Bengal Banter: Bill Gates, Starbucks, Sasquatch, and the Space Needle

If you check any of the LSU Tiger Football web sites, you’ll find official countdowns have already begun.  Dandy Don’s site is my favorite to keep up with all things Tiger; 98 days and counting.

90 plus days from now, the LSU Football team will be get on a plane and head toward the Pacific Northwest, to the ‘Emerald City’ to be exact.  The Tigers 09’ season will begin on the road…away from home…a long way from home—over 2,500 miles away from home.

“You’re a long way from home my little pretty!” scene from the Wizard of Oz comes to mind.

From my research, and someone help me if I’m wrong, LSU has never played an away game to open the season so far from home…ever.

In the last 20 years, the furthest LSU ever traveled to open the season was to Arizona St. in 2005; the infamous year of Katrina in which LSU was to originally host the Sun Devils.

Since the 1989 season, LSU has played only 8 away games. 

The Tigers played away games at Texas A&M in 89’, 93’, and 95’, Georgia in 91’, Virginia Tech in 02’, Arizona St. in 05’, and Miss. St. in 07’. 

The furthest of all these games was at Arizona St. in which the Tigers struggled greatly to beat the Sun Devils 35-31.  LSU was losing 17-7 at the beginning of the fourth quarter. 

If not for LSU’s defense and special teams play, and a last minute TD pass from JaMarcus Russell to Early Doucet, the Tigers would have opened the season with a loss, and the debut of the Les Miles era would have been spoiled.

Road wins have been tough to come by on opening day for the Tigers.  The bad news is that LSU is 0-5 from 1989-2002.  The good news is that they are 2-0 from 2005-2007.

The question is how well will the Tigers play opening the season so far from home? 

Also to consider is the preseason rankings, LSU is 2-2 on opening away games when ranked.

Ranked preseason at No. 7, the Tigers lost to Texas A&M in 89’, and were ranked No. 14 in a loss at Virginia Tech in 02’. 

The wins however, were against aforementioned Arizona St. in 05’ when the Tigers opened with a No. 5 ranking and against Miss. St. in 07’ with a No. 2 preseason ranking.

LSU has been previewed and predicted to start the 09’ season in the top 15, and predicting a win on the road is a toss-up considering their past history.

What LSU does have in its favor going to Seattle to play the U. of Washington is that Huskies are opening the year under a new head coach, and are coming off of a nightmare season going 0-12.

U-Dub new head coach Steve Sarkisian has yet to prove himself as a head coach, but was considered to be a hot commodity coming from University of Southern Cal as their dynamic head offensive coordinator. 

The Huskies precipitous slide from grace was hung on Ty Willingham’s tenure, but little notion is pointed to the fact that injuries have plagued the program.  But the slide has been long and hard for Washington.

The last five years, the Huskies have won only 12 games, and last season’s winless campaign stands as the lowest point in the long and storied history of the program.

What LSU has going against them is not only the longest road trip in school history, (it’s going to take two plus days for the equipment truck to get there driving practically non-stop) but the fact that Washington does have a lot of talent and are hungry to right the ship.

Couple that with a new coach who’s looking to punch the Tigers in the mouth to begin his reign, LSU is in for a very competitive game.    

If LSU is hungrier, and if the defense lives up to a Chavis coached D, the Huskies will be in for a long night.  Sarkisian will keep it interesting with his offensive schemes, but the Tigers should prevail. 

Side note—if any Tiger fan happens to venture west for the game, Washington fans are really nice and do a phenomenal ‘up-town’ tailgating scene.

Around the stadium is average at best, but if you’re blessed to sail (no Bass Boats mind you) up to Husky Stadium while enjoying Dungeness crab or wild salmon while sipping from a crystal goblet, a decent cabernet wine, is one of college football's finest experiences.