Perspective Piece: LSU-Tennessee By Matt Zemek Staff Columnist Posted Nov 2, 2006 When this game kicks off at roughly 2:35 Central time on Saturday, the Tennessee Volunteers hope that their in-state rivals from Nashville will be sealing an upset of Florida. But even if the Children of the Checkerboard can't take the SEC East lead this weekend, they still have reason to play with enthusiasm against the visting Bayou Bengals. This is a huge, sexy SEC confrontation made even more attractive by the fact that these teams from opposite divisions are "rotating" opponents, meaning that they don't play each other every year. While Auburn and Georgia will always cross the divisional divide to face off every November, the Vols and LSU won't annually meet on the gridiron. This matchup, then, is a treat. It will be particularly satisfying to see these teams duke it out this year, because the last time the Vols and Tigers faced each other, the monstrous winds and lashing rains of Katrina and Rita managed to dilute, mute and uproot the impact of their gathering in Baton Rouge. Read the rest of the story . . .
Although I agree that LSU has not exceeded regular season expectations against "quality" opponents, they haven't completely fallen on their faces either. Since the Tennessee game last season, the Tigers have defeated Florida, Auburn, and Alabama in regular season games. This year's loss to Auburn will forever be marked with an asterisk due to obvious reasons. As bad as we played against Florida, two close plays could have turned the game around. The delayed TD for Florida on 4th down and the phantom holding prior to our fumble inside the 1 yard line that cost us seven. I don't believe we have a "big game" or "big stadium" problem as much as we suffer from being too conservative against quality opponents. It happened under Saban and it has continued with Miles. The one constant...Jimbo Fisher. Don't get me wrong...I think Jimbo is good but he's obviously not the genius some consider him to be. Our lack of a running attack is what cost us a shot at the title this year. :nope:
