LSU, Fournette run roughshod over Auburn, 45-21

LSU is fortunate to have Fournette.

The sophomore tailback amassed 228 yards rushing and three touchdowns in three quarters of work. He carried the rock only 19 times as the Bayou Bengals walloped the Auburn Tigers, 45-21 in Baton Rouge.

Before the game, the talk was all about Auburn’s quarterback Jeremy Johnson, who waited on the bench for two years before laying an egg against LSU.

Auburn's Rudy Ford said before that game that tackling Fournette wouldn't be "that difficult," but boy was he wrong. Also, unbeknownst to him, he had just supplied locker room fodder for Les Miles, who pasted Ford's quote on Fournette's locker before the game.

LSU defensive line coach Ed Orgeron, quoted in CampRush, said it best: “That was the most dominant performance of any college player I’ve seen in my 30 years coaching,” Orgeron says. “It was unbelievable.”

After the game, all anyone could talk about was Fournette and how he steamrolled Auburn’s defenders, breaking 11 tackles and created an ESPN highlight reel.

Fournette Express carries LSU over Mississippi State

Despite suiting up last week and playing for about 30 minutes against McNeese State before the game was called due to inclement weather, this one was billed as LSU's first game of the season.

The 15th-ranked Tigers came into No. 25 Mississippi State's home field in Starkville like a new team: Quarterback Brandon Harris looked poised and smart, the playcalls were diverse and aggressive, and the defense was playing lights out.

LSU took a commanding 14--0 lead in the first quarter, largely on the legs of sophomore Leonard Fournette, who finished with 159 yards and three touchdowns. LSU needed every last one of them.

But can they contend with the vicious SEC West? “We have the players, we have the coaches. It's time," Fournette told reporters after the game. We will see.

LSU beats MSU Bulldogs 21-19

MSU's Dak Prescott, frustrated most of the night by the Bengals D, finally solved LSU in the fourth quarter by lobbing short throws underneath that got them into easy down and distance. Scoring 13 points in the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs failed in the little things along the way to their first loss of the season.

They missed a crucial two-point conversion after scoring their second TD; they got called on a crucial delay of game near the end, which cost them 5 yards and probably the game.

LSU on the other hand, got long plays and touchdowns called back all night, negating big plays and huge chunks of yardage. Still, LSU hung on to win 21-19 on the road.

Fans will say Les Miles did all he could to lose the game -- and they're partially right -- but LSU's first game showed that the Tigers need a second wind to wear teams down -- and they need to stay aggressive down the stretch. Overall it was a solid B effort. #GeauxTigers

Fun With Colors: Georgia calls for 'Red Out' vs. LSU

University of Georgia Coach Mark Richt plans to have fun with colors Saturday night when LSU comes to between the hedges. He wants fans to wear red.

"We are wearing red jerseys Saturday. To show the unity of the DawgNation I'm asking everyone to wear Red!" was the message delivered from @MarkRicht," per the AJC.

Richt has done thing before, if we all remember the famous 'blackout' game against Florida and Tim Tebow.

"I think it’s a good thing," he said. "We are wearing our red, our players are, and our fans traditionally wear red most of the time. I’d like to have it 100 percent. I think it’d be a great sign of unity for our Bulldog Nation. If everybody buys in and gets to the stadium and see that everybody’s bought in before we even kickoff, I think that just adds a little energy to the day. I’d really like to see that.”

Sanford Stadium, Athens, Georgia

Saturday, September 28, 3:30 PM (ET)

5 reasons why LSU beat Auburn, 35-17

OK, there has been much pontification about LSU's shellacking of Auburn Saturday night in Baton Rouge, but here 5 reasons why it went down:

THE RAIN: LSU jumped out to a 21-0 lead. Common sense says you don't need to put the ball in the air on a night where inclement weather is a factor. When you're behind the weather plays a huge role in what you can do, thus Auburn had to abandon much of their gameplan (mind you, they still had a 100-yard back), but the weather helped LSU tremendously because they scored early.

JEREMY HILL: Le'ts get the elepant out of the room and into the end zone. Hill, who finished with 184 yards on 25 carries,single-handedly won the game, actually in the first half. Auburn simply had no answer, until they put 10 in the box. Les Miles very much tried to get him 200 yards, but the ram-him-up-the-middle scheme can only work for so long.

THE CROWD: Again, the bad weather forecast turned many Auburn fans away from the game and made others leave early. LSU had a decided advantage, as it should, playing in Tiger Stadium that night.

AUBURN'S INEPT OFFENSE: Quarterback Nick Marshall went 6 of 16 and had two turnovers in the first half, dooming any fast start the Tigers had -- and they had a good one the very first time they touched the ball, driving into LSU territory before fumbling.

LSU's BIG PLAYS: Auburn made a game of it in the second half, and truth be told, should have been down by one touchdown with 10 minutes in the game -- Tre Mason had come to life by that time, rumbling past LSU defenders for huge chunks of yards on the way to a 132-yard night. But everytime Auburn scored, LSU's receivers made a big play of their own, keeping the Bayou Bengals ahead by more than  a score most of the night.

Sean Payton reinstated to NFL, not interested in hollering at Gregg Williams

New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton was reinstated by the NFL this week, just days before the Super Bowl in New Orleans.
When asked if he had spoken about former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, Payton told reporters: "I have no interest in talking to Gregg."
OUCH. This is a guy you won a ring with...
Anyway, Payton's season-long suspension due to Bountygate was hard to take, he said.
"It was more or less something you can't control. To dwell on it with the time that I had ... the first week or so, it was difficult," Payton said. "You felt a lot of different emotions. At that point, you have to move on from it. Regardless of how you felt, knowing there were eight months. You'd drive yourself crazy if you just continue to hold those thoughts, whether you thought it was fair or not."
The coach is looking forward to evaluating players at the Senior Bowl.
Will the Saints make a Super Bowl run next year?

LSU outlasts Ole Miss, 41 -35

LSU outlasted Ole Miss 41-35 on Saturday in a scoring marathon between two unlikely offensive quarterbacks.

"I think everything we were doing was working," said Ole Miss quarterback Bo Wallace, who completed 15 of 34 passes for 310 yards and two touchdowns, despite three interceptions.
Jeremy Hill continued a dominant two months, leading the Tigers' ground game for the fifth straight week, as he carried the ball 20 times for 86 yards and three touchdowns.

Les Miles let his quarterback throw with abandon for the second straight game and it worked out.

"I'm proud of those men," Miles said of his team. "How easy it could of have been to say it was (Ole Miss') night. Spectacular group of men. You go find them, throw your arms around them and you give them a big kiss on the mouth, if you are a girl. Wow! What a game!"

"That was maybe the biggest momentum changer in the game," Miles said, adding giddily, "Is it Halloween night?"

The biggest play of the game was turned in by Odell Beckham on an 89-yard kickoff return.

"Everyone had their block, everyone had their man and everyone covered their assignments," Beckham said. "I saw a crease and I just hit it. ... It was an amazing experience and definitely changed the momentum."

2012: No. 6 LSU vs. No. 18 Texas A&M

LSU wins 24-19 against Johnny Football. Here is the complete game. This text

LSU pops Mississippi State Buldogs, 37 -1 7

Zach Mettenberger has finally showed the Tiger faithful what LSU coaches have been raving about the past three months as the Georgia native went 19-30 for 273 yards and two touchdowns in Saturday's 37-17 win over Mississippi State.

"He's at a hot streak right now. I think that's something Zach and the fans and really everybody have been waiting on all season," LSU center P.J. Lonergan said. "It's good to finally see him get in that rhythm."

Mettenberger's top target was Jarvis Landry, who finished with nine catches for 109 yards, including a 19-yard touchdown to help the Tigers (8-2, 4-2 SEC) beat the Bulldogs (7-3, 3-3).

Why the sudden explosive of offense for the Tigers???

"I think it is just everybody on the offense just maturing. We are really young in the receiving corps," Mettenberger said. "They are starting to know their assignments and are running better routes. That is all I can ask. If we can continue to keep clicking like this there are going to be big games for everybody like what Jarvis had tonight."

"Our passing game obviously is coming," LSU coach Les Miles said. "Zach is playing extremely well. He's got a nice touch on the ball. I think he knows where he needs to go. He's making quality decisions."

Oh, if we could get Bama again.

ALMOST - LSU 17 - BAMA 21

Moments after LSU's four point loss in the last minute to No. 1 Alabama, the Tigers' defensive leader told reporters the tale of the tape.
 “We let this get away,” LSU defensive end Sam Montgomery said. “We had tons of opportunities to maximize in the game. But we couldn’t put them away. Sometimes, it’s not the best team, but it’s the most disciplined team. It’s tough. It was slow death.”
 At least it seemed that way for Bama, which had mustered barely a pulse in the second half, until the unflappable AJ McCarron took the Crimson Tide 72 yards and lofted a screen pass that went for a 28-yard touchdown pass with 51 seconds left. The Tigers had blitzed on the play, sending the crowd of Tiger Stadium-record crowd of 93,374 into a hush.

LSU's much criticized quarterback finally played like LSU's coaches thought he could, finishing with nearly 300 yards and showing a dazzling display of nice throws. “The receivers and the rest of the offense have known what we were fully capable of all year,” Zach Mettenberger said.
 “We were finally clicking tonight. But as well as I played, I would trade 150 yards and three interceptions if we had won. It hurts; it definitely hurts.

Tigers beat Texas Aggies, 24-19

It wasn't pretty, but it was sweet.
The LSU defense bailed out the offense again, this time against the Aggies and the 12th Man as the Tigers won 24-19.
The Tigers defense forced five turnovers and scored 21 points off those, none bigger than a 47-yard scamper by true freshman Jeremy Hill, who finished with a career-high 127 yards in his first start.

Johnny Manziel aka Johnny Football torched the Tigers in the first half with a series of throws and runs that semeed to befudded the Tigers early.

A&M raced to a 12-0 lead in the first quarter and had several chances to add to it as the Aggies' defense forced punts on all of LSU's first-quarter drives. But then Manziel started to make mistakes, due to LSU making slight adjustments on the defensive end.

LSU quarterback Zach Mettenberger, who played decent, said they had it all under control the whole while.

"There's really no reason to panic when you get down," Mettenberger said. "You just have to keep grinding away, keep focusing and keep believing. We did that and right before the half we got two quick possessions and two quick touchdowns."

"Defense just had to get their feet set and understand what was going on," LSU coach Les Miles said, "get the comfort of the scheme and the habit of throw and how to chase that quarterback. He's a gutsy, tough guy."

LSU goes into the bye week at 7-1 while the Aggies fell to 5-2.

Saints activate Vilma. Oh, yeah!

Jonathan Vilma, the New Orleans Saints' linebacker who has come to symbolize BountyGate, has been activated from the Physically Unable to Perform list for Sunday's game against the Tampa Bay Bucs. OH, YEAH!!! And get this, Vilma is expected to play. The Saints had to cut reserve wide receiver Greg Camarillo, the big, lanky target breeze went to early in the San Diego game when Jimmy Graham was banged up, to make room.

LSU runs over South Carolina, 23-21

The Ol' Ball Coach came into Death Valley (that Death Valley) with a vaunted defense, star running back and national title hopes. He left with a new perspective.


"Tonight I realized why LSU was preseason No. 1 (in USA Today)," Steve Spurrier said moments after the No. 3 ranked South Carolina Gamecocks were beaten by the Tigers. "They're a big, strong team," he said. "They can run the ball and stop the run. That was the biggest difference in the game probably. I don't know how many rushing yards they had, but I know we didn't have many at all. I give those guys credit. They were running much better than we thought they would."


The Gamecocks got ran over in a 23-21 loss to LSU that shouldn't have been as close as it was. The Tigers nearly doubled South Carolina's yardage, but a Zach Mettenberger interception gave the Gamecocks the ball at the LSU 1 and they punched it in.

Tiger freshman running back Jeremy Hill had a breakout game, finishing with 124 yards on 17 carries, including touchdowns of 7 yards and 50. It was just what the Tigers needed after a bitter loss last week, losing by eight points to a good but one-dimensional Florida team that uses a lot of misdirection and trickery to move the ball.


''At the beginning of the season, it was about the national championship. But at the end of the day, it's all about family. I think we got back to that,'' Sam Montgomery said. ''Last year, we never would have talked about a national championship. We took it week by week by week by week, getting closer and closer.''
LSU (6-1, 2-1 Southeastern Conference) had the appearance of a team in a slide for the previous several weeks, which included several unimpressive victories over heavy underdogs, followed by a loss at Florida on Oct. 6 in which first-year starting quarterback Zach Mettenberger and the Tigers' offense were unable to get into the end zone once.

Check out the box score

''Maybe we needed a loss to be humbled, to get that hunger back, to get adversity knowing that everything doesn't comes so easily,'' said Montgomery, a defensive end, who had two sacks of South Carolina quarterback Connor Shaw. ''It was something we needed to wake us back (up), to get us playing tough, hard-nosed football.''

For South Carolina, the loss was simple.
'Our front seven didn't come to play,'' said South Carolina star defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, who was in on six tackles but did not have a sack. ''We gave up way too many yards and too many third down conversions. We can't win like that.''
LSU plays at BCS No. 18 Texas A&M (5-1, 3-1 SEC) at 11 a.m. Saturday on ESPN. 

LSU 6, Florida 14: Watch the second half (VIDEO)

In the Gators' 14-6 shocker on Saturday, Florida coach Will Muschamp knew he had to do to LSU what the Tigers did to everyone else: Pound the ball and control the clock.

But it was more than that to the Gator players.

"We wanted to hurt them," Florida defensive end Dominique Easley said. "We wanted them to feel the pain that we felt last year. We had hurt in our heart, so we wanted them to feel that same thing."

"They beat us down last year," Elam said. "We had to come back. We had something to prove. We had a plan to hit them in their mouth, and we executed."

Mike Gillislee ran rampant on the Tigers, finishing with a career-high 146 yards.

"I'll take Gilly over anybody," Muschamp said. "I tell him that all the time and I mean that. I felt that way in spring and going into fall camp. ... He's a Will Muschamp guy. He don't ever say anything, he just does his job, lines up, runs the ball. If you ask him to block, he's going to block. If you ask him to catch the ball, he's going to catch the ball. He just is a really, really, really good football player."

Hang this one on the hat: LSU 6 - Florida 14

Les Miles got outcoached by former LSU defensive coordinator Will Muschamp in a listless 14-6 loss to the rejuvenated Florida Gators in the Swamp on the first Saturday of October.
Tigers quarterback Zach Mettenberger has teased LSU fans with great throws and seasoned poise, but the cat's out of the bag -- dude can't get it done. Let me rephrase that, he needs ALOT of help to get it done, and Odell Beckham Jr. had the worse game of his career with at least two drops and a terrible fumble in the third quarter.
The game was won in the trenches as the Gators took advantage of an apparently fragile LSU linebacking corps and when two starters went down the Gators started chomping with misdirection plays, all runs. In fact, after teeing off on Gators quarterback Driskell, the LSU defense seemed dumbfounded at Florida's second half adjustments.
Miles had that befuddled look on the his, the same one hehd in the BCS title game against Bama. LSU's defense did what it was supposed to do, even handing Mettenberger and the offense a first and goal to close the first half. LSU's coaches didn't know what to do with it, though. Bottom line, Miles was outcoached.

LSU edges Auburn 12-10

It was a game of missed opportunities as LSU nipped Auburn 12-10 despite dominating the home team for most of the game. Auburn got its big break on a couple of miscues by LSU quarterback Zach Mettenberger. It's clear now that Les Miles has lost his lust for creativity and imagination as LSU continued to run the ball on third and short and get stuffed.

LSU's Claiborne declares for draft

LSU All-American cornerback Morris Claiborne has decided to enter the NFL draft.
The 6-0 junior had six interceptions this season and returned one for a touchdown.
He also won the Jim Thorpe Award as the nation's top defensive back.
He provided many big plays for the 13-1 Tigers this season, including a 99-yard kick return against West Virginia and an 89-yard interception return against Tennessee.Defensive tackle Micheal Brockers, a redshirt sophomore, also declared for the draft.

Les Miles let LSU down by not playing Jarrett Lee @ Alabama

Looking back at the 2011-2012, LSU Fighting Tigers football season, there is a great sense of pride and joy at the accomplishments. The top team in the land for most of the season, 13-0 at one point. Undisputed No. 1 and much feared for much of the year. But alas a final test failed.

Alabama is a great team -- and they showed it in the BCS Championship Game. But who would have thought they were 21 points better than an LSU team that had been averaging more than 38 points a game?

We all know what happened throughout the season and even before it. Starting quarterback Jordan Jefferson was having an awesome spring camp and people said he would likely start the season. Then came the bar fight. Then Jarrett Lee stepped in and led the Tigers to 8 straight victories in convincing fashion.

When the team traveled to Bryant-Denny Stadium on November 5, Lee was shaky. He threw two bad interceptions, one which leading to 3 points. Then that was it. He was benched.

"I just felt we could get something going with Lee," coach Les Miles said. It was a plausible excuse. Jefferson was the more mobile of the quarterback and took vicious hits that he surprisingly got up from each and every play.

The next game and so on, Jefferson would start. The Tigers continued to roll. But then things got weird. The Tigers would be up big in the third quarter and then the fourth, yet Jefferson wouldn't see any playing time.

At first it was proper to dismiss this as "feeling Jefferson out" for the long haul. Lee had started in eight straight games. It was time to let Jefferson get off a little bit.
But then what was once construed as weird, seemed more and more just down right mean. The end of the Arkansas game with the Tigers up by 30-some points, Lee stayed in until the final seconds. It didn't feel right to the Tiger faithful. That game was Senior Day, the last time Lee or Jefferson would play in Tiger Stadium.

 Same thing against Georgia. Tigers were up big and Lee came in only to shake hands as the final seconds ticked.
By then it was clear that either Lee had did something wrong, or Miles had simply lost faith in a young man that had given his all to the school and program.

Even now, the Tiger faithful still don't know what really happened as to why Lee didn't see the field late in the season. Miles had always challenged both quarterbacks to compete against each other, only this time he had clearly picked a winner.

Still, as any coach, he had the right to play whoever he deemed best suited to provide a spark.

So in the Alabama game, the LSU faithful, the Alabama faithful, the TV folks, the whole world, knew that Jefferson was struggling so bad that he would'nt be able to run or throw his way out of this one.

The Bama defense had bore down on him and had knew his every move. It was clearly time for  a change. Everyone knew it. But Miles. Even former NFL quarterback and current TV analyst Shawn King knew it was time for a change. Not Miles.

His excuses, this time, don't fly. The Tigers didn't cross midfield til midway through the fourth quarter. Lee should have been in midway through the third.

No good reason exists as to why Miles didn't play Lee. And the damage goes beyond one blemish on a football record. Recruits and players already on the squad can't help but think, 'Wow, this man has shown that if you mess up one time, in one game, you could be benched for the reason of the season.'

LSU lost more than a game when it lost to Alabama. In alot of ways, it lost respect for itself.

LSU loses to Alabama in BCS title

The Alabama defense -- too strong, too fast for much of the night -- completely dominated the LSU Tigers on MOnday night to win the BCS National Championship. Make no mistake about it, the better team won in a rematch of the Game of the Century. Jordan Jefferson looked ill-prepared and played even worse than that. As good a season as the Tigers have had, they have not had the offensive support that they needed to be a BCS champion. Diehard fans knew it long ago, even against teams such as Florida and Tennessee. But here we were Monday night, hoping against hope that the vaunted Tigers defense could fine a way. Jarrett Lee, the quarterback that began the season as LSU's starter, watched with anticipation from the sidelines, hoping he would get a chance to prove his worth. LSU coach Les Miles would have none of it, for reasons that have remained secret for much of the past few months. As for the Tide, they rolled and rolled hard. "They are unbelievable," said Alabama offensive lineman Barrett Jones, speaking of the Tide defense. "That defense is as good as any defense I've ever seen. They rush the passer, they have awesome linebackers and they're great in coverage. They really don't have any weaknesses. They have to be as good as any defense ever." ON MOnday night, to conclude the 2011 season, LSU would have to agree.

Alabama secures deal with Devil, will play LSU for national title

College football fans not living in Alabama are livid at the BCS for selecting the Crimson Tide to play LSU for the national championship.

The usual catchphrases were at work late Sunday -- "body of work" and, wait for it, "eye ball test" -- in denying the Oklahoma State Cowboys of the Mighty Big 12 a shot at the title game.

For many voters in the Harris poll, it came down to Oklahoma State's double overtime loss to lowly Iowa State.

But check how one Bama fan summed it all up:

"Cry me a river, come play in the SEC week in and week out, tell me that you have a great team after running the gauntlet we play every week. Yes we lost at home in OT, just like OkIe State, but the difference is, LSU and Iowa State. We can’t help that our schedule did not have us playing S Carolina or Georgia, we rotate them every 2-3 years, so yes we do play them.

I am so tired of all the SEC haters, people get over it, play some teams that play defense, that is what wins Championships, not the high scoring offenses, why do you think it was 9-6, the No.’s 1 and 2 defenses provided a stalemate, neither of the remaining one loss teams could hold a candle to LSU or Alabama, they would be run out of the stadium, look over the last six years, only Oregon is the only team I can recall that had a decent game last year against Auburn and Cam.

I do feel bad for Ok. State, they had a great season and game against OK, but OK was playing withour several of their star players, wonder what the outcome would have been had they been healthy? I guess we will never know will we, congrats to Okie State on the Big 12 Championship, hopefully, they will get smart and get in a conference that plays not only offense, but defense and special teams, that is why Bama and LSU will battle it out and give the SEC its 6th straight BCS Title."

Will Jarrett Lee EVER get any meaningful playing time?

It got egregious in the Arkansas game. Ahead, 41-10, LSU coach Les Miles continued to insert Jordan Jefferson after the game was way out of hand and victory over the No. 3 Razorbacks was all but assured.

Jarrett Lee, the No. 2 rated passer in the mighty Southeastern Conference strapped his helmet on and just stared at Miles, waiting for, at that point, obligatory playing time. After all, it was Senior Day. Lee's parents, as were all the mothers and fathers and available relatives of the undefeated LSU Tigers, in attendance.
But Miles, being Miles, didn't let Lee in until less than 2 minutes remained in the game.
On Saturday in the SEC Championship, LSU was up big-time over Georgia 35-10 even as the third quarter drew to a close.
To start the fourth quarter, who was it again? Jefferson.
So, the question begs itself: Why isn't Lee getting any meaningful playing time?
This is a guy who staked LSU, in its most important football campaign in five years, to an 8-0 start before throwing two bad interceptions at Alabama.
His punishment since that time? About 5 minutes P.T.
Tops.
Is there something deeper? Did Lee's father possibly curse Miles out after the Bama game and the coach see fit to send a message? We don't know.
Whatever the offense, Lee's time in the game has been reduced to Token Time. Garbage.
While Lee has only thrown for more than 200 yards once (against Mississippi State) he was completed more than 70% of his passes an astounding five times, including 90% against Northwestern State.
For comparison, Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck, the likely Heisman winner and No. 1 pick in next year's NFL draft, has completed 70% of his passes in five games also.
Jefferson, a constant threat on the ground, has only completed 70% of his passes in two games, including one in which 100% of his passes were caught (against Ole Miss).
Will Lee get some valuable P.T. in the BCS game against likely opponent Alabama, especially since having a horrible showing against them on November 5?
Time will tell.