Don't forget about LSU
OU-USC may be the game, but Tigers could have compelling argument
Updated: Sunday November 23, 2003 9:36PM
They were celebrating in L.A. on Saturday before Chris Perry even had a chance to clench his first rose stem.
ESPN's GameDay crew noted Saturday night that it's only six weeks until "the game everyone's been waiting to see."
UCLA's players, having lost to both Oklahoma and USC, offered their opinions on who would win.
All of which had to leave a whole lot of Louisianans saying, "Umm ... hello?"
The issue of who deserves the No. 2 spot in the BCS is, at least in this writer's opinion, far from settled, mostly because LSU is going to have a lot to say about it over the next two weeks.
Having gone into one of the most treacherous situations imaginable Saturday and handing Ole Miss its first SEC loss, 17-14, the Tigers will now take on 8-3 Arkansas on Friday. If they win that, their likely reward is a championship-game rematch with what would be a 10-2 Georgia team -- at the heavily partisan Georgia Dome, no less.
The fact is that if LSU manages to win both -- combined with the Ole Miss victory and its previous win over Georgia -- no one could possibly say they've accomplished less than the Trojans. The Tigers will have beaten five teams with at least eight wins (Georgia twice, Ole Miss and Arkansas) and lost to another (Florida), while USC, which finishes with 7-4 Oregon State, will have beaten no more than two eight-win teams (9-3 Washington State and 7-4 Hawaii, which has two games left) and lost to a 7-6 Cal team.
Nevertheless, America has fallen in love with the Trojans, and understandably so. USC is a big-city program with one of the sport's greatest traditions, and its team is a spitting image of the recent Miami dynasty, oozing with athleticism and a seemingly unlimited supply of playmakers. Having won their last six games by scores of 44-21, 45-14, 43-23, 43-16, 45-0 and 47-22, it's easy to see why, to the naked eye, they're the more powerful team.
The reality, however, is that only one of their opponents during that stretch has a winning record.
While LSU doesn't often put that many points, they also give up far fewer -- a nation's-best 9.4 per game, in fact. USC's defense is good, but the Tigers' is at a whole different level -- Oklahoma's.
In Saturday's game, Ole Miss, which had been averaging nearly 460 yards per game, managed just 227, with Eli Manning completing only 16 of 36 passes. Fittingly, the outcome was decided when Manning tripped over the feet of offensive lineman Doug Buckles while dropping back on fourth and 10. It wasn't entirely his fault -- LSU nose tackle Chad Lavalais, a sure first-team All-America and leader of the Tigers' fierce defensive line, got that much push on Buckles.
Mathematically, the race between USC and LSU figures to be even closer than the Ole Miss game, with the Trojans holding the advantage.
"LSU's got a shot," CollegeBCS.com's Jerry Palm said. "They don't have as good a shot as Ohio State did, but they've got a shot."
Weighed down by non-conference games against Arizona (2-9), Louisiana-Monroe (1-11), Louisiana Tech (5-6) and I-AA Western Illinois, the Tigers' schedule strength is currently ranked 22 spots behind USC's, though it will be boosted enough the next two weeks to surpass the Trojans'. The problem is, they're already a point behind in the human polls and another two points in the computers, not to mention that by beating Georgia, they'll lose quality-win points.
"LSU has played teams on both ends of the extreme; USC has played a lot of teams in the middle," said Palm. "It's going to come down to strength of schedule."
In other words, the Sugar Bowl berth ultimately be decided not by USC beating Oregon State or LSU beating Arkansas and Georgia, but Florida (an LSU opponent) beating Florida State, Notre Dame (a USC opponent) losing to Stanford or Syracuse, and, in what could become the biggest game of the year, LSU opponent Alabama beating Trojans opponent Hawaii.
Said Palm: "We could see a real nail-biter."
Game of the week
LSU 17, Ole Miss 14
The SEC's and CBS' seasonlong dominance in the game-of-the-week department continued with another back-and-forth, last-minute thriller. In one of the most charged atmospheres you'll ever see, the Tigers ruined Eli Manning and the Rebels' storybook ending, but only after a flurry of late-game activity. LSU had gone up 17-7 on the first play of the fourth quarter when previously struggling Matt Mauck hit Devery Henderson for a 53-yard touchdown pass, but Manning helped the Rebels cut it to 17-14 with his own heroics, a 10-yard floater to Brandon Jacobs on third and goal, and appeared to be doing it again with his improbable heave to Billy Flowers on their next possession. That play helped set up a potential game-tying field goal with 4:15 left, but Ole Miss kicker Jonathan Nichols, who had made 23 of 24 attempts coming into the game, inexplicably missed his second try of the game from just 36 yards. Still, when the Rebels got the ball back on their own 32 with 2:16 remaining, the whole stadium must have felt they were about to watch magic. Instead, LSU's aggressive defense, which had been blitzing the heck out of Manning all day, forced three straight incompletions before Manning's slip on fourth and 10.
