Exactly my point. "Miles needs to move on", "playcalling sucks", Saban wouldn't have struggled against MSU", etc., etc., etc. If Bear Bryant was our coach and Bill Walsh was our OC, and Buddy Ryan was our DC and Jordan Jefferson was playing like a seasoned veteran, we would still be 5-0 and we would still be #4. Not stupid at all. What happens if we lose it completely irrelevant to this point.
Winning ugly is ok if you are going to win them all. Its when you win ugly and lose is when style points matter. Since its so difficult to win them all you really need style points in your victories. We havent gained any style points this year. Of course we wouldnt be ranked any higher if we had blown everyone out. We would still be #4.
Well we got our props in 2003 and 2007 when the final BCS polls came out on those crisp cool December afternoons. But this year, and maybe very deservingly so, we have not gotten the respect you would think a #4 team would get. We have to earn it. I think we will get it after Saturday night with a win, regardless of Tebow playing or not. They will chalk it up to that Mad Hatter Les Miles being back on the scene.
So, style points would have made no difference. If you lose a game, the earlier "style points" would mean nada.
I agree that it can matter how you win, but the bottom line is that if you are the SEC Champ with one loss or less you will be playing in the BCSCG unless there are 2 undefeateds from BCS conferences. Period. I'm not saying that's how LSU will finish, I'm just saying that applies to pretty much any SEC school. I don't think 2004 will be repeated anytime soon.
actually it is probably going to matter if you want to win a championship. the bcs comes out at a bad time, after the bye week. if we lose by a couple of td's to florida we're going to get passed by a lot of other one loss teams and then we dont even play the next week. its going to be tough to make up that ground because most will assume the team isnt as good as the record. of course its probably a moot point because if we look like we did against a couple of the teams we'll more than likely pick up another L somewhere along the way.
What is really going to upset me is if we lose to Florida we will fall below every team with 1 Loss and possibly Oklahoma with 2 Losses. Even though we will have lost to the #1 Team in the Nation! We Beat a Washington team on the road to open the season who knocked off a #4 USC Team, a Team who beat Ranked Ohio State & Cal. We also beat a #14 Team on the Road. Who has Ohio State, Penn State, Ole’ Miss, or Kansas beaten that is ANY GOOD???? Why Should we fall below the any of them? Not too mention, If Florida wins this game this will be there ONLY Impressive win while Bama, and Texas have failed to Impress anybody either!
I disagree. This team is slowly peaking and learning how to win despite adversity. Of course a loss along the way is more probable than not, but I see the early games as making them tougher and better. If Stanford had opened at UW they would have been mauled. MSU was feeling pretty damn good about themselves before we brought them back to reality. Ole Miss beat Vandy by virtually the same score as us and USL (whether they admit it or not) geared everything to the LSU game. I wish all LSU fans could learn to enjoy the ride.
If you've built up a bunch of style points in your wins you are less likely to fall as much in the polls after a loss. I basically agree with Brett's point.
