ORDER ON THE FIELD: Tigers Justify Hype

Last Thursday night, LSU dominated Mississippi State in every facet of the game, and while it took a little while to kick in, the Tigers showed us exactly why they are predicted by so many to face USC for the National Championship.

Tigers QB Matt Flynn didn’t set the world on fire. Remember, though, that this was his first start in two years, and it came against a respectable Mississippi State defense. Taking those things into consideration, Flynn was solid, going 12-19 for 128 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions. The running game earned nearly 200 yards, with Ryan Perrilloux scoring three touchdowns.

But, not surprisingly, the Tigers seemed most in tune on the other side of the ball where Mississippi State ran the ball 26 times…for ten yards, and QB Ryan Henig threw the ball another 26 times, but six of those were caught by LSU defenders.

Critics will say that almost of all LSU’s scoring drives were the result of short fields. But, LSU’s offense shouldn’t be blamed for scoring most of their points on a short field.

Anybody knows that a good team forces its opponents into mistakes, then they capitalize on those mistakes. And LSU’s offense was excellent in that aspect. Even if the offense isn’t great at grinding out 80 yard touchdown drives, who can score against that defense?

Virginia Tech will try this week when they take their offensive struggles to Death Valley. But they only put up 10 offensive points against Eastern Carolina, and if they play that way against the Tigers, Saturday’s game will be ugly for VT’s offense.

And with the offensive playmakers the Tigers have augmenting their defense, expect a lot of ugly games for SEC teams facing LSU this year.

Flawless? Maybe not. Ruthlessly efficient? Absolutely.

—E. Blasco