TigerBill2

Nelson Stokley was fantastic until he hurt his knee. He moved the offense and he I inspired confidence in the whole offense. A Great WB!

LSU's 3 National Championships came against (1) Clemson, (2) Oklahoma and (3) Ohio State. All three Championship Games were played in New Orleans. All are in this year's Championship field and the Championship game is in New Orleans. I've got this premonition about January 13.

Nelson Stokley

Oops--Outback Bowl

Looking at Manziel's performance against Bama makes me wonder whether we (or anyone else) can stop him. 562 yards (464 passing; 98 running)against a Sabin defense is just unbelievable.

Runs more like Alley Broussard before he got hurt.

The key to defeating Bama is stopping the run (including but not limited to Trent Richardson). If Bama can move the ball on the ground with any consistency, they will win. If we can stop the run and force Bama to throw the ball, McCarron is a first year QB (who has not faced serious pressure because of the defense's fear of their strong run game) who will make mistakes--especially when his receivers go up against LSU's defensive backs, the strongest part of our entire defense. Bama's pass offense against our pass defense is the best matchup we could hope for.

Consider how Chief Inspector Clousseau used his incompetence at a weapon. As former Chief Inpector Dreyfuss remarked, "They haven't got a chance." When you think about Miles legendary clock management skills (Ole Miss and Penn. St. last year), you can easily appreciate what a stroke of genius his strategy at the end of Tennessee game really was. It shows how Miles thinks "outside the box." Not even Saban and Meyer have ever seen anything like it. Properly understood, you must admit Tennessee never had a chance.

I remember the season well. Notre Dame played a really soft schedule in those days, and Michigan State was easily the class of the Big 10 (which was generally known as the Big 2 and the Other 8), an unusual year because Ohio St. and Mich. generally ruled this weak league. Mich. St. was built primarily on two extraordinary players recruited out of the Golden Triangle area of Texas (Beaumont, Port Authur, Port Neches), Bubba Smith (a huge extremely athletic defensive end) and George Webster, another phenominal athlete (especially considering his size)from the same area. ND was led by QB Terry Hanratty (Mr. Fling according to the media--especially Lindsey Nelson) and receiver Jim Seymour (Mr. Cling) and RB Nick Eddy (who injured his foot getting off the train in East Lansing and never played in the game). MSU led 10-0 in the second half but became really conservative allowing ND to tie the score. Late in the game ND had the ball with a chance to move into field goal range and kick a GW field goal but instead chose to run out the clock (and avoid any possibility of a turnover) because they knew the fawning media pollsters would select them over MSU and Alabama--after all, ND is ND, the most beloved and storied football team on the country.

Alabama avoided and almost certain loss at Knoxville when it trailed the Vols 10-0 late in the 4th Qtr but rallied to take the lead 11-10 (2 point conversion successful). With the clock running out Tennessee drove deep into Alabama territory and had a short field goal to win. The Vols missed the FG, allowing Alabama remained undefeated. Some pollsters cited Alabama's near loss to Tennessee as the reason for voting for ND (sometimes called "Voter Dame" in those days). Alabama went on to absolutely destroy Nebraska in the Sugar Bowl, but the media had already annointed ND its NC. In those days the national media not only loved ND and the Big Ten but also detested all SEC teams--none more so than Bear Bryant's Alabama teams.

I still think the Chaz Ramsey Chop block on Dorsey was likely intentional. I will never forget the SEC official looking straight at it and not even throwing a flag. I can't prove that Tuberville was involved but I suspect that those two Auburn guys were told to do that so that they could at the least get Dorsey out of the game (almost ended his career). The SEC should have conducted an investigation and imposed life-time bans on anyone involved (coaches and players), if they determined that it was planned. This may have been far more than just a flagrant penalty. If it was planned, it was a despicable attempt to end a great player's college and pro career. The officiating at the LSU-Auburn game in 2006 recalls the NBA official who bet on games, etc. (Donahy?). I suspect that Tuberville may be willing do anything (whether or not moral or legal) to win. No one (other than those involved) really knows whether Tuberville really was involved, but the SEC should have at least investigated. The post-game show after last year's LSU-Auburn game on Eagle 98.1 discussed this issue extensively, and (although they implored the SEC to investigate and take decisive action against the chop block perpetrators) they predicted that nothing would be done. What we don't need is for this to carry over to this year's game (isn't Ramsey injured?) and create a really ugly situation.