Tiger Tracklist: Florida

I rolled on as the sky grew dark,

I put the pedal down to make some time.

There’s something good waiting down this road.

I’m picking up whatever’s mine.

LSU is 5-0 coming out of September. Those of you who had predicted that in August come down to collect your winnings.

But we just completed the first leg of our journey to December, and the easiest leg if you can believe that. LSU still has Florida, Georgia, Mississippi State, and Alabama left in the regular season. Those are all Top 20 matchups according to S&P+. People nationally have taken notice of what LSU has done in September, but nobody really believes LSU can survive that in one piece.

As they very well should. LSU has spent the better part of a decade setting lofty goals and falling painfully short of them. They have no reason to believe in LSU. Your choose how people perceive you and while it can be difficult to change that, winning is the only way to do that.

It won’t be easy, but that’s the entire point. Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty.

I’mma do just what I want,

Looking ahead, no turning back.

People tell me slow my roll,

I’m screaming out, “Fuck that.”

For LSU to complete the Trench Run and blow up the Death Star, they first have to survive the actual trench. Florida is nothing more than the first turret cannon that sits outside the entrance. It’s going to take perfect week after perfect week after perfect week after perfect week. The odds of having so many perfect weeks in a row may be slim, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.

Miss me with that bullshit,

You’re not a gang member, you’re a tourist.

I be blacking out with the purist.

This ain’t what you want, this ain’t what you want.

And of course it starts with Florida. Of course.

I struggle to call this a rivalry, I really do. LSU’s relationship with Florida is just contentious. LSU came into their golden era at the same time Florida was shaking back from The Zook Years and as such, the fans saw a sport a mirror opposite of themselves (with some cultural differences, like LSU and Louisiana actually being interesting) in a sport with finite resources. If the university was in, say, Hattiesburg or Lake Charles then I would rethink not calling it a rivalry. But as it stands, they are nothing more than a team stuck with LSU by the SEC and content with instigating as much commotion as possible.

They are without a doubt the most antagonistic fanbase in college football, to the point where they have no other real discernible traits. They are the cheap three dollar heel who comes into town and says mean things to the crowd to draw boos.

You been crossin’ our minds, they talk down every now and then,

On the side, who gave ‘em style 9 times out of 10?

And then there is the DBU angle. I’m less offended over the claim (which is not even close to air-tight) than I am the fact that they saw LSU having something that seemed fun and deciding to run with it. And then they did it again to Michigan and North Carolina with the Jordan branding. About the only unique thing to come out of Florida is Two Bits which doesn’t exactly get the juices flowing. Two bits and Gatorade.

So don’t be surprised when Florida comes to Baton Rouge next year (for the first time in two years...) and their band plays Earthquake or they start issuing #18 out to a veteran leader. It’s just what Florida does. Other teams innovate, Florida comes in and appropriates.

Came up on this side, now they on the other side.

Oh well, fuck em dog, we gone see how hard they ride.

At the end of the day, I’m glad this is a ranked vs. ranked game. I love that Florida has been revitalized by beating Mississippi State. Again I say: I love that Florida has been revitalized by beating Mississippi State. I love that this game is at 2:30, because then there are no other games to distract the nation for what’s going to happen in Gainesville. Why? Well for one I don’t want people to find new avenues to discredit LSU, as if that has stopped them before.

Secondly,