NCAA Football

LSU Is Your 2007 SEC Champion

Posted Dec 01, 2007 10:03PM By Ryan Ferguson (RSS feed)

Filed Under: LSU Football, Tennessee Football, SEC

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They were picked pre-season to win the conference and maybe win it all.

The big prize is almost certainly out of reach, but they did okay. At the end of the day, they damn sure did okay.

Talk about odds stacking up against you if you're LSU: after a week of intense rumormongering, your coach is forced to hold an emergency press conference addressing his job status just two hours prior to the game. Your senior quarterback, who despite lacking flash has been a steady producer, is out with a tweaked shoulder. Your All-American defensive tackle, Glenn Dorsey, is out with a bruised tailbone. Then your backup quarterback rips a finger open on his throwing hand, and no one can stop the bleeding (Perilloux would need stitches after the game.) To add insult to injury you lose your best wide receiver (Early Doucet) in the third quarter when you're down a point.

Tennessee comes into the game playing their best football of the last few years. They bring their own NFL-caliber senior quarterback in Erik Ainge. And sneak in with a chip on their shoulder, unheralded and written off before the first snap.

Pretty good setup for a fall, but it didn't happen.

Instead, LSU's defense dug in the game became a ball-control and defensive struggle. Erik Ainge had a night he'd like to forget, playing reasonably well in the first half, but throwing two interceptions late which sealed the Vols' fate.

Final: 21-14.

Les Miles is already campaigning for a title bid.

"Anybody who saw this game would say that this is arguably the finest team in the country," said the Tigers' head coach.

And maybe that's not such a crazy idea after all. As of 10:00PM ET, West Virginia -- shockingly -- trails Pitt, 10-7 in Morgantown. If Mizzou loses to Oklahoma (that game is currently tied at 14-14 at the half), LSU might, just might be able to put one of their pre-season goals back on the board.

Why would one expect anything different in college football's strangest season?

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