Philosophy of open date strategies

Published 9:21 am Sunday, October 30, 2016

Long before Les Miles at LSU was rearranging the English language in scrambled iambic pentameter, there was Charlie McClendon speaking in his own peculiar coaching tongue.

Charlie Mac, for instance, once previewed a Tigers trip to Georgia with the warning that it was always tough to go play the Bulldogs “behind the bushes.”

Whereas, most teams that went to Athens played Between the Hedges, famous ones at that.

Team roll call could get interesting, too.

His star running back, Charles Alexander, became Charlie Alexandria (they named a city after him), and Lake Charles’ Thad Minaldi might have to answer to Tad McNalty.

But Mac’s logic could also be spot on curious, like one time the Tigers had an open date the week before facing a team that had also been at leisure the previous Saturday.

It could be a tough gig, Mac related in the days leading up to kickoff, because the Tigers might be rusty from the week away from playing a game. And it was made all the more difficult, he explained, because the opponent had two whole weeks to scheme and prepare for the Tigers.

Purists might argue that you can’t tongue twist it both ways, but what do they know?

Somehow it made perfect sense.

At the least, McClendon seemed sincere.

Which brings us to LSU-Alabama, which figures to rock Tiger Stadium come this Saturday night.

Both teams, you may have noticed, were idle Saturday, so McClendon’s dilemma could come into play here.

Rusty? Two weeks to prepare? And McClendon, perhaps not wanting to milk the gag too far, did not even calculate in the all-important rest-for-the-weary factor.

But it’s a fact that both Alabama and LSU will be coming off open dates.

The Tide like to complain that most every team seems to cobble in an open date the week before playing Bama.

So it says something — respect, if nothing else, despite winning five straight in the LSU series — that every year Alabama takes the extra precaution of getting its own open date in there right before playing the Tigers.

After all, you never know when a “Game of the Century” might suddenly fall in our lap.

So, advantage … who?

Probably nobody.

There is the peculiarity that, in some circles, LSU is being accused of getting a second open date thanks to the awkward, mishandled postponement of the game at Florida, which was supposed to be played on Oct. 8.

Interim Tigers head coach Ed Orgeron, for instance, has been to as many McNeese games (two) the last four weeks as his own LSU games.

But I have it on good authority that the postponed UF game on Oct. 8 does not technically count as an open date.

The ruling here is that the Tigers practiced in good faith all week before the game was deep-sixed. They went through the normal game-week routine and did not get the mental break from the grind normally afforded by the week off.

Bama is free to appeal the decision.

But was the standard pre-Bama open date the best strategy for LSU?

That seems to be the one non-negotiable spot to LSU’s schedule this decade.

Alabama can do what it wants. Nick Saban is pretty smart on most things, so we can assume he knows what’s best for his team.

But this year, for LSU, I’m not so sure.

For one thing, recent seasons would suggest the Tigers need the open date after playing Bama, if for no other reason than to give Arkansas an honest effort.

But, normally, it’s a no-brainer.

You do want to come out fresh for such a monumental endeavor.

It’s the main reason for having an open date to begin with.

I’ve always said that dead legs have beaten more teams than an unreasonably early curfew begging to be defied.

If you ever hear a coach brag that this week was the hardest his team has worked all year, you know they’re in for a long (step-slow) game.

But that doesn’t seem to be a problem with Orgeron in charge.

If he’s changed one thing around the LSU program, it’s the game-week work routine.

Although you rarely heard complaints before Orgeron — and nobody outside the inner circle actually witnessed practices — word is that they’re not the grind they could be under Miles, who apparently was old-school on such matters.

So LSU, which came out of the Ole Miss game healthy, figured to have fresh legs regardless.

And there did seem to be some real momentum coming out of the Ole Miss victory, momentum that had steadily built over the course of Orgeron’s three games.

That game ended, predictably enough, with student section chants of “We want Bama,” and it looked as if the Tigers might have been best served by giving it a go the next morning.

But you can’t have everything.

So LSU will just have to take advantage of the open date as best it can.

Or overcome it.

l

Scooter Hobbs covers LSU

athletics. Email him at

shobbs@americanpress.com