Two Down, Two To Go…
LSU took care of South Carolina this past weekend… barely. The score was 17-17 going into the fourth quarter, with USC having scored all 17 of their points in a productive second quarter. In games I have watched it seems that USC has always played LSU tough, and this game seemed to follow that trend. In what I hope will be an indication of things to come, the LSU defense took over the game and held USC to negative yardage in the fourth quarter. They also eeked out another touchdown of their own, leading to the final margin of 24-17. It wasn’t pretty, but a win is a win, and for LSU they need them all from here on out.
Alabama and Georgia are the two big tests that appear to remain on the horizon, and both of those games are in Baton Rouge. Hopefully the sports program won’t bow to the television money and move the kickoffs up… make those games 7:00 on Saturday night. That’s how football is meant to be played in Tiger Stadium.
Alabama had a hard time getting by Mississippi (who defeated Florida as a reminder) but also got the important win. The remain undefeated. LSU has to beat Alabama in order to have any chance to make it to the SEC title game. (Georgia’s loss to ‘Bama earlier this year does not impact their standing as much since they’re in the East. They are tied with Florida for first place in that division.)
Alabama is 2nd in the nation in the initial BCS poll this year. Other SEC teams in the top 25 include Georgia at #7, Florida at #10, and LSU at #13. Vanderbilt has dropped out after two straight losses. Auburn is also gone, and with their offensive woes that’s hardly surprising.
Don’t look now, but Ohio State has managed to creep back into the top 10. Penn State is #3 across the board in all polls and these two teams play each other next week. I hope to be able to watch that one and see how Pryor (the freshman quarterback for Ohio State) is performing now.
Meanwhile, much of the national attention is on the Big 12 where offenses are snazzy and points are frequent. Texas and Oklahoma put on a great show a few weeks ago, and expectations were high for the Texas – Missouri showdown this weekend. Ho hum. It was over by halftime with Texas going up 35-3 and made it look easy doing so. Missouri couldn’t stop Texas, but they’re known more for their offense anyway. But the offense looked lost and had more “three and outs” in the first half than they had for the entire rest of the season so far. Texas has a decent defense, but I would not call it a great defense. Texas has stern tests coming up at Oklahoma State (who also beat Missou) and Texas Tech (who should provide another good test of how good the Texas “D” really is.)
Out on the west coast the “other” USC bombed Washington State 69-0 and climbed back into the top five this week. Is it too early to consider a Texas – USC rematch from a few years ago? That would guarantee that another team would join LSU as the only current team to repeat as national champion during the BCS era.