sluTiger;1021569; said:
Also, I can tell you this, every team that has played LSU this year with the execption of Miss St. gave us their best performance and played lights out. Florida, Alabama, Kentucky, Arkansas and Auburn played WAY above their talent level. I do not expect Ohio State to be any different they will give us their absolute best shot and the Tigers need to be ready for that. I am confident that we are game tested and will not panic if strange things happend. this game will be decided by 1 touchdown or less.
Yeah... welcome to the big time, I guess. One of the other LSU posters, on the "Please read" thread mentioned that LSU kind of "under the radared" their way into the game in 2003 (I can't honestly remember why he says that, really, but I'll assume its somewhat true). Of course you got those teams best performance... you had a target on your back.... that's how it goes. We were number all year last year... beat 2, #2's and took everyone's best shot... this year... the BCS Rankings came out, we were number one again. Hell, we're number one now.... but, whatever, no one gave Florida a chance last year... depsite winning the SEC... now the 'SEC is great'-- well maybe, maybe not. All we're really gonna know after this is over is who is better on that particular day, with that particular team.
Which leads me to:
Reading some of the posts here give me the impression that some of you seem to have some kind of inferiority complex when it comes to the SEC. You seem to be overly concerned about what others say about speed, strength of schedule, etc.
Oh, the irony.
Of course the SEC speed myth/best conference thing grew out of the SEC's own inferiority complex.... And, I understand that... if I spent most of the 80's and early 90's watching Miami and Florida State roll through the Big East and ACC in those days playing nobody and winning championships left and right while Florida, Georgia and all the rest of you had to beat on each other and get left out of the spotlight, I'd start advocating the idea that it didn't matter because "they don't play anybody" either and the SEC is the best conference too. Keep in mind, we were in the same situation in the Big Ten at the time... Of course, the screw job Auburn got in favor of USC and Oklahoma (I think it was that year) and the one we got in favor of Florida State (in 1998) only adds to this stuff.
Of course, the fun of Urban last year, and Florida getting into the game in lieu of Michigan (the right decision, IMO) and the ensuing blowout was "evidence" that the SEC was "right" all along. But, you know... we've heard it all before. (See, because when you play Miami... its called "Florida Speed"
and went into that game a couple TD dog and won.)
Point is that the conventional wisdom- for now- is that the SEC is the best conference, largely because of Florida's win last year. Maybe that's the case, maybe it isn't... but... along with that goes these ridiculous notions of "SEC speed" as though the gravity, wind resistance and genetics of the South are different than the rest of the nation... and the Big Ten might be down... there are certainly some programs in "transition" but, its still a pretty good conference... and... we've had that target on our back since '02... and still won a lot of games... and spent a lot of weeks in first place in both our confernece and in the BCS... and that's what the Oklahoma's, Ohio States, USC's, have to live with, year in and year out. Ultimately, everyone wilted this year with that #1 on their back.... and lost games to lesser teams. And in the end, that's why you play them one game at a time.... and... this is one game, with lots of pressure... somebody is going to win, and it will alter perception... but ultimately, it will have pretty little to do with how good anyone is next year, or the year after.
