How much can LSU and Florida's bowls be legitimately attributed to letdown?

How exactly was clock management the culprit for our loss?

I think Lsu just kinda sucks and les is dumb.

They can't. They got beat straight up.

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I could be convinced that maybe Clemson is better than first thought, but no way I can believe that Louisville is head and shoulders better than a Florida team that beat A&M, South Carolina, LSU, AND Florida State.

On the other hand, I can't stand using "letdown" as an excuse for an upset loss. I didn't like it when we did it to explain Utah blowing out Bama a few years back. It does come into play, but it's not an excuse.

I'm having a hard time explaining these two losses. LSU's is a little easier to explain than Florida - letdown plus weak offense plus Miles infamous clock management...but it still feels confusing.

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Letdown is a small part of it. I do think that Louisville and Clemson played with huge chips on their shoulders.

Clemson wanted to avenge that embarrassment from last year against WVU. Even still, LSU played awful, and Clemson didn't play lights out. They fumbled 4 times, and two of them hit and ground and fortunately bounced into the hands of the ball carrier.

Louisville played nearly a perfect half of football, and then held on for dear life in the 2nd half.

But we saw both of those teams for several games to end the season. LSU struggled with Ole Miss and Arkansas, and Florida struggled with JSU (offensively), Mizzou, and ULL.

Which 10 wins did you get this year? How does Les compare to your coach?

I don't think Florida's loss was so much a result of a "letdown" as it was underestimating their opponent. They just assumed they'd be able to contain Bridgewater easily since UL had no running game.

They came out overly aggressive trying to make big hits instead of playing sound fundamental football. Coming into the game Florida had the least amount of missed tackles in the nation. They were missing a bunch that night.

Not to mention Louisville had more than a month to prepare for what was already a terrible one-dimensional offense.

Clemson got fricked out of the ACC championship, got fricked by Carolina, had plenty to prove, and proved it. LSU is no walk-over team. Clemson came to play, and did a great job. It wasn't just Boyd, every player in every position did a great job, and they were well coached with few penalties.


I think what Dabo is doing at Clemson is special. He's got a big hurdle to jump by opening against UGA.

That opening game is going to mean something.

As far as FLorida is concerned I blame the loss on the coaching staff as they didn't prepare well enough for Bridgewater. They may have taken their opponent lightly at first but I can assure you as soon as they get down 7-0 early they then realized it was time to strap it up but still then they had no answer.


But lets face it Florida just like LSU have both won some close games this year against teams that had no business being in the game.

These things just happen. No real in-depth analysis is needed. From the 1967 through the 1974 season Alabama's bowl record was 0-7-1. They had a pretty good coach and wound up okay , wouldn't you agree?

Tahj Boyd played out of his mind.

I give Clemson a lot of credit. They came to play. LSU's offensive line got owned and Mett couldn't do much on his back. Miles made some mistakes but LSU's D couldn't get Boyd off of the field. It was a close game that LSU lost because they couldn't convert a 2nd and 2 and they couldn't stop a 4th and 16. Give Clemson credit.

All of the "LSU is Doomed" talk over here is very premature. LSU is super talented with the guys they have coming back - all of whom got a ton of playing time. They will be hungry and ready to prove something. Some of what we saw this year was a hang over from 1/9/12 I believe and after playing their guts out and losing to Alabama again this year at the very end, they could not get at motivated. I really do think that let down played a huge role.

We forget that these are 18-21 or 22 year old kids (I say 21 because LSU hardly ever has any seniors anymore - they go pro). Emotion is a huge part of the game and the season. It is one reason that I love college football.

LSU had a great year. So did Florida. I am sick of this "ZERO SUM" game that we have going on where if you don't win the National Championship everyone says you suck. It is stupid.

Both teams will be really good next year and will compete in every game.