Fight to be considered elite

Published 6:00 pm Saturday, September 7, 2019

LSU, Texas want in CFP discussion

AUSTIN, Texas — As a general rule, college players aren’t really nostalgia buffs. They tend to believe their program’s history began the day they walked on campus, maybe when the head coach walked into their living room on a recruiting visit.

So you could take it with a grain of salt earlier this week when a Texas player said that today’s game with LSU was the biggest in the Longhorns’ long history.

It’s the second week of the season. Both Texas and LSU have richer traditions than that.

But there’s no downplaying the significance of tonight’s game, against two teams with sky-high expectations, when the No. 9 Longhorns (1-0) host the No. 6 Tigers (1-0).

“They know the magnitude of this football game,” LSU head coach Ed Orgeron said of the players. “We’ve been in big games before. This is a big game and they know it.”

“We kind of understand that to get to where we want to go as a program, that we’re going to have to play in and win these kinds of games,” added Texas head coach Tom Herman. “To do it against another top-10 opponent is pretty cool, especially at home.”

It’s considered the biggest game of the day nationally, one of the marquee nonconference game of the entire season. ESPN’s “GameDay” will originate from the UT campus.

What’s at stake?

Just a seat at the big-boy table, to be in the national discussion for the College Football Playoff.

Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium could be a launching pad to get there for one of these teams.

Both have been there before.

LSU has won two national championships and played for another this century.

Texas has won one and played for another.

But neither has been a factor in the five years of the CFP.

LSU on been on the fringe, never bad, but not quite elite either. The proud Longhorns, on the other hand, broke a three-year streak of losing seasons in 2017, then announced ­— famously, on a live microphone by quarterback Sam Ehlinger —that they were “back” with a Sugar Bowl victory over Georgia to cap a 10-4 season a year ago.

Both programs are on the rise under popular head coaches — which is one of the game’s bigger subplots.

If Orgeron and Herman shake hands before the game — and there’s no reason to believe they won’t — it will be the first time they’ve met.

But there’s a link.

They were hired at their respective schools hours apart on Thanksgiving weekend of 2016 after LSU first made a run at hiring Herman.

Both have done well.

But maybe there’s more pressure on Orgeron.

The appearance was that Texas “beat” LSU in hiring Herman, one of the up-and-coming hot-shot coaches, and that the Tigers had settle for Orgeron as a No. 2 choice.

“I don’t care,” Orgeron said this week. “I’m happy to be the head coach at LSU. This is about our football players against their football players. None of that (other stuff) matters.”

LSU is also viewed as being further along with a more veteran team than the younger Longhorns.

“You want to be on the big stage at LSU, and we are on the big stage,” Orgeron said. “When we get on that plane, we’re going to be fired up, ready to go. I’m sure they will be, too.”

With a brutal Southeastern Conference schedule to come, the Tigers also probably have less margin for error than the Big 12 Longhorns.

“We’re not going to make it bigger than life,” Orgeron said. “It’s very important. There will be a lot of games down the road just as important or more important. We better learn how to handle this.”

LSU interim head coach Ed Orgeron works the sideline in the second half of an NCAA college football game against Alabama in Baton Rouge, La., Saturday, Nov. 5, 2016. Alabama won 10-0. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)