Quick note on LSU following its big win over Arkansas:
– If the Tigers win the national championship, they’ll be the first champion since Alabama in 1992 to have neither a 1,000-yard rusher nor a 2,000-yard passer.
– LSU will have the rare distinction of being a national champ without an All-American on offense. The 2007 LSU and 2002 Ohio State teams also had offenses without an All-American.
– LSU will join 2002 Ohio State as the only champions with offenses ranked outside the top 50 in total yards per game.
Given the offensive trends of the past few seasons and the wide-open attacks putting up all these crazy stats, it’s quite remarkable for LSU to be doing what it is doing. Credit to Les Miles for getting a group of superior athletes to play like a true team. I’ve never seen so many small-time contributions lead to such a big-time achievement.
Outside of Tyrann Mathieu, Morris Claiborne and maybe Sam Montgomery, who are the stars on this team? Only Mathieu is well-known to the the majority of the college football world. I’ll wager that LSU doesn’t even have the most All-SEC performers on defense.
But what does that all matter? The defense and special teams are rare. If you dominate 2 out of 3 phases of the game 100% of the time, you’ll almost always win.
No stars, no offense, no problem!
The Tigers really do just win, baby.
Defense is hard. Apparently anyone can rack up 6 TDs in a game these days. All it takes is a couple of guys who can’t play corner to save their life and some speed at WR. This is getting ridiculous – and honestly, a bit boring.
I love watching LSU and Alabama play. And while I’m probably in the minority, I prefer to see them play again. A team with a defense ranked that low (OSU) does not deserve to play for a national championship. OSU’s offense is entertaining, but apparently in the B-12, anyone can rack up 66 if they really feel like it.
I hope RGIII recovers and plays lights out against Texas.
LSU is 13th in scoring nationally despite having played a brutal schedule. I don’t think “no offense” is accurate. The LSU offense is designed to cash in on scoring opportunities and wear opponents down over the course of 60 minutes. It is quite effective at both those tasks.