DEVILLE: For Tiger Fans, ‘Reality Bites!’

LSU must accept reality and move on after loss at Florida

by Matt Deville
Tiger Rag Senior Editor

(At left) Kirston Pittman and Tyson Jackson swarm Florida quarterback Tim Tebow (Photo by Steve Franz/LSU)

All right folks, remember to breathe.

Reality is sometimes hard for people to deal with, especially for LSU fans these days considering the level of success the Tigers have enjoyed over the past eight years.

But on this Sunday, the bitter pill is extra sour as the Tigers are a day removed from the worst loss of the Les Miles era.

Saturday’s 51-21 defeat in The Swamp was bad.

No, it was downright ugly.

And it wasn’t so much that LSU wasn’t prepared for the Gators, especially coming out of an open date. It was the simple fact Florida was better than the Tigers, and much better on this particular night.

The Gators were favored to win the game, but many, including this writer, felt as if Florida wasn’t playing up to its full potential this year. Florida had issues, some said. LSU could win in Gainesville, many thought.

But that wasn’t the case – at all.

Fueled by an emotionally crushing defeat in Baton Rouge last season and the fact Florida was backed in the proverbially BCS corner after an early upset by Ole Miss, all it took was bulletin board comments by Ricky Jean-Francois last Monday to reveal the Gators’ true identity.

Led by an amped-up Tim Tebow, it was never really a game as Florida bolted out to a 17-0 first quarter advantage and led 20-0 before LSU even sniffed the scoreboard, of course, much to the delight of the garish mob at Florida Field.

The Tigers were out-muscled, out-coached, out-athlete-ed and outscored Saturday as the Gators cast aside LSU like the days of yesteryear when Steve Spurrier stalked the Gainesville sidelines and ran up lopsided, always embarrassing scores on overmatched Tiger teams.

Going into the game, there was a detailed list of do’s and dont’s for LSU to be successful in the game. Follow the list, and victory could be theirs. Fall short, and the result would be, well, about what you saw Saturday.

To be successful, the Tigers had to:

1. Run the ball effectively.

2. Defend the spread offense, especially the pass.

3. Get efficient quarterback play, free of turnovers and mistakes.

Well, it doesn’t take John Madden and his telestrator to explain how LSU was incapable of achieving any of these.

LSU tailback Charles Scott was limited to 35 yards, 18 of which came on his last carry late in the game. But it wasn’t his fault; the Tigers had to play from behind all night. Also, LSU’s offensive line was largely ineffective in providing any sort of push up front.

Watching LSU struggle with Appalachian State and Auburn’s spread offenses, you had to be thinking Tebow and Florida were going to eat the Tigers alive.

And they did.

Florida’s slot receivers – most notably Percy Harvin – found excellent opportunities in mismatched situations with safeties and linebackers resulting in two early touchdowns.

Tebow took advantage of undefended routes underneath throughout the game. And when the Gators ran the ball, especially on the edge, LSU’s defensive ends and linebackers looked two steps slow in their pursuit.

And the quarterback play…

Considering the situation, Jarrett Lee’s numbers were respectable.

He completed 60-percent of his passes (23 of 38), threw for 209 yards and two touchdowns. After a dismal start where the butterflies were evident, Lee managed to engineer a couple of impressive scoring drives to get LSU back into the game.

Andrew Hatch’s appearance gave the Tigers a dual-threat look and provided a nice change of pace.

Lee’s interceptions were ugly, but they were expected. In this very space four weeks ago, you were warned there would be “growing pains” as Lee came of age as LSU’s signal caller. Well, as fast as you can say Kirk Cameron, there they were.

It was the first time since 1996 an LSU team gave up 50 points in regulation. That year, Spurrier hung 56 on Gerry Dinardo’s team in Gainesville.

The 30-point defeat was the worst since a 31-0 home loss to Alabama in 2002. The road defeat was the most lopsided since losing 41-9 at Florida in 2000.

The loss snapped a streak of 19 straight night victories for the Tigers dating back to the 2005 SEC Championship Game, in which LSU was badly beaten by Georgia 34-14. Previously, that had been the worst defeat of the Miles regime.

Speaking of that game, the Tigers’ recent loss to Florida was eerily similar.

Thinking back to Dec. 3, 2005, LSU was outplayed in every facet of that game, dug themselves a big hole early on, and Matt Flynn showed youthful inexperience throwing an interception, which was returned for a touchdown.

Following that game, things seemed gloomy for Miles and Co., so abysmal few gave LSU a chance in the Peach Bowl against No. 8 Miami.

Well, you remember how that turned out.

And even before that, before Miles ever showed up in Baton Rouge, LSU suffered a loss as equally appalling as Saturday’s.

It was Oct. 2, 2004.

The Tigers were defending national champions and set to face Georgia in Athens. LSU had beaten the Bulldogs twice the previous year – and Georgia was ready for some payback. The Tigers got caught in a perfect storm at Sanford Stadium, were humiliated 45-16 and left for dead with a 3-2 record heading into The Swamp the following week.

LSU rebounded to win at Florida, and did so five more times that year. As turbulent as that 2004 season was, the Tigers were an Iowa Hawkeye Hail Mary away from winning 10 games.

Now, step away from the ledge, put down the bottle and take another deep breath.

Yeah, it hurts right now. And things don’t look good, but don’t give up hope just yet.
Miles-coached football teams have a way of rebounding from adversity. They’ve done it so many times in the past, and while there are some serious issues with this team, one has to believe LSU has some bounce in their back.

Florida showed who it really was last weekend. The Gators haven’t played that well this season and now look as if they could make a serious run at the SEC (and national) championship.

But they were supposed to; LSU not so much.

Sure the Tigers were expected to have a “good” team this season. But with inexperience at quarterback and losing several key members on defense (especially in the secondary), LSU wasn’t expected to be a “great” team.

Things worked out early in their favor allowing the Tigers to be thrust into the national spotlight. That, of course, gave people the idea LSU was again in contention for the national championship.

Well, the reality mentioned above, has now been handed down and it is evident the Tigers’ aren’t among the nation’s elite this year.

However…

It’s a whole new ball game at South Carolina on Saturday.

The Gamecocks have won four in a row and most recently beat Kentucky 24-17. The one positive LSU can consider facing South Carolina is the Gamecocks aren’t nearly as talented or athletically gifted as Florida. Confidence can be built in execution on both sides of the ball and experimenting with the personnel adjustments necessary to remedying the problems of past outings.

Win the game in Columbia and you can come back to Baton Rouge and try pulling off an upset of Georgia. If successful, then you’re back on track and an epic stage will be set for Alabama’s arrival.

But in the grand scheme of things, many people believed LSU would lose two or three games this season. Saturday’s loss, while uglier than some would have liked, was predicted by many.

In all reality, LSU might still lose two more, likely to Georgia and Alabama. But a 9-3 record and a New Year’s Day bowl game would be a nice outcome for a season considered by many to be a rebuilding year.

With that logic, the Tigers could still pull off a 10-win season.

Right now, that might not be what you want to hear, but in the end, that’s reality.

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Matt Deville is the senior editor of Tiger Rag. Reach him at matt@tigerrag.com.