LSU looks great by comparison, even on a day off

Published 7:03 am Monday, November 2, 2015

I was going to tell you about this oddity, perhaps even an irony — the fact that me, a card-carrying sports columnist covering a major college team, had the day off Saturday and thus finally got to watch a little college football.

Instead of one game, that is.

Basically, LSU improved a whole bunch Saturday, and the Tigers also had the day off.

It happens.

I went into the weekend thinking that LSU was unbeaten, yes, but I wasn’t really sure how good, really, the Tigers were.

I wasn’t totally convinced that 7-0 wasn’t a bit of a mirage.

The Tigers really haven’t had that put-it-all-together game, a reference point for how good they really can be.

That’s the danger of watching every single play of one team and keeping up with the rest mostly via rumor, innuendo and Sports Center highlights.

I’ve seen, for instance, a lot of good in LSU, but I’ve also seen their flaws, warts and all.

For the rest, you normally just see their highs and lows via the late-night highlights.

But Saturday was eye-opening. Saturday, clicker in hand, I watched college football for 14 straight hours and wore out the clicker avoiding commercials.

It was more than that 14 hours, really, if you count watching the Phillie Phanatic steal the show as the guest picker on Game Day.

It was eye-opening, in a fatigued, blurry-eyed sort of way.

But, at the end of the day (early morning actually), LSU came out the other side looking pretty good, even without playing a snap.

Finally, I saw how the rest of college football is living.

LSU, upon further review, is doing just fine, warts and all, or at least better than I thought.

I still don’t think the Tigers have put together their best game yet. They still don’t have that reference point game to conjure up and remember what they’re capable of when clicking on all cylinders.

This Saturday in Tuscaloosa, by the way, would be a convenient spot to dial that one up.

But compared to the rest of college football, I’ve learned, LSU isn’t doing bad at all.

For one thing, the Tigers do know how to tackle.

Alabama was on leave for the weekend, too, but I suspect the Tide is also fairly proficient at it.

That makes two.

The rest? 

It’s apparently a lost art these days, unless you’re trying to tackle the Missouri or Vanderbilt attempts at offense.

For another, nobody — not just LSU — really knows what they want to do when kicking off. I suspect they’re over-thinking the problem.

And Brandon Harris has improved even more than I thought at quarterback for the Tigers. 

There’s a dearth of really good ones out there, although Texas A&M may be on to something with this Kyler Murray.

Still, there’s something to be said for having no interceptions these days when — Saturday at least, on my TV — the current fad apparently is to just throw it up for grabs and hope for the best.

Anyway, here’s some other random notes.

I’m sure that wasn’t McNeese’s “A” game against Abilene Christian, or else the Cowboys are going to struggle again once the FCS Playoffs get here.

Please, when we get to the playoffs, please, allow no ACC officials within the same area code — and I was thinking that before the bizarre ending of the Miami-Duke game.

Pac 12 officials could also sit out the CFP and benefit us all.

LSU fans — and all fans, really — are going to want to bring up some specific and unfortunate incident, but I’m telling you this: the SEC has the best officials.

At least they don’t seem to be auditioning to be the NFL stars of the show.

Notre Dame was a far better team, but you got to love the pluck of Temple in a 24-21 loss. Also, the Irish are pretty good whether you want to admit it or not.

Really? Oklahoma State 70, Texas Tech 53. How does that happen?

Even as mistake-prone as it is, Tennessee might be the third best team in the SEC. 

But it looks like Florida will represent the East in the SEC championship game.

How do you explain another Georgia belly-flop with all that talent, this time against Florida?

That’s what I was going to write about for today, that I had it all figured out.

But then Sunday afternoon I decided to watch the Saints-Giants game first.

And, uh … they played the Big 12 championship game.

Nothing in football really makes any sense anymore.