good read, well done. Confirms that we have never blown 21pt lead at home. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=2173451
Understand this: LSU officials said in the wee hours of Tuesday morning that the Tigers had never, in the 112-year history of the program, blown a 21-point lead at home. Into this no-win situation walked a winner named Rick Clausen. More to come with this Lou Tepper style of coaching!
Reminds me of the Bobby Knight quote about Dale Brown when LSU was beating Indiana pretty good. Knight said something to the effect that he thought the game was over and then he looked at the other bench and saw Dale and knew that his team had a chance. Indiana ended up winning that game. I think Fulmer went in at halftime and thought the exact same thing when he saw less and co on the other sideline.
well, it was just one game Ricky "People say I transferred from LSU because I wasn't good enough to play," Clausen said defiantly before leaving the field, with most of a stunned home crowd still staring glassy-eyed at the orange-and-white celebration. "They can say what they want." -R.C.
This just cracks me up. Of course people say that. It's true. So he was the QB for the team that won the game, fine, enjoy it, talk some smack. Hell, talk a lot of smack. But don't for a second think he wasn't given a shot, and was somehow mistreated at LSU.
You would think they would KNOW he couldn't throw the deep ball and press his receivers or rush him like crazy, WHY THE SOFT COVERAGE?
Wow, that description of the atmosphere last night gave me chills. Make sure you read on in the column.
"From well before kickoff, an incredible energy percolated through this old stadium. The Golden Band from Tigerland strutted into place, white shoes stepping crisply across the green grass, and the anticipatory roar began to build. The roar surged across Tiger Stadium, from deep in the collective gut of 92,000. And when the LSU band blasted the four famous notes that start the school fight song ... ... Daaaaaa da-daa da ... ... It was time for a manic, primal, cathartic eruption. The song is entitled, "Hold That Tiger," but there was no holding back. Not anymore. Four weeks to the day after Hurricane Katrina hurled rain and wind and destruction and death across the Gulf Coast, after the saddest month in Louisiana history, LSU would finally play a home game. They had been denied this home-opening rite for 23 heartbreaking days, since the opener with North Texas was supposed to be played. They played their second home game across the country in Tempe, Ariz. Then this game with Tennessee was postponed two days by Hurricane Rita. As the kid's sign read in the student section: "Katrina is gone and Rita is away dear God, let me see the Tigers play" And so the band played, and the noise broke loose and pierced the broiling Louisiana air. And a few minutes later, when the LSU players' gold helmets bounced into view from the tunnel leading to the field, the noise grew even louder. It pressed on your eardrums on the floor of Tiger Stadium. It chilled your skin. It damn near lifted your feet off the ground. Les Miles stood in front of his screaming LSU players at the edge of the field and spread out his arms. "Hold on!" Miles yelled over his shoulder. "Hold on!" No shot, Les. The players pushed their coach 15 feet until he was underneath the goal post, and finally poured around him. The roaring even healed the lame. Running back Alley Broussard, out for the season with an August knee injury, high-stepped onto the field like he was ready for 25 carries. The emotional floodgates broke and they let it all go in Tiger Stadium. Death Valley became Celebration of Life Valley. At that deafening moment you wondered whether this was what it was like during Billy Cannon's Halloween run 46 years ago. That fabled outburst registered on university seismographs. This one was off the charts on the emotional Richter Scale. Monday night was the ultimate evidence that college football thrives on a raw emotion not evident anywhere else in American sports. But emotion does not exist in endless quantities and can only carry a team so far -- and in the end, emotion didn't work overtime. Tennessee did, lifted to one of its greatest victories by Nobody's All-American." One hellah of piece of writing... nicewon!
