Chalk this season up as a failure.One look at the remaining schedule is all it takes to realize this season will end far from another BCS title berth.If the Tigers win out, they’ll finish the season with a 9-3 regular-season record. They will not reach the Southeastern Conference title game and have no shot at another BCS bowl.That stings — especially for a program with two BCS championships in the last five years.But what stings more is watching LSU lose 27-21 to Alabama this weekend.Though the sight of another overtime loss is just leaving my mind, there are a few things I took away from this weekend’s game.
JARRETT LEE IS A LIFE SAVERWalking into Tiger Stadium, I thought someone would attempt to assassinate Alabama coach Nick Saban.Walking out was a totally different feeling.Most of the 93,000 fans that went to the game left with a feeling of disgust.Four interceptions will do that to a person. LSU quarterback Jarrett Lee finished the game with four INTs, a 38 percent completion percentage (13-for-34), one touchdown and 181 yards.Lee should be happy he’s breathing today.Saban was an afterthought in fans’ minds after the loss. More people were worried about killing Lee than Saban.I received hate mail from nearly 20 people earlier this season after I wrote about Lee’s dismal Oct. 11 performance against Florida.I wrote the Tigers needed to make a quarterback change. And for those who believe Lee is still the best quarterback for the job, remember this: Lee set up senior wide receiver Demetrius Byrd to get clocked in the first quarter by two ‘Bama defenders. Byrd couldn’t secure the ball in traffic after being popped, and the pass was picked off by Alabama defensive back Rashad Johnson.Lee looked down Byrd the entire play, allowed Johnson to drift that way, and the pick turned into seven points on the ensuing drive.Johnson came up huge again in the second quarter when Lee overthrew LSU sophomore wide receiver Terrance Toliver and Johnson returned it 54 yards for the score.If Lee wouldn’t have made two idiotic plays, LSU would have knocked off the No. 1 team in the country, and the season might still be salvageable.
JOHN GRUDEN, MEET LES MILESI’ve been an advocate of LSU coach Les Miles since the day he stepped on campus.Miles is 40-9 since joining the Tigers in 2005. He’s got the best winning percentage of any coach in LSU history.But as the 2008 season unfolds, a disturbing trend has popped up.Every year — with the exception of this year — Miles has won with some of Saban’s players.Miles was heralded as the best thing since sliced bread after securing another BCS title for the program.But he hasn’t performed after losing some of Saban’s best recruits.Could Miles have led the Tigers to three bowl victories the last three years without players such as Jacob Hester, Matt Flynn or Early Doucet — all of which Saban recruited — leading the offense?Could Miles have captured those top 5 rankings without Saban-recruited players like Glenn Dorsey, Ali Highsmith, Kirston Pittman, Chevis Jackson, Jonathan Zenon and Craig Steltz leading the staunch LSU defense?I don’t think so.Tiger fans will have to compensate with having the John Gruden of college football as their team’s coach.Gruden brought Tampa Bay its first Super Bowl at the end of the 2002 season.Gruden coached a team full of players former coach Tony Dungy brought to the organization.  Dungy was fired as the Bucs’ coach the year before the Super Bowl win because team officials believed Dungy couldn’t win the big one.Miles — just like Gruden — led the Tigers to a title with a team full of another coach’s players.
SEC FANS ARE THE WORST FANS IN THE COUNTRYSinging “we just beat the hell out of you” over and over when opposing fans are trying to sing their Alma Mater is disgraceful.But it’s something I’ve come to expect from SEC fans.Fans in Gainesville, Fla., were hateful — threatening to kill me and my family on more than one occasion. Auburn fans screamed more racial slurs at my friends than I had ever heard in my lifetime. And Georgia fans will bark at you until your head falls off.Add in the LSU faithful — whose pre- and post-game antics toward opposing fans are disrespectful — and ‘Bama fans who take pride in screaming during an alma matter, and it’s easy to see why college football fans dread visiting an SEC school.Wisconsin fans are notorious for being so rude and hostile that they fight with one another, but a group of Badgers can’t trump a conference full of ugly fans.I felt like I’ve traveled the entire country after driving to Auburn, Florida and South Carolina this season.It’s a shame the only thing I’ve learned is the extent of people’s hatred toward someone who wears opposing team colors.
—-Contact Jay St. Pierre at [email protected]