The LSU game, and a factual tidbit that may matter

Given the public reaction, I may be something of an outlier on this, but count me in the group that sees the LSU game as Georgia’s biggest road challenge of the 2018 season.  LSU may have questions about the head coach and its quarterback, but overall, it’s still got plenty of talent and one of the most intimidating home environments in college football.

That being said, Pete Fiutak lays out an interesting factoid that may very well turn out to be the key to the game.

The Tigers opened up the 2014 season with a tough win over a Wisconsin ground game that cranked out 268 rushing yards and three scores. Since then, the program is 0-10 when giving up two bills, including the 285 allowed in the 37-7 loss to Mississippi State, and the 206 given up to Troy in the stunner.

Florida came close – running for 194 yards and averaging over five yards per carry – in the too-tight 17-16 loss, and Auburn ran well, too – but lost. Both games were battles, though.

If there’s a team that’s built for 200+ rushing yards in a game, it’s Georgia.

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Hell hath no fury like a Hat scorned.

Shorter Les Miles:  At least when my teams stopped winning the West, I kept my dignity.

Today, in “damn, son, I don’t think I would have said that”

Patrick Surtain Jr.’s decision to sign with Alabama blew a hole in LSU’s recruiting plans, one that it didn’t recover from yesterday, as the Tigers failed to sign a cornerback in its 2018 class.  The social media reaction from LSU fans to the way things went hasn’t been kind, to say the least.  I doubt this is going to make those folks any more understanding.

LSU coach Ed Orgeron says he already has considered ways to adjust his recruiting approach based on the new calendar. He wants to make sure he still has enough scholarships available for the prospects who are waiting until February.

“We will be more selective in the beginning of the recruiting period next year,” Orgeron said. “We will be more selective with our scholarships at that time. We will fill specific needs then.”

This has not been the world’s greatest offseason for Orgeron, who parted ways with a highly paid offensive coordinator after only one year on the job, at the cost of a huge buyout.  Quarterback is a serious question.  LSU went 9-4, 6-2 last season, numbers not much different from what Miles was putting up at the end of his tenure there.  Admitting that you have to up your recruiting game, something that is generally regarded to be his greatest strength, isn’t a great way to reassure the faithful that better times are ahead.

The way to a coach’s heart…

The end of Orgeron’s presser yesterday, when he’s asked if there’s anyone he misses from his days at Ole Miss is three shades of greatness:

Q. I know it’s been ten years. Is there anybody there that you still talk to that’s in administration or at the school at all? Any connection?
ED ORGERON: No, you know, I used to stop at the Exxon and get a chicken-on-a-stick, and they were fantastic. I hope that cook is still there, and I can stop and say hello to her. That’s about all I remember.

Q. This is in Oxford?
ED ORGERON: Yeah, chicken-on-a-stick. It was phenomenal.

Q. Good chicken-on-a-stick?
ED ORGERON: The best I ever had! Not better than Raising Cane’s! (Laughter.)

Coach O has a sponsorship deal with Raising Cane’s, which is what led to the add on there (and the laughter).

Maybe you don’t have to be a character to be LSU’s head coach, but it doesn’t hurt.

Does Coach O’s 2017 = Kirby Smart’s 2016?

I generally like Steven Godfrey’s work, but this strikes me as a little too superficial.

Or, maybe, 2017 LSU is a version of another program that replaced another tenured, consistent head coach who was often great but unable to surpass Alabama: Georgia and Kirby Smart.

Um… nah.  He even rebuts his proposition with a quote in the same piece from an unnamed SEC assistant coach.

“The difference is, Orgeron has had more time than Smart, with the interim year, and the big thing is that expectations were way out of line. O sold LSU on immediate consistency, not a rebuild. That’s where a lot of the anger is coming from. He’s got really good coaches. He’s going to recruit really well. His biggest mistake is hiding how much work their (sic) was. But maybe he thought he wouldn’t get hired for a rebuild.”

Smart’s flaws last season were the result of a first-time head coach going through a phase of on the job training.  Orgeron, by contrast, is on his third head coaching gig, his second in the SEC.  Beyond that, he’s a promoted interim head coach, which means the usual arguments about getting acclimated to the personnel and culture change issues don’t apply as they did at Georgia last season.  The learning curve at LSU should already be kicking in; that it isn’t is a pretty good indicator that the Tigers got what most expected they had with Orgeron.

Whatever that is, it ain’t Kirby Smart.

Come together

Let me see if I’ve got this straight.  Since its embarrassing home loss to Troy, LSU football has had the following:

• A players-only meeting on Saturday after the game;
• A meeting between Ed Orgeron and the team’s offensive leaders on Monday;
• Another players-only meeting after that; and
• A meeting between Orgeron, athletic director Joe Alleva, offensive coordinator Matt Canada and defensive coordinator Dave Aranda on Monday.

When does anybody there have time for practice?

What you say when you’re not ready for prime time

Keep in mind as you read this that Coach O has a $12 million buyout.

Ed Orgeron on #LSU's first play.

"I was not aware we were going to do that." pic.twitter.com/P0ec5QdM6b

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) October 1, 2017

His assistants have big ones, too.

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UPDATE:  This is pretty brutal.