How did we get here, anyway?

Keen, piercing analysis from the head coach of the team currently mired in last place in the SEC West:

Orgeron was asked if he meant offensively in reference to needing to put the team in better position:

"We gotta call better plays. We've gotta do better things. It's obvious." #Lsu

— Brody Miller (@BrodyAMiller) November 14, 2021

One day, we’re either going to look back at LSU’s 2019 natty — less than two years ago! — as an utterly inexplicable occurrence, or else athletic directors of major college football powers are going to weaponize Orgeron’s fleeting, improbable success against their head coaches with a “if Coach O could win a national championship, how come you can’t?”.  Or both, maybe.

Is ‘Bama man enough?

Coach O says no.

Alabama knocked off LSU on Saturday in a much closer game than most expected. Afterward, Ed Orgeron didn’t come away thinking that Nick Saban’s club is the powerhouse that it usually is.

The Tigers lost 20–14, which was an improvement from the 55–17 loss in 2020. That last meeting served as a revenge game after the Tigers knocked off the Tide and rolled through the rest of the SEC en route to a national championship in ’19.

“I felt we were a better team than them,” Orgeron, who will not be back with the team in 2022, said. “I don’t know if they played to their peak performance or not, but I felt we matched up pretty good.

“I can’t judge how good they are,” he added. “They aren’t as good as they were in the past. They might be the best team in the country; I don’t know. But they weren’t that night.”

I wonder if anyone will be saying that after the SECCG.  I sure hope so.

You know how to *take* the reservation, you just don’t know how to *hold* the reservation.

It may be time to re-evaluate Coach O’s recruiting prowess.

#LSU has signed 8 5-stars since 2019.

There’s a good chance none of them play vs Alabama…

Maason Smith (“very questionable”)
Derek Stingley (out)
Eli Ricks (out)
Kayshon Boutte (out)
Sage Ryan (out)
John Emery (ineligible)
Arik Gilbert (transfer)
Marcel Brooks (transfer)

— Shea Dixon (@Sheadixon) November 5, 2021

That’s a five-star missing list if I’ve ever seen one.

Yaw yaw yaw yaw yaw yaw naw footbaw

LSU Chizik’s Coach O:

#LSU and Ed Orgeron have reached a separation agreement: He will not return in 2022 but expected to complete this season, sources tell @SINow.

Negotiations began last week before UF win.

It’s unprecedented in the sport – coach & school divorcing 21 months after winning it all.

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) October 17, 2021

It’s an attractive job, so I’m sure we’ll see all sorts of names circulate for the next few months.  And Orgeron recruits well enough he can find employment somewhere else if he wants.

Signs of normalcy, part two

Trash talking is back, with a vengeance.

Geaux Bruins. pic.twitter.com/xDZNpNN0Dc

— UCLA Football Recruiting (@UCLAFBRecruit) September 5, 2021

That one left a mark.  And deservedly so.

A man with his finger on the pulse of the offense

This is why they pay Coach O the big bucks.

#LSU Coach O has said repeatedly the Tigers "are going back to the 2019 offense".

So what was the 2020 offense?

I asked that question to Orgeron Wednesday. @WAFB pic.twitter.com/iYair17SmX

— Jacques Doucet (@JacquesDoucet) July 28, 2021

Think I woulda stuck to a simple “yaw, yaw, yaw, yaw, footbaw”, myself.

TFW you forget to bring your PR person to SEC Media Days

Of all the answers in the world, this is certainly one of them.

… Late last month, Orgeron was added as a defendant to a Title IX lawsuit claiming he failed to report a rape allegation against former running back Derrius Guice.

When that topic came up, Orgeron said, “That’s something I’m not going to comment on. It’s an ongoing investigation, and I’m not going to comment on any of that. Thanks for asking, though.”

Gosh, I’m sure that will settle things.  Best of luck with that approach in your deposition, fella.

Thursday morning buffet

A little noshfest from around the world of football:

• Which wide receivers emerge as starters for Clemson?
• It’s funny how coaches and ADs are suddenly finding religion when it comes to college athletes’ NIL rights legislation.  I wonder why.  (Radakovich says that having an NIL law in place in South Carolina would “make sure we have the ability to be on the same ground as some of the other states.”)  Okay, not really.
• It turns out that Jay Graham’s resignation from the Alabama staff was more serious than we thought.  Here’s hoping he gets the kind of help he needs.
• This is some teaching moment you got here, people.
• I’ve noticed Tykee Smith’s entrance into the transfer portal.  So has Zamir White.
• Stingtalk’s reaction to the Pickens injury is every bit the classy response you’d expect it to be from those folks.
• Ed Orgeron speaks highly of his new defensive coordinator.

PAWWWLLL sez…

Okay, here’s a fun little mental exercise for you.

As is always the case, the expectations in Athens and Baton Rouge will be very high in 2021.

There are plenty of reasons to like both teams to be legitimate contenders not just for their respective SEC divisions but the College Football Playoff but having preseason hype and living up to those massive expectations are two different things.

Taking that into consideration, which coach needs a big season more in 2021, Kirby Smart or Ed Orgeron?

That was a question asked of ESPN host Paul Finebaum on Monday during his latest appearance on Birmingham-based WJOX 94.5 FM radio show The Roundtable.

Without looking at the linked piece, predict the answer and Finebaum’s rationale for it.

“LSU has appealed Clark’s ruling.”

The rug, she is getting harder to sweep under.

After a nearly five-month battle, an East Baton Rouge Parish District Court judge fined Louisiana State University and ordered the school to give USA TODAY an unredacted copy of a 2016 police report that names former star running back Derrius Guice.

LSU “was unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious in its refusal and delay and the redacted manner in which the documents were produced,” Judge Janice Clark wrote in her Dec. 29 ruling.

Clark further ordered LSU to pay $10,000 for USA TODAY’s attorney fees and an additional $6,200 in civil penalties — $100 for each of the 62 business days between the request date and the trial date, Nov. 23.

Assuming this gets to the messy ending most anticipate, does anyone expect Mark Emmert to step in and hammer the school?  I don’t, but after Penn State, he deserves whatever screaming will come his way about it.