NEW ORLEANS — Only a Super Bowl victory parade could upstage Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

Carnival floats carrying Saints players, coaches and team owner Tom Benson rolled past tens of thousands of jubilant fans in downtown New Orleans on Tuesday, two days after the 43-year-old franchise won its first NFL championship.

Players, wearing team jerseys instead of traditional Carnival masks and costumes, tossed beads into the crowd and signed autographs for throngs of screaming fans. Benson shouted “Who Dat!” into a microphone from his perch atop a float. Head coach Sean Payton blew kisses and held the Lombardi Trophy over his head.

“Here’s to the best Mardi Gras week in the history of this city,” Payton said, raising a glass of champagne during a toast outside the city’s historic Gallier Hall.

The parade, a week before the city’s signature Fat Tuesday celebration, started outside their home turf at the Louisiana Superdome. Black, gold and white confetti floated over the crowd and a man wearing a Saints jacket held aloft a sign that read, “Happy Lombardi Gras!”

The floats stopped at a reviewing stand so elected officials, including Mayor Ray Nagin, Gov. Bobby Jindal and Sens. Mary Landrieu and David Vitter, could toast the team’s 31-17 win over the Indianapolis Colts.

“How’s the ‘Who Dat’ nation feel tonight?” Super Bowl MVP Drew Brees yelled when his float stopped at the reviewing stand. “This toast goes out to you. We love you and we won that championship for you.”

Ten Carnival krewes lent floats for the team to ride. More than a dozen marching bands joined the team on its route, which passed by the edge of the French Quarter and ended at the city’s convention center. An official crowd estimate wasn’t immediately available, but many fans said the gathering seemed larger than any during Mardi Gras.

“This is wilder than Mardi Gras,” said Frank V. Smith, 55, a lifelong New Orleans resident who shot photographs of players from the rear of a pickup truck. “I’ve never seen so many people out here like this. This is beautiful, man.”

Shannon Cobb, 28, of Metairie, said the parade was a party with a purpose.

“Everybody is here for one reason: their love for the city and their love for the Saints and to show our appreciation for what they’ve done for us,” she said.

The Super Bowl win, which capped just the ninth winning season in franchise history, was a stunning reversal of fortunes for a team once derided as the “Aints.” Few players could appreciate that better than fan favorite Deuce McAllister, the team’s retired all-time leading rusher who joined the team on the sidelines for the Super Bowl.

“It’s been pretty crazy,” he said Tuesday. “Everywhere you go, you can see the pride in the fans.”

Fans are grateful for more than just the team’s on-field performance. Many members of “Who Dat” nation credit the team with uniting a city that has struggled with racial divisions and labored to rebuild in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which left about 85 percent of the city underwater in August 2005.

“After the hurricane, people were more willing to come back when they realized the Saints were coming back,” said Scott Catalanotto, 35, whose 7-year-old son sat on a ladder and yelled for beads.

In the French Quarter, thousands streamed toward the parade route, turning Bourbon Street into a river of black and gold.

Will Kaplan, 28, stood out in a billowing white toga with a gold-colored halo and the word “Breesus” on his back.

His Jesus-inspired costume, he said, was made from sheets he had in a FEMA trailer he stayed in after Hurricane Katrina on the University of New Orleans campus.

“I’m the spirit of the party,” he said.

Enduring chilly, windy weather under overcast skies, fans started staking out spots along the parade route more than seven hours before the floats rolled.

Tim Thorn, a 35-year-old landscaper, drove in from Baton Rouge to be among the early birds. He said he gave his daughters, Cameron and Carson, the day off school because the event was too big to miss.

“It’s probably the biggest party in the world,” he said.

Check out the article at The Advocate.

The Saints' win in Super Bowl 44 has brought about MANY firsts! For starters, this was the first appearance in the Super Bowl for the Saints. Next, Super Bowl XLIV was watched by more than 106 million people - setting a new record. Not to mention… this parade was the first time that floats from different krewes rode together in the same parade! I'd also have to speculate that this was the biggest & best Super Bowl parade EVER!!!

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MIAMI (AP) — Marshall Faulk ran as far as he could from the dead-end Desire Projects. He bolted the New Orleans streets to play college ball in San Diego, then blossomed into an NFL star with the Indianapolis Colts.

Forced to take sides in this Super Bowl, it was easy. Faulk rooted for his roots.

From President Barack Obama to a Queen, from Mr. Big to Miss America, the retired All-Pro had lots of company. For one game, the Saints were America's Team — champions, too, after a 31-17 win over the Colts on Sunday night.

"We played for so much more than ourselves," quarterback and Super Bowl MVP Drew Brees said.

That's for sure, Faulk said.

"This is very important to the city," he said a few days ago. "For the last five, maybe 10 years, whether it's Katrina, or the crime rate, the city's always in a bad light. Now ... you're getting to see some of the great things that we have to offer."

French Quarter hotels and restaurants filled up as Sunday's game between the Colts and Saints approached, with fans streaming into Louisiana hoping to begin celebrating a week ahead of Mardi Gras.

Almost 4½ years after flooding from Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and nearly chased the Saints out of town for good, the club's first Super Bowl win may well represent the city's rebirth.

"You can't put it into words," receiver Marques Colston said after the win. "This city and region have been through so much."

Even the Colts grasped the soulful connection between the Saints and their town.

"There's a reason America is pulling for New Orleans, and why wouldn't they? They've been through a lot," Indianapolis safety Antoine Bethea said recently. "Sports tends to pull people together, so it's commendable for New Orleans to be, as I guess you'd say, America's Team right now."

Who Dat! That's the shortened version of the team's rally cry: "Who dat, who dat, who dat say gonna beat dem Saints?"

Egged on by New Orleans players, Saints fans started that loud, familiar chant inside Sun Life Stadium an hour before kickoff. Adorned in black-and-gold beads, toting parasols in team colors and stirred by a brass band, they paraded outside. Clearly, they needed no prompting to start the party.

Long after the final whistle, Saints fans lingered inside, chanting and cheering. It was a win many of them thought they may never see. The franchise began playing in 1967, one year after the first Super Bowl, and had never reached the big game.

Perhaps the Saints' biggest fan — literally — is the NBA's Shaquille O'Neal, the 7-foot-plus Cleveland Cavaliers center who got his start at LSU.

"It's good for the city, the economy and the organization. When I went to school, they had, like, a 99-year curse and hopefully that curse is over," O'Neal said. "They haven't won it at all. They haven't always had bad seasons but they've always had, like, one play — a missed field goal or a fumble or somebody getting hurt — and now this is their chance."

The Saints have managed only nine winning seasons in their 43-year history, with blooper tapes often replacing highlight reels. Try as they might, their fleur-de-lis logo often stood for losing.

But the emblem took on a different meaning this week in South Florida. It came to symbolize the Saints' spiritual connection to New Orleans — and hope for a city that once had little.

The Superdome, which hosts the 2013 Super Bowl, was an even more tangible example of the town's renaissance.

In the days after Katrina, the stadium became a place of last resort, with perhaps 30,000 helpless, homeless people trapped inside without plumbing or power. When the Saints beat Brett Favre and Minnesota in overtime for the NFC championship, the dome was packed again — this time with jubilant fans toasting their heroes.

Obama found himself drifting in their direction, even though the Colts were still five-point favorites.

"I do have a soft spot in my heart for New Orleans, mainly because of what the city's gone through over these last several years and I just know how much that team means to them," he said during a pregame interview broadcast by CBS.

Made sense to Queen Latifah, who sang "America the Beautiful" before the game. She's worked and lived in New Orleans.

"It would be kind of fun, it'd be almost a Cinderella story to see the Saints come through against someone who's as strong and dominant and skillful as Peyton Manning and the Colts," she said.

Ah, Manning. He's a four-time Most Valuable Player and was MVP of the Colts' Super Bowl win three years ago. He's also from New Orleans, where Brees is now the star quarterback.

"It's a special place to me. My family lives there," Manning said. "What Drew, and really the entire Saints team have meant to that community has been extremely impressive. Being a fellow New Orleanian, I certainly appreciate it."

The Manning vs. Brees matchup attracted a lot of pregame attention. Comedian Chris Rock liked the Saints because of their QB.

"Just for a practical reason, not a sentimental one," Rock said. "Drew Brees has been as good as Peyton Manning the last two years."

New Orleans linebacker Scott Fujita left the Cowboys after the 2005 season and signed with the Saints seven months after Katrina.

"The Saints are America's adopted team. There's no question about it," he said. "When I chose to leave Dallas, everybody said, 'Why would you leave Dallas? They're America's team.'

"Well, they were self-proclaimed America's Team a couple decades ago, and they have really, really good, loyal fans, but the rest of the country hates them. I mean, let's be honest," he said. "So New Orleans, yeah, you've got people all over the country who are pulling for us for so many reasons and really, really valid reasons."

Echoed NFL commissioner Roger Goodell: "It's a great success story for us, and while I can't root for a team, I'm really proud of what happened there and I'm thrilled for the people of the Gulf Coast."

"I don't think that can be stated enough," Saints safety Darren Sharper said. "It's just a close tie between the city and the team. Everyone says, 'Are you guys playing for the community? Are you guys playing for New Orleans?' We think that we are."

Check out the article at The Advocate.

Of course they're "America's Team," now that they've won… yeah, and pigs can fly! As usual, the media is going to run this into the ground until everyone is a Saints hater. It doesn't matter - down here, the Saints are ALWAYS our team, even if we have to wear paper bags to the game.

WHO DAT?!?!?

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MIAMI — Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints? The amazing, long-anticipated answer has come.

Nobody. Not when it mattered most.

Putting a bold exclamation point on what was already a storybook season, the New Orleans Saints beat the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 Sunday night in Super Bowl XLIV.

Quarterback Drew Brees passed for 288 yards and two touchdowns, and Port Allen native Tracy Porter returned an interception 74 yards for the clinching score to make New Orleans’ first Super Bowl trip in its 43-year history a success.

“It was all meant to be,” said Brees, named the game’s Most Valuable Player, speaking of his decision to come to the team and of the team’s ultimate moment. “It was all destiny.”

As the final seconds ticked off the Sun Life Stadium clock, the Saints gave head coach Sean Payton the obligatory Gatorade shower, lifted him to their shoulders and began a celebration amid confetti and fireworks, as thousands of Who Dat supporters stood at their seats and partied like it was New Year’s Eve and Fat Tuesday combined.

And who could blame them?

A franchise that contemplated leaving New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina trashed the city and its stadium in 2005 now brings the Vince Lombardi Trophy to a region that has seldom had reason to even dream such a thing could happen.

The win came almost 30 years to the day after one of sports’ greatest upsets, the Miracle on Ice. It matters little that, facing the 5‰-point favorite Colts, New Orleans wasn’t as big an underdog as the U.S. Olympic ice hockey team that beat the Soviet Union juggernaut in the 1980 Winter Olympics.

That year the Saints won only one game. But if Sunday’s game didn’t erase the memory of New Orleans fans wearing bags on their heads, it showed that these are not the latter-day Aints.

Facing a likely future Hall of Fame quarterback for the third consecutive game — and this time it was one who grew up in the Superdome’s shadow and as the son of one of the bad old days’ few stars — New Orleans was superior on both offense and, more surprisingly, defense.

Peyton Manning was trying to lead the Colts to their second Super Bowl title in four years and have a Manning hold the Lombardi Trophy for the third time in that span. (Younger brother Eli won it with the New York Giants in 2008.) Such heights are far loftier than their father, Archie, experienced while never enjoying a winning Saints season from 1971-82.

New Orleans frustrated Manning as it had Kurt Warner and Brett Favre in the playoffs. Though he completed 31 of 45 passes for 333 yards, only one was for a touchdown, as the Saints didn’t allow him to create the big plays that have been his hallmark.

When New Orleans took a 24-17 lead with 5:42 left, Manning had plenty of time to tie the game. But that is where Porter made the biggest play of his athletic life. On third-and-5 at the New Orleans 31, the cornerback stepped in front of a throw to Reggie Wayne and, after a couple of cuts, took it past a delirious Saints bench for a touchdown and a 31-17 lead with 3:12 left.

“When I saw my blockers in front of me and only Peyton (Manning) and the offensive linemen left, I cut back and ran it in,” Porter said.

Manning marched the Colts as far as the New Orleans 3, but his last-gasp pass bounced off Wayne’s hands with 44 seconds left to play, and the stadium began to rock.

After falling behind 10-0, the Saints climbed back with a combination of execution and a gambler’s nerve. The bold play didn’t always work. Instead of asking Garrett Hartley to kick a chip-shot field goal in the second quarter, Payton tried to run it in from the 1, and linebackers Gary Brackett and Clint Session stopped Pierre Thomas cold.

So, Payton doubled down.

Trailing 10-6 at the half, he surprised everyone with an onside kick that reserve safety Chris Reis recovered at the Saints 42. It ignited a drive that led to New Orleans’ first touchdown, a 16-yard screen pass to Thomas, and its first lead, 13-10. Though Manning would answer with a drive punctuated by former LSU star Joseph Addai’s 4-yard touchdown run, Brees responded in moving the Saints to one of Hartley’s three field goals and a 2-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jeremy Shockey. A two-point conversion pass to Lance Moore gave the Saints a 24-17 edge.

“Ever since you start playing football, you’re dreaming about playing in this game,” Shockey said. “I dreamed and prayed all day and night about being in the situation I’m in right now.”

More than an hour after the game, the chants of hundreds of other black-and-gold-clad fellow dreamers were chanting their team’s famous question.

It was, of course, rhetorical. At long last, they had the answer they wanted.

Check out the article at The Advocate.

WHO DAT??? What an excellent football game!!!

Of course (to those who don't know), the title of this post is an old joke that we 'Aints fans USED TO say. But, no more!!!

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NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Mardi Gras falls on a Sunday this year.

The city of the Saints is filling up with ex-New Orleanians and others ahead of the Super Bowl, many looking to cast off a legacy of football futility and natural disaster - others just looking to party down in one of the world's greatest party towns.

"We're gearing up for Sunday just like Mardi Gras day," said Earl Bernhardt, a bar owner in the French Quarter. "We're staffing just like we do for Mardi Gras, and if the Saints win, we won't close at all. We'll stay open as long as people are standing." After 43 years in existence, the Saints will make their Super Bowl debut in Miami on Sunday, facing the favored Indianapolis Colts.

Fans from most cities would be headed to South Florida about now. But for ex-pat New Orleanians, the game is triggering a pilgrimage home. And for everybody back in town, the party's already started.

A few are taking the week off in the countdown to game day. Others are punching the clock, but not getting much done. Saints jerseys, "Who Dat?" T-shirts and black and gold beads are the uniform everywhere you go.

The French Quarter's narrow streets also are awash in the team colors. As revelers cruise down its streets, strangers give each other high-fives.

"It's been all Saints all the time," said Steve Sabrier, an oil field worker who marched from the Superdome to the French Quarter after the NFC championship. "I pity anybody who needs something done in New Orleans these days. We can't concentrate on anything but the game."

Sister Mary Rose, a Dominican nun who attends every Saints game and teaches at a Catholic school in the Quarter, said the feeling of sheer excitement in the city is almost tangible. "I think 'exuberant joy' is the word," the nun said. "And it has brought such a unity to us, such a bond between all the people here it's just amazing."

Meanwhile, in Atlanta, New Orleans transplant Belinda Hernandez vowed to be in Miami if the Saints made the big game.

"But seeing the fever pitch in New Orleans and knowing how we party, I changed my mind," Hernandez said.

"Who wants to be on Miami Beach when they can be in the French Quarter with the Who Dats for the game?"

So Hernandez turned down some friends in South Florida, who offered to get her tickets.

Besides being Super Bowl weekend, this is the start of carnival season that ends Feb. 16 on the real Mardi Gras. There are four parades scheduled in New Orleans on Saturday and two on Sunday - but they're rolling early to avoid conflicting with the game.

All eyes on the game, starting Sunday at 5:25 p.m. local time.

Mary Beth Romig of the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau says there's no question the Saints have created something special - this time for the city's tourist trade.

"This is turning into a very big weekend for the hotels in downtown New Orleans and the French Quarter," said Romig. "We did a survey and hotels are running about 90 percent full late in the week, and that jumps to 95 percent on Sunday. People are definitely coming to New Orleans for Super Bowl."

Sorry, Colts fans, but it's a different story up north.

Kimberly Harms, a spokeswoman for the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association, said there was no noticeable jump in hotel occupancy there for the weekend. She noted, however that one hotel had set aside 44 rooms at the special rate of $144 in honor of the 44th Super Bowl. If Indianapolis wins, she said, the rooms will be free for those staying in them.

At New Orleans' Roosevelt Hotel, an upscale hotel where suites start at $259 a night and go up, marketing director Mark Wilson said they are seeing a "huge surge" of people who want to celebrate the Super Bowl in New Orleans.

"Let's face it, not everybody can get a ticket to the game," Wilson said. "And a lot of people seem to think being in New Orleans is a good alternative."

The Roosevelt is about 80 percent booked, which is 10 percent to 15 percent more than normal for a weekend with no convention in town, Wilson said. The big seller is the hotel suites, with much of the business coming from Texas, Mississippi and Alabama.

"People are booking the entertainment suites, which are great for parties of 25, 35 people," he said.

"Some are probably just people looking for a party. But a lot are former residents, I think. People in New Orleans have looked for this day a long time and now they want to be here for it."

Police will increase their coverage in the French Quarter this weekend, adding approximately 600 officers, police spokesman Bob Young said. That's about the number the city would deploy if New Orleans were hosting the game.

Rick Watson, and his wife, Katherine, are among the natives coming back.

Now residents of North Carolina, 35-year-old Watson said it took them a long time to believe the Saints had really made the big game, but not much time to decide where to watch it.

"When something big happens, you go home, and this is big," Watson said. "Besides, where would you rather be if the Saints win, the French Quarter or Miami? Even if they lose you want to be in New Orleans."

Check out the article at The Advocate.

Who Dat? Geaux Saints!!!

Check out the Saints Photo Gallery

A Letter to Miami…

Dear Miami,

The Saints are coming. And so are we, their loyal, long-suffering and slightly discombobulated Super Bowl-bound fans.

While there's still time to prepare -- although a few hard-core Who Dats will begin trickling in Monday, most of us won't arrive until Thursday or Friday -- we thought we'd give you a heads-up about what you should expect.

First things first: You need more beer. Yeah, we know. You ordered extra. You think you have more than any group of humans could possibly consume in one week. Trust us. You don't. New Orleans was a drinking town long before the Saints drove us to drink. But it turns out beer tastes better when you're winning. (Who knew?) So let's just say we're thirsty for more than a championship; adjust your stockpiles accordingly.

And look. When we ask you for a go-cup, be nice to us. We don't even know what "open container law" means. Is that anything like "last call"?

It's Carnival season in New Orleans (that's Mardi Gras to you), and we'll be taking the celebration on the road. So don't be startled if you walk past us and we throw stuff at you; that's just our way of saying hello.

Oh, and sorry in advance about those beads we leave dangling from your palm trees. We just can't help ourselves.

February is also crawfish season, and you can be sure that more than one enterprising tailgater will figure out a way to transport a couple sacks of live mudbugs and a boiling pot to Miami.

When the dude in the 'Who Dat' T-shirt asks if you want to suck da head and pinch da tail, resist the urge to punch him. He's not propositioning you. He's inviting you to dinner.

And if you see a big Cajun guy who looks exactly like an old Saints quarterback walking around town in a dress ...don't ask. It's a long story. We know that crowd control is a major concern for any Super Bowl host city. Our advice? Put away the riot gear.

Reason No. 1: Indianapolis is going to lose, and their fans are way too dull to start a riot.

Reason No. 2: New Orleans showed the world on Sunday that we know how to throw a victory party. We don't burn cars. We dance on them.

Reason No. 3: Even if we did lose, which we won't, leaving the stadium would be like leaving a funeral, and our typical response to that is to have a parade.

Speaking of which: If you happen to see a brass band roll by, followed by a line of folks waving their handkerchiefs, you're not supposed to just stand there and watch. As our own Irma Thomas would say, get your backfield in motion.

And hey, Mister DJ! Yes, we know you've already played that stupid Ying Yang Twins song 10 times tonight, but indulge us just one more time.

To us, "Halftime (Stand Up and Get Crunk)" isn't just a song; it's 576 points of good memories. It's the sound of a Drew Brees touchdown pass to Devery Henderson, a Pierre Thomas dive for first down on 4th-and-1, a Garrett Hartley field goal sailing through the uprights in overtime.

It's what a championship sounds like. You may get sick of hearing it. We won't. Encore, dammit.

Inside Sun Life Stadium, you may find your ears ringing more than usual. We're louder than other fans. Seven thousand of ours sound like 70,000 of theirs. Don't believe us? Ask the 12th man in the Vikings huddle.

Some people think it's just the Dome that heightens our volume. But you're about to discover a little secret: We can scream loud enough to make your head explode, indoors or out.

It's not the roof. It's the heart. Well, OK, and the beer.

Don't be surprised if there are more Saints fans outside the stadium than inside. A lot of us are coming just to say we were part of history, even if we can't witness it up close. The Saints are family to us, and you know how it is with family: We want to be there for them, whether they really need us or not. Because we know our presence will mean something to them, whether they can see us or not.

Come to think of it, seeing as how you're taking us in for the week, we pretty much regard you as family, too. So we're warning you now: If you're within hugging distance, you're fair game.

Hugging strangers is a proud Who Dat tradition, right up there with crying when we win.

Most sports fans cry when their teams lose. Not us. We've been losing gracefully and with good humor for 43 years. Tragedy and disappointment don't faze us. It's success that makes us go to pieces.

Hurricane Katrina? We got that under control. The Saints in the Super Bowl? SOMEBODY CALL A PARAMEDIC!!!

So anyway, don't let the tears of joy freak you out. We're just ... disoriented.

OK. Let's review:

Order more beer. Throw me something, mister. Suck da heads. Wear da dress. Stand up. Get crunk. Hug it out. Protect your eardrums. Pass the Kleenex. Hoist the trophy.

See you at the victory party.

Faithfully yours,
The Who Dat Nation

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NEW ORLEANS —  They sure ain't the Aints anymore.

The New Orleans Saints are heading to their first Super Bowl after battering Brett Favre and beating the Minnesota Vikings 31-28 in overtime Sunday on unheralded Garrett Hartley's 40-yard field goal.

Favre threw away Minnesota's best chance to win, tossing an interception deep in New Orleans territory in the closing seconds of regulation. Then the Saints won the coin toss and soon it was over.

The team that had no home five years ago after Hurricane Katrina ravaged its city and the Superdome overcame a slew of mistakes in the biggest game the Big Easy has ever seen.

"This is for everybody in this city," said coach Sean Payton, the architect of the Saints' turnaround. "This stadium used to have holes in it and used to be wet. It's not wet anymore. This is for the city of New Orleans."

Forget the paper bag masks and that long history of losing that started in 1967. Moments after Hartley's kick, they were toasting their hometown winners on Bourbon Street.

And in the Superdome, once a squalid refuge after Katrina, they boogied in the aisles as confetti covered the field.

"It's a moment I've been waiting for for a long time and obviously we're not done yet," said Drew Brees, Payton's hand-picked quarterback for the Saints' renaissance.

The Saints (15-3) will meet Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts (16-2) in the Super Bowl in two weeks in Miami. The Colts opened as four-point favorites.

It's the first time the top seeds in each conference made the big game since the 1993 season.

"Brett prepared us, but now we've got another challenge in Peyton," safety Darren Sharper said.

There were nine fumbles and two interceptions, and the biggest mistake belonged to Favre. Flushed from the pocket in the final minute, he seemed to have room to run to set up a field goal. But hampered by a left leg injured in the third quarter, the 40-year-old quarterback threw cross-field and was intercepted by Tracy Porter at the 22.

That finished off Minnesota's chance for its first Super Bowl trip in 33 years — and opportunity to win it for the first time after four defeats.

New Orleans won the coin toss, Brees guided it to the Minnesota 22 after converting a fourth-and-1 on Pierre Thomas' leap over the line, and Hartley — suspended at the start of the season for using a banned stimulant — split the uprights 4:45 into OT.

"Just helping my team get to Miami," Hartley said. "Just doing my part."

It was anything but easy for the Saints, in only their second conference championship game; they lost at Chicago three years ago.

They had to withstand yet one more comeback by Favre, who returned to the NFL with the Vikings (13-5) after another brief retirement. He was alternately spectacular and pedestrian Sunday, finally betrayed by his gambling style and, perhaps, an aging body.

Minnesota, meanwhile, lost its fifth straight NFC championship game.

Porter's pick sent it into overtime, the third time an NFC title game has needed extra time and the second in three seasons. Two years ago, Favre's interception in OT set up a field goal that sent the Giants past the Packers and into the Super Bowl.

The Saints can only hope they have the same happy ending as New York did back then.

"Yeah," said Reggie Bush, who scored a touchdown and also muffed a punt that set up a Vikings score. "One more step."

The seesaw game saw All-Pro Adrian Peterson score three touchdowns for Minnesota and Saints running back Pierre Thomas get two. The Vikings handily won the possession and yardage battles — Peterson rushed for 122 yards and Minnesota gained 475 overall. But the Vikings were undone by five turnovers, including three fumbles.

"We really gave those guys the game," said Peterson, who peeked at the rousing celebrations on the Superdome floor. "Too many turnovers. It's eating me up inside."

Check out the article at Fox News.

Somebody pinch me… I must be dreaming! Hope Pat saved an extra coat, cuz the devil might need it soon!!!

Geaux Saints!!!

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METAIRIE — The Saints will take a three-phased approach to preparing for their divisional playoff game, which will be played at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 16 in the Superdome.

The players will have four days off beginning today. Then the team will follow a training camp-like schedule when it returns to practice and focuses on itself Saturday and Sunday. Then next Tuesday, after the opponent has been determined, a normal game-week routine will kick in.

The earliest New Orleans could know its opponent would be late Saturday night. If Philadelphia defeats Dallas on Saturday night, the Eagles would guarantee themselves a trip to the Superdome. If the Cowboys prevail, the Saints opponent would be the winner of the Green Bay-Arizona game, which kicks off at 3:40 p.m. Sunday.

“It’s different than a bye week in the regular season when you know who you’re playing,” coach Sean Payton said Monday at his weekly news conference. “When it’s one of three teams, you can begin statistical breakdowns on all three of those teams and get through the busy work that has to get done on those teams through the weekends.”

Payton said the Saints devoted some of their practice time last week to working their offense against their defense, something they will resume over the weekend.

“There will be meetings, walk-throughs, back on the field for a full practice,” Payton said. “It’ll be more of an ‘O’ (offense) versus ‘D’ (defense) emphasis, which is like a training camp practice where it’s competitive rather than carded because you don’t know really who you’re playing. There might be some things that we tinker with to get us ready for a certain game.”

The Saints tinkered with a few things in their 23-10 loss at Carolina on Sunday, including using running back Lynell Hamilton out of the “wildcat” formation.

“We had a few different schemes in there,” Payton said. “We snapped the ball to a running back and there were a few things we tinkered with that we’ll look at in the postseason.”

Payton said the coaching staff will have a short break early this week before returning for a day and a half to put together the plan for the weekend practices and begin preliminary game-plan work.

He said the main thing for the players to do is to get rest during their down time. Injured players will continue to rehab and receive treatment. Others are free to travel if they choose.

“I really don’t encourage or talk about what I think they should do with their time away other than just making sure they’re getting rest,” Payton said. “I think people will want to handle it differently. Some will travel, some won’t.

“The key is having trust in players and I think our team has real good leadership and understands how we have to approach this week and getting rest and having some time away and then being ready to come back with a focus when they get back in the building. I think they’ll handle that well.”

When it comes time to play, the Saints will be the healthiest they’ve been since early in the season as every player on the active roster is likely to be available.

Payton said he thinks running back Pierre Thomas, who missed Sunday’s game with a rib injury, will be back. Thomas said he expects to play despite three broken ribs. He said he played with two broken ribs against the Bears as a rookie in 2007.

“I just have to sit back and can’t do too much movement,” Thomas said. “My ribs weren’t as severe as it was my rookie year. My rookie year, you could see a big crack in them. These three, you see partial cracks. Maybe one of them is almost fully and two are half cracks.

“You don’t want to irritate it so they don’t want me doing too much. The two I had my rookie year, I couldn’t really do anything but sit back and relax. I’m moving around now; haven’t gotten a chance to run yet, just been on a bike getting some cardio workout in.”

Thomas said he’ll wear protection, likely a flak jacket, over the ribs during the game.

“You’re out there running hard, you’re out there breathing, you’re getting hit,” he said. “It’s going to bother you at some times. It’s like if you hurt your toe or something. Something is going to bother you. You feel it. It’s going to irritate you a little bit.

“You’re probably not going to focus on what you have to do out there on the field. You’re going to focus more on your injury than anything because it bothers you. But to me, I find a way to block it out. I find a way, don’t think about the injury and go out and play the game. If I get hurt, at that point in time, I suck up the pain, deal with it and go back out in the huddle. That’s what I’ve been doing lately, just sucking up the pain.”

Check out the article at The Advocate.

Despite the three-game slump at the end of the season, I have high hopes for the Saints in the playoffs! It's good to see some key guys coming off injured reserve and I'm looking forward to seeing Pierre Thomas with the ball in his hands again.

Speaking of Pierre Thomas... he recently autographed some awesome lithographs by artist Michael Hunt (see top of this post) which are being sold in limited quantities. Go check it out and many other fine LSU, Saints, Fleur De Lis, and Mardi Gras artwork at Hunt Studio.

Have Faith! Geaux Saints!!!

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OK, now it’s really official.

Four days after LSU and Penn State were invited to the 2010 Capital One Bowl, the two head coaches and athletic directors involved met in Orlando, Fla., on Thursday to sign a bowl contract and hold court with a handful of media members.

LSU’s Les Miles and Penn State’s Joe Paterno took turns talking about the reward for their teams and the challenge ahead in one of the more attractive non-BCS bowl games of the season.

The 13th-ranked Tigers (9-3) and 11th-ranked Nittany Lions (10-2) square off at noon Jan. 1 in the Florida Citrus Bowl. ABC  will televise the game.

“We look forward to this game, and it’s going to be a great setting,” Miles said. “It’s historically a great bowl game and played New Year’s Day. It’s exactly how we would want to end our season. The matchup with the Big Ten and Joe Paterno and a quality Nittany Lion team will be everything that we want.”

Especially if LSU caps this season like it has Miles’ previous four.

The Tigers are 4-0 in bowl games under Miles, with lopsided victories against Miami, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Georgia Tech.

Those wins, as well as what LSU has done this season, caught the attention of Paterno, who has more coaching victories (393) than any coach in Football Bowl Sub-Division history.

“Getting an opportunity to play against a team as good as LSU is tremendous,” Paterno said.

Paterno turns 83 in 10 days and will coach in the Capital One Bowl (previously the Tangerine Bowl) for the fifth time, the first time since 2003 when Auburn edged the Lions 13-9.

As he did the day this season’s matchup was announced, the Penn State coach said the trip was a fitting reward for a team that for the second year in a row was a relevant factor in the national championship hunt.

The Lions’ only losses this season came against Big Ten foes headed for BCS games: Iowa 21-10 in State College, Pa., and Ohio State 24-7 on the road.

“I think we’re a pretty good football team,” Paterno said. “We played hard all year and stuck together after we lost to a couple of good football teams. … I hope we can play our best game of the year because we will need to against LSU.”

Now Paterno and his team close out the season on New Year’s Day in Florida — the 24th time in the coach’s 44 seasons Penn State will finish in a January Bowl.

“I have 17 grandkids and the oldest one is 14,” Paterno said. “For the last two weeks, they’ve all been asking me, ‘Are we going to Orlando? We want to go to Orlando!’ ”

Miles also talked about the reward of a postseason bowl, but noted that there’s business to tend to as well.

“We look at it as both,” he said. “The opportunity to have competitively played yourself into an advantage position where you can play for a bowl championship — we recognize that as the reason why we’re here. We also recognize that it’s through achievement that you are allowed to play in the Capital One Bowl, and so there is going to be a reward.

“There will be the opportunity to see Orlando and the sights, and that will be the reward. The greatest reward will be the opportunity to play well and to honor a very quality opponent with our best effort.”

In his nine years as a head coach, Miles has never coached against Paterno. He was on the Michigan staff for a pair of meetings in the early 1990s after the Lions joined the Big Ten — the Wolverines won at Penn State 21-13 in 1993 and the Lions exacted revenge with a 31-24 triumph in Ann Arbor, Mich., in 1994 in a showdown of top-five teams. Penn State finished 12-0 that season, one of five undefeated campaigns under Paterno.

So Thursday’s face-to-face meeting was a first for Miles as a head coach. But growing up in Ohio, Miles knew who Paterno was. He said he visited the campus in State College, Pa., as a young assistant and even then didn’t understand the magnitude of Paterno’s impact.

“I visited Penn State probably so early in my career I don’t know who I was representing at the time,” Miles said. “(Paterno) has always been, and Penn State has always been, a program that has done it right. He has competed at the very highest level and his leadership has been exemplary. Anybody in football follows Joe Paterno and understands the tradition behind that Penn State uniform.”

Check out the article at The Advocate.

Geaux Tigers!!!

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BATON ROUGE -- The LSU football team will have a new look when they take the field on Saturday against Arkansas as the Tigers will be wearing the Nike Pro Combat uniform for the season-finale.

LSU, along with Nike, unveiled the uniform at a pep rally on campus on Monday afternoon. Nike worked closely with coaches and administrators at LSU and took great care to bring inspiration to the Nike Pro Combat uniforms that the Tigers will wear on Saturday. The uniform will be worn only for this week’s game against Arkansas.

The Tigers will sport a new look from head to toe on Saturday as the Tigers will be outfitted with a new look in everything from the helmet, to cleats, to the gloves. The jersey is white with purple numbers and gold accents, while the pants are white with a purple “L” on the hip along with a purple and gold stripe down each side of the leg.

The Tigers will wear the Nike Zoom Vapor Fly cleats, which are white and gold and feature a purple Nike Swoosh. The bottom of the cleats are gold in color as well. The Tiger receivers will be outfitted with the Nike Vapor Trail gloves, which display the eye of the tiger on the palm of each glove.

“This is a great uniform, both from the look as well as how lightweight it is,” senior running back Charles Scott said. “I think the team is going to like wearing these new uniforms for our final home game of the season. I wish I could be out there with them in this uniform.”

Scott, along with Richard Murphy, modeled the uniforms at the unveiling on Monday. Both players are injured and will not play against Arkansas.

Head coach Les Miles showed the team the uniform for the first time on Monday afternoon in a team meeting.

LSU joins 10 other schools from across the country to take part in this venture with Nike. Other schools include: Clemson, Florida, Florida State, Miami, Virginia Tech, Missouri, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Texas and TCU.

Nike designed the Nike Pro Combat uniform to address the evolution of the game: Today’s players are stronger and faster and the collisions are more violent and explosive than ever before.

Superior Lightweight Innovation

The Nike Pro Combat uniform is 37 percent lighter than current designs (23.7 ounces vs. 37.4 ounces). Nike utilized a four-way stretch twill that does not hold sweat or water and as a result, the new uniforms are 46 percent lighter than the current designs when wet. Overall, the Nike Pro Combat uniform, when wet, is still lighter than the teams’ current designs when completely dry.

Designed from the inside out, the Nike Pro Combat uniform begins with the Nike Pro Combat padded base layer. Strategically placed padding zones in the Nike Pro Combat Deflex shorts cover the thighs, hips and tailbone. The padding zones are composed of dual-density foam cells that absorb, deflect and disperse the impact of on-field collisions. A foam grid intersects the cells to maximize impact absorption and increase flexibility. A hard plastic shield covers the thigh padding where impact frequently occurs.

The Nike Pro Combat Deflex shorts are made with Nike Dri-FIT technical fabric to provide superior moisture wicking, helping to keep players dry and cool.

With the padding incorporated into the base layer, players gain greater mobility over traditional padding and the outer uniform becomes a lightweight, breathable shell with a sleek, explosive look.

“Players need their uniforms to be as light as possible so they can play the game at top speed,” said Kris Aman, Global VP and General Manager for Nike Athletic Training, which includes football. “The Nike Pro Combat uniform is a modern system of dress that is dramatically lighter while providing durability and protection.”

Nike scrutinized every detail of the Nike Pro Combat uniform with the goal of shedding as much weight as possible, right down to D-ring on the belt. Nike opted for a titanium D-ring, which is extremely durable and 66 percent lighter than the standard steel belt enclosure.

Engineered high-tenacity yarn inspired by Nike Flywire is incorporated into the high-impact shoulder area. The belt loops have been padded to provide added protection to the hip area without the bulk of traditional hip pads.

The new uniforms also feature improved ventilation and breathability. Side ribbed piping on the uniform pant has been replaced with sublimated Nike Dri-FIT mesh, which not only shaves ounces off of the pant weight but also aids evaporation in key areas. Nike Dri-FIT mesh wraps behind the knees, a key cooling zone on the body. By adding innovative evaporation and cooling zones, the player’s body expends less energy regulating body temperature, leaving more energy for the game.

Completing this true system of dress for football is the new Nike Zoom Vapor Fly cleat, which Nike customized for each team featuring their team colors, team logo and chrome-plated outsole. This incredibly lightweight cleat at just 10 ounces is available in 2010. It features Zoom Air cushioning in the heel and Flywire engineering in the medial and lateral quarter panels.

Check out the article at LSU Sports.

Cool uniforms!!! Now, time for the cochon de lait to begin!

Geaux Tigers!!!

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Around the Bowl and Down the Hole... Roll Tide Roll!

High on the list of strange but true facts about the LSU-Alabama series through the years, and especially this decade, is how little home-field advantage has meant.

Since 1970, the road team in this game is 27-11-1. The road team won every game between 1981-89 except 1985 when the Tigers and Tide fought to a 14-14 deadlock in Baton Rouge.

Since 1982, LSU is 10-3 against Alabama in either Birmingham or Tuscaloosa, with four wins in a row this decade in at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

LSU coach Les Miles has been the architect of the last two wins in Tuscaloosa — a 16-13 overtime thriller when the teams last met when both were ranked in the top 10 in 2005 and 41-34 in 2007 when the Tigers rallied with a pair of touchdowns in the game’s final 2:49.

“I think we’ve had good teams,” Miles said about the four-game wining streak at Bryant-Denny. “I think those guys know how to play on the road, play with poise, play with the confidence that they were going to be able to get it done and played well.”

As has Alabama. Two years ago the Crimson Tide was ranked No. 17 and on a three-game winning streak when LSU got to town.

The Tigers struggled when quarterback Matt Flynn got picked off three times in the first half, helping Alabama take a 27-17 lead late in the third quarter.

“I felt our team was very confident going into that game,” Miles said.

“I felt like certainly we recognized that was a great team we were playing. Every time we play Alabama — whether it’s on the road or at home — we recognize it’s going to be a very competitive game and matching two of the finest collegiate programs in college football.”

Alabama leads the series 44-23-5 and has a slim 9-8 edge in games played in Tuscaloosa. During Paul “Bear” Bryant’s tenure at Alabama, most games between the Tigers and Tide were played in Birmingham.

LSU and Alabama have also played occasional games in Mobile and Montgomery.

Check out the article at The Advocate.

Yeah, I know... the Saban vs. LSU hype is starting to die down a little now that it's been three years. But I don't care! To me, this game is Saban Bowl III... and it's going to be a tough one! If the Tigers can pull out a W tomorrow, they can go all the way!!!

Geaux Tigers!!!

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Billy Cannon’s Halloween Run. Just the mention of those four words is enough to bring a sense of pride and joy to any LSU football fan.

Saturday's game against Tulane marks the 50th anniversary of the legendary game on October 31, 1959 in which LSU running back Billy Cannon returned a punt 89 yards for a touchdown.

The return turned out to be the only touchdown of the game as the top-ranked Tigers defeated the No. 3 Ole Miss Rebels 7-3.

Cannon, now 72, admits that while he may be getting older, his memory of the run that Halloween night is still fresh in his mind.

“My mind is getting fuzzy but the run isn’t,” Cannon said. “The games that you win or lose big drift away. But the ones where the outcome of the game depends on every play, those are the games that you remember vividly.”

Both the Tigers and the Rebels were undefeated heading into the game, which only added to the hype surrounding the already heated rivalry.

“The week of the game it was just crazy,” Cannon recalled. “Everyone just wanted to talk football.”

The game also marked the first time that the stadium sold out since new bleachers were installed in the south end zone. Over 67,500 people crammed into Tiger Stadium to watch the much anticipated matchup.

“To be playing before that many people with them sitting in the aisles and everywhere else, it was quite a stir,” said Cannon.

LSU trailed 3-0 through three hard-fought quarters.  As Cannon stood at his own 11-yard line with just under 10 minutes remaining, he knew that in order for the Tigers to have a chance to win the game he was going to have to make something happen.

“It doesn’t take a genius to look at the scoreboard and figure out you are down and that you are running out of time,” Cannon said.  “Before the punt I said to myself that if I have a chance I’m going to take this one back up the field because if we are going to do something we are going to have to do it pretty quick.”

And Cannon did just that.

Ole Miss’ Jake Gibbs tried to punt the ball out of bounds, but instead the ball took a bounce at the 11-yard line right into Cannon’s hands.

“I got the perfect bounce,” Cannon said.  “If I had caught it on the fly I don’t think it would have worked out the same. I think the bounce made them relax a little bit and they were just surprised when the ball bounced straight to me. I was just as surprised as they were.”

After fielding the ball, the 6-foot-1, 225-pound Cannon fought his way through seven would-be tacklers before finally breaking free around the 50-yard line. He then galloped his way into the end zone and into LSU history as the Tiger Stadium crowd erupted.

“There was a guy in the stands that was in the box seats that jumped out onto the field,” Cannon said. “He jumped on my back and he was beating me to death. One of my teammates, Donnie Daye, came over and pulled him off of me. He was so happy and going crazy. He was just going crazy and the whole stands were going crazy.”

Every year during the week of the LSU-Ole Miss game the black-and-white replay is shown numerous times on TV. These replays provide not only nostalgia for the fans of LSU football, but also for Cannon and his teammates.

“Over the years it has become a contest of who can point out what,” Cannon joked. “We have a lot of fun with it.”

“When I’m with Lynn LeBlanc, Lynn always says ‘Watch this block! Watch this block right here!’ because it was him making the block that took three guys down,” Cannon said, laughing. “But I tell him ‘Lynn I was by that guy before you even blocked anybody!’”

“Red (Brodnax) makes a block late in the play and Lynn accuses him of clipping and putting the whole team in jeopardy with the clip, but of course Red denies it,” Cannon added.

Fifty years have now passed since that Halloween night and Cannon’s punt return is still a prominent part of LSU history. But Cannon said he doesn’t want it to be remembered as an individual effort because it was a team effort.

“Not one of us on that entire team would have ever told you we were going to do something that would be so remembered 50 years later. We were there for the day, the moment, the game, and that period of time. That is all we cared about.”

Check out the article at LSU Sports.

Classic!

Check out these articles on the famous punt return:

• The Halloween Run: 50 Years Later
• Run to Glory

Geaux Tigers!!!

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NEW ORLEANS — For the second consecutive game, the Saints’ high-scoring offense played a complementary role to its rejuvenated defense.

A week earlier, Drew Brees passed for fewer than 200 yards for the first time in 23 games as New Orleans defeated the Bills, 27-7, in Buffalo.

On Sunday in the Superdome, Brees against fell short of the 200-yard mark — the first time in four seasons with the Saints that he has played the entire game both times and failed to reach that plateau in consecutive weeks.

The NFL’s highest-scoring offense scored just 10 points to support the 14 scored by the defense in New Orleans’ 24-10 victory over the New York Jets.

The Saints received the opening kickoff and nine plays later they had a first down at the Jets’ 22. A holding penalty on center Jonathan Goodwin put the Saints behind schedule and the drive ended with John Carney kicking a 34-yard field goal.

After the defense’s first touchdown — a 99-yard interception return by Darren Sharper — New Orleans appeared poised to take a 17-0 lead when it drove to a first-and-goal at the one. Pierre Thomas lost a yard, Heath Evans got the yard back, and Brees threw two incompletions, giving the ball back to New York.

But the defense got the points the offense couldn’t when two plays later, Will Smith sacked Mark Sanchez and caused a fumble, which Remi Ayodele recovered for a touchdown.

The Saints failed in another short-yardage situation in the third quarter, when on fourth-and-1 from the Jets’ 28, Thomas was stopped for no gain.

“We drove down the field on the first possession of the game and got three points, very well could have had seven,” Brees said. “After that, it was about managing the football game. I look at missed opportunities to get points and penalties that stalled drives. We’re going to continue to try and get better offensively.”

The offense finally put the ball in the end zone when it needed to in order to secure the victory, driving 74 yards to a touchdown that gave New Orleans a 24-10 lead with 6:07 left in the game.

Along the way, the offense finally found a way to convert a fourth-and-1 into a first down for them instead of the Jets. They lined up at the New York 43 and enticed defensive tackle Kris Jenkins to jump offsides.

Goodwin said the Saints had no intention of snapping the ball. They said Jenkins was susceptible to jumping the snap count.

“All the linemen just started yelling a bunch of snap counts,” Goodwin said, “and I got a little lower to make it look like I was ready to snap it. Then Drew did a great job with a hard count.”

Six plays later, Thomas was running one yard for the offense’s only touchdown of the game.

“The defense played excellent all day and we just wanted to try and put the game away and take some pressure of the defense,” wide receiver Marques Colston said. “We wanted to try and distance ourselves a little bit.”

The Saints had 14 touchdown drives in their first three games and just one Sunday, but that represented just the third touchdown drive in 46 possessions against the Jets’ stingy defense.

“We did everything we needed to do, especially in the fourth quarter, to win the football game,” Brees said. “My job as quarterback is to lead that group of men and manage the game and put us in the best position to score points, take care of the football, and win games.

“I think the balance (153 yards rushing and 190 yards passing) — playing that complementary type of offense with the run and the pass — it’s good for the offense, it’s good for the players, it’s winning football games. In the end, it doesn’t matter how we get it done, it’s that we get it done.”

Check out the article at The Advocate.

Geaux Saints!!!

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ATHENS, Ga. — Tired of getting ripped locally by fans and the media for being inept on offense?

Then drive 88 yards on 12 plays with the game on the line Between the Hedges.

Tired of hearing how the offense is underachieving?

Score twice in the final 2:53 to escape with a Southeastern Conference road win.

Tired of hearing how you can’t run the ball?

Then go to Sanford Stadium and bounce off a tackler like a Herschel Walker highlight reel en route to a 33-yard game winning touchdown in the last minute of a key SEC game.

That’s what LSU’s embattled offense did Saturday in a 20-13 win over Georgia.

It was a monkey off the back of offensive coordinator Gary Crowton, a vindication of quarterback Jordan Jefferson, an emergence of freshman Rueben Randle and a return to form for running back Charles Scott.

And it was a not-so-subtle “Shhhh” to the critics.

They did it by pulling through in the clutch and becoming all-of-the-sudden explosive when, for the first 53 minutes it had alternated between being unable to finish drives in the first half and unable to drive at all in the second half.

The Tigers had only one second-half first down before they went 88 yards on 12 plays to take a 12-7 lead on Charles Scott’s 2-yard touchdown with 2:53 left in the game. And when that wasn’t enough after the Bulldogs quickly answered with their own touchdown with 1:09 left in the game, LSU responded.

The Tigers went two plays and 38 yards for the winning touchdown. Scott, a 1,000-yard rusher last year who has hardly seemed to fit in with this year’s offense, ran over Georgia linebacker Marcus Dowtin on a 33-yard run for the game winner with 46 seconds left.

Yeah. Big, physical backs can be useful, even on a team full of spread-the-field athletes.

That’s 126 yards and two touchdowns in the final two possessions after managing 242 yards and no touchdowns in the first nine drives.

How on earth do you explain that?

“We can throw and catch it,” head coach Les Miles said.

With more than just the usual players. On the 88-yard drive, Jefferson converted third-and-10 by finding Randle, who had two first-down catches for 29 yards on a drive where the Tigers’ two reliable senior receivers, Brandon LaFell and Richard Dickson, both dropped passes.

This was a drive about an “emergence of a fine young player,” Miles said of Randle. And Jefferson not only converted a third-and-10, but also a first-and-15 after an illegal shift killed a 17-yard pass. But Jefferson scrambled 26 yards to keep the drive alive.

The final drive? It was about Scott giving LSU its longest run of the year not in an insignificant moment against a bad team, but on the road in the final minute against the No. 18 team in the country. In other words, when it counts.

So, sure, this offense sputters and stalls and drives you crazy, but it also knows how to win.

Check out the article at The Advocate.

I couldn't agree more with the above article... except that not ALL of the critics are quiet. But, who cares what they say? They sure talked their trash two years ago... how many times did we hear "overranked'? But they shut up after Ohio State went down in the NC game, didn't they? They don't know what they're talking about, anyway. Hell, we shouldn't even have rankings this early in the season.

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WASHINGTON - That the national champion LSU baseball team traveled through the federal city Wednesday on a bus from a company called “Champion Coach” seemed fitting.

Thirty-one players made the trip, which included a luncheon, a reception at the White House and a visit with Vice President Joe Biden. The president was out of the country. “I’ve never been out of Louisiana before except to play baseball,” said William DeLatte, a redshirt freshman third baseman.

As much as it was important to visit the nation’s most famous house, coach Paul Mainieri made it a point to schedule visits to war memorials that included the Vietnam Memorial, Korean Memorial and Arlington Cemetery.

“It’s only possible because of their sacrifices,” Mainieri said at a luncheon for the team hosted by Democratic U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, of Louisiana. “And I think it’s important for them to understand that.”

But Mainieri was not dampening the excitement. The coach said he had trouble sleeping the night before looking forward to the trip.

“It’s the most amazing country in the world and they’re inviting LSU to Washington,” Mainieri said. “I told the players, this is a taste of victory.”

Five of the LSU players who went pro after the Tigers won the college baseball World Series in June came back for the honors.

Outfielder Jared Mitchell once had a chance to visit the White House to meet George W. Bush as part of the 2007 football national champions. Mitchell got permission from the Chicago White Sox, who he now plays minor league ball for in Arizona, to return to join his teammates.

“It’s like I was blessed twice to be able to come around a second time,” Mitchell said. “And I couldn’t pass it up.”

The only player missing from the team visit was relief pitcher Chad Jones. He also is on the LSU Tigers football team. The pitcher and safety had a 93-yard punt return for a touchdown last week and played critical roles in two goal-line stances in the team’s victory against Mississippi State.

Jones is preparing for Saturday’s football game against the University of Georgia.

“I said you’re not invited,” Mainieri said chuckling. “You’ve got to get ready for Georgia.”

The bus pulled up to Landrieu’s home on Capitol Hill and the first thing the players saw stepping off was the Capitol four blocks away. But they acknowledged the White House is what they set their sights on.

“It’s every kid’s dream to win the World Series and come to the White House,” said Micah Gibbs, a junior catcher. “It’s kind of a fantasy for every kid, and when you get here it really sinks in about what kind of impact you have.”

Blake Dean, the team’s slugging designated hitter, said it was special to be in the city with his fellow players.

“I’m going to take away a lot of memories with my teammates,” Dean said.

The White House reception was not open to the media.

Bill Franques, an LSU spokesman for the team, said afterward they were given a tour and met Biden in a room in the West Wing, where a reception was held. The vice president spent 15 minutes with the players before excusing himself for a meeting in the situation room over Afghanistan, Franques said.

Biden, an avid Philadelphia Phillies fan, was recently inducted into the Little League Hall of Fame for his service.

Mikie Mahtook, a center fielder and sophomore from Lafayette, called the experience “awesome.”

“It’s something you see all the national championship teams doing,” Mahtook said. “And you’re doing it.”

Players autographed a team jersey for Republican U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, of Metairie. Scalise wore the jersey in the annual congressional baseball game, which Republicans lost.

“These guys were inspirational,” Scalise said.

Adding, that’s not to mention the fodder for ribbing Texas congressmen that the team provided for beating University of Texas in the World Series finals, Scalise said.

“It gave us something to give our Texas colleagues a real hard time about,” Scalise said.

Check out the article at The Advocate.

Congratulations once again, Tigers! Sorry you couldn't make it, Chad... but, you have some Georgia Bulldogs to think about!!!

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No matter what direction quarterback Jordan Jefferson looks when he’s trying to make things happen for LSU’s offense, he finds somebody with a lot of experience.

So unless Jefferson keeps the ball himself or gives it away to Russell Shepard, he always knows somebody who has been there and done that is about to get the ball in his hands.

Saturday’s 31-3 victory against Louisiana-Lafayette was a testament to the tools at Jefferson’s disposal.

When No. 7-ranked LSU (3-0, 1-0 SEC) plays at Mississippi State (2-1, 1-1) at 11:21 a.m. Saturday (on WAFB), it will be the next chance for Jefferson to reach into the offensive toolbox and see if he and LSU can be a little more productive.

The Tigers are generating a respectable 325.7 total yards per game and have topped 320 yards in each game this season.

Veterans are at the heart of LSU’s production. Senior running backs accounted for 118 of the 164 rushing yards against the Cajuns — Scott with 63 yards, Williams with 41 and Holliday with 14. Scott also caught a 1-yard TD pass and Holliday dashed 11 yards into the end zone on a run.

Upper classmen combined for 13 of the 14 receptions by receivers and tight ends: Terrance Toliver (6 catches for 68 yards), Brandon LaFell (3-57, 2 TDs), Richard Dickson (3-27) and Chris Mitchell (1-4)

“It’s a really good feeling having all of those guys around me,” Jefferson said after hitting 16 of 25 passes for 165 yards. “I know those guys are going to get the yards and catch the ball for me. I’m going to keep feeding them the ball, and they’re going to keep doing good things with it.”

Nobody can question whether Jefferson is learning on the job.

There was more evidence of that Saturday as Jefferson made sure he got the ball to his most veteran playmakers at the right time.

Of LSU’s seven third-down conversions (in 12 chances), five came on pass plays to Dickson, LaFell and Toliver. The other two were on running plays: Williams’ 12-yard scamper on an option and Scott’s 2-yard blast from the fullback position in the third quarter.

After three games, it seems like Toliver has emerged as Jefferson’s top choice on third downs. On a drive that led to a 52-yard Josh Jasper field goal on the last play of the first half, Tolliver caught three third-down passes to keep the chains moving.

The lanky junior receiver repeatedly faced man coverage Saturday, and time after time he ran crisp curl patterns ranging from 10-15 yards, usually standing wide open with no defender close enough to make a difference.

With the right combination of size, explosion off the line of scrimmage and power to separate from the defender, Toliver has become an attractive target for Jefferson whenever defenses devote too much attention to LaFell split wide and Dickson roaming over the middle.

LaFell leads LSU with 14 receptions and three TD catches, while Toliver has 13 grabs and a team-best 15.8 yards per catch.

Likewise, the ball has been spread just as evenly on the ground. Scott has 37 carries and Williams 27 — both for 164 yards. Jefferson has carried 19 times for 112 yards.

Despite the 3-0 start, an undercurrent of grumbling among the fans persists that LSU hasn’t tapped its offensive potential.

That’s news to Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen, who said LSU has “unbelievable talent at every position on offense.”

“Their offense is loaded with NFL talent at every position,” Mullen said Sunday. “It’s not the one thing you have to stop with them.

“They have a big, physical, strong offensive line and some really big powerful backs that have played a lot of football. You want to go load ’em up and stop the run, they’ve got a really athletic quarterback that can break contain and get out there and cause problems for you. You go to contain him, and you look out there and have every five-star wide receiver that’s come out of high school the last 3-4 years. It’s the depth of their talent across the board. There’s so much balance for them across the board, and that’s what makes them so difficult to defend.”

At times this season, the cast of playmakers has been tough to stop.

But consistency has been elusive, and LSU coach Les Miles doesn’t hide his dissatisfaction with the sporadic performance in the running game.

For the second week in a row, Miles spent part of his postgame session lamenting the inability to line up and grind out the clock once LSU had a comfortable lead.

Scott bulled his way to 42 yards in the final quarter, but there was never a sense LSU was controlling the line of scrimmage.

The Tigers are averaging 4.6 yards per carry and 163.7 rushing yards per game.

“We have too many good runners to not run the football more efficiently, so that’s our quest,” Miles said.

Check out the article at The Advocate.

The Tigers are off to a great start!

To all of the naysayers who didn't think the Tigers looked very good against Washington, and who laughed at Les Miles when he said that the Huskies were tough... what do you say now that they beat #3 USC??? I think I hear crickets chirping!

Geaux Tigers!!!

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#10: Sanford Stadium - Georgia Bulldogs

I've been to a game up at Sanford and I couldn't imagine what a player must be going through while playing "between the hedges." The fans are loud, but overall, they're a pretty nice crowd. -- Matthew Smith, Bleacher Report

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#9: Autzen Stadium - Oregon Ducks

Oregon fans are loud. For a place that only seats 59,000, they make it seem like a whole lot more.

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#8: Michigan Stadium - Michigan Wolverines

100,000-plus screaming fans on game day are loud. The fans are passionate enough to make it a tough place to play for a visiting team.

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#7: Lane Stadium - Virginia Tech Hokies

The fans here are right on top of the action, which makes it one of the loudest places to play. But it loses points because it seats many fewer fans than the stadiums ahead of it.

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#6: Ohio Stadium - Ohio State Buckeyes

The Horseshoe makes it tough to beat when the pre-game show includes a script Ohio marching out on the field to screaming fans.

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#5: Kyle Field - Texas A&M Aggies

The 12th man is a formidable opponent for any visiting team at Kyle Field. They are constant and they never give up — a big reason why this stadium makes it into the top five.

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#4: Ben Hill Griffin Stadium - Florida Gators

Florida has some of the best fans in the country and playing a game there is tough, even once, much less having to do it every other year like some SEC schools. The Swamp has given the Gators the second-best winning percentage at home since 1990.

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#3: Beaver Stadium - Penn State Nittany Lions

There is no doubt that the tradition and passion of PSU football gives it a spot near the top of this list. Whether it be JoePa or a whiteout, there's some serious passion among fans here.

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#2: Neyland Stadium - Tennessee Volunteers

Tennessee has a great program and 100,000-plus fans doesn't hurt. They seem to always be into the game no matter the score and the design of the stadium can be very intimidating for opposing teams.

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#1: Tiger Stadium - LSU Tigers





The Tigers have some of the craziest fans in all of college football and trying to play in Tiger Stadium at night with 92,000-plus fans around you must be one of the most intimidating things a college athlete can do.

Check out the article at Fox Sports.

Not a bad list... give or take a couple of the entries (VT???). Won't argue with #1, tho... Geaux Tigers!!!

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OMAHA, Nebraska — Nine years ago, most of the players on LSU’s current roster were still just young boys whose baseball futures were only beginning to take shape on baseball diamonds all over Louisiana as well as in corners as far away as New Jersey, Michigan, California and Florida.

For many of them, watching the mighty Tigers carve out their place as college baseball’s dynasty of the ’90s was central to what they wanted to do someday.

At the heart of their baseball dreams.

Sometimes, dreams come true.

Sometime arrived in style Wednesday night, when LSU surged past Texas 11-4 at Rosenblatt Stadium to win the College World Series.

The championship is the Tigers’ sixth, their first since 2000. A nine-year drought that gave some new aspirations a chance to percolate.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling to be put in a position where in Baton Rouge you’re remembered forever,” LSU right fielder Jared Mitchell said. He and Chad Jones already possess national championship rings in football from the Tigers’ 2007 BCS national championship in football.

“We put LSU baseball back on top where it belongs and for years to come, and to be a part of that is something special.”

To get back to the top, LSU (56-17) got contributions up and down the lineup to knock off Texas (50-16-1) as the Tigers won the best-of-three championship series.

Mitchell, named the CWS Most Outstanding Player, got his college swan song started in rousing fashion with a three-run, two-out, first-inning home run.

Tough-as-nails pitcher Anthony Ranaudo gutted out 51/3 innings on short rest and battled as long as he possibly could to keep LSU in front.

When the Longhorns threatened to snatch momentum away, freshman center fielder Mikie Mahtook came through in the clutch again and then Sean Ochinko stuck a dagger in Texas’ heart with a two-out, two-run single.

And in the most fitting of endings, senior Louis Coleman — LSU’s unquestionable heart-and-soul — struck out the side in the bottom of the ninth inning to ignite a wild celebration in the middle of a Rosenblatt diamond that has been so kind to the Tigers through the years.

Coleman launched his glove in the air and braced for a bear hug from catcher Micah Gibbs as the LSU players converged on the mound. Paul Mainieri shared the moment in a long hug in front of the dugout with sons Nick and Tommy. Then, he found his 80-year-old father and mentor, Demie “Doc” Mainieri, as quickly as he could.

“I’ve dreamt my whole life of having this moment after the game to be able to talk about a national championship, and now it’s here. It’s almost surreal,” said Mainieri, who guided the Tigers to the national crown in his third season.

“I’m filled with so many different emotions right now. But all I could think about during the ninth inning was my father. I’m just so happy he could be here to share it with us. But I’ll tell you, I’m so proud to be the coach at LSU and represent that great state and all the great people in that state and a wonderful university.

“And all I could think about that was these wonderful kids I’ve had a chance to coach. … I’m so happy for these kids — they’ve done everything you ask them to do, and they’re great kids, and they deserve it.”

There was the customary victory lap and the sought-after national championship hardware was distributed, but the celebration was only getting started.

Because after nine years of waiting, the Tigers are back on top — the champions of college baseball again. And a new corps of little boys has a new set of heroes and a new set of dreams to hatch.

“If there’s a better way, you write the story for me,” Mitchell said when asked if the ending to the season was as good as he could’ve expected. “I can’t explain it. It’s been so much fun with these guys who I really care about to really come together the way we did.”

No. 1-ranked LSU danced with destiny all season long and did so with nearly perfect rhythm.

The Tigers began the season ranked No. 1 in two major polls, stayed in the top 10 of every ranking throughout the season, battled through the grinding Southeastern Conference to tie for the regular-season championship and then stormed back to win the league tournament.

LSU then blazed through NCAA regional and super regional play unbeaten and won three games in Omaha to get to the CWS finals without a hiccup.

Texas had the Tigers beat in the championship series opener, but DJ LeMahieu gave LSU life with a two-out, two-run ninth inning double and Mahtook drove in the game-winner two innings later.

The ’Horns finally wobbled the Tigers with a 5-1 victory Tuesday to force the decisive third meeting, but that wasn’t enough to separate LSU from what it wanted to accomplish.

Not even close.

Wednesday’s victory fulfilled destiny’s call by pulling together all the strands of success the Tigers have relied on all season long.

Ranaudo’s grit was at the heart of the triumph. He labored through his stint, at times showing flashes of brilliance that helped him win 12 games, at others reaching down deep to find whatever he could muster.

“I knew he was going to give us a chance,” Ochinko said. “I put my head on my pillow last night knowing that Anthony Ranaudo was going to get it done for us.”

Jones, known more as a football safety, amplified the element he has added since his late-season emergence as a left-handed reliever out of the bullpen with 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief that bridged the gap to Coleman.

Together, those two capped a magical final series by the bullpen: only three runs allowed in 15 2/3 innings.

Ochinko swung the bat like he did early in the season when he helped carry the offense. He went 4-for-5 Wednesday with a monstrous exclamation-point home run in the ninth inning after he singled three times, none bigger than a two-out, two-run single in the sixth inning.

After the feisty ’Horns drew even at 4-4 in the bottom of the fifth, the Tigers clawed back in front in the top of the sixth by erupting for five runs.

Mitchell continued a memorable championship day by beginning the inning by working Texas reliever Brandon Workman for a full-count walk. That snapped Workman’s streak of nine hitters in a row mowed down and seemed to rattle him.

UT catcher Cameron Rupp got handcuffed on a pitch that got away from him for a passed ball that allowed Mitchell to scamper to second with nobody out. Mahtook delivered his second big hit against Workman in the finals when he rifled a double to right-center to plate Mitchell with the go-ahead run.

As he reached second base, Mahtook pumped both fists.

“I didn’t have great at-bats my first three,” Mahtook said. “He threw me a fastball and I got it in the gap. Like they say, I play with a football mentality, and I just showed my emotions on second base.”

Gibbs laid down a perfect bunt to move Mahtook to third and UT reliever Austin Dicharry’s throw to first base was off the mark, allowing Gibbs to reach safely. Derek Helenihi cranked a deep fly ball to left field to score Mahtook for a 6-4 advantage, but LSU wasn’t finished.

Dicharry got Austin Nola on a groundout but walked LeMahieu on four pitches. Austin Wood took over and couldn’t get the door shut. He hit Ryan Schimpf and Blake Dean with pitches back-to-back to force in a run.

Then, on his first pitch to Ochinko, the first baseman rammed a single to left field to score LeMahieu and Schimpf for a 9-4 LSU lead.

“Got to two outs and we were in pretty good shape and then the wheels fell off the car,” legendary Texas coach Augie Garrido said. “We walked people, hit people and they kept the rally going by capitalizing on our mistakes. And then they added to it.

“Once they smelled the blood in the water, I think they did what they should do and really put us away.”

Things started with a dramatic shot in the arm for LSU when Mitchell wrapped a three-run home run around the right-field foul pole with two outs to give the Tigers an immediate lead and their earliest of the CWS finals.

Though buoyed by the quick advantage, Ranaudo wasn’t sharp like he has been most of the season, and the Longhorns got to him to cut the deficit in half in the third inning.

Travis Tucker laced a leadoff double into the left-field corner and Ranaudo walked Brandon Belt. Those two worked a double steal with one out and Tucker came home on a groundout.

With two outs Ranaudo walked three straight hitters, with Preston Clark forcing in a run when he won a 10-pitch battle with Ranaudo for an RBI walk.

The Longhorns erased LSU’s lead in the fifth inning on Kevin Keyes’ prodigious two-run blast into a section of left-center field bleachers populated by burnt orange-clad Longhorns fans.

That knotted the score 4-4 and allowed Texas to hit the reset button and turn the game into a four-inning battle for the championship.

LSU won that abbreviated showdown by scoring the final seven runs.

“They did the thing they needed to do to beat us twice,” Garrido said. “They are the best team we faced this season. By far.”

Best is what these Tigers will always be known as in 2009. Which means it’s time for new dreams.

Check out the article at The Advocate.

Sweet!!! What an awesome College World Series this has been... and with such a fitting end!

Be sure to check out Return of the Tigers! at LSUSports.net.

Congratulations Tigers!

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OMAHA, Neb. -- After second baseman DJ LeMahieu erased a 6-4 deficit with a two-out RBI double in the ninth, centerfielder Mikie Mahtook laced a two-out RBI single in the 11th to give top-ranked LSU a 7-6 victory over Texas in game 1 of the National Championship series Monday night at Rosenblatt Stadium.

Freshman right-hander Matty Ott (4-2) earned the win for LSU, throwing three shutout innings between the ninth and eleventh, allowing no hits and striking out three.

“That was one of the most courageous, never-say-die, resilient effort out of one of my teams in 27 years of coaching,” LSU head coach Paul Mainieri said. “It was a total team effort tonight...one for the ages.”

The Tigers (55-16) will face Texas (49-15-1) Tuesday night at 6 p.m. CT. An LSU win will clinch a sixth national championship and its first since 2000.

Game 2 will be televised on ESPN-HD and will be aired on the LSU Sports Radio Network (WDGL 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge). Live audio and stats can be accessed in the Geaux Zone at www.lsusports.net.

LSU’s bullpen of Chad Jones, Paul Bertuccini and Ott allowed no hits in the final five innings in relief of starter Louis Coleman.

“Our bullpen has been fantastic the last month of the season,” Mainieri said. “It was great to see the rest of the guys pick up Coleman and rally around him, because he had a pretty tough outing.”

Coleman pitched six innings and allowed six runs on nine hits, including five solo homers, while striking out six.

Offensively, the Tigers were led by a 2-for-4 performance by LeMahieu, who also had three RBI and scored twice. Rightfielder Jared Mitchell also had two hits, including a two-RBI triple.

LSU wasted no time getting on the scoreboard as leftfielder Ryan Schimpf, the second batter of the game, blasted the second pitch from Texas starter Chance Ruffin over the wall in right center to put the Tigers up 1-0. It was Schimpf’s 22nd homer of the season and his third in the College World Series.

After notching only one hit through the first three innings, Texas tied the score in the fourth with a solo home run by second baseman Travis Tucker to tie the score at 1-1.

Two batters later, designated hitter Russell Moldenhauer crushed a ball off one of the flagpoles in centerfield to give the Longhorns a 2-1 advantage. It was only the second homer of the year for Moldenhauer.

Texas right fielder Kevin Keyes belted the Longhorns’ third solo homer in the inning two batters later, giving Texas a 3-1 lead. It was the first time a team has hit three homers in an inning at the College World Series since June 1, 1998, when LSU hit three against Mississippi State.

In the sixth, Ruffin left the game with two outs and Blake Dean on third and Micah Gibbs on first, giving way to left-handed reliever Austin Wood. The next batter, Jared Mitchell, hit a triple to left-center field, scoring Dean and Gibbs, tying the score at 3-3.

Ruffin threw 5.2 innings and allowed three runs on five hits with one walk, while tying a season-high with 10 strikeouts.

The Longhorns responded in the bottom of the frame when Moldenhauer launched his second solo homer of the game off Coleman, putting Texas back on top 4-3.

Texas made the score 5-3 when Keyes crossed the plate on a wild pitch by Coleman. The senior right-hander ended the sixth by striking out leftfielder Preston Clark with a runner on third.

The Tigers pulled the score within one in the seventh when second baseman DJ LeMahieu pounded a solo homer over the wall in center to make the score 5-4.

In the bottom of the frame, Texas blasted their fifth solo homer off the game, this time off the bat of centerfielder Connor Rowe, to put the Longhorns ahead 6-4.

Jones entered the game for Coleman after Rowe’s homer and retired the Longhorns in order, striking out first baseman Brandon Belt to end the inning.

The Tigers erased a 6-4 deficit with two outs in the ninth when LeMahieu laced a double down the left field line scoring Leon Landry and Derek Helenihi, tying the score at 6-6 heading to the bottom of the ninth.

After Ott got out of the ninth unscathed, the Tigers loaded the bases in the tenth, but Texas right-hander Brandon Workman entered the game with one out and struck out Helenihi and Tyler Hanover to end the LSU threat.

In the 11th, Ott struck out shortstop Brandon Loy and Maitland before forcing Rowe to ground out to Hanover at second base to end the game.

Check out the article at LSU Sports.net.

Gotta give them Texas boys props for a great game played... we're just lucky all of their homers were solos! In the end, the Tigers persevered and took one more step in proving to the nation why we deserve the title!!!

Everyone's getting in on the action! Gov. Bobby Jindal bet Texas Gov. Rick Perry a tray of Louisiana seafood against a tray of Texas Bar-B-Que that LSU will win!

Mmmmm.... Longhorn Ribeye!!! Geaux Tigers!!!

Be sure to check out LSU Baseball at LSUSports.net.

Also check out Line Drives: LSU Baseball with Randy Rosetta.

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OMAHA, Neb. — It’s really not meant to look this easy.

So far, though, LSU’s journey back to the top of the college baseball world hasn’t required much heavy lifting.

The No. 1-ranked Tigers blazed past Arkansas 9-1 Monday at Rosenblatt Stadium, seizing one of the cherished catbird seats at the College World Series.

The Tigers (53-16) get three days off and can sit back and watch as the Razorbacks (40-23) and Virginia battle to determine who gets the next shot at LSU at 1 p.m. Friday.

If the Tigers win that game, they punch a ticket to the best-of-three national championship series, which starts Monday.

To arrive at that enviable position, LSU jumped on Arkansas quickly to give senior pitcher Louis Coleman some immediate breathing room.

Freshman Mikie Mahtook launched a three-run first-inning home run to kick-start the Tigers and Coleman worked through a rocky beginning to discover a comfort zone.

By the time Coleman exited after six innings on the way to his 14th victory, LSU had erupted for a five-run sixth inning, anchored by home runs from Austin Nola and Blake Dean.

That was all the Tigers needed to cruise for their 12th win in a row, and the most important of Coleman’s career and coach Paul Mainieri’s three-year tenure.

How important? Now the Tigers get some extra time, which Coleman really wanted.

To make sure he and his teammates get to tour the world-famous Henry Doorly Zoo next door to Rosenblatt.

“Knowing that it could be a three-game swing,” Coleman said at first when asked about his frame of mind before the game.

“We talked about it a little bit before the game started, saying if we win (Monday), it makes it a whole lot easier. If we lose, then we’ve got to win two or maybe three to get to the end. That was really what my mentality was.”

Then after a brief pause: “And we get to go the zoo.”

Baffled earlier this season when Coleman twirled a two-hit, complete-game shutout against them, the Razorbacks couldn’t do much more with him Monday, even though he wasn’t nearly as dominant.

“When you give ball to Louis, you know he’s going to compete with everything that he’s got for his team,” Mainieri said. “Even though maybe he wasn’t electric early, I thought he became electric in the middle innings and his stuff got better as the game went on.”

Mahtook made calming down much easier for Coleman and everybody else.

With hard-throwing right-hander Brett Eibner on the mound, leadoff hitter DJ LeMahieu lashed a single to right-center field to begin the game and stole second base with Ryan Schimpf at the plate.

Schimpf fell behind Eibner 1-and-2, fouled off four pitches, took a second ball and fouled off four more pitches before finally drawing a walk to end a 13-pitch battle.

Eibner nearly got off the hook when he got Blake Dean on a fly ball to left field and struck out cleanup hitter Micah Gibbs.

But Mahtook worked the count full, fouling off a 2-and-2 offering, and then blasted a bomb toward the left-field foul pole that just cleared the top of the fence for three runs.

“He threw me a slider on the first pitch and I chased it in the dirt,” Mahtook said. “After that, I pretty much saw every pitch he threw pretty well. He tried to sneak a fastball by me, and I fouled it off. Then I was looking for the slider, because he’d thrown it a couple of times. He threw the slider and left it up a little bit. I put a good swing on it and was able to get enough of it to get it out.”

Added Mainieri, “I thought Mikie Mahtook really gave us the big lift in the first inning. We had first and second and nobody out, we did nothing in the next two at-bats. And then Mikie, with two outs, hits a three-run homer, and it’s off to the races for us.”

Arkansas took a small bite out of the lead with a run in the first when Ben Tschepikow laced a one-out opposite-field double to left, Scott Lyons singled and Andy Wilkins knocked home a run on a fly ball to left field.

That was all the Hogs mustered, though. Arkansas threatened in the second and third as well, but Coleman evaded trouble both times.

In the third, he magnified the Razorbacks’ frustration by striking out pinch-hitter Jacob House with the bases loaded with no damage done.

Arkansas never mounted another serious threat on the way to its first loss of the NCAA tournament. Starting with House’s strikeout, Coleman clicked into a groove and retired 10 of the final 12 batters he faced.

“You have to give credit to Louis Coleman,” Hogs coach Dave Van Horn said. “He was outstanding.

“We were getting runners on, just not driving them in. … We were down 4-1 with the bases loaded, and we didn’t get the hit. We didn’t even hit the ball hard. If we get the hit, we’re right there.”

LSU, meanwhile, kept pummeling the baseball.

In the second, Schimpf doubled home LeMahieu for a 4-1 lead.

Arkansas reliever TJ Forrest — a former LSU pitcher — quieted the Tigers bats for a while with 3 1/3 scoreless frames.

But Nola, the nine-hole hitter, injected some new life when he cranked out a 2-and-0 pitch for a solo home run in the sixth. Schimpf walked with two outs and Dean unloaded a two-run bomb to right that stretched the lead to 7-1.

Two more runs came home after Gibbs singled, Mahtook walked and both scored on Jared Mitchell’s base hit to left field — Mahtook when House’s throw to third base was wide left.

As meaningful as the final five-run assault was, Dean credited Mahtook’s early blow for LSU’s offensive prowess.

“Mahtook brings a lot of fire to the team,” Dean said. “The older guys tend to go with the flow. When he hits a home run, he almost takes your arm off. As veterans, we try to calm them down and the young guys bring the fire.”

As does Coleman, who pitched in a fifth consecutive CWS game Monday and responded with another gritty performance, this time with a lot of help from his friends.

“When you get Louis nine runs, it’s going to be hard to lose the ballgame,” Dean said.

Added Mainieri, “Every time you give him the ball you expect him to keep you in the game and give you a chance to win.”

Check out the article at The Advocate.

The Tigers are on fire at #1! The 2009 College World Series is theirs for the taking!

Be sure to check out LSU Baseball at LSUSports.net.

Also check out Line Drives: LSU Baseball with Randy Rosetta.

Geaux Tigers!

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BATON ROUGE -- LSU coach Les Miles and his coaching staff hauled in one of the best recruiting classes in college football on Wednesday as the Tigers signed 25 players in what could be considered one of the strongest groups in school history.

Of LSU’s 25 signees, five were named to the prestigious Parade Magazine All-America squad, while six were named All-Americans by USA Today. The class also included 10 members of the EPSNU 150, eight members of the Scout.com 100, and six members of the Rivals.com 100.

LSU’s class was rated No. 1 in the nation by ESPN and No. 2 by Rivals.com.

“I think that this class answered our needs,” Miles said. “It’s nice to be complimented by being ranked number one in the country. Certainly we see this class as a class that we must develop; that we must improve; that we must challenge; we must make it bigger, faster, stronger and more technically competent.

“I’m probably most excited about the character of these men. I don’t really look at how the rankings fare because I feel like the old cliché is two or three years from now you’ll find out how good they were or were not. I see them as guys that will do very well in the classroom and guys that will represent this school very well off the field. Potentially, this is the style of class that competes for championships year after year and people will be attracted to the style of men that we recruited this year.”

Six members of the 2009 signing class have already enrolled at LSU, a group that includes all-everything quarterback Russell Shepard. Shepard is concerned the top dual-threat quarterback prospect in this year’s class. He finished his high school career with more than 8,000 yards of total offense and 98 touchdowns. He accounted for nearly 4,000 yards and 48 TDs as a senior.

Other early enrollees for the Tigers include running back Drayton Calhoun, quarterback Chris Garrett, linebacker Kevin Minter, defensive back Rockey Duplessis and junior college punter Derek Helton.

Other highlights of the class include Bastrop High School wide receiver Rueben Randle, who is widely considered the nation’s top prospect at his position. Randle, who played quarterback as a senior in 2008, recorded 2,461 yards and 20 touchdowns through the air, while rushing for 683 yards and 12 scores. He is considered the top prospect in Louisiana.

Michael Ford, a running back from Leesville, La., comes to LSU after rushing for 2,953 yards and 29 TDs as senior. Ford, who earned both Parade and USA Today All-America honors in 2008, had nine games of 200-yards or better in 2008, including a career-high 443 yards and six TDs in a win over Tioga.

On defense, safety Craig Loston, defensive end Sam Montgomery and defensive tackle Chris Davenport highlighted that group. Loston is considered the nation’s No. 1 safety prospect. He was named to the Parade and USA Today All-America teams.

Montgomery, rated as the No. 2 defensive end prospect by ESPNU, had 11 sacks as a senior for Greenwood High School. Davenport earned USA Today All-America honors despite playing in just four games as a senior due to an injury. In four games, Davenport still recorded 45 tackles and nine sacks for Mansfield High School.

LSU’s class included 13 players from the state of Louisiana, four from Texas, two from Georgia and one each from Alabama, California, Kansas, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee.

“We do what we can to control this state and we’ve done so very effectively during our tenure here,” Miles said of recruiting Louisiana. “It’s always been our view that ‘in-state first’, but we offer national credentials with our academics; our school is well respected throughout the country, so we have great attraction to those surrounding states and those people that have proximity.”

LSU will now turn its attention to spring practice, which starts on March 12. The annual LSU Spring Game is scheduled for April 18 in Tiger Stadium.

Check out the article at LSU Sports.

Looks like another top-ranked recruiting class for the Tigers! Geaux!

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To trumpet the Southeastern Conference as powerful in the college football scene isn’t groundbreaking stuff. Especially around these parts.

After all, the SEC holds the last three national titles, with LSU as the crème filling to Florida in a BCS Oreo.

However, just take a moment to look at the league’s 6-2 run in the bowl season and concentrate on the three teams that wheezed their way into bowls — LSU, Vanderbilt and Kentucky — yet came up with victories.

• Vanderbilt, which had lost six of its final seven games after a 5-0 start, had its first bowl win since 1955 and its first winning season since 1982, when the Commodores last played in a bowl.

  With a key fumble recovery in the end zone, Vandy beat No. 24 Boston College 16-14 in the Music City Bowl.

• Kentucky, which had lost six of its final eight games after a 4-0 start, has won three consecutive bowl games for the first time in school history.

  With a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to start the second half and a 56-yard fumble return for a touchdown as the game-winner with 3:02 to play, Kentucky beat East Carolina 25-19 — after trailing 16-3 at halftime — in the Liberty Bowl.

• And LSU, which had lost five of its last eight games after a 4-0 start, won its fourth straight bowl game, all under Les Miles, in a run that includes last season’s BCS title-game win and a Sugar Bowl win.

  The Tigers, who have won 10 of their last 12 bowls, put up 28 points in the second quarter and destroyed No. 14 Georgia Tech 38-3 in the Chick-fil-A Bowl.

What does all this mean? The SEC, 7-2 in bowls the previous season, is good. You knew that, right? Then again, last year is so last week.

ESPN.com’s Mark Schlabach has LSU, which went 8-5 and finished unranked this season, at No. 9 in his day-after-the-title-game top 25 preseason poll.

Of SEC teams, Florida is No. 1 and Alabama No. 5, with Ole Miss checking in at No. 12, Georgia at 15.

That ranking reflects how much LSU did to earn back respect with that Chick-fil-A Bowl. Plus, true freshman quarterback Jordan Jefferson’s performance, coupled with the hiring of defensive coordinator John Chavis, provide hope LSU can fix its glaring problems at quarterback and on defense.

Had LSU not collapsed against Arkansas, the Tigers would have finished in the final top 25 this season. (As it was, they were effectively 28th).

Is No. 9 too lofty? The suspicion here is LSU won’t be in the top 10 when the preseason polls surface in about seven months. Look for a start in the top 15.

Ole Miss — given a six-game winning streak to close the season, a blowout win over former No. 1 Texas Tech in the Cotton Bowl, a demolishing of LSU in Tiger Stadium and that one-point win at Florida in September — probably will begin ahead of LSU.

Either way, that’s two teams in the top five and five total in the top 15. Yep, the SEC will continue to be powerful.

Check out article at The Advocate.

Congrats to Tim Tebow and the Florida Gators on the 2008 National Championship!!!

Congrats to the LSU Tigers on their rout of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets! Jordan Jefferson had a great game and I'm looking forward to seeing him next year at the starting QB position... and what do you know, his favorite receiver, Brandon LaFell, decided not to head off to the NFL after-all! Things are definitely lookin' up for next year!!!

SEC RULES!!!

Be sure to check out SECSportsFan.com.

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ATLANTA — Whether it’s the first game of the season, the handful along the way against bitter rivals or the last time a team will strap on helmets and take the field together, every football game boils down to matchups.

Can your best players line up and beat the best players from the other team man-to-man, play-after-play more often and more convincingly for 60 minutes?

In that sense, the Chick-fil-A Bowl between LSU (7-5) and 14th-ranked Georgia Tech (9-3) won’t be much different than the previous 12 games the teams have played this season or the last three bowl outings the Tigers have turned in under coach Les Miles.

What’s different is the matchups facing LSU’s defense.

Georgia Tech’s triple-option offense is a hybrid of the wishbone from the 1960s and ’70s and the spread offenses in vogue now.

And the stakes, motivation and sense of urgency are intertwined and packaged differently for LSU as well.

Instead of putting a crescendo on a stellar season like they have the last three years, the Tigers are relegated to tacking something positive onto a season that spiraled out of control in November.

Whether LSU can dig deep enough to find the necessary motivation to play well will be nearly as important as how well the Tigers slow down the Yellow Jackets proficient offense, making this season finale intriguing.

“It’s real important for us to come out and play with energy and intensity because we want to finish this season a lot better than we’ve played the last few games,” LSU linebacker Darry Beckwith said. “If we do that and play good fundamental defense the way we’ve been coached, we’ll be OK.”

Those fundamentals boil down to what LSU coaches deem “assignment football.”

Each member of the defense has a specific role depending on the formation and is expected to take care of that job and not stray from the script.

“The great thing we’ve had is time, so we’ve been able to take it and break it down and teach it concept by concept and really get a lot of work done on what we need to stop, so it’s fortunate that we’re facing them in a bowl game and not in the middle of the football season,” LSU defensive co-coordinator Bradley Dale Peveto said.

Peveto’s co-coordinator Doug Mallory said whatever success LSU’s defense has will start up front with the defensive line.

“It starts with those guys up front and how disciplined they can be,” he said. “We’ve got some guys who when we face a conventional offense, they’re geared to getting up the field as fast as they can and rushing the passer. Against this kind of offense, the defensive ends are tied into option reads and they have to get geared up to play within the framework of the defense.”

Translation: The Tigers ends and cornerbacks have to stay home and dictate the quarterback’s decision.

If the two ends and two corners are effective, most running plays will either be funneled inside or strung out to the sideline where linebackers and safeties will be counted on to limit the damage.

“The linebackers are going to have to make a lot of open-field tackles,” LSU buck linebacker Perry Riley said. “We have to break down and be fundamentally sound and not miss when get a chance to wrap the running back up. We’ll be the first ones who have that chance and we want to make a lot of tackles and not leave it up to anybody else.”

That all sounds good in a neatly wrapped package, but part of Tech’s success and the danger the offenses poses is based on patience until the defense slips up.

While the triple-option might seem like a grind-it-out, ball-control way of doing things, the architect of Tech’s scheme takes umbrage with that notion.

“Honestly, I don’t think too many people out there understand (the triple option),” said Johnson, who relied on the offense to guide Georgia Southern to two Division I-AA national championships and then lead Navy to five straight bowl games. “I think that there’s the perception out there, which sometimes is perpetuated by the media and other people, that it’s just 3 yards and a cloud of dust and that fans don’t enjoy watching it because it’s boring and that guys can’t get to the next level playing in it. I think most of that has been proven wrong and as we get further into it here, all of it will be proven wrong.”

This season has certainly supplied some legs for Johnson’s argument.

In 12 games the Jackets have 64 plays of 20 yards or more. Broken down, 46 of those plays were rushes for 1,669 yards — 36.3 a carry. Eighteen pass plays went for more than 20 yards for 633 yards.

“There were a lot of games played this year where you could see our offense get 3-to-4 yards every carry and then all of a sudden hit a big one,” Tech center Dan Voss said.

“If you get out of position or if you take one false step or have any wasted motion, that can be the difference between a 3-yard gain and a 60-yard touchdown,” defensive end Kirston Pittman said.

So the Tigers have watched the triple option for three weeks, broken it down in the film room and a scout team has tried to emulate how the Jackets will attack.

“We’ve done everything we can to be as close to their style of offense to show it to our defense,” Miles said.

“If LSU’s scout team can execute as well as we can, we’re in trouble,” Jones said. “It’s going to come down to us executing our offense the best we can, and we always feel like if we execute our offense, we’re going to have a good chance.”

Johnson didn’t disagree.

“To me, what we do is a game of adjustments,” he said. “We don’t know how LSU’s going to play and they don’t know exactly what we’re going to do, so it’ll be who can adjust.”

Man-to-man, play-by-play, 60 minutes. Sound familiar?

Check out article at The Advocate.

Best of luck to the Tigers! I know this season hasn't been all that we hoped it would be, but this is still a talented team with a winning record and they deserve our respect and support!

Geaux Tigers!!!

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LSU’s 1958 national champion football team will be honored at halftime of the LSU vs. Ole Miss game on Saturday. Also, 1959 Heisman Trophy winner Billy Cannon will be recognized for his election into the College Football Hall of Fame.

BATON ROUGE -- Nostalgia will be dripping from Tiger Stadium on Saturday when the 1958 LSU Tigers, the first consensus national championship team in school history and the only undefeated title holder in school annals, will be presented at halftime of the game as part of a weekend-long reunion celebration for the squad.

Also, LSU legend Billy Cannon will be honored during the break between the first and second quarters for his election to the College Football Hall of Fame. Cannon was elected earlier this year and will be inducted in ceremonies to be held at New York’s historic Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on December 9.

The 1958 team will start its reunion activities with a gathering at the Cox Communications Academic Center for Student-Athletes on Friday evening followed by a tour of the LSU Football Operations Center. On Saturday morning the team will tour the Andonie Museum and will be presented at the Tiger Athletic Foundation Pre-Game Party in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

At halftime of the LSU-Ole Miss game, the team will be introduced at mid-field.

Cannon becomes only the sixth player in the history of LSU football to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Cannon will be presented with a plaque by the National Football Foundation on Saturday to commemorate his election to the Hall.

Other former LSU players who have been elected to the College Football Hall of Fame are G.E. “Doc” Fenton (1904-09), Abe Mickal (1933-35), Gaynell “Gus” Tinsley (1934-36), Ken Kavanaugh (1937-39) and Tommy Casanova (1969-71).

Five former LSU coaches are in the College Football Hall of Fame. They are Mike Donahue who also coached at Auburn; Lawrence “Biff” Jones who also coached at Army, Oklahoma and Nebraska; Dana X. Bible who also coached at Mississippi College, Texas A&M, Nebraska and Texas; Bernie Moore who also coached at Mercer, and LSU’s all-time winningest coach, Charles McClendon, who coached only at LSU from 1962-79.

Check out the article at LSU Sports.

Congrats to Billy Cannon and the rest of the 1958 Championship Team, who had one helluva season back in the day and have been honored for their accomplishments ever since.

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Around the Bowl and Down the Hole... Roll Tide Roll!

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Four bronze, larger-than-life statues look over Bryant-Denny Stadium’s front lawn, one for each man to win a national championship here.

From right to left, the statues stand chronologically: Wallace Wade, Frank Thomas, Bear Bryant and Gene Stallings. To the left of Stallings, there’s a lonely pedestal of grass, reserved for the next immortal.

It’s been considered that Nick Saban, who has Alabama at the head of the Bowl Championship Series title chase, could be the missing link.

“After we beat Georgia,” said David Jones, owner of the Alabama Express gift shop right off campus, “somebody actually went out there and put a mock statue of him in that spot.”

Such is the buzz absorbing Tuscaloosa these days. Sooner than anyone could have expected, Saban has awakened the 8,000-pound, crimson-clad elephant in the room.

Alabama football sleeps no more.

When the Crimson Tide face No. 15 LSU on Saturday afternoon in Tiger Stadium, it will take the field with a No. 1 ranking attached to its name for the first time since 1980, a year after Bryant won back-to-back national titles. It is the first time Alabama has had the ranking, period, since Stallings bronzed his status with a victory over Miami in the Sugar Bowl, following the 1992 season.

By beating the Tigers, the Tide can clinch a trip to the Southeastern Conference championship game. Alabama hasn’t done that since 1999, four coaches ago.

“Bama fans don’t really know what to do with ourselves right now,” said Jeremy Tuggle, a 2004 graduate from Birmingham. “We really thought it would be one or two more years before we were having these conversations.”

Saban, 57, might be the most popular man in town these days. Or it might be Mal Moore, the man who hired him.

One of the two.

It has been only 22 months, after all, since Moore, the Alabama athletic director, shocked football circles — NFL and college alike — by luring Saban from the Miami Dolphins, rushing him home on a private jet and introducing him as Alabama’s next coach at a news conference.

Across the nation, Saban was ripped for leaving Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga in a lurch. For investing only two years in Miami, then bolting. For famously announcing “I’m not going to be the Alabama coach” at a Dolphins news conference, only to reverse field.

Tuscaloosa never cared.

When Moore and Saban touched down, houndstooth-adorned fans — from the boosters to the coeds — rolled out the crimson carpet.

“You hear people talk about the Saban effect,” said Jones, who recalls Jan. 3, 2007, as a landmark day for sales. “I’ve thanked Mal Moore several times.”

Saban’s arrival was the big splash Bama craved. It promised the SEC’s most storied program a chance to end years of hit-and-miss and regain its traditional place as a consistent national player.

That’s what Moore wanted when he cast a line into the water after firing Mike Shula, like Moore a former Bama quarterback. For all the high marks he’d earned after directing a $125-million effort to enhance Alabama’s facilities, the A.D. knew he had to get this right.

Money wasn’t an issue. Neither was taking chances.

“I knew I wanted a proven coach who’d won a championship,” Moore said. “But I didn’t know that coach Saban was a real option for us. I’d only heard from different people that he might want back in the college game. When I flew down there, I didn’t even know if he’d talk to me.”

Moore left Tuscaloosa for south Florida the weekend of Miami’s final game, in Indianapolis. He returned a few days later with Saban, who had agreed to an eight-year, $32 million contract.

“I think it was a relief as much as anything,” said Kirk McNair, founder and editor of Bama Magazine. “Everybody was scared that Alabama wasn’t going to be able to get a (top-quality) coach.”

The one they got was one they knew. Saban, after all, had coached SEC West rival LSU to two conference titles and one national championship in five years.

He could do it here, too, couldn’t he?

The Tide had rolled through five coaches since Bryant retired after the 1982 season. Stallings, the third try, had been the only one worthy of a statue.

This would be different, Bama fans believed.

When the Saban story broke, its impact in Tuscaloosa could be measured in several ways, Web activity among them. McNair watched Bama Magazine’s message boards explode after he posted the news.

“It went berserk,” McNair said. “I’ve never seen the forums do anything like that.”Turning the Tide

Saban doesn’t seem to have changed much. He’s still not one to break out an oxford shirt or coat and tie very often. He’s still driven and competitive. He’s still impatient, for the most part, with anything — media functions included — that cuts into his time on the practice field or film room.

And his formula remains the same.

If you put this Alabama team in gold helmets and white jerseys, replaced its mascot with a live Bengal tiger and changed the lyrics of its fight song, you’d swear it was 2003 all over again. Saban has rebuilt in Tuscaloosa just as he did in Baton Rouge, carrying the same kit of tools.

He’s winning with defense. Solid, steady quarterback play. Preparation and discipline. He’s winning with the kind of team made for the long haul.

“It reminds us of a certain other coach,” said Ken Gaddy, director of the Bryant Museum, on the Alabama campus. “It’s what people think is Southern football.”

In other words, Bama isn’t flashy.Not yet.

Bama’s most recent recruiting class, however, was the best in the nation, according to Rivals.com, Scout.com and other recruiting services. It included the likes of Julio Jones, a tall, athletic receiver who has caught 33 passes and started every game as a freshman.“People know he’s stocking the pantry,” McNair said of Saban, who recruited equally well at LSU, where he landed a consensus Top 5 class three times, in ’01, ’03 and ’04.

The most encouraging thing — or, if you’re a Bama rival, discouraging thing — about this 9-0 start? The Tide has only nine scholarship seniors, a sign that more of the same could await.

Saban won the SEC championship in Year 2 at LSU, but that team’s best ranking was No. 7, reached after a victory over Illinois in the Sugar Bowl. He didn’t have the Tigers in the national championship conversation until Year 4, a season that ended with LSU winning the BCS title.

Who knows where November will take Alabama? But it seems a lock the Tide will enter Year 3 under Saban ahead of schedule.

“Right now,” said Tuggle, the Bama grad from Birmingham, “we’re playing with house money.”Feeding the monsterSaban may not have a statue in front of the football stadium. But like every other man who has coached a game at Alabama since Bryant’s retirement, he does have an exhibit at the Bear Bryant Museum.

For now, the Saban display, located an option toss from the gift shop, is fairly unspectacular. It features a couple of magazine covers, a football commemorating the coach’s 100th career victory (registered against Tulane in September), last year’s Independence Bowl trophy and a highlight video accompanied by “Sweet Home Alabama” music.

But Kathleen Page, a lifelong Tide fan, figures the exhibit will need a remake soon. Her excitement is evident, from the ring tone on her cell phone (Yeah Alabama, by the Million Dollar Band) to her Tide handbag. She is too caught up in the unbeaten start to ponder star-studded recruiting classes.

“It’s been a long time coming,” the 44-year-old said, as she scanned old newspaper articles, bowl-game programs and game-worn equipment inside the museum. “And I really think this is the year we’re going to take it all the way.”

Every team in the SEC has passionate, impatient fans, to be sure. But nowhere else has a scrimmage drawn 92,000 fans, as Saban’s first spring game did.

“Coach Saban has preached to us about not getting too far ahead of ourselves,” said Gaddy, who has 12 team portraits on the wall in his office at the museum, one for every recognized national champion. “But the goal, long-term, come January, is to be No. 1 at the end of the season.”

And yes, to provide some company for Wade, Thomas, Bryant and Stallings. To put another Tide coach on that kind of pedestal.

Check out the article at The Advocate.

Well, it's that time again... time for Saban Bowl II. Not sure how this one's gonna turn out, those guys are on fire! No matter what happens, I wish my Tigers a great finish to the season and a worthy bowl appearance. Best of luck to the Crimson Tide on their national title hunt!

In other news, it seems that Mike the Tiger doesn't want to attend the football game! I'm sure he'll get more used to the crowds soon enough. This probably won't be the best game to bring him out due to the expected crowd noise, but it's ultimitely Mike's decision. But, as the Herb Vincent says... “When it’s a 500-pound tiger, there’s only so much you can do!”

Geaux Tigers!!!

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Instinct or self-defense?

Or was Wilbur Hackett Jr. just reliving his days as a linebacker at Kentucky?

Somewhere in the answers to those three questions lies an explanation for why a Southeastern Conference umpire is a YouTube.com phenomenon this week.

Hackett landed in the spotlight — but not in hot water — when he inadvertently (apparently) logged an assisted tackle against South Carolina quarterback Stephen Garcia during LSU’s 24-17 triumph against the Gamecocks Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium.

Late in the first half, South Carolina’s Carlos Thomas intercepted a Jarrett Lee pass and returned it to the Tigers’ 8-yard-line. On the Gamecocks’ first snap, Garcia took a shotgun snap and ran to the right side on an option read play.

Garcia cut back against the grain and seemed to have an angle and open path toward the end zone, but Hackett at first held his ground and then appeared to plant his feet and unload a forearm shiver on the Gamecocks QB.

That slowed Garcia down enough for LSU safety Curtis Taylor to level Garcia at the 4.

The Gamecocks scored two plays later to take a 17-10 lead, but only after a hold-your-breath moment for USC fans when Garcia bobbled a third-down snap.

LSU coach Les Miles joked about the play Monday.

“We told (Hackett), ‘Listen, you’ve got to use your flipper, you’ve got to use your forearm, but then once you have contact, you gotta wrap up,’ ” Miles said, tongue-in-cheek. “He didn’t wrap up.

“I want you to know that we were disappointed in his effort to be honest with you. We felt like he could knock him down a little bit.”

South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier wasn’t as jovial, but also didn’t fault Hackett.

“He was trying to get out of the way,” Spurrier said. “Stephen sort of cut back right into him. Sometimes that will happen.”

Hackett is no stranger to tackling quarterbacks.

He was a prep star in Louisville in the mid-1960s and spent three seasons at Kentucky, where is credited with being one of the SEC’s first black team captains. He has been an SEC official since 1998.

SEC Coordinator of Officials Rogers Redding reviewed the play and determined that Hackett was protecting himself on the play and no disciplinary action will he taken.

“That happens so regularly in games,” Miles said. “Sometimes the ball breaks right at him, and it’s very difficult. Certainly, everybody in this room would look to defend themselves, and I’m certain that’s what he was thinking when that ball came at him.”

Moving the chains

LSU has won six consecutive games against top-10 ranked teams, including a 26-21 triumph at then ninth-ranked Auburn on Sept. 20. … LSU and Georgia have combined to claim five of the last seven SEC Championships — the Tigers in 2001, ’03 and ’07, the Bulldogs in 2002 and ’05. The teams also rank 1-2 in overall wins in that stretch, LSU with 61 and Georgia with 57. … This is the Bulldogs middle game of a three-game stretch against ranked foes. Georgia beat No. 22 Vanderbilt 24-14 last week and collides with No. 7 Florida next week in Jacksonville, Fla. The last time the ’Dogs squared off with three straight ranked opponents was 1969 (No. 3 Tennessee, No. 13 Florida, No. 11 Auburn). … Georgia’s defense has recorded 14 scoreless quarters this season and has limited four opponents to under 60 yards rushing.

Check out the article at The Advocate.

Thanks but no thanks, ref!!! We can handle it without your help! =)

Best of luck to the Tigers this weekend as they take on the Georgia Bulldogs!!! Hopefully we can break back into the top 10 with a W

Geaux Tigers!!!

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It is the stuff of legend.

A packed Tiger Stadium. A physical, defensive game between two Southeastern Conference powerhouse football teams. A score of Auburn 6, LSU 0, late in the fourth quarter.

With national rankings at stake and a national audience watching on ESPN, LSU quarterback Tommy Hodson threw a touchdown pass to tailback Eddie Fuller on fourth down with 1 minute, 47 seconds remaining in the game. The eruption of the crowd registered as an earthquake on the seismograph located in LSU’s Howe-Russell Geoscience Complex.

Today, Hodson and Fuller say that after 20 years, the 1988 LSU-Auburn game is still an earthshaking experience. In fact, both say the famous play is even bigger now than it was then, since it has taken on a life of its own as part of LSU folklore.

“Initially, I didn’t believe it,” Fuller recalled of first hearing that the crowd noise registered on the seismograph. “I think it took a couple of years for it to sink in. It never dawned on me how big that play was here until years later, when I came back to LSU.”

Fuller said he first began to realize how amazing the “earthquake” game was when he saw it featured in a Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum in the early 1990s. “I was going through this Ripley’s museum in Niagara Falls, and I looked up and there it was!” he laughed.

Hodson said he remembers opening LSU’s student newspaper, The Reveille, and seeing a photo of the seismograph reading, or seismogram. “The story is even bigger now than when it happened,” Hodson said. “To have my name tied in with that play is an honor. It’s great to be a part of LSU history.”

The Earthquake Game is one of those magical moments in LSU history that fans and the media relive year after year. And although Hodson and Fuller are the two names most often mentioned in connection with the game, they were quick to give credit to some of the game’s unsung heroes.

“The defense,” they both said in unison. Indeed, the defense held Auburn — which was ranked No. 4 in the nation at the time — to only two field goals in the game. And after LSU scored the touchdown and kicked the extra point, Auburn’s offense got the ball back with 1:41 on the clock. The LSU defense preserved the 7-6 win.

Every Tiger fan who was at the Earthquake Game has some memory of that famous touchdown and the ensuing celebration. There are stories of downed light fixtures in the North Stadium dormitory, which was still open to students at the time; strangers hugging one another in the stands after the touchdown; and the incredible noise of the crowd. But Hodson and Fuller have their own memories of the game, and apparently, fans weren’t the only ones holding their breath on that fourth-down play.

“Time stood still,” Fuller said. “I saw Tommy throw the ball and it looked like a defender might have tipped it. It took forever for the ball to get to me, and it seemed like I almost dropped it because I had waited so long.”

“The defender didn’t tip it,” Hodson said with a smile. “But his hands were right there.”

When LSU fans learned that their reaction registered on a seismograph, they were pleasantly surprised. But LSU geologists were downright stunned.

Riley Milner, research associate with the Louisiana Geological Survey, was the first one to discover the seismograph reading. He walked into the Howe-Russell Geoscience Complex on the Monday after the game, and the seismogram caught his eye.

“I saw a very distinct recording of something and my first reaction was, ‘What in the world is this?’” he said. He took the seismogram to Donald Stevenson, the researcher then in charge of LSU’s seismic program. “We tried to figure out what it might be, and we backed up the time and realized it coordinated perfectly with the time of the touchdown,” Milner said. “It was a total surprise. We never expected the seismograph to pick up the ground shaking from a football game.”

Even more of a surprise was that the seismogram showed 15 to 20 minutes of recorded ground shaking. That’s right — 15 to 20 minutes. “It was a solid register of jubilation in the stadium,” Milner said.

Surprisingly, when asked about their fondest memories at LSU, neither Hodson nor Fuller mentioned their accomplishments on the football field.

“My greatest memories are of Broussard Hall (which was then the athletic dormitory) and the camaraderie with all the guys,” Hodson said. “There is a common bond among all LSU players that is amazing, even between players from different eras. That’s the greatest part of playing football for LSU.”

“My greatest accomplishment at LSU is graduating,” Fuller said. “When I got drafted by the Buffalo Bills, I promised my mom I would come back to LSU and finish my degree.”

Fuller said he intended to enroll for the spring semester of 1991 after his first pro football season ended. But instead, his team went to the Super Bowl, which meant the season didn’t wrap up until LSU’s spring semester was well under way. In fact, that happened for four years in a row, as the Bills and Fuller competed in four straight Super Bowls from 1991-1994. After his time with the Bills, Fuller played for the Carolina Panthers in 1995. He completed his degree — and his promise to his mother — in 1997.

Today, Fuller lives in Prairieville, La. After a working as a special events coordinator for LSU’s Tiger Athletic Foundation, Fuller moved on work in medical sales for Johnson and Johnson. He and his wife Tressa have one daughter, RaeDiance, who is 11 years old.

Hodson graduated from LSU in 1990 and played for the New England Patriots from 1990-1992. After brief stints with the Miami Dolphins and the Dallas Cowboys, he played for the New Orleans Saints in 1995 and 1996. Today, he lives in Baton Rouge, where he works for JTH Agency, a company in electrical apparatus sales.

He and his wife, Andy have twin daughters named Catherine and Christina, who are 13 years old.

Both Hodson and Fuller agreed that one of the best things about the earthquake game being shown year after year is that their children get to see it. Also, they are forever linked with one of LSU’s greatest moments.

Article updated for 20th anniversary. Originally posted on LSUsports.net Oct 23, 2003.

Check out the article at LSU Sports.

Although I wasn't there that night, I distinctly remember watching The Earthquake Game on TV - it's hard to believe it's been 20 years!!! What an exciting finish that was... it just adds to the colorful history of LSU and the rivalry with Auburn.

Geaux Tigers!

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By the time LSU coach Les Miles stepped to the podium to address the media Saturday night following a 34-24 triumph over Mississippi State, the final upset of a topsy-turvy weekend was complete.

The victims were a Who’s Who of college football royalty — Southern California (ranked No. 1 last week), Georgia (No. 3), Florida (No. 4) and Wisconsin (No. 9).

Once Alabama put the finishing touches on a stunning 41-30 triumph against Georgia between the hedges in Athens, Ga., fans and media had the green light to start calculating where and how much the national rankings would shift after four top-10 teams stumbled this week.

The Tigers weren’t one of those teams, of course. And where they would be ranked today was a hot-button topic of discussion in the postgame of a gritty victory that required a full night’s work.

Not that Miles wasn’t about to take the bait.

“I really don’t care about ranking at this point,” he said after LSU upped its record to 4-0, 2-0 in the SEC. “If we can just win ’em one at a time from this point forward, we’ll take care of our own ranking. There’s so much more in front of us to play.”

Echoed Tigers tailback Charles Scott, who continued to build All-American credentials with 141 rushing yards and two touchdowns against State, “I don’t really look at our ranking. The only thing that matters to me is where we’re ranked at the end of the year.”

After the dust settled on Saturday and votes were cast Sunday, there aren’t many teams left in front of LSU and the top of the polls.

When Sunday’s updated rankings were released, the Tigers had climbed to No. 3 in the Associated Press poll and No. 2 in the USA Today/ESPN coaches poll.

Boosted by the huge win at Georgia, Alabama (5-0, 2-0) vaulted to No. 2 in AP and No. 3 in the coaches poll. The Crimson Tide got 21 first-place votes in the media rankings, but only two from the coaches.

In the initial Harris poll released Sunday, LSU was No. 2 with three first-place votes, behind Oklahoma with 102 first-place votes. Alabama was third with seven firsts.

Oklahoma (4-0) climbed from second into the top spot in both polls, earning 43 first-place votes in the AP and 57 from the coaches.

None of that may matter much right now to the Tigers, who have a bye week before heading to now 12th-ranked Florida for an Oct. 11 showdown of the previous two BCS national champions.

But as much as there is always a professed focus on the opponent in the field of vision, knowing USC had tumbled at Oregon State on Thursday and that Ole Miss had knocked off Florida earlier in the day Saturday was hard to completely ignore.

Even Miles said the subject of the earlier upsets came up before Saturday night’s evening kickoff. “We went through the SC (game) very specifically, and I’m certain that, without mention, that the Florida-Ole Miss (game), the guys understood that,” he said.

Understood, yes. But knowing what had happened earlier might have developed into a distraction.

“Of course we were all thinking about it,” Scott said. “We saw USC go down big Thursday night and saw Florida go down against Ole Miss. Actually we were all watching the Ole Miss-Florida game. I think that might have kind of thrown our focus off. We were more focused on everybody else than we were on Mississippi State.”

There shouldn’t be any danger of losing focus now.

LSU has 12 days to rest up, heal and prepare for the next road test in a brutally tough stretch of the SEC schedule. Florida plays at Arkansas this week, but should still have plenty of mad left over when the Tigers walk into The Swamp.

That’s OK with Scott, as was the notion that Alabama and second-year coach Nick Saban are poised in prime position to challenge the Tigers in the West Division.

“We like it,” Scott said. “It looks like it will be us and Alabama. It will be a showdown here against them. When we go to Florida that will be a huge game and then Georgia comes to play here. You can’t look at it like you are in control because crazy things happen, as you can see. We just have to take it one game at a time.”

LSU’s victory Saturday was flawed and uncovered more deficiencies for a defense not accustomed to giving up much yardage.

The Bulldogs (1-4, 0-2) never allowed the Tigers to completely run away and hide with a steady, albeit not flashy, offense.

MSU had scored only one touchdown in a 10-quarter span until notching one right before halftime Saturday and then two in the fourth quarter.

State did not turn the ball over Saturday despite entering the weekend with 12 giveaways in four games, which matched South Carolina for worst in the SEC.

The Bulldogs spent over 16 minutes on the field in the second half — anchored by an 18-play, 74-yard series that ate up 9:11 and seemed to put the LSU defense on its heels at times.

The Tigers had trouble defending short passes to running backs coming out of the backfield, as nine of State quarterback Tyson Lee’s 17 completions went to backs for 83 yards and a touchdown.

“Defensively, we made some mistakes,” Miles said. “These things are things we can fix. We’ll have some time to do that.”

Check out the article at The Advocate.

What an exciting weekend in college football!!! I'm just thankful that the Tigers weren't bitten by the upset bug!

Geaux!

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In folklore and in fact, it might someday be hard to separate Appalachian State’s season-opening upset of Michigan in 2007 from Appalachian State’s season-opening visit to LSU this weekend.

The Tigers, who will entertain the Mountaineers at 4 p.m. Saturday, are fully versed in the specifics of Appalachian State’s 34-32 shot heard ’round the college football world nearly a year ago.

“We see a lot of the Michigan film,” LSU coach Les Miles said Monday at a news conference to discuss his fourth season opener as coach of the Tigers.

That Miles, a Michigan man, has studied his alma mater’s stunning loss to Appalachian State is but one in a series of connect-the-dots plot lines tying this weekend’s matchup to various stops on the road map of history.

Miles, of course, played and coached at Michigan. After the Wolverines lost to Appalachian State in the Big House, Miles became the most widely discussed potential candidate to replace Lloyd Carr as Michigan coach.

Instead, Miles stayed at LSU, famously denying a report that had him taking the Michigan job as his Tigers prepared to play Tennessee in the SEC Championship Game.

Michigan eventually hired Rich Rodriguez, whose West Virginia team followed LSU’s victory against Tennessee with a shocking loss at Pittsburgh, opening the door for the Tigers to play for the national championship.

The same Rich Rodriguez long ago showed Jerry Moore the finer points of Rodriguez’s spread-formation football. Moore put his own touches to the hottest trend in the college game and coached Appalachian State to the past three national championships in the former Division I-AA.

Those are just some of the moments on history’s timeline that will echo Saturday in Tiger Stadium when LSU, the reigning national champion of the Football Bowl Subdivision, meets Appalachian State, the reigning national champion of the Football Championship Subdivision.

Here’s one you may have forgotten: LSU was supposed to open the 2007 season at home against Appalachian State, but the prospect of a Thursday night ESPN game at Mississippi State became more attractive to LSU.

Appalachian State had to find another opponent. Michigan obliged.

On Sept. 1, 2007, LSU was two days removed from its 45-0 victory at Mississippi State. Miles and his staff were in their offices preparing for Virginia Tech when word filtered down the hall of a brewing shocker in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Miles didn’t see any of it live, but he later watched highlights, including the final play of the game.

“Michigan lined up to kick the field goal to win the game,” Miles said, “and it didn’t work out that way.”

A game many casual fans considered a Michigan tune-up for bigger and better things turned out to be a humbling defeat for the Wolverines.

“That’s a great example for our team,” Miles said.

It’s certainly a timely one.

Considering Michigan regrouped in time to end the season with a victory against Florida, the reigning national champion at the time, the gravity of Appalachian State’s accomplishment is impossible for the Tigers to deny.

Just in case, LSU offensive line coach Greg Studrawa has been hammering his charges with the theme of respect for the Mountaineers.

“We have to match that mentality and not take this team lightly because they’re a great team and they haven’t won multiple national championships for no reason.”

LSU will pay Appalachian State $750,000 to play in Tiger Stadium, including $100,000 in compensation for forcing the Mountaineers to scramble for opponents on multiple occasions, LSU officials said.

An LSU schedule conflict caused the schools to scrap the original playing date — this season — and agree to play in 2007, Ausberry said. Then the chain of events began that led to the historic upset in Ann Arbor, Mich.

The increasingly common shuffling of schedules then prompted LSU to ask Appalachian State to move the game to 2009. Then, in the spring, with ESPN helping to put back the deal it helped negate previously, the schools settled on this year’s opener as a showcase national TV game.

Miles acknowledged the Mountaineers don’t seem intimidated by any team.

“They play well year after year,” Miles said. “I think Jerry’s done a great job in guiding the program. Certainly, they’re in position to play strong against anybody. They have a great football team. It’s not specific to any division. They have a good football team.”

Check out the article at The Advocate.

Another Football season is upon us! WOOT! It seems that another hurricane decided to disrupt the Tigers, as well. The kick-off has been bumped up to 10am due to Hurricane Gustav! Hope you like beer in your cheerios!

Everyone has been hitting the stores for supplies with the storm looming... I just hope they're not out of beer – with the Tigers playing tomorrow, Labor Day weekend to celebrate, and hurricane partying to do – we're gonna need a lot!

On the political front, Obama stirred the welfare millions last night with a rousing speech sure to go down in history - provided that you overlook the empty promises and blatant contradictions... basically pure BS, but he sure knows how to dish it up right!

Additionally, McCain announced today that the hot governor from Alaska, Sarah Palin, will be his running mate. She's much easier on the eyes than Dick Cheney, that's for sure! Excellent strategy on his part!

Labels: Entertainment, Images, Sports

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Electronic Arts Inc. eventually to hire 220 people at facility

Rarely has recruiting a new company with a $6 million yearly payroll created such a buzz in Baton Rouge, but it’s the kind of jobs and the potential for keeping young people excited about staying in Louisiana that animated Wednesday’s announcement of a video game testing center coming to LSU.

Electronic Arts Inc.’s center at LSU’s South Campus on GSRI Avenue eventually will hire 220 people, 200 of whom will form a part-time platoon of students doing the heavy lifting on games like EA’s 20-year-old Madden NFL franchise, its Tiger Woods PGA Tour game and its NCAA Football series to make sure they’re consumer-ready.

Over the next decade, Gov. Bobby Jindal and economic development Secretary Stephen Moret envision EA’s Baton Rouge presence growing to higher-paying jobs for professionals who actually develop the video games, something that now takes place for EA largely in Orlando, Fla., and Vancouver, British Columbia.

If Baton Rouge reaches that zenith, construction of a digital research complex for kindred companies could result on LSU’s 200-acre South Campus area, Moret said.

“Ladies and gentlemen, with EA Sports this place definitely is more cool today than it was yesterday,” Adam Knapp, the Baton Rouge Area Chamber’s Generation X chief executive, told a Capitol audience at Wednesday’s announcement. “We have some investors (at the chamber) who believe and dream that the Baton Rouge area can be cool — and it is.”

Among the noteworthy Baton Rouge credentials cited by EA leaders in their location decision is this stunner: Not only is Louisiana’s obsession with LSU football and other sports not a negative as is often assumed by critics of the state’s higher education priorities, but the sports obsession is a huge plus, because the testers need to be savvy about the games they play for a living at EA.

“Is it fun? Does it have the right feel? Is it too hard? Is it too easy” are among the questions EA employees will answer at LSU, where Southern University and Baton Rouge Community College students are expected to fill the testing ranks as well, said Dave Steele, EA’s senior director of quality assurance.

“Because of the sports knowledge here, people can look at a football game and have the skills needed to test functions,” he said. “They still have to have a feel for the game. You’re down by less than a touchdown with less than two minutes to go on fourth down — what do you do? That’s really one of the reasons we wanted to come to Baton Rouge.”

The company also benefits from Louisiana’s offer of a 20 percent tax credit against state income tax liability, credits that can be claimed by the company or sold to a third-party for a cash advance.

All told, EA’s incentives for bringing the testing center to Baton Rouge will be worth about $14 million in the next decade, including payroll tax credits through the state’s Quality Jobs program.

Jindal said EA’s recruitment is invaluable for what it will mean to building the digital industry in the state, but it’s a good deal on the bottom line alone for this project.

“The state Department of Economic Development really looks at a 10-year return on investment as a good deal,” the governor said. “Within five years, we will get our return on investment. We look at this as the first step toward a much larger and bigger relationship with EA Sports.”

Simon Carless, publisher of Game Developer magazine, agreed that EA’s site selection represents a coup for Louisiana that could generate many more digital media gains.

It’s unusual for a global video game software company to open a testing-only center, which leads to the conclusion that actual video-game development business from EA could be within Baton Rouge’s reach, he said.

“I think what states struggle to do is get large-name publishers to set up offices in their area,” Carless said. “Electronic Arts is the world’s largest publisher, so I think it’s important if you can get someone like that. I think it’s definitely a positive introductory step, but it’s also important for individual area to reach a critical mass of game production or development before you can really get an ecosystem there, if you will.”

So far, three significant game developers have emerged in Baton Rouge: Founded by Southern University engineering graduate and former Motorola executive Jacqueline Beauchamp, Nerjyzed Entertainment LLC has published “Black College Football: The Experience”; Yatec LLC will publish its third major game, “Say N Play,” with voice recognition software late this year; and a Resurgent Entertainment LLC unit publishes the “Enigma: Rising Tide” war game.

“The industry will not develop overnight in Louisiana,” Redman said by e-mail Wednesday. “We said that back in 2005, but a couple of small companies every few months add up, and the synergy with Louisiana’s film industry will only become more apparent. … With EA, Louisiana has an enormous win to hold up and show to the world.”

Check out the article at LSU Sports.

Excellent news coming out of LSU! That's exactly the kind of thing we needed here! Not to mention... What a kick-ass job that would be!!!

Labels: Entertainment, Sports, Technology

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URUMQI, China — Once-reclusive China commandeered the world stage Friday, celebrating its first-time role as Olympic host with a stunning display of pageantry and pyrotechnics to open a Summer Games unrivaled for its mix of problems and promise.

At the end of the ceremony, retired Chinese gymnast Li Ning lit the Beijing Olympic flame, which will remain lit throughout the Olympic games.

Now ascendent as a global power, China welcomed scores of world leaders to an opening ceremony watched by 91,000 people at the eye-catching National Stadium and a potential audience of 4 billion worldwide. It was depicted as the largest, costliest extravaganza in Olympic history, bookended by barrages of some 30,000 fireworks.

To the beat of sparkling explosions, the crowd counted down the final seconds before the show began. A sea of drummers — 2,008 in all — pounded out rhythms with their hands, then acrobats on wires gently wafted down into the stadium as rockets shot up into the night sky from its rim.

President Bush and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin were among the glittering roster of notables who watched China make this bold declaration that it had arrived. Bush, rebuked by China after he raised human-rights concerns this week, is the first U.S. president to attend an Olympics on foreign soil.

Already an economic juggernaut, China is given a good chance of overtaking the U.S. atop the gold-medal standings with its legions of athletes trained intensely since childhood. One dramatic showdown will be in women's gymnastics, where the U.S. and Chinese teams are co-favorites; in the pool, Chinese divers and U.S. swimmers are expected to dominate.

The run-up to the games had epic story lines — China investing $40 billion to build the needed infrastructure, reeling from a catastrophic earthquake in Sichuan province in May, struggling right up to Friday to diminish Beijing's stubborn smog. China's detentions of political activists, its crackdown on uprisings in Tibet and its economic ties to Sudan — home of the war-torn Darfur region — fueled relentless criticisms from human rights groups and calls for an Olympic boycott.

Second-guessed for awarding the games to Beijing, the International Olympic Committee stood firmly by its decision. It was time, the committee said, to bring the games to the homeland of 1.3 billion people, a fifth of humanity.

The games, said IOC President Jacques Rogge, "are a chance for the rest of the world to discover what China really is."

The story presented in Friday's ceremony sought to distill 5,000 years of Chinese history — featuring everything from the Great Wall to opera puppets to astronauts, and highlighting achievements in art, music and science. Roughly 15,000 people were in the cast, all under the direction of Zhang Yimou, whose early films often often ran afoul of government censors for their blunt portrayals of China's problems.

The show's script steered clear of modern politics — there were no references to Chairman Mao and the class struggle, nor to the more recent conflicts and controversies. The ceremony was taped for broadcast 12 hours later in the United States.

A record 204 delegations were set to parade their athletes through the stadium — superstars such as basketball idols Kobe Bryant and Yao Ming, as well as plucky underdogs from Iraq, Afghanistan and other embattled lands. The nations were marching not in the traditional alphabetical order but in a sequence based on the number of strokes it takes to write their names in Chinese. The exceptions were Greece, birthplace of the Olympics, which was given its traditional place at the start, and the 639-member Chinese team, which lined up last.

The American flag-bearer was 1500-meter runner Lopez Lomong, one of the Lost Boys of Sudan, who spent a decade of his youth in a refugee camp in Kenya. He's a member of the Team Darfur coalition, representing athletes opposed to China's support for Sudan. On Friday he avoided any criticism and said the Chinese "have been great putting all these things together."

Abroad, human rights activists were less generous.

"The Chinese government and the International Olympic Committee have wasted a historic opportunity to use the Beijing Games to make real progress on human rights in China," said Sophie Richardson of Human Rights Watch.

For Chinese dissidents who have dared to challenge the Communist Party's monopoly on power, the start of the Olympics meant tighter surveillance and restrictions.

"It's not my Olympic Games," said Jiang Tianyong, a human rights lawyer. "It's not the games for the ordinary people."

By all indications, however, most Chinese have embraced the games, buying up tickets at a record pace, volunteering by the thousands for Olympic duties, nursing expectations of triumphs by their home team.

To their eyes, the omens were good. The ceremony began at 8 p.m. on the eighth day of the eighth month of 2008 — auspicious in a country where eight is the luckiest number.

"It not easy to meet with such a date," said Wang Wei, secretary general of Beijing Organizing Committee. "Hopefully this lucky day will bring luck."

Check out the article at Fox News.

I'm excited about the Olympics and will definitely be checking out the games, but I'm not too excited about red China hosting them. I feel that the International Olympic Committee could have done more to persuade China to earn the right to host the games in the future, instead of just handing it to them now and allowing their inhuman policies to go unpunished.

Oh well, not much I can do at this point, but to hope that the Chinese lose every single event! Not likely, since their athletes are raised from birth specifically to compete!

GO USA!!!

Be sure to check out 08-08-08: You're Lucky Day???

Labels: Entertainment, History, Images, Politics, Sports

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Louisiana’s nickname “the Sportsman’s Paradise” is a well-earned one.

Our state boasts what’s arguably the best saltwater fishing in the nation in both the inshore and offshore sectors, and has always been consistently productive in freshwater areas.

Each year, anglers wonder what lies ahead for their favorite fisheries, so we put together this calendar to give you the inside scoop on five of the state’s top species from the northern tip of Toledo Bend Reservoir to the Chandeleur Islands.

Check out the article and calendar at LA Game & Fish.

We had an awesome day saltwater fishing out of Port Fourchon, Louisiana last Sunday! Our group brought in 30 Red Snapper, 6 Mangrove Snapper, 1 Black Drum, 4 Amberjack, 2 Wahoo, and 8 Dolphin! WOOT! Lots of fish in the freezer!

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Back Home In Omaha. The Tigers have arrived. LSU enjoyed the two-hour flight from Baton Rouge to Omaha on a spacious charter plane as the team landed just after 8 p.m. Clear skies and temperatures in the mid-70’s gave way to a sunset on the plains of Nebraska.

LSU took a 20-minute ride by bus to its hotel where the Tigers were greeted by several fans and the gracious College World Series staff. LSU head coach Paul Mainieri and the players signed autographs for the fans and a Little League baseball team that is also staying at the hotel.

After a pizza dinner, the players called it a night as Friday’s schedule will be a busy one. Most of the players enjoyed the remainder of Thursday evening watching the NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers in their rooms. LSUsports.net will take you all-access with the Tigers on Friday that includes media opportunities, practice at Rosenblatt Stadium, an autograph session and the College World Series opening ceremonies.

Our “Back Home In Omaha” blog will feature audio and video from Friday’s festivities. Throughout the Tigers’ stay, infielder Buzzy Haydel will go behind the scenes with “The Buzz From Omaha” and keep you updated from a player’s perspective.

Check out The Buzz From Omaha at LSU Sports.

Congratulations, Tigers! Unfortunately, I will be at scout camp with my boy next week and will miss all of the action... at least I'll have my radio!

Be sure to check out the College World Series Headquarters at LSU Sports.

Geaux Tigers!

UPDATE: The Tigers lost Friday night and headed home after one helluva great season... keep your heads up, Tigers - we're proud of you!!!

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Michael Hollander caught the last out of the regional, a foul pop near third base. Then he flipped it softly into the grandstand.

It was a simple gesture, something any player on the team might have done, but you suppose if anybody understands the meaning of a special souvenir at Alex Box Stadium, it’s someone’s who’s been in those seats.

Hollander, a senior, is preparing for his last weekend at Alex Box. He and junior teammate Nicholas Pontiff are the links to LSU’s national championship years.

Pontiff is the younger brother of the late Wally Pontiff, a freshman starter on LSU’s 2000 team, the most recent to win it all. Hollander grew up idolizing Wally and followed his baseball career path to Jesuit High School in New Orleans and to LSU.

After Wally died of a heart abnormality at 21 in 2002, Hollander was all but paralyzed with shock and grief, unable to play some of his summer-league games.

Six years later, Hollander is playing Wally’s old position, third base, and is the inaugural recipient of LSU’s Wally Pontiff Jr. Scholar Athlete Award.

“I would rather receive this than the Golden Spikes Award,” Hollander said, referring to the award given annually to the best amateur player in the country.

A highlight video can sell a 17-year-old on signing to play baseball at LSU, but it can’t pump purple and gold into his bloodstream the way growing up a fan of the Tigers can.

There is no substitute for being a part of the family before you’re part of the team.

In the years when LSU baseball made the leap from growing program to national power, the Tigers were fond of repeating a Skip Bertman saying: “Hold the rope.”

The pitcher leaving the mound tells the one replacing him. A batter who wills his way on base tells a pinch runner.

The 1996 team tells the 1997 team.

Hold the rope.

Blair Barbier, a player on the 1997 and 2000 national championship teams, was an LSU assistant coach last year. He understood.

Hollander’s LSU career ends when this season ends. Pontiff, a senior in the classroom, may or may not be back.

Whether the season ends at The Box or at the College World Series, who will hold the rope next year, and how tightly?

Turnover in personnel is so common in pro sports, Jerry Seinfeld said of the fans, “When you root for a team these days, you’re mostly rooting for laundry.”

In college sports there is some of that, but a roster of players from Mandeville and Metairie and Shreveport and Baton Rouge has meaning at LSU.

There’s one way this roster, with its sunflower-gold laundry, can ensure the 2009 team has a piece of rope to hold, a link to the championship days. Seven wins would do it.

Two this weekend would buy the ticket for the trip to finish the job.

Check out article at The Advocate.

The Tigers are playing some great ball right now! Let's hope we can keep up our streak!

Geaux Tigers!

Let us not forget... on this day in history: D-Day: June 6, 1944

Labels: Entertainment, Sports

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BATON ROUGE -- Before the largest paid attendance in Alex Box Stadium history, No. 22 LSU beat Mississippi State, 9-6, Sunday and swept the weekend series in the final regular season contest at the historic ballpark.

After the victory, over 100 former LSU players spanning seven decades of baseball in Alex Box Stadium joined current players, coaches, fans and LSU Athletics Director and legendary Tiger baseball coach Skip Bertman to commemorate 70 years in “The Box."

The Tigers (35-16-1, 15-11-1 SEC), winners of 12 consecutive games, swept their third straight SEC series for the first time since the 1991 national championship season. Mississippi State dropped to 20-32 and 7-20 in the SEC.

LSU is in first place in the SEC Western Division, 1.5 games ahead of Alabama and Ole Miss. The Tigers’ 12-game win streak is the longest by an LSU squad since the 2000 club won 13 in a row at the end of its national championship season.

Fans couldn’t take their seats with them Sunday after the last regular season game at LSU’s Alex Box Stadium, but they could take their memories and, if they wanted, a souvenir T-shirt or program.

Like nearly everyone else at the ballpark, Bobby Box left with more than a few of each those things.

Box, 55, a Baton Rouge resident who is the nephew of the stadium’s namesake, recounted growing up a few blocks from the stadium named years before in honor of an uncle he never met.

As a youth, he would ride his bike over to the stadium with his friends and shag foul balls for the baseball team, Box said Sunday during the regular season finale against Mississippi State. In return for foul balls, he said, the players gave the children their cracked wooden bats, which Box and his friends taped up and used in their own games.

Box knew all about his family’s legacy attached to the stadium — his father, Neal, had told him at an early age about Alex Box, an LSU baseball and football player and U.S. Army first lieutenant killed in North Africa during World War II.

But for Bobby Box — and about 6,555 other fans who crowded into the stadium for one more game — the memories weren’t about the name that adorned the stadium, the seats or the field.

It was always about the game.

With a No. 22 ranking, a lead in the SEC Western Division and 12 consecutive wins, some say LSU has put itself in a prime position to host an NCAA regional at Alex Box Stadium one last time.

Can you say Omaha?

But regional sites won’t be announced until the final day of the Southeastern Conference Tournament on May 25, so many fans left the ballpark Sunday afternoon wondering if that was the last game they would see within the stadium’s walls.

That’s the reason why there was no question LSU had to have a ceremony after the game commemorating the park’s history, said Bertman, the outgoing LSU athletic director and architect of the national championship winning program.

Bertman, who said he “fulfilled a lot of dreams" at the old stadium, acknowledged it will be difficult to leave behind the stadium but added that players and fans will make new memories at the new ballpark.

“It would be just another ball yard except for these fans," Bertman said after the post-game ceremony. “The fans made The Box, and they’ll make the new stadium."

The new $31 million Alex Box Stadium is being built at Nicholson Drive and Gourrier Lane, about 1,000 feet south of the present Alex Box Stadium. It will seat more than 8,700 fans — about 1,000 more than the present stadium — and is scheduled to open at the beginning of the 2009 season.

For some fans, however, leaving behind the old stadium on Sunday was still difficult.

Check out the article at The Advocate.

I’ll miss Alex Box, but have to say that I’m very exited about the New Alex Box that’s being built! For more info, check out New Alex Box or LSU Sports.

Labels: Entertainment, History, Sports

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WASHINGTON, D.C. -- President George W. Bush welcomed the national champion LSU football team to the White House Monday afternoon in what was an all-day event for the Tigers.

The trip marked the second time in five years that the Tigers have made the distinguished visit to the nation’s capital as they took their first trip after winning the 2003 BCS title.

The Tigers arrived at the White House at 12:45 p.m. and were given a tour of the building.

The highlight of Monday’s festivities was a photo opportunity on the South Lawn of the White House. With the LSU football team standing behind him, President Bush spoke for approximately 10 minutes as he congratulated the Tigers on their 2007 campaign.

Head coach Les Miles presented President Bush with a No. 7 jersey, in reference to the 2007 season, and senior captain Jacob Hester gave the 43rd president of the United States a bronze football.

After the recognition on the South Lawn, the 180-member LSU travel party took a tour of the National Mall area which including visits to the Lincoln Memorial, Reflection Pool, the Washington Monument, the National World War II Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On Tuesday, a group of Tigers will visit the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Additionally, the national champs will tour the Pentagon, meet with the Louisiana Delegation at the United State Capitol and then witness the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider at the Arlington National Cemetery before returning to Baton Rouge.

Transcript from WhiteHouse.gov:

THE PRESIDENT: Good to see you all. Welcome. Go Tigers! Sit down. Please sit down. Thanks for coming.

So I met some of these men in 2004 -- they feel pretty comfortable they were going to be back here. Some of them weren't so sure I was going to be back here. It's good to welcome you back. Proud you're here. Nothing like being called, "National Champs." LSU has the honor of being the first school to win two BCS titles. This year there is no split.

I appreciate Les Miles, and Kathy -- thanks for coming. Proud to have met you, Coach. It was a great honor for me to have called you after you won that day. And I know you told the team that at least one guy called to congratulate you. I welcome the LSU administrators, personnel, coaches, trainers, locker room folks, and most of all, the players.

I want to welcome members of Congress -- Jim McCrery. Jim, good to see you, sir. And, Scott and Clark, good to see you boys. Rodney Alexander -- Congressman, good to see you. Charles Boustany -- I'm glad to see you, Charles. Thanks for coming. I appreciate you taking time to be here. Out of the state government is State Treasurer John Kennedy. John, thank you for coming. Appreciate you coming up for that. Glad you brought Preston.

Is Breaux here? No, he -- he's working. Which is a major upset -- no.

Winning requires very strong leadership -- that's what it takes. After eight years of welcoming national champs there's always one common denominator, and that is it requires a strong leader to motivate people toward a common goal. And that's exactly what you have in Coach Les Miles. Coach Miles's three years has helped the team compile a 34-and-6 record. And this is a guy who's not afraid to take risks. He tried two fake field goals, fake punt, went for 4th down -- went for 1st down on 4th down -- 15 times. Made it nearly every time. Of course, he had the players who helped him take that risk.

He also had to deal with some delicate situations away from the field, like inaccurate press stories. Coach, let me just say, I know the feeling.

This is Coach Miles's first time celebrating here at the White House, and a lot of folks are going to remember it because it's the first time he's been seen in public without a hat on.

LSU fans had an amazing season. They -- first of all, in the season, the number one ranking changed hands six times. Of course, LSU was number one on the day it counted; that's why they're here. You had to overcome adversity to get here. You played as a team, and you won some dramatic football games. And when you lost, it was pretty dramatic, too. You beat Florida in a comeback with the largest crowd ever to watch a game at Tiger Stadium. Two weeks later, you rallied to beat Auburn on a touchdown scored with one second left on the clock.

After you lost to Arkansas, a lot of folks counted you out. But you held a team meeting and decided you had something to play for. In other words, you didn't let adversity affect you. You said, we're going to do something about it. And then you beat Tennessee to win the SEC Championship, and you went from number seven to number two -- and you went straight to the national title game, which didn't start off so good. And yet you had 31 unanswered points, like a true champion team, to win 38 to 24. And you're here at the White House, representing LSU University as the National Champs. And we congratulate you.

Being raised in Texas and growing up in Texas, I've got a lot of friends in Louisiana. And you inspired people across the state. I thought Matt -- quarterback Matt Flynn put it best. He said, "You can't dream it any better than that." And that's what a lot of people were saying around your state.

You earned your place in the record books. You scored the most points in school history. And the seniors will go down as LSU's winningest class. No other senior class has had a better record.

I welcome defensive tackle, Glenn Dorsey. And so did the team when he turned down -- when he decided not to turn pro last year. A lot of fans said, "Thank you, Glenn." A lot of opponents said, "No, thank you, Glenn." After all, he was the defensive player of the year for SEC, Outland Trophy winner, Lombardi Trophy, and Nagurski Award. He'll have his time in the NFL, and a lot of teams are sure anxious to have him play for them. Congratulations, and welcome. Glad you're here.

This is a team of great athletes. Two players were drafted by Major League Baseball. One of the stars, Trindon Holliday, holds the school record in the 100 meters. One of your linemen, Herman Johnson -- he holds a different kind of record. He was the largest baby ever born in the state of Louisiana, at 15 pounds, 14 ounces. That's why he's known as "The House," which puts him in good stead with his fellow teammates known as, "Putt," or "Surfer Boy," "L-Crazy," and "Cheese." Whatever nickname you prefer to be called, all of us here are calling you "Champs." And you deserve it. I want to thank you for being champions on the field.

I appreciate you understanding that once you're a champ on the field, means you have a responsibility to be a champ off the field, as well. And there's no better inspiration than Les Miles and his wife, Kathy. They host events that raise money for the Children's Miracle Network. They're active in cancer fundraising and the Special Olympics, the Baton Rouge Children's Advocacy Center. I told the coach that I was going to mention this, and that is, I'm aware, as the Commander-in-Chief of the finest military ever assembled on the face of the Earth, that he went to boost our troops in Iraq and Kuwait as part of a USO tour. I want to thank you, Coach, for doing your job.

I appreciate the example that Glenn Dorsey has set on the field and off the field to -- he works to educate children about the dangers of drugs, and encourages them to work hard. His advice is: "Dream big and make things happen." There's nothing better than a champ to help somebody dream big and to encourage them to make something happen.

And so when you leave here, I hope you leave here knowing that you've got a special responsibility, not only to represent your school on the football field, but to help make America a better place, just like Ciron Black did, when he heard the story of an 8-year-old LSU fan who was suffering from leukemia. And he took time to send an encouraging message, then he wrote the boy's name, Mikey, on his wristband during the national championship game. Sometimes people say, I can't help because I can't solve all the problems. But in this case, he showed that you can help one person. And in helping one person, he helped the nation as a whole. And I want to thank you, Ciron, for your leadership.

There's a lot of great stories about the character of the people behind me, but it's getting chilly, and I'm looking forward to getting my LSU jersey. And so I want to welcome you all to the White House, to the South Lawn of the White House. I'm so honored and proud to welcome the LSU Tigers here as the National Champs. God bless you. God bless LSU, and God bless America.

Check out the article at LSU Sports.

Sweet! Congrats to the Tigers for a well-earned trip to the White House! Geaux!!!

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It sounds crazy, and it probably is: Skydive from 15,000 feet (4,600 meters) and land safely—without a parachute—wearing a getup that resembles a flying squirrel costume.

"It's pretty much considered impossible," said Maria von Egidy, a designer with Jii-Wings in Cape Town, South Africa.

Von Egidy isn't interested in trying the stunt herself. But she aims to design the first wingsuit that will help pull it off.

Wingsuits are jumpsuits with fabric panels between the arms and legs that enable skydivers to zoom around in freefall.

By angling the self-inflating, rigid "wings," pilots can turn, dive, or rocket forward.

What wearers can't do—at least not yet—is land safely without the aid of a parachute.

"In terms of downward speed, we're actually within the margin of safety there for landing," von Egidy said. "But of course the forward speeds are tremendous."

And therein lies the catch.

Terminal Velocity

If pushed from a high-flying plane, a naked human would fall to Earth at a terminal velocity—or maximum speed—of about 120 miles (190 kilometers) an hour.

A wingsuit doubles a person's surface area, slowing the descent rate to about 30 miles (50 kilometers) an hour, about the same as with a small parachute, von Egidy said.

The main problem with making a safe landing is that wingsuit pilots descend not only downward but also forward, propelled by the gliding action of their wings.

Forward speeds can top 75 to 90 miles (120 to 150 kilometers) an hour.

For now wingsuit pilots deploy a parachute at the end of their jumps to slow their descent for touchdown.

But a few pilots and designers have been exploring ways to set down on solid ground without the aid of a chute.

Some, like BASE (building, antennae, spans, and Earth) jumper Jeb Corliss of Malibu, California, are reportedly experimenting with landing gear or special surfaces.

Von Egidy has a different idea.

"We're trying to flare the suit without using landing gear [but] with aerodynamics," she said. "It's really a very simple solution in the end."

The designer won't discuss her plans in more detail, lest she divulge trade secrets. But she does say that the key to her concept is to create a forward brake at the right moment.

"Our design efforts are centered around solving that problem," she said.

Von Egidy's passion for the wingsuit might seem ironic, as she has never skydived at all, let alone jumped wearing one of her prototypes.

Instead she relies on a clutch of experienced skydivers around the world to test the suits and report on their performance.

"I don't have the luxury of actually experiencing it myself," von Egidy said. "So I have to rely on really good descriptions from [the testers]."

Danger Dives

Jean Potvin, a physics professor at St. Louis University in Missouri, analyzes parachute safety for the Parks College Parachute Research Group.

Potvin, a veteran skydiver who's logged more than 2,400 jumps, believes it's possible to land the right wingsuit without a parachute.

But, he says, the very high speeds involved and the potential for pilot error pose huge risks.

"It's something that's doable, but it's … fraught with danger," Potvin said.

Whether von Egidy's strategy will work remains to be seen. She says it will be another few months before a prototype can be safely tested in the air.

In the meantime, she and business partner Cate Turner will continue to subsidize their wingsuit work with income from their main business: Tailors of Tinseltown, which supplies costumes to South Africa's television and film industry.

As for her quest to design the first wingsuit to safely deliver a person to Earth, the South African says she harbors few doubts she will succeed.

"The preliminary ground tests are very positive," she said. "Everybody who knows what I'm doing believes in it. It's just a damn good idea that no one spotted."

Check out the article at National Geographic News.

Sounds like an awesome ride... I wanna try!!!

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Chalk up another honor for the LSU football team and its fiery, gambling coach Les Miles.

This time it’s the Louisiana Sports Writers Association doing the honors — choosing Miles and his national championship team for the organization’s 2007 Headliner of the Year Award.

When Baton Rouge native Ron Higgins, president of the Football Writers Association of America, presented Miles with the FWAA national championship trophy during a recent celebration at Tiger Stadium, Higgins said Miles proved a nice guy can win the national championship.

Miles, however, does not completely endorse the “nice guy” label.

“I prefer nice guy, but tough football coach,” Miles said. His players would agree.

“He’s really just as tough as coach Saban on the field,” said tailback Jacob Hester, referring to Alabama coach Nick Saban, whom Miles replaced in 2005 when Saban went to the Miami Dolphins. “He’ll get on you, especially the offensive linemen. But you can go up and talk to him more easily.”

Miles started the 2007 off-season by calling out Alabama with an expletive at the Bayou Bash signing day party. He later apologized for his language. By July, he was poking fun at the Pacific-10 conference. As the season finally started, he was just getting warmed up.

The Tigers, who entered the season No. 2 in the nation to Pac-10 power Southern California, started out on fire, rolling by Mississippi State 45-0, No. 9 Virginia Tech 48-7, Middle Tennessee 44-0 and No. 12 South Carolina 28-16. Miles beat South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier at his own game by calling a fake field goal with holder Matt Flynn tossing a no-look lateral over his shoulder to kicker Colt David, who sprinted in for the touchdown. Spurrier nodded accordingly as if to say, “You got me.”

After struggling briefly with Tulane before winning 34-9, the Tigers moved to No. 1 in the nation in the Associated Press poll during a regular season for the first time since 1959.

Then Miles stepped into a phone booth — or a cellular store these days — and came out as the “Ohio Gambler”. Five times, “Vegas” Les went for it on fourth down, including another fake field goal, and made it five times in a thrilling 28-24 win over No. 9 Florida.

“I didn’t just go out and risk everything,” Miles said. “They were all calculated calls. We had good plays in mind. We didn’t just go for it.”

The nation began to notice Miles, Hester, who converted three of those fourth downs, and the Tigers, who went to No. 1 across the board. A setback followed at Kentucky in a 43-37 triple overtime loss when a fourth-and-2 failed.

But good fortune smiled on Miles and the Tigers a week later against Auburn when Flynn found Demetrius Byrd for the winning touchdown on a 22-yard pass play that ended with one second on the clock in a 30-24 victory. The Legend of Les grew.

A week later, LSU defeated Alabama’s Saban at his own game. With the score tied 34-34 and less than two minutes to play, Chad Jones’ safety blitz forced a fumble by Tide quarterback John Parker Wilson that the Tigers recovered at the Alabama 3. Moments later, Hester scored from the 1 for a 41-34 victory and an 8-1 record.

However, the magical season appeared over for some with a 50-48, triple overtime loss at home to Arkansas in the regular season finale the day after Thansgiving.

But Miles and his team had saved their best act for last.

The morning of Saturday, Dec. 1, was a dark one in the LSU Nation. But little did everyone know that a “perfect storm” was brewing.

That day, many thought the Tigers had only a Southeastern Conference title to play for when they were facing Tennessee in Atlanta’s Georgia Dome. And on ESPN Game Day program that morning, Kirk Herbstreit reported that Miles would become head coach at his alma mater, Michigan, on Monday.

LSU, however, had struck a deal with Miles the night before and he agreed to stay. An announcement was forthcoming before the game with Miles set to discuss it more after the game against the Vols. Because of Herbstreit’s incorrect report, Miles had a rare pre-game news conference. And the rest is history.

“There was misinformation on ESPN, and I think it was imperative that I straighten it out,” Miles began. “I got a championship game to play. And I’m excited about the opportunity of my damn strong football team to play. And it’s really all I’d like to say. Please ask me after. I’m busy. Thank you very much.

“Have a great day.”

Miles and his team went on to defeat Tennessee, 21-14, for the SEC title.

With LSU on the airplane ride home, the “perfect storm” hit: Oklahoma defeated top-ranked Missouri and lowly Pittsburgh stunned No. 2 West Virginia.

A day later, LSU rose from No. 7 to No. 2 in the BCS rankings, setting the stage for the national championship game against Ohio State in the Superdome, just 87 miles from Tiger Stadium.

The denouement had a rocky start as LSU trailed the Buckeyes 10-0 in the first quarter, but that proved to be a microcosm of the LSU season. The Tigers trailed South Carolina and Tulane early on before winning. They also trailed Florida, Auburn and Alabama by 10 points in the third period before victory.

“I think this team is full of grown men,” Flynn said. “Full of guys who’ve been there. Guys that never say quit. We’d been down by 10 before. We knew we’d come back.”

He was right. The Tigers scored 31 straight points en route to a 38-24 triumph.

Miles ended that night like a college kid, though, on a Bourbon Street balcony lifting the national championship trophy to the masses.

“This is our trophy,” Miles said at the Tiger Stadium celebration. “This is the state of Louisiana’s championship.” And he didn’t want it to stop.

“That trophy should be carried around the state like the Stanley Cup,” he said.

Check out the article at The Advocate.

What an awesome season! The Championship Celebration was a lot of fun, despite the cold weather... it was definitely worth going to cheer on those guys one last time! Congratulations, Tigers!

Incidentally, more former LSU players will play in Super Bowl XLII than any other college! Now, that's saying something! With LSU's 5 players, that totals 20 former SEC players in this Sunday's match-up!

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NEW ORLEANS — A second-line saunter to a championship for LSU, just like the Tigers scripted it.

A déjà vu nightmare for Ohio State, just as the Buckeyes feared.

The LSU Tigers played 14 games this season and could never completely escape their mistake-marked habits.

Who cares? The Tigers’ flawed but fabulous image is reflected in the crystal ball of the BCS national championship trophy, their second in five years.

As at no time before in LSU’s football history, the Tigers are the nation’s preeminent program. From hurricane-battered Boothville to Bastrop, LSU fans can thump their chests and say, truly, no one does it better than their beloved Tigers.

Generations will be born into this state and ask of us one day, “Tell me, grandpa. Tell me when the Tigers were the best there was.”

This is that time.

Ohio State, more than anyone, has to live with what is for the Buckeyes an ugly truth. A year after being destroyed by Florida in the inaugural BCS title game 41-14, the Buckeyes came here riding a year-long crusade of redemption. They didn’t find it. The 38-24 beating inflicted by LSU wasn’t quite as lopsided as what Florida wrought, but it brought no joy or relief to the scarlet and gray.

The SEC rules. The Big Ten got schooled. Again.

Of course, this being LSU, the Tigers had to make a couple of blunders just to get the blood flowing. After Ohio State running back Chris “Beanie” Wells bolted for a BCS championship game-record 65-yard touchdown run just 1:26 into the game, LSU’s first possession ended with Matt Flynn falling on a shotgun snap at the Tigers’ 6 after center Brett Helms sent the ball flying when Flynn came up to change the play. Freshman punt returner Chad Jones fumbled away a punt return that teammate Harry Coleman scooped into his chest at the LSU 16. Timeouts were burned needlessly as the Tigers couldn’t get plays off in time.

And LSU fell behind 10-0 in the first quarter, giving Ohio State a huge injection of confidence to start the game.

All part of the uncanny Les Miles plan, folks. All part of the plan.

Slowly, inexorably, momentum made a seismic shift to the LSU side of the Superdome. Having defensive lineman Ricky Jean-Francois back after a season-long suspension was a huge plus for LSU in its SEC Championship Game victory over Tennessee. Jean-Francois played an even bigger role in this game, helping the Tigers impose their will on the Buckeyes and turn the game in the second quarter.

With the score tied 10-10, defensive MVP Jean-Francois planted offensive guard Ben Person in the turf and reached out to block Ryan Pretorious’ 38-yard field-goal attempt with his meaty right hand. LSU recovered at its 34 and marched relentlessly for a touchdown, offensive MVP Matt Flynn finishing it with one of his best passes of the year, a perfect 10-yard lob to Brandon LaFell in the back of the end zone.

Ohio State was playing catch-up the rest of the night. Maybe it was that fabled SEC speed, but the Buckeyes couldn’t ever get the Tigers back in their grasp.

Don’t be too hard on Ohio State though.

As the song asks, “Hold That Tiger?”

Right now, no one can.

Check out the article at The Advocate.

What a dominating performance! I'm so proud of these guys! Enjoy it while you can, Tiger fans... we have 25 seniors on the way out and everyone will be gunning for us next year. Bring 'em on!

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When historians look back on the crazy, unpredictable college football season of 2007, they might conclude it featured the most memorable season in LSU history.

The Tigers blew out opponents early, reached No. 1 in the polls after five games, played five down-to-the-wire Southeastern Conference games, lost only in triple overtime — twice — and stayed on the national map throughout the calendar year.

There’s one more game — No. 2 LSU (11-2) plays No. 1 Ohio State (11-1) for the BCS national championship on Monday — but even an unfinished season has experts and old-timers struggling to find a more compelling season involving the Tigers.

“It’s been an amazing year,” said LSU senior associate athletic director Herb Vincent, a former sports information director at the university.

Playing its first Thursday night ESPN game, LSU was the network’s season opener after its “25-hour countdown to kickoff” leading into the Tigers’ 45-0 victory Aug. 30 at Mississippi State. LSU’s next game, a 48-7 thrashing of Virginia Tech on ESPN, put a convincing stamp of legitimacy on its preseason No. 2 ranking and its national championship hopes.

Seven appearances on CBS, an LSU record that matched an SEC record, gave the Tigers even more exposure.

“I think this year there has been more visibility for Louisiana State University than at any other time in its history,” LSU Athletic Director Skip Bertman said.

Bertman coached LSU baseball teams to five national titles. He said there’s nothing to compare to a season like the one enjoyed by the 2007 LSU football program.

“You can win some baseball titles and get some national press or go to the Final Four and get some national press, but this football team has been on CBS seven times, and CBS has much higher ratings than ESPN,” Bertman said.

“These games were amazing, going into overtime or going down to the last play. Nobody’s seen anything like this.”

Statistics provided by CBS Sports show 64 percent of U.S. households have wired cable television, and another 22 percent have an alternate delivery system — primarily satellite.

Fourteen percent have neither, receiving most of their television over the air.

As an over-the-air network, CBS put LSU football into a lot of living rooms where people don’t have access to ESPN or pay-per-view options.

“I’d say millions of people saw LSU that didn’t see LSU before,” Bertman said, “or at least got to know LSU better because of the constant visibility on television.”

That is one of the attractions of the CBS television contract with the SEC, Commissioner Mike Slive said.

“Anyone with rabbit ears can get the SEC on CBS,” Slive said.

The SEC had three teams in the national championship conversation — Florida and LSU early, Georgia late. LSU was the only one from start to finish.

With that setup, CBS had its best college football ratings since 1999 and was the sport’s only network to show a ratings gain in 2007.

“If you have a team or teams that remain in the national championship hunt all season, it’s going to have a pretty big impact on your ratings,” said Mike Aresco, senior vice president of programming for CBS Sports.

LSU had five appearances on CBS in 2003, when the Tigers went on to win the BCS national championship. The seven appearances in 2007 set a school record.

“Normally, we cap our appearances at six,” Aresco said. “LSU’s seven this year included the SEC Championship Game. Alabama had seven in a regular season (2005), but there were some unusual circumstances.

“Nobody’s had more than seven.”

LSU had the benefit of extra exposure well before the 2007 season began.

Its 41-14 thumping of Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl gave the LSU brand high visibility to open the calendar year. Having four players selected in the first round of the NFL draft in April — including No. 1 pick JaMarcus Russell — gave LSU more attention.

LSU coach Les Miles kept the Tigers on the sports front page and among sports radio talking points in the summer when he said USC had an easier road than LSU to the national championship game.

Then the Tigers routed Mississippi State and Virginia Tech on national television. National columnists said LSU made a convincing case for itself as the No. 1 team in the country.

LSU’s 1-2 punch to start the season left a lasting impression.

“I think that played a significant role in where we were and where we stayed (in the polls) throughout the season,” Vincent said.

“It had a lot to do with us not falling very far when we lost to Kentucky and with keeping us in a position to get back to No. 1 again.”

Michigan’s 0-2 start — beginning with its shocking loss at home to Appalachian State — began the season-long talk about Miles being a candidate to succeed Lloyd Carr as coach of the Wolverines.

Then came the dramatics and highlight-video moments of the heart of LSU’s conference schedule.

A 2:34 p.m. kickoff for a home game against South Carolina denied LSU a chance to play a Saturday night game in Tiger Stadium, but it helped keep the program in heavy rotation on “SportsCenter” and other highlight shows.

Matt Flynn, the holder on placement kicks, casually tossed the ball over his right shoulder to Colt David to begin the most enjoyable fake field goal of the season. David sprinted to the corner of the end zone, foiling Steve Spurrier and helping LSU win, 28-16.

“How many people saw that over-the-shoulder flip to Colt David who may not have seen it had that been a night game?” Vincent said. “Everybody saw it. They played it over and over and over because it happened early in the day.”

Florida, the reigning national champion, played LSU in Tiger Stadium in prime time on CBS. The network had its eye on that game long before the season.

“LSU was a terrific team last year, and but for those two tough losses could have been a national championship contender,” Aresco said. “Everybody saw what they did against Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl, so they were a team on our radar screen from the beginning.”

Leslie Moonves, president and CEO of CBS Corporation, gave the approval for an October prime-time game. The network had previously reserved only September games for Saturday night prime time, before the fall lineup of entertainment shows, or games in late November (such as with Florida vs. Florida State).

“It turned out to be wonderful for us,” Aresco said, “as we had one of the really great games of the season — or any season. There were the five fourth downs LSU made, and there was tremendous drama. It was a great game.

“It was a calculated risk, and it really worked out well.”

Late in the season, Bertman laughed about the perception that Miles was a gambling coach with a reckless style revealed in that victory against Florida.

“No. 1, he was close enough on those five plays to consider going for it,” Bertman said. “People don’t give you credit for that. No. 2, he picked the right guy to handle the ball, and No. 3, he picked the right play and the weakest part of the defense to run it against.

“When you put the three things together, it isn’t so astonishing that he made them all.”

No matter. The Mad Hatter was the talk of college football after the Florida game and after Flynn’s touchdown pass to Demetrius Byrd to defeat Auburn with the now-famous 1 second showing on the Tiger Stadium clock.

Between those games, LSU lost in triple overtime at Kentucky, losing its No. 1 ranking. The Tigers had become No. 1 after a less-than-sparkling 34-9 victory at Tulane thanks to Stanford’s upset of USC on the last weekend in September.

By extending to three overtimes, the LSU-Kentucky game ended in prime time and saw a spike in CBS ratings near the end.

The SEC signed its deal with CBS in 1994, and the network began televising games in 1996. That came after CBS lost the rights to NFC football and Major League Baseball.

Aresco said the partnership keeps getting better for CBS.

“The SEC has become far more of a national package than it was when we first began doing it,” Aresco said. “We felt it was a very strong conference when we did this deal years ago and that it could carry a package itself. It generated huge ratings in the Southeast, but we knew the ratings outside the region obviously wouldn’t be quite as strong.

“It still does enormous ratings in the region, but because of the BCS and because of all the drama and all the attention focused on the BCS, people from all around the country are taking an interest in the games who might not have in the past. I think we’re seeing it become a truly national package.”

Florida helped by winning the national championship last season. Arkansas running back Darren McFadden finished second in the Heisman Trophy race in 2006.

Florida quarterback Tim Tebow won the Heisman this season as a sophomore. McFadden finished second again. LSU has a chance to win the national championship.

Georgia running back Knowshon Moreno will be an early Heisman candidate in 2008, as will Tebow. LSU quarterback Ryan Perrilloux could figure in the mix.

The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships — Spurrier, Phillip Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer — and another, Tommy Tuberville, who coached a 13-0 team that didn’t get to play for the title in 2004.

Miles could become the conference’s fifth coach with a national title.

“I think I can say this categorically: You have probably the greatest roster of coaches that any conference has ever assembled,” Aresco said.

Another dramatic ending for LSU, its 41-34 comeback victory at Alabama, was another CBS game that benefited from a juicy storyline: Saban coaching the Crimson Tide against his former team for the first time.

After losing in triple overtime to Arkansas the day after Thanksgiving, LSU was seemingly out of the national championship picture. The Tigers entered the SEC Championship Game as less of a ratings draw as a result.

That changed on the morning of the game. ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit cited an unnamed source in saying Miles would soon be the next coach at Michigan.

Miles called an unprecedented news conference before the game and called the report “misinformation.” He went on to say throughout the day and night he would remain as coach of the Tigers.

LSU defeated Tennessee 21-14 for the SEC championship. After Pitt upset No. 2-ranked West Virginia and Oklahoma knocked off No. 1-ranked Missouri, the possibility of LSU climbing from No. 7 in the BCS to No. 2 was suddenly on the table.

“Even at the most important time,” Vincent said, “when people were trying to rank the teams on that Saturday night, what had been on TV all day long? Les Miles, Les Miles, Les Miles.”

Columnists and analysts said the all-day LSU talk-a-thon kept the Tigers’ visibility high.

“It’s the same old adage, ‘Say what you want about us, but spell our name right.’ This year, probably more than any other, was about exposure in a bizarre year,” Vincent said.

Bertman, looking at the season from the perspective of a former coach, said nobody could question LSU’s effort. He insists the Tigers were more consistent than their reputation.

“You can play well and win,” Bertman said. “You can play well and lose. You can play poorly and win. You can play poorly and lose.

“We played well for every quarter except that first half of the Tulane game. We’ve made penalties and missed tackles, but we’ve played hard.”

The final chapter will be written — and nationally televised by Fox — Monday night.

Check out the article at The Advocate.

More eyes will be upon the LSU Tigers tonight than have ever been before... this is our chance to really shine!

To whet your appetite, check out this vid:

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BATON ROUGE -- Fresh off an SEC Championship game victory, the LSU football team knew it was going to New Orleans for a January bowl game. But, few thought the stars would re-align and the Tigers would face off with Ohio State for the Bowl Championship Series National Championship on Jan. 7.

After beating Tennessee, No. 7-ranked LSU looked forward to possibly facing undefeated Hawai'i in the Allstate Sugar Bowl.

However, key upsets of No. 1 Missouri and No. 2 West Virginia while the Tigers were at 35,000 feet en route to Baton Rouge from Atlanta Saturday night sent the Delta charter flight into a frenzy, as the team found they may have a shot at the title despite two triple-overtimes losses in the regular season.

Two of the other five teams ahead of LSU in the BCS standings didn't win their conference's division -- Kansas and Georgia -- while LSU beat another by 41 -- Virginia Tech. The pollsters and computers thought the Tigers' resume was too good to miss out on the BCS National Championship Game.

LSU's computer average was No. 2, while it's BCS average was .9394. Ohio State's was .9588. Virginia Tech finished third in the BCS (.8703), Oklahoma was fourth (.8572) and Georgia rounded out the Top 5 (.8392).

LSU (11-2), which was ranked No. 1 twice during the season, was ranked No. 2 in the Bowl Championship Series standings released live on FOX Sunday evening. The Tigers were ranked No. 2 in preseason polls.

Ohio State (11-1), champions of the Big Ten, haven't played since defeating Michigan on Nov. 17. However, the Buckeyes watched as four teams ahead of them in the Nov. 18 polls -- LSU, Kansas, West Virginia and Missouri -- each lost over the next two weeks.

LSU season ticket holders requested more than 60,000 tickets to the BCS National Championship game this year. The school's 16,000-ticket allotment will mostly be distributed by LSU Priority Points.

The Tigers and Buckeyes have met twice on the gridiron, first with a 13-13 tie in 1987 in Baton Rouge before Ohio State won 36-33 in Columbus in 1988.

LSU has won National Championships in 1958 and 2003 -- beating Oklahoma 21-14 in the New Orleans Superdome on Jan. 4, 2004.

Bowl Championship Series Games

• Sugar Bowl - Hawaii vs. Georgia
• Rose Bowl - USC vs. Illinois
• Fiesta Bowl - Oklahoma vs. West Virginia
• Orange Bowl - Virginia Tech vs. Kansas
• BCS Championship Game - LSU vs. Ohio St.

LSU HEAD COACH LES MILES QUOTES:

“I would like to thank the voters and those people who are responsible for allowing us to play in this great game. We are humble by the selection. We will honor that game with our finest effort.”

“How it unfolded certainly could not have been scripted. We had a very difficult Saturday (last week) against Arkansas. We go to the championship game and fight and scrape to win the conference. Low and behold, No. 1 and No. 2 fall and it becomes a very talented LSU team that is voted into the game. We are excited and honored to have the opportunity. We will play a great Ohio State team that is very talented and well coached.”

Check out the article at LSU Sports.

Chrsitmas has come early for the LSU Tigers and fans! We won the SEC Championship, kept our head coach (Les Miles), and managed to squeak into the National Championship game! We'd better take care of business, because we've used up all of our luck!

Of course there will be the anti-BCS crowd whining about the decision and how a 2-loss LSU team doesn't belong, but it makes total sense if you look at the numbers, which no other team can come close to matching:

• SEC Champions -- The toughest conference in the nation
• Outright SEC Western Division Champs
• Posted an 11-2 mark, the third straight year LSU has won 11 games
• Beat school-record 6 top 20 teams, including 2 wins over top 10 teams
• Didn't lose a game in regulation (only 2 losses came in triple overtime by a total of 8 points)
• Beat No. 5 Virginia Tech, 48-7
• Beat 9 bowl-eligible teams
• 7 of 11 wins came against SEC teams
• Twice ranked No. 1 in the nation

I'm curious how many first-round draft picks will be coming out of LSU. We have a number of players who will be there, including Glenn Dorsey, Craig Steltz, Matt Flynn, and Jacob Hester. Speaking of Jacob Hester, check out this devastating hit he made in the SEC Championship game...

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ATLANTA — Will Les Miles stay or will he go if offered the head coaching job at his alma mater Michigan?

The talk over Miles’ future at LSU continues to dominate conversation on the eve of Saturday’s SEC Championship Game between the No. 5-ranked Tigers (10-2) and No. 14 Tennessee (9-3).

LSU officials confirmed Wednesday that Michigan Athletic Director Bill Martin asked for permission to speak to Miles about Michigan’s coaching vacancy. LSU granted Martin’s request on the condition that Michigan officials not speak with Miles until after Saturday’s game.

No date has been set for the Michigan meeting. LSU Athletic Director Skip Bertman said Thursday he expects to talk with Miles about his future with LSU after the team returns from Atlanta.

“The first thing we want to do is let the game get played,” Bertman said, “and then the first thing Monday we want to see if we can begin the process from our end.”

One member of the LSU Board of Supervisors, Chairman Jerry Shea of New Iberia, said he spoke to Miles last week and that Miles told him that he wants to stay at LSU.

“I would like to see him stay and I think he’s going to stay,” Shea said.

Fellow board member Louis Lambert of Prairieville was less optimistic.

“I hope he stays,” Lambert said, “but I’m not sure based on what I read and what I see. But I hope he stays.”

Shea said he expects the Miles matter to be wrapped up early next week, and that a quick resolution was important to the health of LSU’s football program.

“Everybody wants it to happen sooner than later,” Shea said. “It’s affecting recruiting, the players, the coaches — it’s affecting everybody.”

Shea also said the university and the athletic department have contingency plans if Miles does leave, but would not elaborate on what those are.

“I hope they don’t have to use it,” he said.

Bertman said he met in Baton Rouge recently with Miles’ Dallas-based agent, George Bass.

“I had spoken to George awhile back,” Bertman said. “The chancellor (Sean O’Keefe) called Les to tell him how much the university wants him to stay and I relayed that information to George. He (Bass) said he wanted to come down here anyway and meet.

“No money figures were thrown around, but we did talk about the fact that Les’s contract has performance clauses in it and we all agreed that we want him to stay regardless of the outcome of a single football game. This is not about waiting to see if we win this game or not.”

Bertman said Bass couldn’t act on anything on Miles’ behalf because of the timing of their meeting.

“I didn’t want to bother him (Miles) this week anymore than I want Michigan to bother him this week,” Bertman said. Attempts to reach Bass on Thursday were unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, LSU defensive coordinator Bo Pelini continues to rank as one of the top candidates to replace the ousted Bill Callahan as head coach at Nebraska. Pelini reportedly interviewed Sunday with interim Nebraska athletic director and football coach Tom Osborne.

Pelini, who was defensive coordinator at Nebraska in 2003 and served as its interim head coach for an Alamo Bowl victory over Michigan, has declined to speak publicly or issue a statement regarding the Nebraska job.

Thursday, LSU sports information director Michael Bonnette said Pelini told him: “His focus is squarely on this team and doing whatever he can to get our defense ready to play on Saturday. There’s nothing else on his mind other than LSU football and getting ready for Tennessee.”

Bonnette said Pelini has been at practice every day this week (practices have been closed to the media) and that he will coach in Saturday’s game.

Check out the article at The Advocate.

Well, last Friday's loss to Arkansas really put a damper on the Thanksgiving weekend. I'm disappointed that we couldn't pull out the National Championship season, but that does not at all take away from the amount of pride I have in this team! These guys have been playing their hearts out and I won't take anything away from them. Besides, it is true that there isn't a team in the country who has beaten as many ranked teams... not to mention, there isn't another team in the country that can claim their only losses came in triple overtime!

Here's to success in the SEC Championship Game and whatever Bowl we play in. Hey, you never know... a miracle could happen and we could still get in the NC game!

Check out this quote from LSU coach Les Miles:

“I’ve thought about how this season has gone. Certainly we would like to have the last game back. We understand what that has cost us in our national ranking and what it means. Right now, I would like to talk about what we are, and not what we just lost. What we are is one hell of a football team. I like our team, especially the character of our team. If you think about this football team, we have not been healthy since the first game of the year. Yet, no matter who we call on to go in and make plays, they make plays.”

“This team has not lost a game in regulation. I know it does not mean much to you guys (media.) The point is, in a 60 minutes game, we play as competitive as we can be. There is not a team that we have played that has bested us in the first 60 minutes. If you had to look at the length and width of the game, that is how it is measured. Then you go to overtime, and I think our overtime system is just as flawed as any other overtime system. It’s just the way it is and it is probably correct. You have to decide it then where it takes the length of the field and certain situations out of it. It is imperfect, but a darn good system. You tell me if there are other teams in this country that can say that. If you just give us ties, like in the old system, we are undefeated with two ties. Maybe that adds up as one lost.”

“Go find a team that has losses that only came in overtime. Go find a team that compares competitively with five nationally-ranked teams and has done extremely well. I am talking about our team and what we can be, not what we just lost. I think our best football is coming. I haven’t talked to my team yet today, but I can say this – there is too much character on this team not to understand that 10 wins, third-straight time at this school, has not been done before, is special.”

Check out the full transcript at LSU Sports.

Geaux Tigers!!!

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BATON ROUGE -- There will be a lot on the line Saturday when top-ranked LSU travels to face Ole Miss in Oxford. The Tigers go into their clash with Ole Miss with the opportunity to not only capture the school’s first outright Southeastern Conference Western Division title, but to also strengthen its hold on then nation’s No. 1 ranking.

The Tigers and Rebels renew their annual rivalry at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. The game will be televised nationally on CBS. LSU brings a 9-1 overall mark and a 5-1 league record into the game, while the Rebels are winless in SEC action this year, sporting an 0-6 mark. Ole Miss is 3-7 overall.

LSU has won five straight and six of the last season over the Rebels, including last year’s 23-20 overtime thriller in Baton Rouge. In that game, the Tigers came from 13 points down in the fourth quarter to force overtime, where they eventually won.

Despite Ole Miss winning only three games this year, LSU coach Les Miles expects another very competitive game with the Rebels. Four of the last five games between the teams have been decided by a total of 10 points.

“We are expecting their best shot and we don’t anticipate getting anything less than that,” LSU coach Les Miles said. “We’ve had a good week of preparation, both on the field as well as in the meeting rooms. We understand that that we are going on the road to play an SEC game and that we have to bring our best effort in order to be successful.”

Also on LSU’s side is the fact that the Tigers can now strengthen their grip on the nation’s top ranking after second-ranked Oregon dropped a stunner to unranked Arizona on Thursday night. Outside of LSU, the Ducks had more first place votes than any of the other contenders in last week’s polls.

With a win over the Rebels, the Tigers can also clinch their first outright SEC Western Division title. Prior to this season, LSU has shared the league title on six occasions, winning the tiebreaker and advancing to the league’s championship game three times – 2001, ’03, and ’05.

With all that being said, Miles and the Tigers are still focused on one thing, and that’s playing well against the Rebels.

A victory over Ole Miss will also give the Tigers their 10th victory this season, running LSU’s streak to three consecutive years with double-figure victories. LSU won 11 games in both 2005 and 2006. A third straight season with at least 10 victories will have LSU join Alabama, Georgia Tennessee and Florida as the only teams in SEC history to accomplish that feat.

Offensively, the Tigers bring a unit into the Ole Miss game that has been clicking on all cylinders in recent weeks, scoring 41 points against Alabama and following that with 58 against Louisiana Tech. LSU, which has scored at least 28 points in every game this year, is averaging 39 points per game and a league-leading 455 yards per contest.

Quarterback Matt Flynn has tossed three touchdowns in three straight games and has run his season totals to 1,856 passing yards and 14 touchdowns. Running back Jacob Hester continues to lead the Tigers in rushing with 706 yards and eight scores. Hester has also caught 11 passes for 87 yards and one touchdown.

The return of Early Doucet, along with the emergence of Demetrius Byrd and Terrance Toliver, has bolstered LSU’s passing game. Sophomore Brandon LaFell leads the Tigers with 39 catches for 535 yards and two scores, while Doucet has 30 receptions for 335 and four scores. Byrd, a junior college transfer in his first year with the Tigers, has 22 catches for a team-best 464 yards and four TDs.

Defensively, the Tigers continue to rely on the tone set by its defensive front, in particular defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey. As a unit, LSU is ranked among the top 10 in the nation in five categories, which includes leading the country in total defense with 236.8 yards per game. LSU is also No. 3 in rushing defense at 66.0 yards per game, No. 6 in pass defense at 170.8 yards per game and 10th in scoring at 16.7 points per contest.

Safety Craig Steltz leads the Tigers in tackles with 68, while linebacker Ali Highsmith is second on the squad with 60 stops. Dorsey, along with Kirston Pittman, lead the Tigers in both tackles for losses (11.5) and sacks (6).

After Saturday, the Tigers will have a short week to close out the regular season as they host Arkansas at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 23.

Check out the article at LSU Sports.

Geaux Tigers!!!

GO TO HELL OLE MISS!

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Around the Bowl and Down the Hole... Roll Tide Roll!

Most LSU fans have been waiting for this week ever since last winter, when their former coach, Nick Saban, accepted the head job at Alabama.

They have followed his every move leading up to Saturday's game in Tuscaloosa, which has been unofficially labeled "The Saban Bowl." They still are struggling to understand how he could abandon them.

Saban coached the Tigers to a pair of SEC titles and a share of the 2003 national championship and stockpiled the program with NFL-caliber talent before leaving for the Miami Dolphins. Then, after just two seasons with the Dolphins, he resurfaced at a bitter conference rival, signing a multi-year deal with Alabama worth $4million per season.

Les Miles is an impressive 29-5 in three years at LSU. He has coached the Tigers to the No.3 slot in the weekly BCS standings. If LSU (7-1, 4-1 SEC) wins out and second-ranked Boston College stumbles, the Tigers are poised to play for another national title in nearby New Orleans.

Interestingly, if Miles were to leave for Michigan, his alma mater, at the end of the season, it is hard to tell how many rabid LSU boosters would miss him. It seems not everyone is completely sold on Miles after he risked a potentially special season by going for a touchdown from the 22-yard line in the final seconds of a 30-24 win over Auburn instead of just playing it safe, calling a timeout and going for the game-winning field goal.

Saban is a more complicated story.

He developed a cult following down in the Bayou after he rebuilt an LSU program that was wallowing in the swamps with eight losing seasons in the 11 years before he arrived. Then he broke a lot of hearts. Now, his team is coming off a 41-17 victory over Tennessee two weeks ago and, in his first year on the job, he has the 17th-ranked Tide (6-2, 4-1) in position to win the West and make its first trip to the SEC title game since 1999.

It's all too much for some LSU fans, who seem desperate to see Miles beat Saban, if only to wipe out the giant shadow he still casts over Baton Rouge and show that any capable coach can succeed at this program.

Saban and Miles have spent this week repeating the same mantra, that this game is not personal between the coaches.

"I don't know what people are saying," Saban said. "I don't know what's going on out there, but I know you guys are busy creating. Unfortunately, I'm not interested in trying to be part of it."

That might be true today, but just a day after LSU thumped Notre Dame, 41-14, in the 2007 Sugar Bowl, Saban, who recruited 17 current LSU starters, did bring up the fact he recruited most of the players on that team, and he happened to mention at the SEC media day over the summer that after he left for the Dolphins, one of his administrative assistants had her tires slashed when she returned to Baton Rouge for a wedding.

Miles may have opened a window to his soul last winter, too, when he suggested to a booster club that the Tigers enjoyed playing Florida but had a new rival in "--- Alabama," then told another club that he hated the color red. "Ohio State, Indiana. When I was with the Cowboys, it was the Redskins," he said. "I look forward to going back to my roots and kicking the crap out of a team in red."

Check out the article at NY Daily News.

Finally, the time has come... what we have been waiting for all year... it's time to BEAT SABAN! I want to see him screaming at everyone until he's red in the face!!!

Check out the Geaux Tigers, Beat Bama! song on David St. Romain's MySpace page!!! Sung to the tune of Sweet Home Alabama, of course! Great song, David!

Geaux Tigers!!!

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If you’re scoring at home, that’s three consecutive epics with dramatic endings for the LSU football team. While you’re at it, make it four in a row for LSU and Auburn.

LSU kept its national championship hopes alive Saturday night with another down-to-the-wire finish, edging Auburn 30-24 on Matt Flynn’s 22-yard touchdown pass to Demetrius Byrd with 1 second left.

“This Auburn-LSU thing,” LSU coach Les Miles said, “I want you to know something: It’s not normal.”

The home team won for the eighth consecutive year in the series, and in a dramatic way for the fourth consecutive year.

The No. 5-ranked Tigers outgained the No. 18-ranked Tigers 351 yards to 127 in total offense in the second half. The game-winning drive covered 58 yards on nine plays after a short squib kick followed an Auburn touchdown.

LSU overcame a 17-7 halftime deficit, taking control in the third quarter and building a 23-17 lead midway through the fourth quarter.

Auburn drove for a touchdown to regain the lead with 3:21 left. After Pep Levingston covered the short Auburn kickoff, the purple-and-gold Tigers had 3:13 on the clock to try for the victory against the visiting Tigers.

They used 3:12.

Flynn scrambled for yardage, pitched out to Richard Murphy and Jacob Hester and found himself facing third-and-7 from the Auburn 22 as the clock ran. LSU, which had one timeout left, apparently planned to take one more shot at the end zone before facing the prospect of a field goal attempt.

Flynn hit Byrd, who was tightly covered by Auburn defensive back Jerraud Powers, in the northwest corner of the north end zone with 1 second showing on the clock.

LSU (7-1) is tied for first place in the Southeastern Conference Western Division with Alabama at 4-1. Those teams will be off next weekend before meeting Nov. 3 in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Auburn (5-3, 3-2) dropped out of a three-way tie with LSU and Alabama after losing away from home to an SEC opponent for only the second time in 16 games.

A Tiger Stadium crowd of 92,630 saw another Auburn-LSU 60-minute battle that belongs in a conversation with the previous three.

Auburn edged LSU 10-9 in 2004 by scoring a touchdown with 74 seconds left and kicking the game-winning PAT after a miss on the first try and a penalty against LSU.

An interception deep into the final minute ended LSU’s comeback hopes.

LSU defeated Auburn 20-17 in overtime in 2005, winning on Chris Jackson's field goal and Auburn's subsequent miss.

Auburn defeated LSU 7-3 last season, stopping LSU at the Auburn 4-yard line on the game’s last play.

Dramatics were nothing new to LSU’s 2007 team. In its last home game before Saturday’s comeback against Auburn, LSU rallied from a series of 10-point deficits to defeat reigning national champion Florida 28-24.

That victory wasn’t secured until LSU batted down a last-second Florida pass in the end zone.

A week later, LSU took its No. 1 ranking to Kentucky and lost 43-37 in triple overtime. The longest game in LSU history ended with LSU failing to pick up a first down on fourth-and-2.

Auburn helped make sure LSU’s next game would come down to the end.

Check out the article at The Advocate.

Yes, it's been a little quiet here for the past couple of weeks... was I tongue-tied after the Kentucky loss? Not hardly, but that was one tough game full of LSU penalties. Gotta hand it to the Wildcats, though - they played to win. As for me, I've been out of town on a camping trip to Camp Avondale and a weekend getaway to New Orleans, so haven't had much time to blog. I'll get some pics up from the Big Easy soon... promise!

Now, for that Auburn game... WOW! It was almost as big as the Florida game, and might even be designated as The Earthquake Game - Part 2. It was definitely another classic game for the books! Let's just hope that the game at Nick Saban State (aka Alabama) isn't such a close matchup.

Geaux Tigers!!!

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Every now and then you get a glimpse of how this game of college football is supposed to be played. If you watched the Florida-LSU game late Saturday night, you saw the team you want your team to be.

LSU, now the undisputed top team in the land after Southern Cal fell to Stanford, showed a stadium stuffed with more than 90,000 rabid Bayou Bengals fans and a national television audience why the Tigers are so good.

Yes, they have excellent players. And, yes, they have tradition and fan support and all the amenities needed to rise above the crowded field of contenders whose fans like to run around thrusting their index finger in the air and claiming to be Number One.

But they also have Les Miles, perhaps the best football coach in the country. At least he was Saturday night.

All you had to see was the fourth quarter of this Southeastern Conference showdown against the former national champion Gators to see what good, tough, confident coaching means to a football program.

It was, in a compound sentence, one of the best performances you could hope for in one of the biggest games of the year under the most intense pressure you can imagine.

And the Tigers made it look easy.

Beauty and bravery

While LSU fans were stunned when Florida jumped out to an early 10-0 lead, Miles just clinched that strong jaw of his on the sideline, pulled his hat down tighter on his head and watched with an understanding determination.

When interviewed coming off the field at halftime, he hardly seemed frightened by the prospects of losing. Instead, he stated exactly what his team needed to do and would do in the second half. Make more tackles and score more points.

He didn't mention take more chances, but that apparently comes with the territory if you want to be Number One.

Down 10 points with the clock running against them, the Tigers pulled out all the stops. They faked a field goal that set up a touchdown. Then, needing only a field goal to tie and extend the game to overtime, Miles wanted no part of it. He went for the victory, going for it on two critical, fourth-quarter, fourth-down situations, making it every time, barely.

The final drive, behind the gutsy running of Jacob Hester, that gave LSU its 28-24 victory with just over a minute remaining in the game was a thing of absolutely beauty and bravery.

Not only did starting quarterback Matt Flynn move his team with confidence, but also Miles was bold enough to bring in his back-up quarterback, sophomore Ryan Perilloux, in critical situations to give him the kind of steely experience you can only receive in the heat of battle.

Guts and glory

To watch LSU pull off that final, 15-play, 60-yard, 8-minute, game-winning, risk-taking drive brought college football fans to the edge of their seats all across the nation.

To witness this excellent example of guts and glory after most fans had spent the day watching their favorite teams flounder in the face of adversity was a teaching moment.

If you weren't an LSU fan or a Les Miles fan before Saturday night's phenomenal finish you probably are now.

With all due respect to the Florida Gators, who played a heck of a football game, this LSU victory gave us all a glimpse of what it means to have a great team and a great coach and how the two combine to win championships.

There was no second-guessing, no what-ifs, no question, no doubt. That final drive should be mandatory in film rooms across the nation.

Every head coach should watch it over and over again just to see how the game is supposed to be played, with confidence and passion instead of caution and fear of losing.

Check out the article at LSU Sports.

What an awesome game! It will go down as one of the greatest in Tiger Stadium!

I thought that both teams played some tough football, and you have to admire the dedication, skill and sportsmanship of everyone involved... except for Tim Tebow (at least in the sportsmanship department). Shortly after the loudspeaker announcement of the USC upset and the crowd going wild, the Gators capped off a scoring drive with a TD. Mr. Tebow decided to taunt the audience, with the "Paper Tigers, I Can't Hear You" gesture. Well, Tim, that inspired me to create the above image, may it follow you through the internet wherever you go! Who's the Paper Gator, now?

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Two TV networks are in town. Nearly 600 press passes have been handed out. The downtown Hilton hotel has sought out overflow rooms as far away as Hammond.

And The Chimes has ordered extra alligator meat, a popular choice on its menu and, perhaps not so coincidentally, the mascot of LSU’s opponent.

“I’ll not be a bit surprised if it’s a record day for The Chimes and Varsity,” co-owner Tim Hood said. “We anticipate this one as being as good and somewhat better.”

Even by game day standards, this weekend’s high-profile game at LSU is turning into a perfect storm for Baton Rouge merchants.

LSU, 5-0 and sporting its first No. 1 ranking in The Associated Press poll in nearly 50 years, hosts ninth-ranked Florida in what is perhaps the highest profile game so far this season.

How big is the game? Never mind the stadium holds 93,000. Maj. Lawrence Rabalais of the LSU Police Department said the Florida game could draw 140,000 fans, which would top the estimated 130,000 at the Virginia Tech game last month.

Making an impact

LSU economist Loren Scott, who has done studies for the LSU Athletic Department on the economic impact of LSU football games, said the LSU-Florida game will be a boon for merchants.

Scott also cited the exposure the city gets by being featured in the national media outlets.

Shows such as ESPN’s “Gameday” at LSU on Saturday and CBS morning show segments today, he said, “are almost totally positive information about what it’s like to come to the Baton Rouge area.”

“At this stage of the season … (fans) are happy and jovial, and when they’re happy and jovial they tend to spend more money,” Scott said.

“It actually begins Thursday,” Matherne said. For this weekend, “We don’t know what to expect,” he admitted Thursday afternoon. “I figure we’ll be running like crazy trying to keep up, especially with libations.”

Brandon Landry, co-owner of Walk-Ons restaurant on the south side of LSU, said beer vendors are sending in refrigerated trucks to keep up with tailgaters.

His employees have spent the week draining ice makers from the other downtown restaurants he owns with business partner Jack Warner.

“We’ve had some big games,” Landry said. “But I don’t think we’ve ever seen what we’re gonna see this weekend.”

Beer provider Mockler Beverage Co. and the local Coca-Cola bottling plant are used to big-event weekends. But both beverage companies said they’re expecting brisk sales this weekend.

“We absolutely see a difference in sales on big football weekends,” said Melanie Clark, vice president of marketing for the Gulf Coast Region Coca-Cola Bottling Co. United.

Chris Davis, who handles marketing for Mockler, called it “chaos, but controlled chaos.”

Local hotels said out-of-town fans who didn’t secure a room at least a few months ago were probably out of luck.

But that hasn’t stopped them from calling, said Tina Rance, director of sales and marketing for the Hilton Baton Rouge Capital Center.

She said the hotel has booked corporate apartments as far away as Hammond to handle its overflow demand.

“It’s been a Super Bowl atmosphere for two weeks now,” she said Thursday.

Anna Zebeau, director of sales for the Sheraton Baton Rouge Convention Center Hotel, said other local hotels have called hers asking for extra rooms.

“Everybody is sold out,” she said.

Check out the article at The Advocate.

Due to the record crowds expected for the big game tomorrow, and the fact that College Gameday will be broadcasting at 9:00am, you might want to get out to Tiger Stadium early tomorrow! The atmosphere is going to be electric! Let's just hope the forecast is wrong and it doesn't rain.

Geaux Tigers!!! Mmmm, Fried Gator... Tastes Like Chicken!!!

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BATON ROUGE -- The LSU Tigers will wear special uniforms for its game against Tulane on Saturday as part of an effort to assist the Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts in New Orleans.

The uniforms will feature purple jerseys with a special emblem emblazoned on the shoulders, with white helmets and white pants.

All merchandise is available online at LSUshop.net or at the LSU Athletics Gift Center.

Nike has introduced a set of limited edition jerseys and other apparel with part of the proceeds from sales earmarked for assisting the youth of New Orleans. Worn by both teams, the uniforms will feature a special pelican emblem designed by Nike. The Pelican emblem is a tribute to the state bird and stylistically resembles the Phoenix, a symbol of the City’s rebirth. The emblem will be one of several new additions to Nike’s LSU and Tulane products, which will be on sale at the game and in select retail locations throughout the US. Proceeds from the sale of this product will go towards Nike’s Let Me Play New Orleans fund to help rebuild New Orleans through Sport.

“It’s a wonderful thing for Nike to step up and show the want and desire to sponsor this game and to get behind an event that will bring a great deal of attention to an area that was so adversely affected by Hurricane Katrina,” LSU coach Les Miles said. “This is just another example of Nike’s commitment to the people, especially the youth, of New Orleans and surrounding areas as they continue to rebuild this wonderful city.

“We are excited and honored to be a part of this game and to do our part in continuing to raise awareness of the work that still remains in helping restore New Orleans.”

Nike has announced plans to expand their long-term commitment to New Orleans youth with a series of projects including ReUse-A-Shoe drives, Nike Grind court donations and limited-edition product sales in partnership with the Greater New Orleans Foundation.

Events will begin Sept. 29 at the LSU/Tulane college football game in the New Orleans Superdome where Nike will introduce limited edition jerseys.

Check out the article at LSU Sports.

Looks like we'll be sporting some funky lookin' uniforms in our first game at the Louisiana Superdome this season... we'll be back to the usual uniforms for our next trip to the Superdome, in January! I wonder if the USC Prophylactics... er, Trojans will be able to make it that far. I'm sure they won't have any problems, what with the lineup of cupcakes they have all year. Anyway...

I think Nike is doing a good thing and all, but I have to question the amount of money that will be donated to the Katrina fund... one dollar per item sold. That's $1 donated for every $80 jersey sold. WTF?!? I can see donating $1 from the sale of a $20 hat, but an $80 jersey? They can't do better than that? I would do better to just buy the normal (better looking) $60 jersey and donate $20 to the Katrina fund out of my own pocket!

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BATON ROUGE -- Quarterback Matt Flynn continues to make progress as second-ranked LSU hit the midway point in its preparations for 12th-ranked South Carolina with a workout in full pads here Wednesday at the Charles McClendon Practice Facility.

The Tigers and Gamecocks square off at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday in a sold out Tiger Stadium. The game will be televised nationally by CBS.

LSU brings a 3-0 overall mark into the game following last week’s 44-0 win over Middle Tennessee. Dating back to last season, LSU has won 10 straight games and the Tigers bring a streak of 15 straight victories in Tiger Stadium into Saturday’s contest.

South Carolina is also 3-0 after its 38-3 win over South Carolina State a week ago. This will be the first time LSU coach Les Miles has gone against a Steve Spurrier-coached team.

“It was a good Wednesday practice,” Miles said. “It was encouraging to see (Matt) Flynn out there. He looked really good. I am looking forward to South Carolina. I like the way we practiced today. Our guys practiced hard. As long as they continue to do that, they’ll get better. It will show on Saturday.”

Miles didn’t say whether or not Flynn would start on Saturday against the Gamecocks, but all indications are the fifth-year senior will see plenty of action. Flynn sat out last week’s contest against Middle Tennessee with an injury.

Sophomore Ryan Perrilloux started in place of Flynn last week and connected on 20-of-25 passes for 298 yards and three scores in the victory over the Blue Raiders.

“He (Matt Flynn) looked very positive today, considering it is Wednesday,” Miles said. “He could have played last week, but he’s much closer to 100 percent at this point on Wednesday than he was at anytime last week.”

Miles added that senior offensive guard Will Arnold (viral infection) will miss Saturday’s game and it’s possible that the Tigers could be without the services of senior wide receiver/return specialist Early Doucet. Both players missed last week’s game.

Saturday’s contest is the annual “Gold Game” in Tiger Stadium and fans are asked to wear gold to the game.

Check out the article at LSU Sports.

Looks like tomorrow's match-up, "The Visor vs. The Hat," is gonna be a wet one! Keep it tuned to LSU Sports for info regarding game delays. Otherwise, enjoy the stomping!!!

Geaux Tigers... Eat Mor Chikin'!!!

Update September 22: The Tigers played a good game, but this fake field goal play really stands out... check out the replay at the :25 mark of the video:

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BATON ROUGE -- The college football spotlight will be focused on Tiger Stadium this weekend as second-ranked LSU hosts ninth-ranked Virginia Tech in what is considered one of this year’s top non-conference matchups.

Kickoff for the Tigers and the Hokies is set for 8:22 p.m. in a sold out Tiger Stadium. The game will be televised to a national audience by ESPN. LSU is 1-0 following a 45-0 season-opening win over Mississippi State on Aug. 30, while the Hokies beat East Carolina, 17-7, in their first game of the year.

Close to 500 media credentials have been issued for this Saturday’s contest between the Tigers and Hokies in what will only be the third time a pair of top 10 teams will square off in a non-conference game in Tiger Stadium.

It will mark only the second-ever meeting between the two schools. Virginia Tech posted a 26-8 win over LSU to open the 2002 season.

The last time a pair of top 10 teams battled in a non-conference game in Tiger Stadium came in 1987 when then-No. 4 LSU and No. 7 Ohio State fought to a 13-13. The other time came in 1959 when No. 1 LSU posted a 10-0 win over No. 9 TCU.

In addition to the national telecast, ESPN’s College Gameday, featuring Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso and Desmond Howard, will originate from the parade grounds on the LSU campus starting at 9 a.m. It marks the fifth appearance for the popular college football show in Baton Rouge, and first since the 2004 season opener against Oregon State.

Among the highlights of this week’s ESPN’s College Gameday show will be a feature on LSU defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey and how he overcame having to wear braces on his legs as a 3-year old to becoming one of college football’s most dominating defenders.

ESPN’s Steve Cyphers produced the piece, which includes interviews with Dorsey, LSU head coach Les Miles, LSU defensive coordinator Bo Pelini and Glenn’s mom, Sandra.

Joining ESPN’s College Gameday on the LSU campus this weekend is that of College Gameday Radio, which will also broadcast from the parade grounds. The radio broadcast starts at 11 a.m. and runs until 6 p.m.

Other national media converging on Tiger Stadium on Saturday night to cover the Tigers and the Hokies include: USA Today, Sports Illustrated, SI.com, the New York Times, the Washington Post, CBS Sportsline.com, Rivals.com, the New York Post, the Sporting News as well as Westwood One Radio.

Check out the article at LSU Sports.

Tiger Stadium is gonna be on fire by the time kickoff rolls around! Just imagine the seasoned tailgaters getting an early start for ESPN's College Gameday, then continuing on throughout the day until a late kickoff. I hope those Hokies know sign language.

If you missed last week's game, you have to check out this huge hit by Brandon LaFell:

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BATON ROUGE -- Another much anticipated LSU football season get underway on Thursday night when the second-ranked Tigers jump right into the fire with a Southeastern Conference contest against Mississippi State.

The game will serve as the major college football opener for the 2007 and will be televised to a national audience on ESPN. Kickoff for the contest is slated for 7:01 p.m. from a sold out Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville.

It’s the first time that LSU will make an appearance on the popular ESPN Thursday Night telecast, while the Bulldogs will be making their 13th appearance. The Mississippi State game marks the first time in school history that the Tigers will play a non-holiday, regular season game on a Thursday night.

LSU, considered by many to be the favorite to win the SEC this year, is coming off an 11-2 overall mark a year ago. The Tigers bring a seven-game winning streak into the State contest, which includes a 41-14 win over Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl to cap last year. Mississippi State is coming off a 3-9 mark from a year ago, which included a 48-17 loss to LSU in Tiger Stadium.

LSU has won seven straight and 14 of its last 15 against the Bulldogs, which includes a 37-7 victory in its last trip to Starkville in 2005. However, LSU coach Les Miles is quick to warn that this isn’t the same Mississippi State team from a year ago.

“Mississippi State is a quality football team that is very well coached,” Miles said of the Bulldogs. “I have tremendous respect for Coach Croom and the job he’s done there. He will have his team prepared and ready to play. We expect their best shot and as a result, we are going to have to go out and play with focus and execute on every play for four quarters.”

Thursday’s game also marks the second time in three years that the Tigers will open a season away from home. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina postponed LSU’s scheduled season-opener against North Texas and then shifted the Arizona State contest from Baton Rouge to Tempe. LSU used a fourth-quarter rally to win that game, 35-31.

It also marks the first time since 1991 that an LSU team will open the season with a conference opponent. That year, the Tigers dropped a 31-10 decision to Georgia in Athens.

“We understand that the environment we walk in to Thursday night will be loud and noisy,” Miles said of playing in front of a sellout crowd on the road in Starkville. “The good news is we bring a veteran team with us. We have guys on this team that understand what it’s like to play on the road in a loud stadium.”

Among those players expected to lead the Tigers on offense are a trio of seniors in quarterback Matt Flynn, running back Jacob Hester and wide receiver Early Doucet. Flynn will be making only the second start of his career and the first during the regular season after backing up JaMarcus Russell for the past two years.

“We have tremendous confidence in Matt and his ability to lead our offense,” Miles said. “He had a great spring and has done a terrific job this fall during camp. We ask a lot of our quarterback and he has responded extremely well. He has done what we need him to do, whether it is to put us in the right play, to make the right throw and make the reads on the run.

Flynn’s appearance against State will be his first significant action since earning Peach Bowl MVP honors in 2005 after leading the Tigers to a 40-3 win over Miami.

Defensively, the Tigers return eight starters on that side of the ball, including three members of a defensive front that is considered the best in the nation. Headlining the list of starters on defense are All-America defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey, pre-season All-America defensive end Tyson Jackson, linebacker Ali Highsmith and cornerback Chevis Jackson.

Last year, the Tigers ranked among the top five in the nation in several defensive categories, including scoring (12.6 points per game), total defense (242.8 yards per game), and pass defense (145.7 yards per game).

Junior Colt David will handle the kicking duties for the Tigers, while senior Patrick Fisher will serve as LSU’s punter. Other special teams duties have Doucet and speedster Trindon Holliday handling kickoff return duties, while Doucet will also double as LSU’s punt returner.

“We’ve worked hard this summer and during camp and you can just look at the players and tell that they are ready to play a game,” Miles said. “When you work so hard, practices are only enjoyed because you can celebrate that hard work with a game. Our guys are looking forward to Thursday night. It will be the first nationally televised game of the year and our guys always look forward to playing on television. There is a little bit extra enthusiasm because of that.”

Check out the article at LSU Sports.

I'm so pumped - I can't wait until tonight!!! Evidently I'm not the only person excited about LSU Football this year... all tickets for all LSU home games are officially sold out already!

I'm also very excited about the arrival of our new live mascot on campus this week. On Saturday, 2-year-old Roscoe made the trip to LSU, where he is expected to become Mike VI and represent the university. The Bengal-Siberian mix tiger should become LSU’s largest tiger and approach 700 pounds in three years, said David Baker, Mike’s veterinarian. Roscoe weighs nearly 300 pounds now. (see Roscoe's photo)

Roscoe is tentatively scheduled for release into his new tiger habitat at LSU on Sept. 8 – the day of the home football opener against Virginia Tech... when he will officially replace the late Mike V and become Mike VI.

Check out the Roscoe article at The Advocate.

Geaux Tigers!

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At No. 1, the University of Southern California Trojans. At No. 2, the LSU Fighting Tigers.

That’s how the final AP poll for the 2003 college football season appeared. That’s how the 2007 preseason USA Today Top 25 Coaches’ Poll appears.

LSU and USC haven’t played each other since 1984, but they are forever linked by the controversy of 2003, when the Tigers won the BCS national championship and the Trojans won the AP national championship.

Now they’re as close as can be atop the preseason coaches’ poll.

Forty-five of the 60 coaches on the USA Today panel voted USC at No. 1 in the preseason poll released Friday. Four voted LSU at No. 1.

LSU coach Les Miles more than downplayed the response at the football operations facility, where the Tigers reported Friday for preseason camp.

“I don’t think there was any response,” Miles said Friday afternoon, 10 hours after USA Today posted the Top 25 on its Web site.

“I just had somebody tell me about it not 30 minutes ago. I don’t know that there’s a response necessary.”

The No. 2 ranking is LSU’s highest in the preseason coaches’ poll in the 10-year history of the BCS. The coaches ranked LSU at No. 3 to start the 2004 season after the Tigers won the BCS in 2003.

LSU opened the 1959 season as reigning national champion and the No. 1 team in the AP poll. LSU finished No. 3 in 1959, the same ranking the Tigers finished with last year after their second consecutive 11-2 season.

Miles, 22-4 in two seasons at LSU, sounded a familiar refrain about outside expectations of his Tigers.

“It’s nice to be close enough (to No. 1) so that if you’re successful in your season and you take care of the work that’s in front of you, you can play in the game,” Miles said. “That’s the good news about the position that we’re in.

“That makes no difference to anybody in our program other than we understand what’s before us and what we have to accomplish.”

Miles, one of the coaches who votes on the poll, said he was not one of the four who listed LSU at No. 1.

“It’s hard for me to vote for us No. 1 based on the fact that we haven’t won a game yet,” he said before declining to say where he ranked the Tigers.

The coaches’ poll and the Harris Interactive Poll each represents a one-third component of the BCS formula, which determined the two teams that will play for the national championship Jan. 7 in the Louisiana Superdome.

The other component is a composite of computer rankings.

The Harris rankings are not released until after the season starts. The first BCS rankings will be released Oct. 14, according to the BCS Web site.

Two Southeastern Conference teams are in the top three of the USA Today Top 25. Florida is right behind LSU, ranked No. 3 after receiving nine first-place votes.

Texas is No. 4, followed by Michigan, which received the other two first-place votes.

West Virginia is sixth, followed by Wisconsin and Oklahoma. Virginia Tech, LSU’s opponent for the Sept. 8 home opener at Tiger Stadium, is ninth. Ohio State completes the top 10.

In addition to LSU and Florida, four other SEC schools are in the coaches’ top 25: No. 13 Georgia, No. 14 Auburn, No. 15 Tennessee and No. 20 Arkansas.

The Associated Press, which withdrew from the BCS formula before the 2005 season, will release its Top 25 media poll Aug. 18, the day LSU completes fall camp with a scrimmage in Tiger Stadium.

Miles said he expects the players to handle LSU’s high ranking responsibly.

“Great expectations puts everyone on the same page,” Miles said. “I think everybody in our program understands that there’s an opportunity in front of this team, that if they do their role, if they work hard, if they perform, that in fact this team could accomplish some special things.

“I want to coach at a place where there’s great expectations.”

Check out the article at The Advocate.

This is going to be another exciting year for LSU Football!!!

Be sure to check out LSU Sports.net

Geaux Tigers!!!

Update - August 18:
The AP has released its Top 25 poll and the LSU Tigers are #2 behind USC on their list, as well!

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May 18, 2007 - Baton Rouge, LA – The reign of Mike V, LSU’s beloved mascot who died early Friday morning, will be remembered as one of the most glorious periods in the history of LSU athletics.

Mike V, who moved into a new home on Aug. 27, 2005, served as the official mascot of LSU Athletics from 1990 until his death Friday.

The royal Bengal tiger was born on Oct. 18, 1989, and first moved into his home across from Tiger Stadium on April 30, 1990.

Mike actually attended his first sporting event on February 21, 1990, when he was introduced to a roaring crowd at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center for a men’s basketball game. The Tigers beat Alabama that day, 75-69, in Shaquille O’Neal’s freshman year.

“Mike V was a noble mascot who was loved by Tiger fans young and old, and he represented all that is proud and dignified about LSU,” said LSU athletic director Skip Bertman. “Mike has reigned over a magnificent era of Tiger Athletics and he is missed today by LSU fans the world over.”

During his tenure, Mike V reigned over a football national championship, five baseball national championships and a remarkable 23 track and field championships. He saw LSU sports teams win 37 Southeastern Conference titles from 1990 to 2007.

Check out the article at LSU Sports.

My family and I have enjoyed visiting Mike for years! He never ceased to amaze onlookers with his grace and sheer size. He has intimidated opponents on the field with his deafening roar. He will be sorely missed by all.

Rest in Peace, Mike V... let us hope that Mike VI can live up to the proud example of his predecessor.

Check out the Mike the Tiger Wikipedia page.

Be sure to visit the Mike the Tiger homepage.

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LSU Women's Basketball Team
taking their fourth Final Four trip in four years!

FRESNO, Calif. — There had been three prior trips for the LSU basketball team, but never like this, to reach the game’s Holy Grail.

Faced with having to conquer one of the game’s most preeminent programs — Connecticut — to return to the Women’s Final Four, the Lady Tigers enjoyed arguably their finest moment in three decades as a program.

Third-seeded LSU made it look rather easy behind West Regional most outstanding player Sylvia Fowles, leading by double-digits at halftime and pulling away during crunch time for a dominating 73-50 victory Monday over top-seeded UConn for the regional championship before 3,046 at Fresno State’s Save Mart Arena.

“We’ve done a lot of great things here at LSU,” LSU acting head coach Bob Starkey said. “We’ve gone to Finals Fours and won SEC championships, but the thing we haven’t done is beaten Connecticut. And that’s important in women’s college basketball because that’s where they are, that’s who they are. They’re one of those marquee programs.”

LSU (30-7) continues its nation’s best streak, reaching its fourth consecutive Final Four.

The Lady Tigers will face Rutgers on Sunday in Cleveland.

Rutgers, a No. 3 seed, beat fourth-seeded Arizona State 64-45 in the final of the Greensboro, N.C. Regional.

“They believed they would come out and do it,” Starkey said. “They were focused. I had a real good feeling coming in, though UConn is a very good team.”

Fowles scored a game-high 23 points, part of a group scoring effort for LSU, which shot 52.2 percent in the second half and 48.1 percent for the game. The 6-foot-6 junior center also grabbed 15 rebounds, blocked six shots and had three steals.

“We were just thinking about taking it possession by possession,” Fowles said. “They went on their little runs and we had our runs. Then after halftime we talked about coming out with a bang after losing to them at our house. We wanted to let it be known early that we were ready.”

LSU, which had its 43-game home-court win streak snapped by UConn on Feb. 11, also denied the Huskies (32-4) their ninth Final Four trip and first in three years.

“I felt good about the way we played and certainly the game was closer than the final score,” Starkey said. “They started fouling at the end and that created a little more separation. But from start to finish, that’s about as well as we played this year.”

“This game was important for me and my teammates,” Fowles said. “We were ready to go out there — as a team. This was special because our team just came together. We feel really good about ourselves.”

Check out the article at The Advocate.

Congratulations Lady Tigers! Good luck in Cleveland!

Follow all of the Final Four action at LSU Sports or NCAA Sports.

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There are going to be a lot of floats
featuring jolly old St. "Money-Bags" Nick

It's time once again to roll out the pink carpet for the Baton Rouge Spanish Town parade!

Although the theme is wide open this year, one thing is for certain... we will be seeing a lot of Nick Saban! His face will be plastered on the side of many a float, in many tasteless ways!

I can't wait!!!

Check out the Spanish Town Mardi Gras website.

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

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After a victory over the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Divisional Playoffs, the New Orleans Saints (11-6) go on the road to take on the Chicago Bears (14-3) in the NFC Championship Game at Soldier Field this Sunday. It marks the first time in franchise history that the Saints have advanced to the conference championship and will play for the opportunity to go to the Super Bowl.

The Saints defeated the Eagles, 27-24, at the Louisiana Superdome last Saturday. RB Deuce McAllister, the club's all-time leading rusher, had perhaps the finest day of his storied career in New Orleans, running for 143 yards on 21 carries and a touchdown and adding four receptions for 20 yards and another TD.

He carried several defenders into the end zone in the third quarter on a five-yard burst, eventually crossing the goal line without his helmet. The two touchdowns gave McAllister, a six year veteran, 50 for his career. McAllister was the leader of a rushing attack that set a club playoff record with 208 yards against a stout Philadelphia defense.

Rookie sensation RB Reggie Bush had 52 yards on 12 carries and a four-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. Bush, who set an NFL rookie record with 88 receptions in the regular season, added three catches for 22 yards and also returned a trio of punts for 21 yards.

QB Drew Brees, who threw for over 300 yards eight times in 2006 and led the NFL with a team-record 4,418 passing yards, completed 20 of 32 for 243 yards against the Eagles. His passer rating of 96.2 marked the 13th contest of the season where he posted an efficiency of 90.0 or better.

While the efforts of Brees, McAllister, Bush, rookie wide receiver Marques Colston and the rest of what was the NFL's No. 1 ranked offense in the regular season have been well documented throughout 2006, the defense quietly had another strong outing against the Eagles.

The unit stiffened when it mattered most, holding Philadelphia to only three points in the fourth quarter. The Eagles' first march of the final quarter stalled at the New Orleans 4 and they settled for a field goal. Philadelphia's next two drives went three-and-out, including a key possession where the Eagles were forced to punt with 1:56 remaining in the contest after recovering a fumble near midfield. After three rugged runs by McAllister for a first down, Philadelphia would not get the ball back.

Chicago also enters Sunday's contest following a 27-24 win, an overtime victory over the Seattle Seahawks at Soldier Field. K Robbie Gould, who defeated the Saints with a last-second kick in 2005, drilled a 49-yard field goal in overtime to lift the Bears into the NFC Championship Game vs. New Orleans.

The Saints and Bears have played 22 times in the regular season, with the series tied at 11- 11. The two clubs have also met once in the postseason, a Wild Card Playoff at Soldier Field in 1990 that was a 16-6 victory for Chicago.

Check out the Official New Orleans Saints website.

It's going to be cold in Chicago this weekend, but it'll be even colder in hell if we can win the Super Bowl!

Geaux Saints!

UPDATE: 1/22/07
The Saints lost to the Bears yesterday. Oh well, I'll be rooting for them next year...

Thanks for a memorable season, Saints...
the closest we've ever come to a Super Bowl!

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GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) -- Not even close. Florida - yes Florida - owned the field it wasn't supposed to be on, embarrassing Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith and No. 1 Ohio State 41-14 on Monday night to run away with the national championship. Chris Leak and Tim Tebow showed off coach Urban Meyer's twin quarterback system to perfection as the No. 2 Gators became the first Division I school to hold football and basketball titles at the same time.

Florida embarrassed Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith and No. 1 Ohio State 41-14 on Monday night to run away with the college football national championship.

Chris Leak and Tim Tebow showed off coach Urban Meyer's twin quarterback system to perfection as the No. 2 Gators became the first Division I school to hold football and basketball titles at the same time.

"I'm not surprised at all. Nobody never gave us a chance at all," Florida receiver Dallas Baker said. "We came here with a chip on our shoulder and something to prove. Nobody gave us a chance, but finally we can throw up the No. 1."

Troy Smith, meanwhile, joined a long list of Heisman Trophy quarterbacks - Jason White, Eric Crouch and Gino Torretta, among them - to fall apart in bowl games. He was just 4-for-14 with one interception and never showed off his elusive running.

"Not everything in life is going to go the exact way you want it," Smith said. "I don't have any regrets, though. I really don't. We came out and fought. We came up short.

Defensive ends Derrick Harvey and Jarvis Moss made it a miserable night for Smith. Linebacker Earl Everett got into the act, too, running down Smith despite missing his helmet.

"Honestly, we've played a lot better teams than them," Moss said. "I could name four or five teams in the SEC that could probably compete with them and play the same type of game we did against them." (LSU)

The National champion - SEC champion Gators were joined in the Top 25 by five other league rivals. No other conference finished with more in the top 25.

Check out the article at The Advocate.

Well, well, well... another SEC blowout in the BCS. In fact, the identical score to LSU's dominating win in the sugar: 41-14. Maybe some of these "top 25 teams" should include an SEC team or two on their regular-season schedule... they need the practice against us!

Seriously, it's time that the SEC gets some respect... it's the dominating conference in college sports. Oh sure, other strong teams emerge on a yearly basis; USC, Texas, Ohio State... but no conference in the country can boast the same number of teams dominating college football these days. Just look at the numbers - the SEC finished with 6 teams in the Top 25, 3 of those in the Top 10!

The BCS needs a major overhaul. We have to get to a playoff system... a system where the National Championship game isn't over in the first half.

The Top 5 rounded out at:
#1 - Florida Gators (SEC)
#2 - Ohio State Buckeyes (Big Ten)
#3 - LSU Tigers (SEC)
#4 - USC Trojans (Pac-10)
#5 - Boise State Broncos (WAC)

Check out the AP Poll article at Fox Sports.

On another note, LSU Junior Quarterback Jamarcus Russell will be signing up for the NFL draft. He will definitely be in the first round, maybe even the #1 pick! Good for him, the man is on fire! Here's to a successful NFL career and yet another LSU player in the NFL ranks.

Check out my 2007 Sugar Bowl post: SWEET Domination!.

Follow all of the LSU Sports action at LSU Sports.

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NEW ORLEANS — The luck of the Irish didn’t just run dry; it was annihilated. After the Bayou Bengals steamrolled the Notre Dame Fightin’ Irish 41-14 at the Allstate Sugar Bowl Wednesday night, the Tiger faithful decidedly did not exit the Louisiana Superdome quietly, nor did they do so humbly.

While the Irish fans walked out as mourners, LSU devotees marched out as if part of a second line. As chants of “LSU” and “Tiger Bait” filled the Superdome, a few fans summed up the game in their own Tiger-striped point of view.

“Great win,” said a noticeably hoarse LSU fan from Hammond. “We knew the Tigers were going to do it. Notre Dame played nobody all season.”

As it turns out, a supposedly slow Notre Dame football team can run after all. The Irish just couldn’t do it, or much of anything else, in the second half of the Sugar Bowl, when LSU largely and expertly kept the ball out of Notre Dame hands.

The Tigers flat-out ran the Irish out of the building Wednesday, owning the third quarter, then the entire second half, then the 2007 Sugar Bowl and all of its hardware on this night in LSU’s home-away-from-home Louisiana Superdome.

JaMarcus Russell, the unanimous choice for the game’s Most Outstanding Player, threw two touchdown passes and ran for another to lead the Tigers to a 41-14 victory over Notre Dame.

“He was on top of his game tonight,” LSU receiver Craig Davis said. “Very sharp.”

LSU, which finished with an 11-2 record for the second consecutive year, closed with a seven-game winning streak. Notre Dame (10-3) set an NCAA record by stretching its bowl losing streak to nine games.

Russell, who now must decide whether to turn pro or return to LSU for his senior season, removed any doubt of the game’s outcome with 18 seconds left in the third quarter. He gave the Tigers a 34-14 lead with a 58-yard pass to Brandon LaFell, tying LSU’s longest play from scrimmage this season.

Russell left the game just inside 5 minutes left, turning the offense over to backup quarterback Matt Flynn as teammates and fans cheered Russell.

LSU fans in the Poydras Avenue end zone, the home-team end zone, chanted “One more year!”

Russell later said he and his family have a lot to think about.

Davis said Russell’s performance was not one of his best, but he explained why that wasn’t a criticism. “Just average,” Davis said, “but an average game by JaMarcus Russell is better than your usual quarterback.”

Check out the article at The Advocate.

What an exciting game! Of course, it could have been a lot more exciting if we had been playing a higher ranked team. Well, Notre Dame has some talented players and a good football team. They were impressive on occasion during the first half, and there's no doubt in my mind that they had the potential to beat LSU... what they needed was a tougher schedule to prepare them for SEC football.

Seriously, you take most of the top 20 teams and look at their schedule: what a joke! Put those same teams on an SEC schedule, where every game is like a big bowl game, then you'll see where they belong in the rankings.

On another note... I would like to take this opportunity to distinguish between balls and brains: It takes balls to call a fake punt in a big football game, but it takes brains to know when to do it. You most certainly DO NOT call a fake punt on your own 30 yard line on your first possession of the game with 12:00 left in the first quarter. WTF was Charlie Weiss thinking? What a stupid play call!

Congratulations on a spectacular season, Tigers!

Congratulations on a truly awesome college football career, Jamarcus Russell... good luck in the NFL, I'll be rooting for you!

Next year, I'll be happy just as long as you Tigers promise to stick it to Nick Saban's Crimson Tide!

UPDATE 1-9-07: The Top 5 rounded out at:
#1 - Florida Gators (SEC)
#2 - Ohio State Buckeyes (Big Ten)
#3 - LSU Tigers (SEC)
#4 - USC Trojans (Pac-10)
#5 - Boise State Broncos (WAC)

Check out the AP Poll article at Fox Sports.

Check out my 2007 National Championship post: Welcome to SEC Football, Buckeyes!.

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Instead of playing in the Rose Bowl for the first time, the LSU Tigers will play in the Sugar Bowl for a record 13th time. Instead of playing Michigan or USC, as LSU seemed destined for during most of the last week, the Tigers will play Notre Dame.

“You want to celebrate a great season with a quality opponent,” LSU coach Les Miles said, “and Notre Dame, any way you cut it, is a quality team: Two losses to nationally ranked teams, great teams, and one of those traditionally historic football programs. It’ll be a great matchup.”

Two games Saturday made it happen. UCLA’s 13-9 upset of USC knocked the Trojans out of a probable berth in the national championship game. Florida’s 38-28 victory over Arkansas in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game impressed enough voters — and the BCS computers — to let Florida move ahead of USC and, by a razor-thin margin, Michigan in the BCS standings.

That means Florida, No. 2 in the BCS, will play No. 1 Ohio State for the championship Jan. 8 in Glendale, Ariz.

The shuffle in the standings cleared the way for the Rose Bowl to have what it wants every year — a matchup of teams from its traditional partners, the Big Ten Conference and Pac-10 Conference — and gave the Sugar Bowl the chance to select LSU as an at-large BCS participant.

Paul Hoolahan, the CEO of the Sugar Bowl, said he was excited to have the Tigers and Fighting Irish in the Jan. 3 game in the Louisiana Superdome, a game that should provide a welcome financial and festive boost to the rebuilding city of New Orleans.

“We feel like we have two of the absolute best teams to help provide a little jumpstart for this local region,” Hoolahan said.

Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis thanked Hoolahan for the invitation and said he’s glad the Irish will be playing in the Sugar Bowl.

“I can’t say enough about our affinity for the city of New Orleans,” Weis said. “The last highlight I can remember is watching that early NFL game when the Saints came back to New Orleans, to the Superdome, and we’re really looking forward to the challenge of going against LSU and bringing our troops en masse down to New Orleans to enjoy the festivities.”

The game is a sellout, LSU and Sugar Bowl officials said Sunday. LSU senior associate athletic director Herb Vincent said LSU will try to secure more tickets this week for its fans but couldn’t promise the university will succeed in that quest.

Notre Dame is 2-1 in previous Sugar Bowl games, including a dramatic victory over Alabama in the 1973 game for the national championship. Georgia won a national championship by defeating the Irish in the 1981 Sugar Bowl. Notre Dame defeated Florida in the 1992 Sugar Bowl.

LSU is tied with Alabama for the most appearances in the Sugar Bowl (12). The matchup against Notre Dame will break that tie.

Miles, one of 62 coaches who voted in the USA Today Top 25 poll that is a one-third component of the BCS formula, helped make the Notre Dame-LSU matchup possible by voting Florida at No. 2 on his ballot Sunday. That knocked Michigan out of the national title game and LSU out of the Rose Bowl.

Florida, Miles said, deserved a shot at Ohio State, and he voted accordingly.

Florida is one of two teams that defeated LSU this season. Miles said it eases the blow a bit to know the Gators will play for a national championship.

“We’re represented in that game,” Miles said. “We have to represent ourselves in our own game now, but we enjoy what the country sees as the strength of our conference.”

Check out the article at The Advocate.

Well, the BCS pairings have been announced:

National Championship Game (Jan. 8th):
#1 Ohio State vs. #2 Florida

Allstate Sugar Bowl (Jan. 3rd):
#4 LSU vs. #11 Notre Dame

Rose Bowl (Jan. 1st):
#3 Michigan vs. #5 USC

It would have been nice to see the Tigers in the Rose Bowl for the first time, but the powers that be decided to take #5 USC instead of #4 LSU against #3 Michigan. Go figure.

The Sugar is a helluva lot more convenient trip for us anyway! Besides, I'm pumped that there's an SEC team in contention for a national championship once again. It just goes to show which conference is the toughest... nobody has a conference championship game like the SEC!

Go Gators!

GEAUX TIGERS!!!

UPDATE 1-9-07: The Top 5 rounded out at:
#1 - Florida Gators (SEC)
#2 - Ohio State Buckeyes (Big Ten)
#3 - LSU Tigers (SEC)
#4 - USC Trojans (Pac-10)
#5 - Boise State Broncos (WAC)

Check out the AP Poll article at Fox Sports.

Check out my 2007 Sugar Bowl post: SWEET Domination!.

Check out my 2007 National Championship post: Welcome to SEC Football, Buckeyes!.

Labels: Sports

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LSU’s football regular season may be over, but the Tigers are still playing like a hit song: rising up the charts and getting a ton of airplay.

In the wake of its 31-26 victory Friday at Arkansas and several key upsets this weekend, 10-2 LSU rocketed up five spots to No. 5 in the penultimate BCS standings and replaced the Razorbacks at No. 5 in the major polls.

It is LSU’s highest ranking of the season. The Tigers started No. 8 in the preseason Associated Press poll and got as high as No. 6 before losing to Auburn on Sept. 16. LSU moved steadily from 18th to 10th in the six previous BCS rankings, the first of which was released on Oct. 15.

LSU rose from No. 8 in the Harris Poll and the USA Today coaches’ poll, both of which comprise one-third of the BCS formula.

In the other third — the combined computer rankings — LSU is also at No. 5. The Tigers are ranked No. 5 by four of the six BCS computers (Sagarin, Anderson & Hester, Massey and Wolfe), are No. 6 according to the Colley Matrix and No. 8 according to Billingsley. Each team’s highest and lowest computer ranking is discarded.

LSU got some highlight time on TV Sunday as Fox revealed the BCS top five, led by No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 USC. The Trojans switched places with previous No. 2 Michigan after USC beat Notre Dame 44-24 Saturday.

Florida is at No. 4. The Gators (11-1) will play Saturday in Atlanta in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game against 10-2 Arkansas, which fell from No. 6 to No. 9 in the latest BCS standings.

After that game, part of college football’s final regular season weekend, the bowl parings will be announced. The BCS selection show is set for 7 p.m. Sunday on Fox.

While the Tigers aren’t going to Atlanta — for the SEC title game or the Chick-fil-A Bowl — LSU does head into the bowl season with its highest ranking since being No. 2 in the BCS and the polls at the end of the 2003 regular season.

That ranking guaranteed LSU a spot in the Sugar Bowl — that year’s BCS national championship game. Unfortunately for the Tigers’ BCS hopes, their current lofty rankings don’t assure LSU of anything.

Because it can’t win the SEC, LSU is trying to snag one of the at-large BCS bowl berths.

LSU Athletic Director Skip Bertman expressed interest after Friday’s game of going to the Rose Bowl because of the rare opportunity to play in the game. LSU has never been invited to the Rose, which typically pits the Big Ten and Pac-10 champions.

Check out the article at The Advocate.

I don't care what anyone else says, that's one helluva great season, Tigers... We have a great team with a great record who deserve to play in a great BCS bowl game!

UPDATE 12-4-06: BCS pairings have been announced:

National Championship Game (Jan. 8th):
#1 Ohio State vs. #2 Florida (GO GATORS!)

Allstate Sugar Bowl (Jan. 3rd):
#4 LSU vs. #11 Notre Dame (Geaux Tigers!)

Rose Bowl (Jan. 1st): #3 Michigan vs. #5 USC (GO Wolverines!)

GEAUX TIGERS!!!

UPDATE 1-9-07: The Top 5 rounded out at:
#1 - Florida Gators (SEC)
#2 - Ohio State Buckeyes (Big Ten)
#3 - LSU Tigers (SEC)
#4 - USC Trojans (Pac-10)
#5 - Boise State Broncos (WAC)

Check out the AP Poll article at Fox Sports.

Check out my 2007 Sugar Bowl post: SWEET Domination!.

Check out my 2007 National Championship post: Welcome to SEC Football, Buckeyes!.

Labels: Sports

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BATON ROUGE – ESPN personality and former Heisman Trophy winner Desmond Howard was on the LSU campus Wednesday for a feature the network is airing on the Tiger defensive line.

The Tiger defensive line will be featured on ESPN’s College GameDay on Saturday morning as a preview for ninth-ranked LSU’s game against fifth-ranked Florida. College GameDay airs each Saturday starting at 9 a.m. This week, the College GameDay set will be on location in Gainesville, Fla., for the LSU-Florida contest.

Howard spent an hour with Tiger starters Chase Pittman, Glenn Dorsey, Marlon Favorite and Tyson Jackson on Wednesday morning for the feature. Howard talked the players about what has made the so effective this year, while also getting the defenders to demonstrate some of their techniques and stunts.

As a unit, the Tiger defensive line has combined for 14 of LSU’s 19 sacks, with Jackson leading the way with 5.5 sacks through five games. LSU goes into the Florida game leading the nation in total defense, allowing just 193.4 yards per game. The Tigers have also allowed only 37 points this year for an average of 7.4 points per game, a figure that ranks second nationally.

Check out the article at LSU Sports.

As the Tigers wind down the practice week and head into the weekend, Miles said he has liked his team’s preparation. He also likes the way his team has handled the mental aspect of approaching a road game against a top five-ranked opponent.

“We’ve been around that before,” Miles said of the top 10 matchup with Florida. “It’s not unusual and it’s kind of what we would expect. We expect these matchups, maybe as many as four or five times a year. I don’t think that creates enormity. We are facing a quality opponent. Everybody understands what it’s for and how important it is. I don’t think it needs to be heightened.”

Check out the article at LSU Sports.

Geaux Tigers!

Check out my LSU Football 2006 post!

Labels: Images, Sports

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NEW ORLEANS — The Superdome will be back in business Monday when the New Orleans Saints march back in to play the Atlanta Falcons.

A sellout crowd will be inside the repaired building, a national cable audience will watch on television, and hundreds of media types will chronicle the spectacle.

The Superdome, from the moment its doors first opened 31 years ago, has symbolized New Orleans’ status as a world-class tourist destination.

Last year, it symbolized the destruction and despair Hurricane Katrina wrought on the Gulf Coast.

New Orleans hopes the rebuilt Superdome will symbolize a great American city’s arduous recovery from a near-death experience.

Check out the article at The Advocate.

Glad to see things are starting to get back to normal again!

And what better way to kick off the newly-renovated Superdome by throwing a kick-ass party! Saturday night - U2, the Goo Goo Dolls, and Green Day rocked the Dome!

To add to the festive atmosphere, a national television audience will be watching the undefeated New Orleans Saints play the Atlanta Falcons tonight.

Follow all the New Orleans Saints action!

GO SAINTS!!!

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What has become the Southeastern Conference’s most rugged rivalry had all the usual elements: two punishing defenses, a pivotal officials’ call that left both sides a bit perplexed and some follies in the kicking game.

The call went Auburn’s way.

With LSU facing fourth-and-8 from Auburn’s 31 and 2:43 left, JaMarcus Russell fired the ball to Early Doucet near the goal line. A diving Brock deflected the pass, but Zach Gilbert was called for pass interference that would have kept the drive alive.

The officials overturned the call, although replays showed the contact came before the ball was tipped by Brock.

“I got sick to my stomach,” said Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville about seeing the flag. “I still don’t understand it. It’s just a judgment call and thank goodness it went our way.”

LSU coach Les Miles wasn’t happy with the change.

“If the ball is tipped at the line of scrimmage, there is no pass interference,” said Miles, also unhappy with a pass interference call against his team. “The ball was tipped downfield. The proper explanation will be forthcoming.”

Auburn (3-0, 2-0) got the ball but LSU’s defense stopped Kenny Irons on three straight runs. Irons had 70 yards on 25 tough carries.

The visiting Tigers (2-1, 0-1) drove to Auburn’s 24 with 2.5 seconds left as Russell hooked up with Craig Davis for gains of 20 and 21 yards and Dwayne Bowe for 21. On the final play, Russell went to Davis again. The receiver caught the pass inside the 10, but Brock stopped him cold with a jarring hit at the 4.

Check out the article at MSNBC.

The referees made the interference call against Auburn's #38 Zach Gilbert (committed on LSU's Early Doucet), which was clear as day. Then they reversed the call that was already made, giving the ball to Auburn, and essentially ending the contest!

Then, to hear not only the CBS announcers Steve Beuerlein and his partner say the call was blown by the officials, but also New York CBS Sportscasters Tim Brando and Spencer Tillman echo the sentiments by the game announcers... I think there is a problem with the SEC officials.

I think it stinks to have a game ruined by the incompetence of not one, not two, but a crew of guys who can’t decipher the rules and make a correct call. This is the greatest conference in the country, and its fan base is the strongest in the nation with three of the six largest stadiums located in the SEC!

If Auburn would have won clean, I would have nothing but respect for them... and they had a well-deserved #3 national ranking. They have a national caliber football team that deserved a clean win... not this BS bad ref call to tarnish their season!

Well, what's done is done, but I honestly believe that the outcome could have been different!

Check out my LSU Football 2006 post.

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BATON ROUGE -- LSU football is once again featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated as the Tigers' are one of six regional covers that the magazine showcases for its annual 2006 College Football Preview, which hits the newsstands this week.

The Tigers, who are coming off an 11-2 mark a year ago, are ranked No. 4 in the Sports Illustrated preseason poll. LSU is the highest ranked team in the Southeastern Conference.

Ohio State tops Sports Illustrated’s preseason Top 20, followed by No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Texas, No. 4 LSU and No. 5 Southern Cal. Other SEC teams in the SI Top 20 include Auburn at No. 7, Florida at No. 9, and Georgia at No. 11.

The LSU SI cover features Tiger defensive backs LaRon Landry and Chevis Jackson along with linebacker Ali Highsmith. Landry, a consensus preseason All-America pick heading into the 2006 season, returns for his fourth season as a starter in the Tiger secondary. Jackson joins Landry, Jessie Daniels and Jonathan Zenon for what is being touted as the No. 1 defensive backfield in college football.

Highsmith returns as LSU’s leading tackler having totaled 75 tackles and 9.5 tackles for losses for a Tiger defense that ranked among the top six in the nation a year ago in four categories.

LSU opens its season on Sept. 2 when the Tigers host Louisiana-Lafayette at 7 p.m. in Tiger Stadium.

Check out the article at LSU Sports.

Check out past LSU S.I. covers

Here we are again... football season already! After a resounding 40-3 victory over Miami in the 2005 Peach Bowl to cap off an exciting 11-2 season, the Tigers are thirsty for more! They're ranked #8 in the AP Poll, #9 in the Coaches Poll, and even higher in some other minor polls around the country.

Coach Miles does have a few gaps to fill, but that won't be a problem. LSU is stacked deep with talent, as much as any team in the country could hope for. And they're going to need every bit of it... for the first time ever, LSU has to travel to Auburn, Florida and Tennessee in the same season.

Check out the LSU Football 2006 video at YouTube.com

Follow the Tigers all season at LSU Football Gameday!

Check out Tiger Stadium in this online poll

GEAUX TIGERS!!!

Labels: Images, Sports

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With the start of the 2006 World Cup in Munich, Germany - the teams from around the globe will be playing with what Adidas is hailing as the roundest soccer ball ever produced. The +Teamgeist (“team spirit”) ball was engineered with a “free-flowing” set of 14 pre-shaped panels—fewer than the traditional 32—resulting in a smoother, more consistently round surface that supposedly responds more accurately to the force of a kick. Adidas backs up this claim with its own experimental data, including tests with a robotic kicking machine that diligently shot the +Teamgeist against a wall a few hundred thousand times.

The changes are also being felt on the field. “It’s very goalkeeper unfriendly,” England’s keeper Paul Robinson told the Times. “It’s very light and moves a lot in the air.” Oddly enough, the ball is actually on the high end of FIFA’s maximum weight specifications, meaning this apparent lightness must be attributed to its new aerodynamic profile. And while the goalies don’t love the new ball, spectators will probably be hearing “goooaaaaaaal” a bit more often this year, making the transition for us Yanks, accustomed to watching the Phoenix Suns score 120+ points a game, a bit easier to take.

Check out the article at Popular Science.

Check out the World Cup 2006 Scoreboard. For World Cup 2006 News and Statistics, check out Fox Sports - Soccer.

Labels: Sports

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Smoke Laval’s first four seasons as coach of the LSU Tigers have featured several significant accomplishments, as he has directed the Tigers to two College World Series appearances, one SEC championship, two SEC Western Division titles and two Top 10 finishes. Laval, the 2003 SEC Coach of the Year, has also guided LSU to the best SEC regular-season record in thepast four seasons, posting a 75-43-1 (.634) mark.

Laval hopes to produce similar results in 2006, though some of the Tigers’ methods may change. Laval’s previous clubs have, for the most part, been veteran teams with powerful sluggers. The ’06 LSU squad is a young group (23 freshmen and sophomores) that will take a different offensive approach.

“We won’t have the type of lineup we’ve had in recent years with big power numbers and high slugging percentages,” Laval said. “This club will be young and fun to watch. We’ll do more running, steal more bases, and we’ll have more speed defensively.”

LSU, which finished the 2005 season ranked No. 18 in the nation, welcomes 15 returning lettermen – including seven pitchers and six starters in the batting order -- and a 14-man signing class.

Follow all the action at LSU Sports.

Geaux Tigers!!!

Labels: Sports

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INDIANAPOLIS — How will you remember this LSU basketball season?

For making just the fourth trip to the Final Four in school history, or for the 59-45 flameout against UCLA once the Tigers got here? For LSU’s first outright Southeastern Conference regular season title in 21 years, or for two losses to NCAA finalist Florida? For the Tigers’ 27 victories, the third winningest season ever at LSU, or for the loss that ended it?

It’s hard to have perspective when you’ve just watched a team get throttled and trampled like the Tigers were by the Bruins on Saturday night.

Read the article at The Advocate.

Both LSU Basketball teams had a wonderful year that led them to the NCAA Final Four. It's too bad that both of our teams also lost their respective Final Four games... but I am still proud of the fact that they made it so far!

Thank you Tigers and Lady Tigers for an exciting season! Good luck next year!

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SAN ANTONIO -- LSU's Seimone Augustus drew a charging foul with 4.8 seconds remaining and then made two free throws with 4.6 seconds remaining to send the Lady Tigers to their third-straight Women's Final Four, 62-59, over Stanford.

Augustus, the reigning national player of the year, scored 12 of LSU's final 15 points in the last 7:31 to single-handedly carry the Lady Tigers past the fading Cardinal down the stretch.

She wouldn't be denied a final shot at the school's first national championship in her senior season. Augustus finished with a game-high 26 points on 11-of-21 shooting, blocking a career-best three shots, grabbing four rebounds and adding two steals.

LSU (31-3) will face the winner of the Albuquerque Regional final between No. 1-seeded Duke and No. 2-seeded Connecticut (March 28, 8 p.m. CT).

The 2006 Women's Final Four, to be held in Boston's TD Banknorth Arena, will start on Sunday, April 2, at either 6 or 8:30 p.m.

Read the article at LSU Sports.

Follow all the action at LSU Sports or NCAA Sports.

Geaux Lady Tigers!

Labels: Sports

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BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- In Louisiana, where people are still cleaning up from hurricanes Katrina and Rita, where travel trailers are luxury housing and debris is still being removed from streets, a fresh wind blew through the destruction this week.

Thanks to the LSU men's and women's basketball teams earning berths in the NCAA tournament Final Four, talk turned, at least briefly, from rebuilding to rebounding.

"I just wanted to tell the team that what they're doing is really uplifting Louisiana," said Gov. Kathleen Blanco, who met with the men's team Monday. "We've been through a lot of really difficult and dark days. We all need some relief, and the spirit that they project has given us a real lift."

Read the article at The Advocate.

And this made the CBS Evening News the other night:

(CBS) Even in this bracket-busting tournament of Cinderella stories, it isn't hard to spot the team from Louisiana.

Not when your center is Glen Davis, a six-foot-nine 310-pound wrecking ball nicknamed "Big Baby," CBS News correspondent Jim Acosta reports.

"It gives everybody a good feeling," Davis said. "I got to go cut the nets down right quick."

The Tigers have done more than just win basketball games. They're giving their hard-luck home state a time out from reality.

"I thought I was at home for a moment. I forgot about the trailer park," Al Young told Acosta.

And home is at the heart of this team. Nearly all of the players grew up around Baton Rouge.

"These are crawfish down here in Baton Rouge, La.," a teammember said.

They know how to eat crawfish. And they also feel the state's heartache. After Katrina, they showed up at this campus arena after it was turned into a medical facility.

"Our players volunteered and stayed up half the nights setting up cots and doing whatever was necessary," said John Brady, LSU's head coach.

Times like that don't make basketball players. They make men. But Katrina wasn't the first challenge for this team.

Read the article at CBS News.

Nice to see something positive from the media every once and awhile!

Labels: Politics, Sports

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Dancin' To Indy!!!

On the 20th anniversary of the team's last Final Four team, the fourth-seeded LSU men's basketball team advanced to the school's fourth national semifinal by virtue of a 70-60 overtime victory over No. 2-seeded Texas on Saturday in the Georgia Dome.

LSU (27-8) will face No. 2-seeded UCLA (31-6), a 50-45 winner of Sunday's Oakland Regional final over No. 1-seeded Memphis, on April 1 at 8:30 p.m. CT in Indianapolis' RCA Dome. LSU and UCLA have met seven times, most recently in 1994, with the Bruins winning every contest.

The last time LSU advanced to a Final Four, the 11th seed went through the Atlanta Regional and defeated a No. 1 seed (Kentucky) along the way. That season, LSU lost to Louisville, 88-77, in the semifinal.

LSU also advanced to national semifinals in 1953 and 1981. In both seasons, LSU lost to Indiana in the semifinal before losing to Washington the in '53 third-place game and Virginia in the '81 consolation game.

LSU's post combintation of Glen Davis and Tyrus Thomas dominated. Davis finished with 26 points and nine rebounds to lead the way for the Tigers, while Thomas twice overcame leg craps to score 21 points (10 of 14 from the field) and grabbed 13 boards. Thomas was named the regional's Most Outstanding Player.

Read the article at LSU Sports.

Check out this cool Interactive Tourney Bracket at Fox Sports

Lady Tigers in Elite Company!

The top-seeded LSU women's basketball team used a 26-4 run in the first 10 minutes of the second half to storm past DePaul and into the NCAA Regional Final on Saturday, 66-56, in the AT&T Center.

LSU (30-3) will face No. 3-seeded Stanford, the winner of Saturday's other regional semifinal in San Antonio, 88-74, over No. 2-seeded Oklahoma. The Elite 8 game will be held on Monday at 8 p.m. CT.

Read the article at LSU Sports.

Geaux Tigers!

Labels: Sports

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Duke's J.J. Redick crying while the Tigers celebrate.

No need for LSU and Big Baby to cry in this NCAA tournament. The Tigers left the tears for J.J. Redick.

Glen "Big Baby" Davis and a pair of defensive-minded freshmen have LSU just one win away from the Final Four, stifling Redick and sending top-seeded Duke to yet another loss in the round of 16.

Davis scored 14 points despite foul trouble, freshman Tyrus Thomas swatted away five shots and another freshman, Garrett Temple, shut down Redick to lead No. 4 seed LSU to a 62-54 upset Thursday night in the Atlanta Regional.

"It feels good, but it's over," Davis said. "There's another task at hand."

That comes Saturday, when the Tigers (26-8) will meet Texas in their first regional final since 1987. The winner of that one can book a flight to Indianapolis. Texas defeated West Virginia, 74-71, on a three pointer at the buzzer by Kenton Paulino.

The Tigers and Longhorns will square off at 3:40 p.m. CT on Saturday.

Read the article at LSU Sports.

Tyrus Thomas really came through for LSU! He put forth some extra effort, including a breakaway slam dunk near the end, and really made a difference! Check out this cool Interactive Tourney Bracket at Fox Sports

Both the Men's and Women's teams have a tournament game on Saturday. The Lady Tigers play DePaul at 11:00am in the Sweet Sixteen and the Tigers play Texas at 3:40pm in the Elite Eight!

Geaux!

Labels: Sports

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Darrell Mitchell's game-winning 3-point shot!

Big Baby making it happen!

The Tigers advanced to the Sweet Sixteen in Atlanta with a 58-57 win over Texas A&M on Saturday evening in Jacksonville, Fla., after Darrel Mitchell made a three-pointer with 3.9 seconds to play.

CBS Sports and the NCAA announced that the LSU-Duke game would lead the way on Thursday night in the Sweet 16 when the two teams meet in the Georgia Dome in the Atlanta regional - tip off at 6:10 p.m. CST.

LSU, seeded fourth, is 25-8 on the season, while Duke, the nation's No. 1 team and the overall number one seed in the NCAA Tournament, is 32-3.

Read the article at LSU Sports.

Tough game, and a clutch shot by Mitchell in the end for the win! Glen "Big Baby" Davis finished with 21 points, Darrell Mitchell finished with 16 points and the game-saver!

Be sure to vote for LSU in the Pontiac Game Changing Performance of the week Poll

Check out this cool Interactive Tourney Bracket at Fox Sports

Geaux Tigers!

Update: The Lady Tigers are going to the Sweet Sixteen for the fourth straight season! Seimone Augustus and Sylvia Fowles both played great games. The Tigers finished off Washington 72-49! Geaux Lady Tigers!

Labels: Sports

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Gotta hand it to Southern University, they play some tough ball and made Duke work for the win. Despite the final score (70-54), the Jags and Blue Devils really were a good matchup.

Check out this cool Interactive Tourney Bracket at Fox Sports

Geaux Tigers! Take it to Indy!

Labels: Sports

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The women’s Final Four is April 2-4 in Boston.

“I feel good, not just about the No. 1 seed but just the opportunity we have in front us to go out and challenge for a title,” LSU All-American Seimone Augustus said. “It means a lot more than maybe before. This is for everything. All the marbles.”

LSU, which is gunning for its third straight Final Four appearance, was selected to the 64-team for the 16th time.

The Lady Tigers can thank a strong schedule — ranked eighth nationally — and their performance against ranked teams for positioning themselves for one of tournament’s top seeds.

Read the article at The Advocate.

The Lady Tigers are on top of their game once again this year. Everyone's been saying this could be the year... here's our chance. Good luck, ladies!

Congratulations Seimone - on an excellent college career and a perfect year!

Follow all the action at LSU Sports or NCAA Sports.

Geaux Tigers!

Labels: Sports

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Should LSU win its first NCAA game since advancing to the Sweet 16 in 2000, the rest of the Atlanta Regional field includes three familiar foes and two Hall of Fame coaches.

In the Tigers’ half of the bracket, fifth-seeded Syracuse and legendary coach Jim Boeheim will face Texas A&M, with the winner paired against the LSU-Iona winner.

Looming in the Sweet 16 is Duke and coach Mike Krzyzewski, who has guided the Blue Devils to three national championships. Duke, the tourney’s top seed, faces Southern in the first round. The Tigers beat the Jaguars 84-56 on Nov. 15 in the season opener.

The Atlanta field also includes 14th-seeded Northwestern State, which faces No. 3 seed Iowa. West Virginia is also in that side of the bracket. LSU edged the Mountaineers 71-67 in overtime on Nov. 26.

“If you’re going to go to a Final Four you’ve got to beat the No. 1 anyway unless you’re the No. 1 seed,” Brady said. “That just takes care of itself if we can win a game or two.

Read the article at The Advocate.

After finishing the season on top of the SEC, it's too bad Florida knocked us out of the SEC Tourney... but it's a tough game. Better luck in the NCAA tourney, Tigers!

Follow all the action at LSU Sports or NCAA Sports. View or print the brackets at Fox Sports or check out their Interactive Tourney Bracket.

Geaux Tigers!

Labels: Sports

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The plane, dubbed the EZ-Rocket, sails through a turn, wings back toward the spectators. Rick Searfoss, the Air Force—trained test pilot and former space-shuttle commander at the controls, glides in silence until he relights one of the two isopropyl-alcohol-powered rocket engines. He banks left, blasting through a high S-curve at 160 mph to come back around parallel to the runway, and swings the rocket's faint blue exhaust toward the cheering crowd.

Read the article at Popular Science

Sounds cool, I think I'll watch it on T.V. Just something about the plane speeding toward the crowd at 160mph that makes me think, "That's not where I want to be."

Labels: Entertainment, Sports, Technology

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The New Orleans Saints will soon change their name to better reflect the demographics of the city. They're still undecided on the new helmet design, but I'm sure an official announcement will be forthcoming.

Check out my other Nagin posts: Nagin1, Nagin2, Nagin4, and Nagin5

Labels: Politics, Sports

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