Les Miles Post-Scrimmage 8-11-12
I was hoping we'd lead off this morning with scrimmage reports (they'll be after the break) but of course reaction to the loss of Tyrann Mathieu has dominated every LSU and college football corner of the press this weekend. One thing I missed until this weekend was AD Joe Alleva talking to reporters after Miles' press conference on Friday, in which he was so cryptic I wonder why he even took the time to talk. Kleinpeter at the Times Pic has the best read from the weekend on the whole situation.
As for the prognosticators, opinion generally falls into one of two camps:
A. LSU is going to be fine and will just plug in the next freakishly talented player off the bench and will still roll right on through to Miami (Hotard, Hobbs, Low, and a tongue-in-cheek Spencer Hall)
B. The loss of Mathieu's game-changing abilities bring LSU back to earth and make the conventional top 3 of LSU-Bama-USC more of a toss up (Feldman, Sallee)
The team is saying all the right things, as you might expect, and the mood at Fan Day on Saturday was subdued, but hopeful. Video of Mettenberger and Mingo speaking to the press after the Saturday scrimmage is after the break.
And now for the other unpleasantness last week. I doubt that anyone who regularly reads this site was doing anything but rooting for Lolo Jones to get that redemption we all hoped she would attain. But life doesn't always give you the fairy tale ending. Last week started off with a harsh column in the New York Times criticizing the amount of publicity she has revived despite not being the favorite to win her event. Backlash against the column has been pretty universal, from Awful Announcing, to the track community, to the NYT's public editor, and even ESPN's sports business guru. Then she went on to place 4th in her event with her best time of the season and had her US teammates Support has been outpouring from the LSU community as well, including the LSU Athletic Dept. and even Dr. Shaq himself. For her part, Lolo certainly hasn't shied away from the press in the days following her 4th place finish. And last night we found out she's a pretty big fan of Oasis.
(Something of note about NYT columnist Jere Longman. As the LA Hayride pointed out, he's an LSU alumni and this isn't the first time this year he's written something almost indefensibly negative related to LSU. A piece last fall that openly questioned if LSU was putting too much emphasis on football given the current problems the university faces, even though those problems were not caused by the team and that said team is so financially successful it's now giving millions back to LSU to help fix those budget issues.)
Ugh. I think we need to clean the slate a bit before moving on to the good news. How about a funny gif?
Ryan Theriot, last week against St Louis, not entirely sure that the inning is over.
LSU held it's scrimmage indoors on Saturday due to the rain. LSU provided the usual made up stat sheet for the practice. What I found most interesting was the report of Russell Shepard taking some "balls out of the backfield" and yet his stats put him 3rd on the WR pecking order, with ODB Jr being the feature receiver.
It's becoming a disturbing trend in College Baseball nationwide, but I believe Miss St. is the first SEC school to move the fences in due to the current bat issues. As for Tigers in the Pros, Mahtook is cruising through the Rays' system, Gausman's pro debut was a flawless 3 innings, and Ranaudo's season has been cut short due to injury rehab. Meanwhile, in the summer leagues, the Cape Cod League is dealing with a season of juiced balls. LSU catching commit Michael Barash plans to enroll early this January. Commits Tyler Allen and Nick Longhi have been impressive in a few high school all-star games.
After the media day session last Tuesday, practice was closed to the media and will be for the foreseeable future. The Times-Pic has a nice piece from the media day giving an update of how the Kragthorpe's are dealing with the coach's Parkinson's disease, including news that his son Brad gave up backup role at Idaho St. to become a walk-on QB at LSU this year.
SmartFootball's Chris Brown had a great piece on Grantland.com last week about how defensive players like Tyrann Mathieu are the beginning of a change in the way defense is played. Too bad it ran last week.
With the NFL preseason in full swing last week, a few newly former Tigers got their first snaps in the pros. Jarrett Lee played the majority of the game for San Diego, going 15-22 for 235 with a TD pass and an INT. Not to unseal old wounds (and really, how much can you take from a preseason game anyway) but that's more passing yards than Lee had in all but 2 games in his LSU career. Also in the pros, Stevan Ridley gave big credit to LSU and Kevin Faulk for getting him prepared to take a big step in his NFL career, Trindon Holiday still has the speed, Matt Flynn looked good in those horrendous Seahawks unis, and Claude Wroten has been signed as a free agent by Edmonton.
It was a decent Olympic showing for LSU overall (and the SEC as a whole), with a pair of golds in Women's basketball from Seimone Augustus and Sylvia Fowles, who are now the only Tigers to win more than one Olympic gold medal. Augustus was on Outside The Lines this week discussing her upcoming marriage.
No one is quite sure what's going on with Oxford, MS native and one-time LSU signee QB Jeremy Liggins, but he isn't going to be spending the year in a Mississippi JUCO as planned ($) The Cup is now wondering if Ole Miss might try to woo him again when he becomes eligible.
Our Miss St. blog bros at FWtCT have a brief preview of this year's game and like most, they don't see a win for a visiting team in Tiger Stadium.
If you've ever wondered what the NCAA regulations for football practice are, here's a handy chart from the compliance dept.
Mizzou is laying down new turf at their baseball stadium and has sold out of football season tickets for the first time in program history ahead of their SEC debut season. Meanwhile, Arkansas is having some serious issues selling out any game that's not against LSU or Alabama. At least John L. Smith appears to be enjoying the Razorbacks.
The Toomer Trees at Auburn had a preventive pruning last week ahead of the fall and the results are startling.
Florida is changing their field graphics and iconic stadium wall signs. It looks terrible.
Allen H.S. in Texas has a brand new football stadium. It cost $60 Million and seats more than 18K.
More troubling news for EA's NCAA football game as there has been a big drop in sales for this year's version.
This Week In Bad Uniforms: What are you doing Virginia Tech? (Meanwhile, I hope Idaho brings these great looking black helmets with them to the LSU game)
The SBN B1G blog did a conference power poll using Civil War generals. UNION Civil War generals.
The Birmingham Barons are moving to a new stadium, which could mean big trouble for Hoover Municipal stadium, the longtime host of the SEC Baseball Tournament.
ESPN's college football preview magazine came out last week and, aside from a badly timed Tyrann Mathieu profile, has a good read on Urban Meyer's new life at Ohio St.
SI's preseason issue also has a few good reads, including a profile of Joe Tessitore (who is being promoted in ESPN's announcer hierarchy this season), a look at the continually evolving role of TV in college football, and their annual roundtable discussion of the CFB TV landscape.
We end today with a hearty welcome to SB Nation's new Auburn blog, College & Magnolia. In addition to a posse of great writers, C&M is also bringing along AUPPL, one of the best college baseball blogs in the SEC.
Mettenberger Post Scrimmage 8-11-12
Mingo Post Scrimmage 8-11-12
Fan Day 2012