Why Les Talked Smack about USC

He's a smart guy and understands the media well. Look online only a couple days after his comments. Most sports sites and magazines are talking USC/LSU, reliving the 2003 controversy, etc. This is what the Tigers need at the beginning of the season to ensure a #2 pre-season ranking from sports writers (assuming the Trojans are #1). The higher a team's pre-season ranking, the better the chance they have of losing one game and still ending up playing for the BCS Title in New Orleans. Les knows the chances are slim that any team will go undefeated through the SEC. He wants that #2 ranking in the pre-season as a sort of insurance policy. Smart move, as the only way the Tigers will play the now-angry Trojans is if they both make it to the Sugar.

I like it.

 

What do you say to the people, like Stewie Mandel, that think CLM threw it out there to make excuses for when we lose a game in the tough SEC?

 

I say Stewie can have his opinion. And his expression is just a more cynical way of saying what I said. That is, it's damn hard to go undefeated in the SEC, chances are that the Tigers are going to lose one, and Les wants to make sure his team has the best chance possible of getting to the title game at 12-1.

Remember, with one loss Florida came dangerously close to not getting a chance to prove how much better they were than Ohio St!

 

Pretty much.

Well he sure got me fired up. I can't remember the last time I had such anticipation for a season to start.

 

Makes sense to me. Hadn't thought about it like that. Just thought it was funny

 

I don't. Not in rec league, HS, college, or NFL. You know what public statements like that do to a team. I believe that had a lot to do with Texas beating USC in the NC Game.......all week long- "How would this GREAT TROJAN team, greatest OF ALL TIMES, fare against....." I was sick of it and wished I could have suited up for that one- don't think Mac Brown didn't play it up, and that wasn't from the school/coach but the media.......just think.

To single out any team is something no player/coach should ever do- no need to give an opponent any extra motivation. Play our best EVERY time we take the field and things will take care of themselves. If I were a coach of ANY Pac 10 team who played an SEC team this year- it'd be plastered all over my locker room and played at each practice the week leading up to the game. JMO.

 

I agree. Dont forget that this is the second team that he has specifically called out (Bama). While Alabama has always despised us as an SEC west rival, Miles' comment just added even more fuel to the fire. I just dont like giving USC and Pete Carroll, an expierienced coach who will know how to use this as motivation, should all the cards fall just right, any more motivation. I cannot stand Carroll or USC, but they are still a very talented team, love them or hate them, so should they go undefeated this year it wouldnt be totally unjustified, even with an easier conference schedule.

 

I think you are giving Les way too much credit.

 

Oregon football supporter here.

I read the article by Mandel and never realized how much anger LSU fans have toward the USC "thunder" theft. I never realized it because, except for what is portrayed on the media, everyone who is a football fan knows that LSU won the agreed on title from the BCS bowl that year. USC signed up to that agreement, so their claim to a part of the title is crass and shameful.

If I was an LSU fan I wouldn't worry about it to much, other than pointing out how wrong people are that might bring it up in conversation. People outside of LSU recognize that the title was yours and yours alone. Kind of like Emmit Smith scoring a touchdown, act like you've been there before.

While I'm taking up forum space, I'd also like to thank LSU basketball for making me some money in the 2006 tournament. Even with losing to the luckiest team in the nation that year, in F-UCLA, the gain more than made up for the losses.

I'd never seen a bigger contingent of true fans in a casino cheering for their team then I saw cheering for LSU that year. Hell, I even joined into the LSU chant, after giving Duke a good thrashing.

 

Welcome to the board, and stick around a while!