What’s a Tiger to do?

In addressing the (often asked) question about why SEC don’t schedule tougher OOC games, John Pennington over at MrSEC.com asks

… LSU won the national championship last year.  They had two overtime losses inside the SEC and still won the BCS title… with a two-loss team.  First time that had ever happened.

What if LSU had played Southern Cal or Texas to start the season?

What if?  Because, gosh yeah, the Tigahs might’ve lost.

Instead, they went slumming with this team.  And we all saw how that turned out.

I swear, even when SEC schools do the right thing, they don’t get credit.

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More know thy opponent, ASU edition

Rivals has a good breakdown of the Arizona State Sun Devils you can read here.

A few pertinent points:

• The offensive line, which wasn’t much to shout about last year – only Notre Dame lost more yardage on sacks and tackles behind the line of scrimmage – looks a bit sketchy at this point.  “Both tackles and center Mike Pollak, a second-round NFL draft pick, are gone. Look for junior college transfer Tom Njunge and redshirt freshmen Garth Gerhart, Adam Tello and Matt Hustad to put pressure on some of the veterans. That the left tackle spot will be manned by a player who moved over from the defensive line in the spring has to be somewhat scary to coaches.”
• The defense is something of a mixed bag – good ends, weak middle on the line; a couple of good players in the secondary; meh linebacking.
• The special teams play sounds good.  “All Thomas Weber did as a redshirt freshman was convert 24 of 25 field-goal attempts and win the Lou Groza Award. He also handled punting duties. Arizona State would like to find someone else to punt, probably redshirt freshman Zach Richards. Williams will be the punt returner after averaging 9.7 yards per return last season. McGaha, Williams and Herring will vie for the vacant kick-return job.”

You’ll find the ASU depth chart at the end of the article.

The Internets are the best.

I’ve got some great stuff for you this morning.

• First, it’s black helicopter time in Gator land.  If you want the real lowdown on why Steve Spurrier hates – and I mean hates – the University of Georgia with every fiber of his being, this is teh awesome (h/t UGADawginVA @ Dawg Run Message Board).  The Bleacher Report is rapidly becoming one of my favorite cesspools on the ‘Net.  The best part about this shocking expose is that even though the author denies it in the comments section, it’s lifted almost word for word in parts from this somewhat crazed post by our old buddy Franz Beard.  Take the time to read it.  And if someone could tell me about the illustrious college football career of Gene Ellenson (it looks like he played for Georgia one year in the forties), I’d be much obliged.
• Next, Elkon gets cranky, but in a good way, about the spread offense (there, I said it) – more particularly, about how people talk about the spread.  I was thinking much the same thing last night watching a replay of last year’s LSU-Kentucky game.  Two teams with non-running quarterbacks lined up in the shotgun with a single back and three and four wide receiver sets ain’t the spread, no matter how many times Gary Danielson kept using that word to describe things.
• Coaches Hot Seat Blog thinks RichRod is in for a rough time this year.  And that’s not in reference to the lawsuit, either.  At least they think he’ll be back in ’09.
  
• And if you’re a Georgia fan wanting a little taste of what tailgating before an Arizona State game is like, The Wiz has the link for you.