Believe it or not, LSU plays in a football game on Friday. Before we get to the hard-hitting analysis (hopefully written by someone other than me), I'd like to ask a simple question: do you care?
Because, honestly, I don't. I mean, I'm going to watch and I'll enjoy the last game of the season before the long, dark period which tries men's (and women's) souls until next football season, but it's really hard to get "up" for this game. There's almost nothing at stake.
LSU and Penn St are near mirror images of one another: teams with a terrific defense and an offense that has, er, not lived up to expectations. Both harbored championship dreams this season that were very quickly dashed. Both teams finished a clear third in their respective conference, but posed little threat to actually win the conference. Neither team has a really bad loss, but then again, neither team has a real marquee win. Both teams are ranked in the top 15 simply by inertia and the lack of anyone else to rank.
Besides, ginning up the proper hatred for Penn St is pretty hard. I tried to think back to childhood and how the Nittany Lions would seemingly beat Maryland by 3 points every year, but even kids who grow up in Maryland don't cry themselves to sleep over the football team (the basketball team is a different story). PSU is responsible for one of my favorite games ever, the 1986 Fiesta Bowl, so I have a reservoir of goodwill towards them. And who hates Joe Pa?
It's a nice game in a pretty nice bowl. It's not the BCS, but it's pretty close. It's January 1st and whoever wins will get their first real big scalp of the season. It should be a good game and all that, but more than ever before, this bowl game feels like precisely what it is: a meaningless exhibition and an excuse to go to Disney World. A win won't mean that much to me, and a loss wouldn't be catastrophic.
to be honest, I'm far more interested in the swirl of rumors surrounding the coaching staff right now. That will likely have a bigger impact on next season than the outcome of this game.