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Story Archives: A win is a win in college football


A win is a win in college football
by Joey Martin - posted Thursday, September 17th, 2009 @ 11:51 pmE-mail Story E-mail Story | Print Story Print Story 
I was all set to write a second negative article about LSU's play in 2009, something like LSU's offense needs a kick-start or the offensive coordinator needs a kick in the pants.

But the more I look at the college scene nowadays — a win is a win.

LSU is 2-0 right now. Sure they haven't looked like the LSU of old (older than last year), but it could be worse. You could be Oklahoma, Oklahoma State or Ohio State. (Somehow Dick Enberg's "Oh My" seems fitting right now).

Poor Ohio State players played the game of their lives against Southern Cal, but came up short. And you can question Jim Tressel's play-calling at the end of the first half with perhaps depriving the Buckeyes of that. Instead of running out the clock and securing a 10-7 halftime lead, the Buckeyes missed two passes and allowed USC to move down the field and tie the game and get back the momentum at halftime.

It took an impressive last drive with Louisiana's Joe McKnight running like the 5-star recruit he was supposed to be, to allow USC to escape from Columbus unscathed. The Buckeyes had USC on the ropes until allowing the Trojans to go 86 yards and scoring the winning TD with 1:05 remaining.

McKnight rushed five times for 32 yards on the drive and caught a pass for 21 yards. Then they let Stafon Johnson score from two yards out after McKnight got them down there.
McKnight finished with 60 yards on 16 carries and caught two passes for 45 yards in the entire game.

I have to wonder if McKnight would still choose Southern Cal if he knew the number of carries he would have at this point in his career.

That was a tough loss to take for the players as well as OSU fans who have been waiting for several years for the big signature win.

Ohio State looked better losing than LSU winning.

But guess what? LSU is 2-0 and Ohio State is 1-1.

And if you think LSU fans are a bit unsteady about the two wins, check out the Cleveland Plain Dealer game story and the comments following the article. Let's just say they are not too happy with Jim Tressel.

Oklahoma State apparently sleptwalk in its game against Houston and no longer looks like the best team in Oklahoma.

Alabama and Texas struggled coming out of the gate against inferior opponents.
Sure Kansas State is not the KSU of old, but who expected them to leave Lafayette, La., with a loss?

Florida State had to score twice in 14 seconds to make its win over Jacksonville State look semi-respectable at 19-9. The Gamecocks had a 9-7 lead until a TD with 35 seconds left in the game.

Ty Jones scored from a yard out with 35 seconds to play and FSU scored again when Jacksonville State quarterback Ryan Perrilloux (yes, that Perrilloux) lost the handle on the ball and Kevin McNeil ran 33 yards for another TD with 21 ticks left of the clock.  

Perrilloux, playing in his first game after sitting out the season-opening loss to Georgia Tech, threw for 225 yards, completing 12-of-27 passes with a TD strike to Jamal Young.
So, OK, now back to reality.

LSU is not ready to play Florida, Alabama, Ole Miss and possibly Georgia right now.
The offensive line needs to step up, the play calling needs improving, and the Tigers need to play with more of a swagger.

LSU has the ULL and Mississippi State games ahead which should give them a chance to gain more confidence and work a lot of kinks out.

Get the ball in the hands of Keiland Williams and R.J. Jackson more. Find a way to get Jordan Jefferson more time in the pocket to use that strong arm to throw the ball farther downfield to some very capable receivers.

You can play not to lose against the likes of Washington and Vanderbilt and get away with it.

Hopefully, LSU will show more aggressiveness over the next two weeks on the field and on the sideline.

Joey Martin is sports editor of the Concordia Sentinel in Ferriday/Vidalia. The Concordia Sentinel is a sister publication of The Franklin Sun in Winnsboro and The Ouachita Citizen in Monroe/West Monroe. Martin can be reached by e-mailing joey@concordiasentinel.com.
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