LSU/Florida 2009--Looking Ahead To a Potential Classic

I'm just as superstitious as the next guy when it comes to sports.   You always wear the same clothes you were wearing the day your team won a big game.  You never talk to the pitcher during a no-hitter or even mention it to a friend if you're watching the game.   You may go to a particular barber that's "lucky" or eat the same "lucky" meal or snacks on game day.  You may or may not talk on the phone during a game depending on the "luckiness" of that move.  All these things, however, may be trumped by the notion that you only focus on the next game on the schedule.  No "looking ahead."  No "thinking about the big one."  That's right.  The only big one is the next one.  Looking ahead to "big" games leads to losing the little ones.  Well when it comes to the LSU/Florida game on October 10th at Tiger Stadium this year, I'm just gonna have to make an exception.  I'm pissed about the way that game turned out last year in the Swamp.  By the end it was just embarrassing, and I kept asking myself "What happened?"  It was almost surreal.  

And while the images of Percy Harvin and his gang of mighty midgets running all over the field like something out of a horrible pinball machine nightmare may still burn bright in my memories, the Tigers, our Tigers, must make sure that on that October 10th night we instead hearken back two years to a much more pleasant memory. There we might find the formula that won that huge game in Tiger stadium and helped propel that team to the national championship.  We might remember what it was that set that team apart from the disappointing 2008 version. 

In 2007 the Tigers sustained three drives of at least 15 plays and held the ball in total for almost 36 minutes.  They rushed for 247 yards on 52 attempts and averaged 4.8 yds/attempt.  They sustained only one turnover (an interception).   They converted 8 of 17 third downs and 5 of 5 fourth downs. 

Conversely, in 2008, the Tigers sustained only one drive over 10 plays (12) and held the ball for only 27 minutes.  They rushed for only 80 yards on 26 attempts for a 3.1 yd average.  They sustained three turnovers (2 int, 1 fumble).  They converted only 4 of 11 third downs and 0 of 2 on fourth down. 

We have to only briefly touch on Florida's offensive success last year (265 yards rushing, 6.5 yds/rush, 32 minutes t.o.p. in an offense that doesn't pride itself in holding onto the ball, etc.) to see that much of the things LSU did in 2007 so successfully were the same things Florida did in 2008 to win that game.  Hmmmmmmm.......

That's it, then, I guess.  Well, no, that's not it.  It's fairly easy to see on paper why these teams had so much success against each other in successive years.  The tricky part is figuring out what it was, both tangibly and intangibly, that gave each of those teams the "edge" to garner those statement wins. 

Might I suggest a rather novel concept, something that every great team must possess in order to take that step from good to great.  That something is true leadership.  The 2007 LSU team had guys like Jacob Hester, Matt Flynn, Early Doucet, Glenn Dorsey, Chevis Jackson, Craig Steltz, and Jonathan Zenon that were the heart and soul of those 5 for 5's on fourth downs, the 247 yards rushing and just as important only one turnover. 

The 2008 squad, while arguably just as supremely talented, seemed to lack that tough identity, that grind-it-out regardless of the odds sentiment that made all of us as mere fans believe that every 4th down was as good as gold regardless of the pressure of the situation.

So that, then, leads right down that inevitable road to 2009 and all the wonderful expectations and excitement that the preseason brings for all us diehard fans.  We all know what it's gonna take to beat this formidable florida squad (see the 2007 stats).  We all know what the personnel are going to look like.  And we all know where we and most of America are going to be on October 10th. 

But what we don't know right now in our 2009 team, what only the players deep down can develop through many hours of playing together and sacrificing together, is who is gonna take that first hit, and the second, and the third, and the hundredth all the same and give it right back.   We don't know for sure who is gonna just get that extra yard needed to keep those long drives going.  And we don't know whose gonna step up and stop Tim Tebow's attempt at a comeback if we have the lead deep in the second half, because he definitely will lead them on a run. 

But I do know this.  The ball's in our court in 2009.  And it's time for those leaders (Chad Jones, Ciron Black, Charles Scott, Harry Coleman, Brandon Lafell) to leave their mark.  Will they?  Time will tell.  But we'll get our chance.  And when those stands are rocking, someone's gonna have to step up.  I think they will.  Just don't tell Florida (shhhhhhhhhhh).