Listening to all the sports shows all week so far, and all the talking heads already have Alabama penciled into the national championship game. None are really even mentioning LSU except on my way home on siriusxm college 91 Chris Leak and the other Chris the host kept saying that if LSU had a qb no one would ever beat them. I wish I could give a speech to the team before they went in the tunnel.
Randy Rosetta published his prediction today: "With a better quarterback, a more productive offense and plenty of confidence, the Tide seizes control in the second half and pulls away late ... Alabama 23, LSU 10"
Agreed. This is one of the reasons I think LSU wins this. Everyone outside of LSU expects the Menarchal Gumps (aka Crimson Tide) to win, for good reason mind you, but we are somehow under the radar in this one. We will come out inspired, get momentum early, Bama then comes back in the second qtr, but in the end we win the turnover battle, and win the game in the 4th. Much like 2010, I think we pull this one out 24-17 w/Bama being held to only a FG in the 2nd half. Mett is a steady 18-24 for 205yds, in a not so overly impressive fashion, but no INTs. He does fumble once on a sack. Counterpart is 19-23 for 235yds, but has 2 INTs. They also fumble once inside their own 30 setting up an LSU TD.
Remember, folks, "Tiger Stadium is truly a place where opponents' dreams come to die." Spurrier has a story from about 15yrs ago that he'd like to share with you if you don't buy it.
its simple common sense and observation. Mett is not a good QB by any stretch of the imagination. The LSU receivers are not a good group (Landry is pretty good). LSU offensive although much better is still not trusted to go without max protection. What have you seen out of our offense to makes you think we are going to win this game?
POTENTIAL!!! You are wrong that Mett is a terrible QB. He's learning, but he has a great arm, and he can manage the offense effectively. With our defense, it won't take much to win the game. We don't have to win with a Pac-12 score. If the game ends up 3-0, we win. It also won't take much to spark our defense to play beyond its norm. Just a few points becomes something for them to protect. .. it gives them incentive. I don't know if we will win or not .. but the potential to win is there.
Like many times in the Les Miles era, common sense can fly out the door in a big game, especially where we are underdogs. I think he'll have the team up for this game, and I like our chances--provided we can move the ball with any consistency. I believe we are capable of that; however, we've too often come up short on offense this season. Actually, the pressure in this game is all on Bama. We're expected to lose--which means that we can play loose, while Bama, though disciplined (although I've seen Sunseri and his band of hotheads commit some dirty plays this season), will likely be tighter than we will be. That could be a difference. It was in 2010, for sure.
The ability to put together long drives & therefore control the clock. We had a great gameplan vs SC and we executed it well, particularly considering that they are by far the best defense we've seen to this point. Now, we went to the well one too many times with the west-coast passes and it cost us. But we made adjustments and avoided beating ourselves. If the offense is focused and can play with that sort of instensity, then the defense will feed off of that energy and it's lights out for the crimson turd. That said, we sure as hell have better found the magic bullet for our red zone woes because we have been putrid inside the 20s. Remember, this is college football, where logic & observation frequently take a back seat to emotion & intangibles.
