Bleacher Report - LSU Football

LSU-Ole Miss Preview: Don't Tell Them There Is Nothing To Play For

ACC SEC Blog — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:57:42 -0500

What some thought might be a game for the SEC West title has most likely turned into a game for the Capitol One Bowl.

LSU has two losses, albeit to the two top teams in the country, and is out of BCS bowl contention despite their lofty ranking. Ole Miss came crashing back to Earth in Columbia on a Thursday night in late September.

But there is still a lot of pride in this “rivalry” game (probably second biggest for both teams) and it is the CBS game of the week, so it is my SEC game of the week.

Last week was a good week going 11-1 straight up and 7-4-1 against the spread, including both games right involving these two teams.

Here are the areas where I think this game will swing.

Quarterback Play

It is really about which QB hurts their team less. I never thought I would say that about Jevan Snead at the beginning of the season, but he had a sub-par year by everyone’s standards not named Mr. and Mrs. Snead.

And for LSU, Jordan Jefferson looks like he will start after injuring an ankle two weeks ago and sitting out last week. Jefferson has been kind of a disappointment this year too after his play in the Chick Fil A Bowl. .

But if Jarrett Lee has to spell him, then this message really applies to the Tigers.

The Dexter McClusters

No I did not spell that wrong. I will get to that in a minute.

LSU’s defense has to know where Dexter McCluster is at all times. And Ole Miss has to have him involved a lot at all times. He is the best offensive weapon the Rebels have by far.

On LSU’s side their potential Dexter McCluster, Russell Shepard, has to get involved too. Its November, he isn’t a freshman anymore. Les Miles need to take the reins of this highly touted recruit from a year ago.

Emotion

Both of these teams have had disappointing years thus far, but are in relatively similar situations as last year when Ole Miss came into Baton Rouge and dominated the Tigers on their Senior Day.

Neither team is going to Atlanta nor are they going to a BCS bowl. The team that shows the most pride, especially on the line of scrimmage has a great chance to win this game..

Prediction

If Jefferson gets hurt again or is too gimpy to be effective it could be a long day for LSU. People have been down on Ole Miss this season, but this is the game last year where they caught the SEC’s attention and started on their march to 9 wins.

I think on a neutral field LSU may be the better team, but with the game in Oxford I give Ole Miss a slight, slight advantage. .

Ole Miss Wins
LSU Covers +4.5

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Tiger Athlete Spotlight: Trindon Holliday Is the Big Man on Campus

Connor Hennessey — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:31:45 -0500

Trindon Holliday is one of the fastest men in the world, and is a dual athlete for Louisiana State University. Holliday competes in both football and track at LSU, and excels in both. Trindon is the Fighting Tiger athlete under the spotlight this week.

Trindon Holliday is a 5'5", 161-pound senior whose full name is Trindon Jerard Holliday, born April 27, 1986, in Baton Rouge to his mother Gwendolyn Richardson. Holliday attended Northeast High School in Zachary, LA.

While at LSU, this dual athlete is majoring in business. He is currently the fastest man in all of college football.

In high school in 2005, Holliday posted the nation's fastest indoor times in the 55- and 60-meter dashes. He won a 2A state title in spring 2005 by winning the 100- and 200-meter dashes.

On the football field, he accumulated over 4,000 yards rushing and 60 touchdowns while playing for Northeast High.

At LSU, Trindon Holliday has played football since fall 2006. He has rushed for a total of 639 yards, and has had 1,552 total return yards in his college career. He has scored six total touchdowns as an LSU Tiger.

Holliday has run track for the Tigers since spring 2007, and his specialty is sprints. His main events are the 60-meter and 100-meter dashes. Over his tenure at LSU, Holliday is an individual national champion, a five time all-American, a two-time SEC Champion, and also has received All-SEC honors five times.

Trindon broke Xavier Carter's school record for the 100-meter dash as he captured the SEC title in 2007. Since running a 10.08 second 100-meter dash, Trindon Holliday has broken his own record many times.

For the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, he came up just short when he advanced to the semifinal round and finished 11th in his first Olympic trials experience.

His next football game is tomorrow in Oxford, Mississippi, versus the Ole Miss Rebels. Last time LSU played in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, Holliday ran a kickoff back for a touchdown. LSU-Ole Miss is scheduled for a 2:30 p.m. kickoff on CBS.

Since his arrival on campus at LSU, Trindon Holliday has become a huge fan favorite in both football and track. Fans love watching Holliday scamper around the field while dodging defenders. He is pretty much unstoppable when he finds a hole.

His days are now numbered as an LSU Tiger, with only one more home game in Death Valley. He has three more games in his college career, and is looking to make his mark on the football field for the Bayou Bengals.

This is the third article of a series called "Tiger Athlete Spotlight". This series will feature a different athlete in each article who is a current member of any Louisiana State University athletic team. The next athlete under the spotlight will be veteran Tiger Basketball player Tasmin Mitchell.

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Tiger Tangents: LSU Fans Have Short, Selective Memories

Justin Goar — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:11:48 -0500

First off, let me just say that having an offense that ranks in the triple digits nationally is not something of which to be proud.

This Tiger team is far from perfect at 8-2, but looking around the country at teams like USC, Georgia, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, etc., losses to the No. 1 team and No. 3 team and sporting a top-10 ranking doesn't look so bad.

The biggest problem some LSU fans are having is the way in which the team is winning—ugly.

U-G-L-Y, ugly.

You know, the kind of ugly for which we do not possess an alibi.

Fans have short memories, though. Really short. Hey, ready to let LeGarrette Blount back on the field?

Sure, why not, it's been a couple of months. Let's let bygones be bygones.

Besides being short, memories can also be selective.

The weird thing is, 2009 eerily mirrors another season in the not so distant past. Of course, several things have changed since then.

The coach, for one.

The country's biggest natural disaster was yet to befall Louisiana and the rest of the Gulf Coast in the form of Hurricane Katrina. There was no such thing as the iPhone or Twitter back then. But it wasn't exactly eons ago.

Maroon 5 was popular, and "Hey Ya" by Outkast was played everywhere and constantly. Janet Jackson had a wardrobe malfunction, Mel Gibson wasn't the guy you wanted leading seminars on how to talk to the police, and Martha Stewart was sent to the slammer.

Ah yes, the year was 2004. It was the last season for a certain coach I shall not name. You know, the guy who announced he was leaving from Orlando's Capital One Bowl later that year. The guy whose last actions were to throw his DBs under the bus for a Hail Mary loss to Iowa in that game.

That guy.

Think all the criticism of Les Miles is a new thing? Think again.

Think a down year should never happen to LSU? That Nick Saban never would've had a year like this?

This coach that darted to the Dolphins and would dart from them two years later was just starting his fifth year at LSU, one year removed from the National Championship.

Let's fire up the way back machine, shall we?

The first game of that season was exciting. Oregon State was making a rare trip to Baton Rouge to take on the Tigers in the opener. How'd the eventual five-loss Beavers do against the mighty National Champs?

Not bad, actually.

In fact, it took some luck for LSU to prevail in this one. A late comeback helped the Tigers get even, and a missed extra point was the difference in OT as the Tigers won a wet 22-21 contest.

Beaver QB Derek Anderson would pass for three TDs against Saban's (oops, said his name; well, it's out there now) defense, which finished first in the nation (I meant in scoring defense, Bob Stoops) just nine months earlier.

After LSU pasted Arkansas State at home, they traveled to Auburn and lost on a leaping penalty.

Saban pulled QB Marcus Randall after marching down the field for a score on the first possession in favor of JaMarcus Russell, whose squad never found the end zone again that day.

Later on that night, Ms. Alabama beat first runner-up Ms. Louisiana in the "Okay, I get it, God, you don't have to rub it in using meaningless competitions to make this day bad for me" pageant.

That day marked the day that LSU fell behind in the race for the West and would never regain control thanks to an undefeated season by Auburn. That's right: The race for West was over in Week Three, not November.

Next week, LSU took out their frustrations on a hapless Mississippi State team 51-0.

The following week, the Tigers headed to Athens to face a Georgia team they beat twice the year before. UGA got revenge and then some, beating the Tigers to the tune of 45-16.

The next week the Tigers stayed on the road in Gainesville and took on a Gator team piloted by Ron Zook. After spotting Florida 14 points off of turnovers, the Tigers willed themselves to victory, and RB Joe Addai did most of the willing. LSU stole this one in the waning moments 24-21 over the eventual five-loss Gators.

LSU was only ahead for 27 seconds that game, but it was the last 27 seconds—somewhat luckily avenging their only loss in 2003.

Homecoming week brought the Troy Trojans to Tiger Stadium, a team that would lose a 31-point lead to Les Miles' Tigers just four years in the future.

The Trojans weren't any less pesky to Saban's 2004 squad in which the Tigers needed a TD by TE David Jones with 2:18 to play to beat Troy 24-20. Randall was the embattled hero, throwing for 328 yards but digging his own hole in the process, throwing three picks.

The following week the Tigers hosted Vanderbilt, who would finish '04 with two wins. That didn't stop the Commodores from clawing their way to just a three-point deficit at halftime, 10-7. It was a second half punt return by Skyler Green that broke this game open, and LSU hung on to the lead and won 24-7.

The next week the Tigers hosted Alabama. LSU won the game 26-10, but Bama fans made much ado about a missed pass interference call that cost Alabama a TD and would have given them a 14-6 lead at the time.

Instead, they settled for a FG and went into halftime with a 10-6 advantage. LSU took care of business in the second half and beat the eventual 6-6 Tide, 26-10.

Next week, LSU took on an Ole Miss team that had just three wins at the time. LSU was a huge home favorite but had to come from behind to win 27-24. The Tigers led only by one, 17-16, at the half. Ole Miss took a 24-17 lead in the second half, and LSU did not regain the lead until the fourth quarter.

LSU would destroy Arkansas in Little Rock the following week, 43-14.

After more than a month off, Saban would unexpectedly coach his last game for LSU against Iowa in the Capital One Bowl. LSU looked awful the whole game but somehow fought back to gain a late lead, only to lose it on a miraculous Hail Mary play that sent the Hawkeyes back to Iowa City victorious and LSU with a bitter taste in its mouth to end the season.

It was Saban's second bowl loss in five years, and his leaving still doesn't sit right with some LSU fans to this day.

There was much complaining about that season. Many disgruntled fans. Talks of changes at offensive coordinator and whether or not Saban was reeling in Jimbo Fisher or if Fisher was an average coach.

Many of the things thrown out there by fans are eerily similar to '09. But '09 as of now has the potential to be more like Miles' Sugar Bowl run in '06—losing to two better teams this season and a chance to finish the regular season with 10 wins.

It won't end with a BCS bowl if the Tigers get past Ole Miss and Arkansas, but 10 wins in an off year is nothing to sneeze at.

But you'd never know it by listening to the fans. Just like you'd never know it back in '04 that the team was one year removed from a crystal ball trophy.

Yet some fans still harken back to those Saban seasons (throw in 2002 while we're at it) as high watermarks and the good ole days, all the while conveniently forgetting that they were the ones probably bellyaching over LSU's 2004 season.

People remember what they want to, I guess. Maybe it makes them feel better if things don't go exactly like they did when they beat this week's opponent 63-0 on Xbox.

Even as things change, I guess some things remain the same, and fans will always find something to complain about.

My uncle (who's also a Tiger fan) enlightened me earlier in the season.

He asked, "What's the perfect season for LSU fans?"

I replied that I didn't know.

He answered, "A season where LSU goes undefeated, finishes No. 1 on offense, No. 1 on defense, beats Auburn, Alabama, Florida, and Ole Miss by 40 each, wins the SEC championship, wins the national championship, and the coach gets fired."

Lately, that sounds about right.

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LSU: Tear in the Eye of the Tigers

Dale Weaver — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:37:26 -0500

I found myself almost despondent after having watched the LSU Tigers brush back the pesky Bulldogs of La. Tech. Most likely, this was one of the least exciting games I’ve ever seen the Tigers play.

To see and hear Tiger Stadium so quiet, with exception to a few boos when the offense looked like they partied all night and woke up just in the nick of time to play, baffles me. Maybe homecoming festivities were the night before?

Also, was it just me, or did everyone hold their breath when Jarrett Lee threw every pass? I guess I wasn't the only person getting a little light-headed?

Anyway, stupor…that’s the word I was looking for. That’s a good description of how the Bayou Bengals looked overall.

They had a better second half, but the game was much closer than it should have been.

Please, I can't stomach any coach speak on how much of a challenge the 'other' schools players were...just holster it.

Granted, Coach Dooley for La. Tech coached a great game and the Bulldogs came into Death Valley with a chip on their shoulders. Just ask Terrance Toliver.

But the biggest question that kept coming to my mind while watching…well, between channel surfing, was how LSU would finish this year.

There’s no doubt that the Alabama loss punched the air out of all the hopes of having a spectacular season, but it’s the same punch from last year that left LSU "airless" for the remaining three games.

After last year's overtime home loss to Alabama, LSU struggled to beat Troy, and were handed losses from…ummm, well…the same two teams we play this year, Ole Miss and Arkansas.

Take away the win against Ga. Tech, and the Tigers would have been looking in the mirror and have no clue who was starring back at them asking, 'who are you?'

Which brings to mind my next question!

Who are you, LSU Football team?

The most complete game you’ve played thus far was against Auburn, which happened to be the game after the Florida loss.

It’s almost funny to think about. It feels like the Tigers knew that the loss to Florida was not going to kill them for a national title, but the loss to Alabama was the proverbial nail in the coffin. The look of a team who's only going through the motions.

Maybe not, but with Ole Miss and Arkansas left on the schedule, has many Tiger fans wondering...more like worrying.

Do these Tigers have what it takes to battle past the defeat of not reaching their ultimate goal?

Or will these Tigers look in the mirror with a tear in their eye, knowing that they could have done better, but didn’t have the guts to prove it?

I believe they will. Geaux Tigers!

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