plain & simple. In some phases, Bama dominated us. Our OL play was pathetic and was the primary reason we got shut out. Bama was the better team coming in and their performance last night confirmed to me they are the best team in the nation. Credit to our D for holding them scoreless for 3 quarters. The link is to the box score. http://www.lsusports.net/ViewContent.dbml?CONTENT_ID=1926566
I think most will agree they're the best team... Imo, people don't like when they seem to get help from the refs that they don't even need... Sometimes the best team still loses on occasion...
Yes we were beaten by a better team. However in the first half we had some offensive success. In fact we had an 18-12 minute time of possession edge and more first downs. I point this out because two drives (or potential drives) were impacted by the Birmingham mafia. On a 3rd down Etling was scrambling slid feet first and was hit head to head by a Alabama lb. should have been 15 yards a first down and possible ejection. On another 3rd down I think our receiver was pushed out then flung to the ground. Both times the mafioso swallowed the flag. Who knows what would have happened if the calls had been made? Likely not much but those actions could have changed the game in our favor. Likewise in the second half two very questionable actions by the mafia cost us dearly. The first was when Deven White was flagged for a late hit on Hurts. It appeared to me Hurts was in bounds and had he not been hits could have gone upfield as he did on later plays. This extended the gump TD drive. I think it also forced us to be more cautious when Hurts was running along the sideline later in the game. Of course there was the unbelievable non call of holding on Neal during Hurt's TD run. Neal likely wouldn't have made the tackle but holding is holding. No TD on that play and the best Alabama can expect is a FG. Yes Alabama was better...or their D was much better than our O and we wore out, BUT it's impossible to beat them and the striped Birmingham mafia.
I would be interested on getting a sane Alabama fan's take on this like @TUSKtimes. Does it feel just a little dirty to know you have the best team in the country almost year in and year out lately and you get away with that garbage? Look I don't think LSU wins last night with a game called up the middle, still doesn't take away the fact that it seems like week in and week out Alabama is getting every call, and at crucial times in the games which seem to really open things up for them.
I don't think the hit on Etling was targeting. I thought both out of bounds hits could've gone either way and they did. No surprise it was in Bama favor both times. The holding was obvious. But Chark got away with offensive pass interference also. The no call on the holding was the only egregious mistake by the refs last night.
Etling slid feet first....anyhit could be called a personal foul. This was compounded by the fact he was hit on the head with the crown of the gump's helmet. That is targeting by definition.
