Real life is intruding on the blog schedule this week, so I am much slower than I should be in getting these out. Please bear with me. Right now, we take a look at how LSU opponents fared this week, and there were some interesting results.
Looking out of conference, the Washington Huskies ended their long losing streak by beating the Idaho Vandals, 42-23. Granted, that's not competition anywhere near the LSU level, but it's further evidence that this is a much better team than last year's edition. Jake Locker and Chris Polk, both of whom were injured for most of the 2008 season, had big games in the Husky win.
Next week's opponent Louisiana-Lafayette scored its first win over BCS competition in quite some time, as they beat Kansas State 17-15 in a game in which ULL held the lead for most of the game before giving up a couple late touchdowns. They hit a last minute 48 yard field goal to take the lead for good. Kansas State is a pretty bad team this year, as they barely squeaked past UMass last week. I still think we should have a pretty easy time against the Ragin' Cajuns, but you never know.
Other non-conference opponents had bad showings. Louisiana Tech did not follow up last week's disappointing performance with a bounce-back. Instead, Navy showed that their strong performance against Ohio State wasn't a fluke. Navy beat Louisiana Tech 32-14. Tulane got blown out by BYU, 54-3. It looks like a very tough season is underway for Bob Toledo.
Looking back in the conference, Georgia outlasted South Carolina, 41-37, in a game that says a lot about both of them. Seeing as how this game was on at the same time as the LSU vs. Vandy game, I did not get to see any of this game, but those who have seen it told me that South Carolina played better than Georgia. I'm afraid the evidence is that Georgia is not a very good team this year. If it wasn't panic time in Athens after last week, it probably is now. South Carolina has struggled to score points for years, including last week against NC State, yet they moved the ball with ease against Georgia. Georgia was aided by a special teams touchdown and a big stand at the end of the game when South Carolina was close to a game-winning touchdown.
The Alabama Crimson Tide beat Florida International going away, 40-14, but the game was tight for a surprisingly long time. It was 20-14 at halftime, and 26-14 at the start of the 4th quarter. FIU was actually winning this game 14-13 until Bama scored another touchdown midway through the 2nd quarter. In the end, Bama righted themselves and racked up a lot of yards against an overmatched opponent.
Two future opponents went against each other, as Auburn blew out Mississippi State, 49-24. This is a different Auburn team from last year, at least on offense. Auburn had two rushers and a receiver go over 100 yards and backup quarterback Kodi Burns accounted for 4 touchdowns, 3 running and 1 throwing. The ATVSSECOSPPOW is probably coming from this game, but I'm not decided on who it is quite yet.
Florida whacked Troy.
That was the week that was here among past and future LSU opponents. I would say that ULL, Auburn, and Washington are up. La Tech, Georgia, and Mississippi State are down. Alabama and Florida stay around where they were.