The bottom-line these are two well coached, talented and successful teams. The loser of this game should have nothing to be ashamed of. I would not have given LSU a snowball chance in hell of playing in the sugar bowl when fall practice started. I projected LSU to be 9-3 or 10-2 at the very best. I figured 2004 would be our year to make a serious move. If both teams can survive the jitters at the start of the game, I think it will settle into a classic. What happened in both teams’ conference championship games does not matter now. Neither the win nor the loss is going to help either team win this game. How they perform 01/04/04 is all that matters. It’s been a long dry spell for LSU and I do believe this team is destined to be the NC of college football. The exciting thing for all fans based upon rosters I’ve viewed, the top three teams and several others are loaded for next season and that makes for some excellent games and bowl match ups. Other areas of excitement for LSU fans are that our baseball team is preseason #3 our basketball team is 8-0. I know it’s early in the basketball season but it’s exciting! Geaux Tigers and beat the Sooners! 2003 SEC & National Football Champions sure would sound great!
Here's a little bit of what I think about the Sooners. First of all, they are a terrific team and there is no doubt about that. However, I just do not believe that they are as good as advertised. I mean, really, when was the last time that a single team had so many players win the major postseason awards? Heisman, Nagurksi, Thorpe, etc., etc. I believe that the awards are a product of the hype surrounding this team all season. Now, exactly who has this team beaten? Is the Big XII really that great? They pounded a heartless Texas team, a lost Texas A&M team, a lamb-killing Texas Tech team, a mediocre Colorado team and the first time they faced someone with a little fight, they lost to Kansas State, who had never in the history of their program beaten a top ten team. I think it is going to be a good game, but I think that LSU is a better team than OU.
Sounds a lot like LSU vs Florida. LSU much like Oklahoma read too many news articles and listened to too many radio shows teling them how great they were and that the games were already won on paper. They both forgot that games are won on the field by the players and not by a bunch sports talking heads or fans on internet boards. Both teams had down games and were not mentally prepared. Both of those games are ancient history so don't base future success against them on their failure in the past. Both teams should be ready to play. Both teams are very very good and have earned the right to play for the Championship. Expect the best from both teams and a great game to see. Better luck next year my Sooner friends LSU 28 Sooners 17
Do you really think that OU will beat LSU "convincingly" when OU cannot run the ball? You are around 70th in the country in running. Add to that the fact that LSU has the top running D in the country. OU will not run the ball against LSU period. That makes you a one dimensional offense. You will have no option but to pass the ball. Your O line cannot stop LSU's D all game long. Look for Jason White to be on the ground a lot. Our secondary is more than up to the task to hang with your receivers. You might win the game (I doubt it though) but it will not be a "convincing" win.
In the Sunday edition of the Daily Disappointment here in OKC, Berry Tramel writes, "OU, fluke or fraud?" "It's hard to defend a team that fell 28 points shy on a neutral field in a game of championship import. But you can do it with these Sooners. Ou, after all didn't reach Olympus in 2003 by crafty maketing schemes. They beat Texas by 52 and OSU by 43. Those Orange crushes were marquee games with much of America watching. The Sooners were pushed only by Bama, which summoned it's deep tradition to put up a dapper fight in Tuscaloosa, and Colorado, which relies on foes to get light headed n the high mountain air. And in the Big XII title game, well the Sooners were jackhammered. But for 2 weeks prior to kickoff, college footballl monitors repeatedly stated OU did not have to win to make the Sugar Bowl. The Sooners responded that the BIG XII title DID matter and they wanted no back door entrance to NO. But the human mind is a sharp instrument. It knows fact from fiction. How can you penalize a team for losing a game they were told they didn't have to win? Ok, now fraud. Losing is one thing. Losing 35-7 is quite another. I'm just guessing that the national outcry-reflected in the polls- against OU's appointment in NO stems not from losing to KSU but from the margin of defeat. If the Sooners go down24-20, 35-31 or 17-13, then America forgives and says, "Hey, we told 'em they didn't have to win.". But 35-7? The best team in history looks like another Bill Snyder cupcake. Lose 35-7 and America doesn't forgive. Yes, the Sooners were told they didn't have to win but they weren't told they didn't have to show up! Lose 35-7 and OU's schedule is called into question. UCLA and Bama were way down from their ususal lofty perches. Texas A&M and Colorado likewise. Missouri and Texas Tech are decent teams but no dobermans. That leaves OSU and Texas. The Cowboys, bedlam conquerors two years running, were due to be avalalnched by miffed Sooners. And Texas, no matter what its prowess, is beat before the bus even reaches the Cotton Bowl. When finally faced with a team capable of punching back, the Sooners wilted." So that from an Ok. writer and OU supporter. You draw from it what you will. My own personal opinion is that OU is a fine team and by way of the BCS system belongs in the game. I don't believe they are better than LSU. At the beginning of the year, yes, LSU was a work in progress and OU definitely was the better team but not at this point. And that is all that matters, how they are at this point in time. If anybody reads into that that I don't have any respect for OU, they are wrong. Bob Stoops is an excellent coach and he has some fine players and fine young men on that team. But I just think we are better now and I feel we are a team of destiny. GEAUX TIGERS!!!! LSU, 2003 TEAM OF DESTINY!!!!!! 2003 CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP, GOT ONE?
