play his position in a manner similar to Barry Sanders' play at running back.

I know how we Tiger fans love Bama beat writer Paul Finebaum, so why not head over to our Roll Bama Roll and click through to some videos of Nick Saban teaching Finebaum how to cover a wideout. Also, check out the poll on their site: by a pretty sizeable margin, it appears that Tide fans prefer road trips to Baton Rouge over any other SEC locale. Probably has something to do with past wins, but we all know that's ancient history.

Speaking of ancient history...

Not that we didn't already know this, but expectations are high all around for the Tigers, as 54 of 80 SEC reporters at SEC media days gave LSU their first place vote. Yeesh, air's getting pretty thin up here. Clearly going to be tough for the team to keep the lofty expectations out of its heads this year.

Meanwhile, after having put our preview up a month or so back, CFN has gone about predicting our schedule, figuring our lone loss to be at Alabama on November 3rd. I'm guessing that'll be a rather popular pick come late October, even if we are somehow still undefeated at that point.

This is from last week, but it's clear the former LSU duo of Mike Fontenot and Ryan Theriot are bringing out the Tiger faithful in Chicago, where the Cubs are surprisingly now just a half game out of first place in the NL Central. To keep up on the Cubs fans' take of the guys, be sure to check in frequently with Bleed Cubbie Blue, one of the best sports blogs on the whole wide intertubes! Here's a great diary from one Cubs fan over there on why they love Theriot so much.

T Kyle at Dawg Sports has more on Miles at the SEC Media day. Any T Kyle read is not fully appreciated unless one navigates a couple of his links, as they're sure to add editorial content (though come on now, Kyle, where's the link to the Tennessee-Cal game from last year? Or the LSU-Arizona games over the past four? Or Auburn-Wazzu? Ok, maybe they're there, on in past posts; I haven't had time to click on 'em all.) But I digress; I'm on record as being not particularly fond of Les' comments on the USC Schedule.

By the way, on the topic of Kyle, he put up a rather phenomenal post last week on the state of ESPN. Grab a cup of coffee, print it out, and sit down with it, though, because it's a dissertation above and beyond Kyle's impressive daily efforts.

In case you haven't heard yet (it's only been four days!), Big Baby is a Celtic, missing out on his first round hopes. Separately, it ought to be amusing to watch The Sports Guy's ongoing take on the matter. He seems geniunely enthused to have Davis on board. Good for him.

Oh boy. I wasn't going to post anything about this but, ehm, looks like Orson Swindle and our friendly neighbor Kyle of Dawgsports.com have both gotten word about the derogatory comments Les Miles made about USC's schedule in a recent speech in New Orleans. Yeah, I'm not thrilled, and that's six-months-in-advance bulletin board material for the Trojans right there should we somehow manage to make our way to the BCS title game (and the odds aren't all that bad). Thankfully Orson's comments evolve into satire, while Kyle issues a much-deserved jab to Miles. I think Les has been a solid coach thus far but on this point, well, I got nothin'. However, in posting the above link to Kyle's post I also do you the favor of allowing you to gawk at the smokin' hot Kentucky hockey poster. How else can I divert attention from Les' little rant? Ooh, I know:

Hey Look! It's Ali Landry, who is from Louisiana, just like LSU!

Big Baby is certain he's going to be a first-rounder in the NBA draft Thursday night. We shall see. He's a full 50 lbs lighter than the Final Four '06 weight of 340, so the "quick feet" label may gain some last minute steam. Collis Temple II has some pretty strong feelings on the subject, namely "I know at 25 that Utah would team [sic] him in a heartbeat."

Looking to get in on LSU road tickets through the school? Better luck next year. A full 33,000 requests came in for the Alabama game, more than doubling the previous record (14k for last year @ Tennessee), and nearly 5x the actual allotment of 7,000 seats the Tigers get.

Just a friendly reminder to all you SEC DBs out there: Our guy's almost into single digits on the 100 meters.

Andale, bitches.

Every Day Should Be Saturday has determined that Glenn Dorsey would be one of five opposing players they'd most like to have. As with everything there, the writeup is hysterical, and the punch line is the best:

Well played, sir. Well played.

Adding one more tidbit: here's an interesting article from the Chattanooga Times Free Press discussing the scheduling between CBS and ESPN for SEC games. For the record, CBS gets to choose 7 of the top 10 games each year, including the top 3. ESPN gets the rest. Our October 20th matchup with Auburn will be on ESPN, while October 6th vs Florida will likely be CBS...but might be CBS' one night game of the year instead of the much more common Florida-Tennessee game:

LaRon Landry got himself injured participating in a paintball version of "America's Funniest Shots in the Nuts."

"She broke my heart, so I broke her jawwww...."

O Muse! Sing us the level-headed melodies - absent all the LSU faithful - but present only in Him, The One Great Writer Glenn Guilbeau!! So it is, that ne'er may we of the Purple and Gold nation have the clarity of foresight to comprehend that, nay, our team beeth NOT Top 5 potential, for we merely fall prey to the following:

T Kyle at Dawg Sports has projected the Top Five non-conference games you think will be good...but won't for the upcoming football season. LSU-Va Tech makes the list, and he sees the Tigers coming out victorious. Hearty boos all around for commenter Doug, who believes the Hokies win. Honestly though, I can't blame him. They'll be one fired up team in the first high-profile sporting event for the school since the shootings. I expect a lot of folks to be pumping LSU up beforehand, potentially leading the team to believe the Hokies are nothing but a sentimental story, when in fact they're Top 10 talented. Hah, who am I kidding. The Hat shall not let such nonsense pass! Be gone, Hokie pickers.

I google-imaged "Les Miles" and this came up, and frankly, it works. (Image courtesy wakeboardatlanta.com.)

WR Chris Mitchell's brother was involved in a drive-by shooting in Jefferson Parish last weekend. Investigators don't think Chris was involved, but they're trying to get in touch with him to ask him some questions. Hopefully one of those questions is "Avoid your brother till mid-January, for the love of God." With a question-markey type inflection at the end to make it sound like a question, rather than the Goddamn Code Red Order that it is.

Somehow I missed this last month, but often as I pan Glenn Guilbeau for his condescension towards the LSU masses, he deserves credit for this column last month on Paul Mainieri. Not everyone has liked the way Mainieri has handled the team, especially with the postseason cuts, but after a performance like this year's, something needed to be done. Kudos to him for shaking him up, but clearly we'll have to wait to next year's results to pass judgment on the merits of the moves.

Head over to our Kentucky blog, A Sea of Blue, for some Photoshop fun with Billy Donovan.

To all of you college baseball fans out there, I'd be remiss if I didn't emphasize the great job my colleague at Corn Nation has been doing in blogging the season. He's had a couple great interviews lately, first with Baseball America's Aaron Fitt, and then more recently Damani Leech, NCAA Director of Baseball and Football, regarding the tournament selection process. Well done!

Here are a few links for coverage on today's tragic news:

• Coverage from the Baton Rouge Advocate
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• LSUSports.net
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• Pats Pulpit
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• Boston Herald
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• Boston Globe
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I can't help but smile reading this quote from Marquise after the BCS title game win over Oklahoma in 2004:

Some images of Marquise in the Sugar Bowl are available at the Shreveport Times' archive here, here, here, and here

I never really thought much of the Razorbacks as a mascot. However, then I came across this:

I stand corrected. Jeebus.

The Lady Tigers softball team lost their opener in the Super Regional against ASU. They've got to win 2 in a row now to advance. Good luck ladies!

I don't hate Nick Saban. I used to love the guy, since he delivered us a national title. Now I'm closer to mere indifference. But I can't help but chuckle at the suggestions that he violated some recruiting rules. It's "only" secondary, so likely won't amount to much. But it's still cheating, dammit!

Allow me to direct you to another LSU football preview, this courtesy our friend Mitch over at Provo Pride. Why is this especially useful insight? Recall that our new offensive coordinator Gary Crowton put in a few years in the lovely confines of BYU, so Mitch is quite familiar with the man. Good to know he thinks highly of him.