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Ali Bomaye!
One of the thesis of Delusional Optimism is that there are no such things as moral losses. In the same vein, there are no such things as moral victories. It’s much the same as Yoda saying “do or do not, there is no try”.
When Alabama is favored by 21 points, that opens the door for a lot of potential moral victories.
“Well, we kept Alabama from covering.”
“At least we kept it close until the fourth quarter.”
“We gave them the best shot they had all season, so there is that.”
Moral victories like that don’t go in a special column in LSU’s record, only the one to the right. They don’t win recruiting battles. They don’t do anything for LSU’s run to the Atlanta other than hurt it.
They don’t close the gap between the programs.
Don’t get me wrong, I am very proud of the effort LSU gave last year, especially on defense. They held the water and were it not for some blatant missed holds, they completely stopped Alabama. The problem is Alabama also stopped LSU before they could even get started.
As a team, they fell short of the mark.
It’s not impossible. This sport is built around the fact that the people who decide every game are all aged between 18 and 22. It happens almost literally every week, and with a much steeper talent drop off than Alabama and LSU’s. Iowa State over TCU. Iowa State over Oklahoma. Syracuse over Clemson. Arizona State over Washington. Mississippi State over LSU.
Troy over LSU.
They say it’s lonely at the top, but this the best shit ever
Don’t you see me out here shining?
Bitch I’m barely flexing
I get it. Alabama is the Death Star and Ed Orgeron is still building his program, and he has significant problems at certain positions due to issues that are outside of his control. I’m finding myself more of a Coach O apologist than most people, which is surprising because I frankly did not think he was the right fit for what the program wanted to become and think Alleva made the wrong decision. I will not chastise him if LSU loses a respectable game to the best team in the nation.
LSU wants to be the best team in the country. With the resources available in Baton Rouge, it is very possible to get to that level. But Bama is standing in their way of that, and since they denied them a fourth national championship LSU can not get past them. They tried to do it five times, and failed every single time. So they fired the winningest coach in program coach. And then the interim lost to make it six straight.
We already issued Orgeron a mulligan for last year, because he was just an interim trying to pull together a respectable season out of LSU. He did, and from that he locked up the job as head coach.
Now it’s year one and it won’t be the end of the world if he loses, but at the same time he has no excuses if he comes in second. Tell The Truth Monday will be easy if the expected outcomes comes to fruition: Alabama is simply a better football team than LSU. It’s his job to change that.
There are no moral victories to be had.
Every day was life and death, that’s when the cash came
He has the weapons to pull this off. In fact, he has more than that. He has players that Alabama once coveted and recruited heavily. The kids that decide the game on the field for the white team are even with those wearing red. All they need is guidance from the sideline.
Make no mistake, this is why Ed Orgeron was hired, to get over the Alabama hump and bring LSU to the top tier of college football, where they think they belong. This is why Matt Canada was hired. This is why Dave Aranda was hired. This is why Arden Key came here. This is why Devin White came here. This is why Derrius Guice came here. This is why DJ Chark came here.
The Nature Boy Ric Flair once said “To be the man, you’ve got to beat the man.”
We know where the man lives. Let’s go pay him a visit.