Victory Is Mine

More SEC - Pac 10 type talk from CF News

Stole the link from Tiger Droppings.

In any event, more discussion on what LSU will have achieved if it makes it through the schedule unscathed as opposed to USC. This guy seems to think, and I fully agree, that playing road games in the SEC is just tougher. I am firmly in the camp that ABC's audio is far inferior to CBS', so watching on TV may not give you the best impression of the real crowd noise from the game (my experience here is having watched the LSU - Oklahoma Sugar Bowl recording after actually having attended the ballgame - have I mentioned I was there?). In any event, my experience of SEC stadiums is confined to my couple annual trips down to Baton Rouge, but from everything I've heard (fans, sportscasters, and sportswriters), Neyland and The Swamp give Tiger Stadium a run for its money in terms of intimidation for opposing teams. I've been to the Big House for Michigan - Ohio State (in 2003, so it was, unsurprisingly, a huge game) and to the Rose Bowl to see unranked UCLA top then #3 Alabama in their 2000 home opener. Neither could hold a candle to Death Valley. That said, I concede that any game in a Bowl stadium will just not be that noisy, so I'd have to get up to Oregon to watch a game at Autzen to really hear what frenzied Pac 10 fans have to offer. (In the interest of full disclosure, my other Pac-10 live experiences involve UW Husky games in a season in which they just weren't any good at all (2003) and a trip to the Coliseum for USC's homecoming vs Oregon in 1997, and the Coliseum sucks.) So obviously since I'm missing out on the better venues like Autzen I can't make a completely qualified remark here - it's just that I'm fairly certain that from the few experiences I've had, and from everything I've heard, top to bottom the SEC live game experience is just on another level.

Yes, I am probably a homer. But so are you.

Anyway, even if LSU made it through the season with only one loss and were competing for a Rose Bowl spot with other one-loss teams, I'd be hard-pressed to pick another team in the nation who should get the bid over us (unless that team beat us in the SEC Championship game). Aside from Florida or Tennessee, the only others I think I'd consider would be Iowa, Michigan, or Ohio State (and don't get me started on Purdue with their weak schedule).

Side note: I love how this guy is so worried about the barrage of hate mail he'll get from Tiger faithful if he says anything that could possibly construed as negative that he qualifies himself throughout. Witness:

LSU will struggle a lot more than USC, but only because the Tigers are actually playing some people. Yes, that’s meant as a compliment to the Tigers and their conference. But if Tiger fans insist that their team shouldn’t break a sweat, let’s not be hearing about strength of schedule come the first weekend of December.

posted by Publius @ 8:02 PM