That theory is just as overblown as well. They are college kids and recover very quickly. There a lot of crappy teams that hit harder than good teams so it really doesnt matter. Not to mention the hitting was over after the first quarter.
I was in the locker room all season, dude. the guys were battered. You'd have sworn they lost the Va Tech game by 42 the next day. A lot of people say LSU beat Va Tech as badly as they did because Va Tech was playing with TOO MUCH of a chip on their shoulder with the whole shooting angle. I been in the locker room for 3 seasons and that game and the Tennessee loss were the 2 worst in terms of the team being fatigued.
I have a question for you clair ? When we get left out of a NC game like Auburn or USC or their are 3 undefeated's and we get left out because our non conference schedule was a joke will you be so eager to point out how good business is? That is one thing we used this year to justify ourselves and rightly so. If we dont beat VT this year we are playing in the Sugar Bowl and not the NC game. So thats what i mean by good business. And it just seems to me that we could shedule one OOC game with some meaning every year. I am LSU through and through but if it comes down to us and someone else that played a tougher schedule then i will be man enough to say they deserve it. Because it is backing your way in and it isnt the right thing to do. Even if it puts more money in the schools pocket. How exciting would a LSU Texas game on a nuetral site be!!! Or Texas Am home and home like we used to do. Those are the kind of games people want to see.
you are all just too blind to see the flip side... the strong OOC games are fun when you win 'em... but say you're Va Tech and you're only out of the big game b/c you lost in the "big game". it goes hand in hand. the SEC is hard enough for me, thank you. If Va Tech schedules Miami Ohio in week 2 and wins, they play for the title. They schedule LSU and the rest is history. There are 2 sides to every coin. Would you feel the way you do if LSU had lost to TTech in week 1 and missed the title game because of that?
Im not saying they weren't physical. That wasn't the point. The fact that it wears on a team all year is overblown. Of course games wear on you, but substituting Appy St for Va Tech isnt going to make a difference come the SEC CG. Now if we played VT 5 times that would be different.
as much as i'd like to see a good opponent, i'm kinda with clair. take care of biz in the SEC and your strength of schedule will be fine. the reason VT got us in the game last year was we were a two loss team. the first ever in a NC game. i think what most people realize is that most teams do NOT want to play us. when an ath dept schedules a home and home they want about a 70-80% chance of winning their home game and a 40-50% of winning their away game. playing us put those percentages in a bad place for opposing schools especially on the road b/c of the rep that death valley has as a tough place to play. tamu still doesn't want to renew the rivalry and i don't think texas will ever ever ever do a series with us especially with the progress we've made in texas in recruiting in recent years. now from a season ticket's holder perspective, i totally understand the wanting to play a more marquis matchup to get more bang for your buck. i can't fault people for that way of thinking (especially since i'm not a season ticket holder).
I strongly agree with Clair! When you play enough ranked opponents it makes up for the weak OOCS. Yes I am well aware of the Auburn arguement, but there is a different system in place now in the BCS, the points are calculated differently, and a different poll is used. The SOS factor is not as important as it was then, but it is still important. Please allow me to explain. Some of the computers factor SOS in a strange manner. A human can see that if a team wins 5 games against top 15 opponents, they belong in the NCG. A computer will put too much emphasis on the fact that some of that team's wins were against really weak opponents. The computer is too stupid to see that the qualitiy wins mean so much more than the games against the weak teams on a schedule, (does it really matter if you beat a weak 6 win team, as compared to a weak 3 win team?). Likewise, the AP pollsters tend to be too stupid to move a team ahead of another team, even if they are more deserving. There tends to be this "only move them down if they lose" mentality. This poll is no longer used. 2/3 of the BCS is from the human polls, and one of those polls (the Harris) was specifically set up so that the correct choices would be made. An example of the benefit of this poll is that they decided GA did not belong in the NC because they did not win the SEC. The arguement that LSU would get left out of the NCG like Auburn did is not as valid it once was, because of our SOS against top teams. If we beat FL, GA, AU, and then FL or GA again in the SECCG, do you really think the pollsters would leave us out? They put us in when we had 2 losses, and one was the last game of the regular season. The year before they ranked us 3rd with 2 losses. If you hate that arguement, look at it this way... which scenario is more likely: 1. there are 3 undefeated (or one loss) teams and LSU gets left out or 2. LSU gets beat by this imaginary BCS conference foe you guys want to play. As for me, I will take the odds that winning the best conference in the nation will get us where we want to go. I want to play as many home games as possible every year. I don't even like playing Tulane in NO! That's my 2 cents...flame away.... GEAUX TIGERS
An idea for a poll: Which do you prefer: 1. LSU plays as many home games as possible, realizing that this will make for a weaker schedule in the race for the NCG, but with more likely wins. 2. LSU schedules a home and home against a strong OOC opponent, realizing that a loss could put us out of contention for the NCG, but a win puts us in better position.
I heard the Arkansas game was THE worst. Word I got from someone there said they'd NEVER seen so many ice packs. Not true? Just asking, I know some people can exaggerate- how bad was it after Arky? BTW, that was one of the reasons I was skeptical about the SECCG but, at the time, couldn't say it- I was asked not to repeat it then.
