LSU Tigers set for McNeese

The LSU Tigers, No. 9 in the polls, are licking their chops at their first true cupcake of the season: McNeese State.



The Tigers have won every game this season in a different fashion: A last-second defensive stand, winning drives, clock mismanagement, you name it.
But they have won.
It has not been pretty, but LSU -- in the five years that coach Les Miles has been there -- has not been terribly efficient with the football.
JaMarcus Russell routinely left 10 to 21 points out on the field, and they still only lost two games in his final two years.
But things have changed. A little.
LSU is in prime position to make a serious championship run, if they can get by the AAA powers: Auburn, Alabama and finally, Arkansas.
Now, with Auburn on the horizon, the Tigers can sharpen up some things against McNeese (and even expand their offensive package) and get ready to go up to Alabama.

LSU Defense Begins 09 Kinda Shaky

To say the Tigers escaped out of Washington Huskie-land by the skin of their teeth is like characterizing Bill Gates is well off.
Speaking of well off, that's exactly how the John Chavis-led defensive unit for LSU performed late Saturday night: They were well, off.
If not from a game-clinching touchdown by super soph receiver Terrence Toliver, who clearly couldn't be guarded by one defender, the Tigers would have gotten ran out of the Northwest.
The defense had some moments of brilliance (Is middle linebacker Jacob Cutrera a stud or what?) but by the 4th quarter they were gassed quicker than a millionaire filling up his Lincoln Navigator at Chevron in the hood.
The offense, led by green-but-game Jordan Jefferson, was feast or famine the entire night.
Coach Les Miles said as much: "I just wish we had more possessions," Miles said to .the Daily Advertiser "We scored so fast at times that I was thinking, 'It would be good to run a few more plays before we scored,'" he said.
That's the main difference from Miles's squad of last year and the year before. The Tigers either went 3 and out, or scored in 3 or 4 plays; no grind-it-out yards and no clock-gobbling possessions.
Is this what 2009 season will be like?
And if so, can you stand it?