The LSU football team has not been ranked in the Top 5 this late in the season since 1987. With that said, why is everyone in Tigerland complaining?
With one loss, the Tigers seem to be in the thick of the national title race, but the No. 7 ranking in the Bowl Championship Series poll – the poll that matters – is not pleasing to the Baton Rouge community.
Tigers fans should be happy that they have the ability to complain about things, because it has been nearly 30 years since LSU was anywhere close to a national title race.
The Tigers are ranked fourth in the AP and Coaches polls, but what hurts LSU’s BCS ranking is its strength of schedule. The Tigers’ out-of-conference schedule was a joke – ULM (1-8), Arizona (1-8), Western Illinois (a Div. I-AA school) and Louisiana Tech (4-5). The Tigers were ranked 55th in strength of schedule until they played Tech, now they are 63rd.
And Tigers fans are complaining about LSU’s strength of schedule rating. Are you kidding me? I’m surprised it’s not lower.
After Troy State (4-5) and Marshall (6-3) backed out of LSU’s 2003 schedule, the Tigers were forced to put ULM and W. Illinois on the slate, which – to say the least – are “give me” games. Wins against Troy State and Marshall would have significantly helped LSU in the BCS ratings, in which LSU would probably be ranked fourth or fifth right now as the Tigers head down the home stretch.
But the truth is, the Tigers played some of the worst teams in the country. With that pansy non-conference schedule and one loss, how can anyone think LSU should be ranked higher than those teams who schedule the Florida State’s, Miami’s and Tennessee’s out of conference?
And besides, at the beginning of the season, if I were to have told LSU fans that the Tigers would be No. 7 in the BCS poll in early November, a smile would have sprung onto their faces quicker than Skyler Green can cut back on a punt return.
The Tigers need a few things to happen before they start planning the trip 60 miles southeast for the national title.
First and foremost, the Tigers have to win out. If they lose any of the remaining games, they are out.
Second, USC, Florida State, Miami and Ohio State each have to lose a game. Don’t worry about Ohio State, they have the toughest schedule of any team remaining and will lose one and maybe two of those games.
This will not only raise LSU’s AP and Coaches rankings, but it will raise the Tigers in the seven computer rankings, which is hurting them at the moment.
The Tigers also need to start pulling for ULM, Arizona and Tech to win the rest of their games so their strength of schedule increases. Keep an eye on the Arizona-USC game next week (Yeah right. Don’t get your hopes up, an upset in that game is impossible).
Virginia Tech can keep winning, and it won’t matter. Because if the Tigers win out, they will jump ahead of the Hokies in the BCS.
The key games for the Tigers to watch this weekend are Michigan State at Ohio State, Florida State at Clemson and Tennessee at Miami.
Other games for the Tigers to keep an eye on this season are Florida State at Florida (Nov. 29), Miami at Pitt (Nov. 29) and Oregon State at USC (Dec. 6).
A computer-based ranking system is really strange. But during the last two months of every college football season, it creates news and makes each game fun to watch.
Some teams will get left out of the equation. If it happens to be LSU this year, there is nothing for the program to hang its head about.
If the Tigers finish 12-1 and have the chance to play in either the Fiesta or Orange Bowl against the likes of Florida State or Miami, they should be ecstatic. That is a good thing.
Not to say LSU should not strive for perfection, but being one of the top eight teams in the country makes for an extremely successful program.
Compared to the state of Louisiana, which is consistently ranked 50th among 50 states in most categories, seventh out of 117 is not that bad.