Tiger Stadium’s capacity is listed at 91,600, but Tigers fans didn’t mind welcoming a few extra patrons with a record-setting attendance of 92,251 in a 17-10 win against then No. 7 Georgia.
I’m all about the big-time atmosphere that LSU football provides and consider the fans in Tiger Stadium as 92,000 of my closest friends, however, there are some people I’d rather share cramped air with than others.
Let’s go back to Saturday’s game and pretend that I can have any three wishes I want.
Genie of the lamp, for my first wish, I want to roam the sidelines with Jill Arrington. Arrington is a beautiful woman and she’s very knowledgeable about football, and that’s always a good combination.
There’s nothing better than a beautiful woman who can discuss the 4-3 defense over dinner. If you meet these qualifications, let’s get together some time.
For my second wish, I want to be the fourth member of ESPN’s GameDay crew. As much as I hate to say it, Lee Corso was the only member of the crew that gave credit where credit was due in Saturday’s game.
It wasn’t unusual that Corso picked LSU, while Herbstreit picked UGA before the game. But after the game, host Chris Fowler and Herbstreit both agreed that the Tigers won the game but still weren’t the best team.
ESPN columnist Ivan Maisel also chose not to give the Tigers any credit as his column focused on UGA kicker Billy Bennett’s three missed field goals that could have given the Bulldogs the win.
It’s obvious the national media didn’t want LSU to win the game. And the only reason they wanted Georgia to win is that Athens is a little farther north than Baton Rouge.
The national media has always been biased toward schools in the Big 10 and Atlantic Coast Conference. Southeastern Conference football deserves more respect and I would bring it to light on the national scene.
For my third wish, I’d like to be Skyler Green and feel the elation he felt after making the game-winning, 34-yard touchdown reception with 1:22 left in the game. The play will surely be one that Tigers fans talk about for a long time and Green will surely be telling his grandchildren about it 40 years from now.
There’s also one person I wouldn’t want to be – the guy who threw a football out of the stadium after UGA scored a field goal to make the game 3-0 with 6:20 left in the first quarter.
Sure he got his 15 seconds of recognition before he was escorted from the stadium by a state trooper, but he missed the most exciting 51:20 of the season. Was it really worth it?
It was great to be in Tiger Stadium. And even though Georgia fans chanted “It’s great to be a Georgia Bulldog,” before the game. It was definitely better to be an LSU Tiger after the game.