The LSU football team didn’t use its close game against Auburn as a wake-up call — it merely hit the snooze button.
Apparently slipping from No. 2 in the Associated Press college football poll wasn’t enough to motivate the Tigers to prove the critics wrong the next time out. I didn’t think it was possible for LSU to put together a sloppier performance than I witnessed on the plains last weekend.
I was wrong. The Tigers looked even worse against a lesser opponent. Even LSU coach Les Miles agrees with me.
“I thought that we played down to our opponent,” Miles said after the game.
“Played down” to Towson is an understatement. I’m still trying to figure out what football team in purple and gold uniforms took the field Saturday night in Death Valley.
It wasn’t the one who used the motto “unfinished business” to prepare for the 2012 season. It wasn’t a group of players rallying around each other after losing one significant contributor after another. And it certainly didn’t look like a team that wants revenge after being humiliated in the BCS Championship game by Alabama 21-0.
The Tigers looked unprepared and unenthused against Towson. They wasted a chance to show the country that ugly 12-10 win against Auburn was a fluke.
Facing an FCS opponent a week before hitting the road to take on a SEC team was a joke to LSU.
Whether it was punter Brad Wing desperately looking for West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith’s Twitter handle before the game or quarterback Zach Mettenberger unsuccessfully trying to one-up Ron Burgundy from “Anchorman” with his trash ’stache and wardrobe, the focus just wasn’t there.
Well now the joke is on LSU.
The Tigers deserved to slip to No. 4 in the AP poll released
yesterday. They’re lucky to even be ranked that high.
If there were no preseason polls and you made one from scratch today, where would you rank LSU?
With lackluster performances in its last two contests, it’s not in the top five for sure.
Last week, the Tigers got a pass with the intense rivalry causing records to be thrown out the window when LSU took on Auburn.
There isn’t any reason the LSU players or Miles can give to justify how bad the Tigers looked Saturday night against a Towson team who was physically overmatched at every position.
Five games into the 2012 season, LSU possesses a few flaws uncharacteristic of Miles’ coached teams, just waiting to be exposed by higher-quality teams.
Miles preaches ball security and prides himself on his team’s ability to not commit turnovers. The Tigers have now lost five fumbles the last two games.
A hard-nosed rushing attack is what opponents come to expect when facing LSU. Senior wide receiver Russell Shepard led the way on the ground against Towson with one carry for 78 yards.
The 21 points the LSU defense gave up against Alabama in the National Championship last season were the most the Tigers had allowed until Towson hung 22 on LSU in Tiger Stadium on Saturday.
The only reason the Tigers sit at 5-0 right now is because they haven’t faced a quality opponent. We’ll really get a chance to see what LSU is made of over the next three weeks as the Tigers take on Florida, South Carolina and
Texas A&M.
To get out of this funk, the Tigers must have a statement victory in The Swamp against Florida this Saturday. That’s the only way LSU can get the naysayers off its back.
No damage has been done in the loss column yet. This team still has the talent to make a run to Miami, Fla., in January.
The Tigers just have to act like they want it.
