I don't think this has been posted yet, although I haven't been on as much lately, so I could've missed it. If so, let me know. It's not bad though, and I think a pretty fair assessment. http://www.collegefootballnews.com/2004/Columnists/MZ/PP_LSU_Georgia.htm By Matthew Zemek When you watch the SEC game of the year between defending national champion LSU and Georgia—the two-time SEC East titleist and 2002 conference king—you won’t want to change the channel. But for the Tigers and Dawgs, changing the channel will be absolutely necessary. One true-enough statement about college football is that it is defined by emotion, governed by passion, ruled by momentum. But that true statement can easily be oversimplified and lead a person to conclude that the team with more raw energy wins all the time. Just ask Kansas State how much raw energy meant before 2003, when the Wildcats finally toned down their emotions and played focused football to shock Oklahoma in the Big XII Championship Game. For many years, K-State teams were so amped-up before kickoff that they forgot to focus. Overexcitement prevented the Cats from paying due attention to detail, and they got burned on many an occasion in big games. College football, then, isn’t so much about emotions themselves as it is about CHANNELING emotions into the flow and form of a game, into the strategy and psychology of attacking an opponent. For LSU and Georgia, there are serious issues in this titanic tilt that pertain to how the teams will channel their emotions. Thus, the need to “change the channel.” For LSU, the quarterback position has to become more polished and fluid, as either Marcus Randall or JaMarcus Russell will need to channel their considerable athletic talents (and their butterflies) into the flow of this game. Basketball coach Rick Pitino once famously said that pressure, instead of being a negative, can make players “jump higher, run faster, and play harder.” With body and brain, that’s exactly what pressure will need to do for the throwing mechanics and on-the-spot decision-making of LSU’s quarterbacks, however they’ll wind up dividing playing time. For Georgia, the channel needs to be changed as well, but in a direction different from LSU, whose quarterbacks have made mistakes borne from the zeal of inexperience (Russell) or impatience (Randall). For the Dawgs, it will be interesting to see if this team has been laying low, “sandbagging” the Tigers into a false sense of hope through September. Georgia’s offense has been absolutely dreadful so far this season, except for the very part of the game against South Carolina when the Dawgs had to score. That one glimpse of smoothness—which came precisely when the moment demanded it—gives one the impression that if this offense is good, it simply bothers to show up when it needs to, and that David Greene, a wily veteran, is choosing to flip the “on” switch only when he finds it absolutely necessary. Saturday, the low-key Greene will need to amp up the voltage, and show that his offense can play ball for 60 minutes against a world class defense that humiliated him twice last season. It boggles the mind to think how good Georgia can be if its offense can become consistent… and we’re not talking about the underwhelming kind of consistency the Dawgs have displayed so far. Changing the channel—LSU needs to downshift and make the action appear slower for its quarterbacks; David Greene and Georgia need to turn it up a notch and show the extra edge that’s been missing so far. During the month of August, “Athens 2004” aired on NBC. On Saturday, though, “Athens 2004” becomes a very different sort of clash… on CBS. Everything about this game comes down to changing the channel, doesn’t it?
