NCG In NOLA, LSU Vs Clemson, January 13th

[LSUDad]

Countdown, time to get this party started. Early line, open LSU -4.5, now -6.0. Total is 69.5, the total has stayed flat.
 

Remember, the Ok game kickoff numbers, LSU was -13, the total was 76, took care of those two. 
 

GEAUX TIGERS 

 

[LSUDad]

Just got a free condo from my friend, this is where I’m staying for the long weekend. Now I need tickets. 
 

http://www.thecottonmillneworleans.com/

[LSUDad]

Let’s GEAUX...

 

5 early thoughts on LSU-Clemson in National Championship Game

Connor O'Gara | 15 hours ago

 

 

The stage is set, and my goodness, it’s star-studded.

Tigers vs. Tigers. Death Valley vs. Death Valley. Alabama haters vs. Alabama haters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

00:17

 

Sooooooo many similarities. Where do we begin?

 

Well, for starters, I’m bummed that we have another 2 weeks to wait for this game. A 16-day buffer should create more buildup than ever, right? Nah, who are we kidding? This game doesn’t need buildup. It’ll sell itself.

Fear not, though. I can sell it for you.

Here are 5 early thoughts on the showdown in New Orleans:

1. The QB matchup for the ages

Joe Burrow vs. Trevor Lawrence? Please and thank you. The preseason Heisman favorite will face off with the actual Heisman winner. It’ll be the 2020 No. 1 pick vs. the 2021 No. 1 pick. This should be all sorts of fun.

Why? Because all these guys do is show up in big-time games and deliver. I mean, think about it. Burrow’s Tigers just dropped a combined 100 points on a pair of top-4 teams at a neutral site while Lawrence is the defending national champ who has yet to lose as a starter.

Speaking of that, let’s not forget how absurd that is. Burrow is going to dominate the headlines because in this strange world, the fifth-year guy is the new, fun thing and Lawrence is considered old news. What Lawrence is doing is incredible even with the watered down ACC this year.

The combination of these signal-callers with this group of receivers is wonderful.

2. I still haven’t figured out how Clemson/anyone defends LSU’s receivers

With all due respect to Ohio State, Clemson has a different type of matchup ahead with LSU’s bunch. Justin Jefferson’s biggest gripe on Saturday was that he was pulled early in the second half before he could catch his fifth touchdown. As Ja’Marr Chase told me after the game, Oklahoma tried to bracket him, and all Burrow did was pepper Jefferson with targets. Eighteen, to be exact.

 

LSU is so good that the Biletnikoff winner was essentially a non-factor for the vast majority of that game, and LSU’s wideouts still accounted for 6 touchdown catches. It’s stupid.

What makes LSU so good? Is it the system? Yes, and no. As Joe Brady says, LSU doesn’t have 1-on-1 matchups, it has 1-on-0 matchups.

These Tiger wideouts, along with Terrace Marshall, always keep moving. When it was 3rd down deep in their own territory and Burrow looked like he was being forced out of bounds by the Oklahoma defense, Marshall kept moving and caught that wild floater from Burrow to keep the drive — and rout — alive.

Defending that for 60 minutes seems impossible.

3. LSU is more battle-tested this year, but …

Clemson’s strength shouldn’t be tested anymore just because the ACC was bad. Beating that Ohio State team — even with an extremely fortunate call — is still an impressive feat.

And listen. Remember last year? We said that Clemson was going to be in trouble against a team like Alabama, who faced quality foes down the stretch. As much as the college football world has been annoyed by Dabo Swinney, the guy knows how to develop his team over the course of a season against lukewarm competition.

Looking back now, yes, we can say that Clemson wasn’t as good early in the season. Was it boredom? Was it a championship hangover? I don’t know. What I do know is that a team that is full of guys who haven’t been to a national championship is facing a program that’s going there for the fourth time in 5 years.

Let’s not sit here and break down résumés from games that happened 3 months ago. That’s out the window now.

4. What LSU can learn from Alabama and Ohio State

So remember last year in the national championship when Alabama repeatedly fell on its face on 3rd-and-short? In my opinion, it changed the momentum of that game. On Saturday night, Ohio State struggled when it got into the red zone.

A lot.

Chris Vannini

 

✔@ChrisVannini

 

 

Ohio State got inside Clemson's 25-yard line 5 times: 3 field goals, 1 TD, 1 INT.

We can talk about the officiating, but Ohio State blew its chances and let Clemson go 94 yards for the winning TD and that was the difference.

 

 

 

 

Inches matter. Finishing off drives matter.

Has LSU struggled with that concept? Not in the slightest. But to beat a team that hasn’t lost a game in 2 years, those things can and will matter.

That’s all the more reason that I think Clyde Edwards-Helaire’s health matters. The LSU running back wasn’t needed on Saturday, though he did log 2 impressive early carries. He said he was amazed that he was as close to 100% as he was considering the severity of the injury. He said he expects to be back to 100% in a couple weeks.

Edwards-Helaire is the guy who can finish off runs, and as LSU fans know all too well, he’s been the difference late in some of these games against quality foes. For what it’s worth, Clemson struggled immensely to slow down J.K. Dobbins, who still went off despite a mid-game ankle injury.

If LSU is going to dethrone Clemson, it’ll be because it avoided the shortcomings that doomed Alabama and Ohio State.

5. It’s the matchup we deserve

I know. You wanted Burrow vs. his former team. It would’ve been great theater. But you know what? You would’ve gotten sick of that storyline by Day 2, much less over the course of 16 days.

Wouldn’t you rather have a better between-the-lines matchup? In a national championship game, yes, give me the better matchup.

There are storylines galore with this one. Like, how will Louisiana deal with the state-wide hangover that’s bound to ensue, win or lose. Or, which one of these quarterbacks will make a tank more beneficial? Or, can Swinney pull one more on the SEC?

Ya see. The storylines are there. The fireworks should be, too. These teams have been all sorts of dominant, especially down the stretch. We deserve a chance to watch them battle it out.

Can it be Jan. 13 yet?

[LSUDad]

 

 

 

[LSUDad]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LSUDad]

Coach E, Prayers for All, God Bless. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

[houtiger]

One thing I heard about this game, LSU has faced the InbredGumps receiving corp, but their receivers are real fast and run good routes, but they are not huge guys.  Higgins for Clemson is 6' 4" and 215, while Ross is 6' 4" and 205.  Both taller than guys we have faced, and talented at their size.  If Lawrence throws the ball high and the receivers can high point it, they can beat our corners.

[Nutriaitch]

42 minutes ago, houtiger said:

Both taller than guys we have faced

 

Texas has a guy 6’ 6” 220
Kyle Pitts for Florida is 6’ 6” 239
 

i’m not scared

[houtiger]

41 minutes ago, Nutriaitch said:

Texas has a guy 6’ 6” 220
Kyle Pitts for Florida is 6’ 6” 239
i’m not scared

Neither TX nor Fla. had Trevor Lawrence throwing to them.  Neither TX nor Fla. had Etienne at RB to force the D to play honest.  Lawrence runs at least as good as Elingher, so that is another option we will have to cover.

Playing Clemson will be much more like playing InbredGumps than like playing Oklahoma.  There's a reason Clemson is the defending nat. champs, that blew apart a InbredGumps team that had 10 players drafted in 2019, plus had Dylan Moses when they played, and a healthy Tua.  Of course Clemson lost a few key pieces off that team, but they have recruited well.  We beat the InbredGumps team without those 10 NFL draftees, without Moses, and without a healthy Tua.

I'm not scared of Clemson, but I have a healthy respect for them.  They put away a very good OSU team Saturday. 

[Nutriaitch]

Don’t care who throwing to them. 

theyre being covered by Stingley and Fulton. 

Lawrence doesn’t run as well as Hurts. 
plus we get Divinity back. 

so a full set of really good LBs
a very deep D-Line
and the healthiest secondary we’ve had since early in fall camp. 

 

bring it. 

[Fishhead]

5 hours ago, Nutriaitch said:

 

Texas has a guy 6’ 6” 220
Kyle Pitts for Florida is 6’ 6” 239
 

i’m not scared

To be fair, those guys had success against us

[Fishhead]

4 hours ago, houtiger said:

Neither TX nor Fla. had Trevor Lawrence throwing to them.  Neither TX nor Fla. had Etienne at RB to force the D to play honest.  Lawrence runs at least as good as Elingher, so that is another option we will have to cover.

Playing Clemson will be much more like playing InbredGumps than like playing Oklahoma.  There's a reason Clemson is the defending nat. champs, that blew apart a InbredGumps team that had 10 players drafted in 2019, plus had Dylan Moses when they played, and a healthy Tua.  Of course Clemson lost a few key pieces off that team, but they have recruited well.  We beat the InbredGumps team without those 10 NFL draftees, without Moses, and without a healthy Tua.

I'm not scared of Clemson, but I have a healthy respect for them.  They put away a very good OSU team Saturday. 

A lot of good points. That said, Lawrence running like he did Saturday night is an anomaly, not the norm.  That's on film now.

Clemson should've lost Saturday night. I believe it's gonna be a better game than vs OU. Comparing them to the Gumps makes me happy though. If we played Alabama again we'd win by 30+. A couple fluke plays kept them close.  LSU is on another level since then, and constantly improving. 

As Joe said, if anyone's gonna beat us, they'll have to kill us. 

[Nutriaitch]

1 hour ago, Fishhead said:

To be fair, those guys had success against us

one of them did. 

What did Johnson do for Texas?
3 for 49. 

Pitts in other hand was very successful and they should have kept throwing to him. 

[Hatchertiger]

6' 6" 220 what?????? We got Clyde!!!!!!!!!

[houtiger]

Jeez Louise!  OSU fans are claiming that the SEC refs threw the game to Clemson because the SEC thought Clemson would be easier for LSU to beat, and they wanted the national championship to be held by as SEC school again.  The ultimate conspiracy theory!!!  I looked at the suspect calls, particularly the "fumble" and I thought the refs got it right.  The targeting call was clear also IMO.

[dachsie]

I thought that should have been a catch and fumble and OSU was robbed but I still think we will handle Clemson.  It should be a heck of a game

[Fishhead]

2 hours ago, houtiger said:

Jeez Louise!  OSU fans are claiming that the SEC refs threw the game to Clemson because the SEC thought Clemson would be easier for LSU to beat, and they wanted the national championship to be held by as SEC school again.  The ultimate conspiracy theory!!!  I looked at the suspect calls, particularly the "fumble" and I thought the refs got it right.  The targeting call was clear also IMO.

Targeting call was easy. It was targeting. 

The catch and fumble was a catch and fumble. Especially since that's what it was called on the field. 

Didn't really matter though. They wound up stopping them on that drive and then tOSU scored a TD.

[Herb]

7 hours ago, Fishhead said:

Targeting call was easy. It was targeting. 

The catch and fumble was a catch and fumble. Especially since that's what it was called on the field. 

Didn't really matter though. They wound up stopping them on that drive and then tOSU scored a TD.

I agree 100%. 

LMAO at these butt hurt tOSU fans crying foul and lashing out at the reality that haunts their dreams each night: they are not in the SEC.

[Herb]

Don't forget we get Divinity back for the title game. 

[Hatchertiger]

2 hours ago, Herb said:

Don't forget we get Divinity back for the title game. 

 

[Hatchertiger]

More good news:

 

[houtiger]

Clemson was the best team in college football last year, and they dominated InbredGumps in the Championship game.  I looked up what they lost to the NFL, and they lost a lot.  Clemson had 3 defensive linemen drafted in the first round last year, they had a CB go in the second round, and another d-lineman go in the 4th round, and WR Hunter Renfro in the 5th round.  Clearly they had an incredible d-line last year.  Losing that is going to hurt.  I haven't followed them but they are probably not as dominant on defense as last year.  That's good for LSU.

[Eq4bits]

 

 

[Herb]

A must read:

 

https://www.andthevalleyshook.com/2019/12/30/21041288/2019-lsu-football-college-football-playoff-national-championship-clemson-tigers-popeyes-chick-fila

[houtiger]

Little bit about Chris Curry from Orgeron:

Quote

But not having Clyde in there gives those other guys valuable reps. I've got to say something to Chris Curry. In this world of transfer portals and all that, taking the easy way out, it says a lot about his character, his grit, his toughness. He told me, he said, Coach, I'm going to be one of your best backs. Just watch.

And during the Bowl practices, when Clyde's not out, then we've got to find out who's the best back to put in there. Obviously, those two young guys are ahead of him, but he has some great practices, and the plays that we're running, the style of plays that we run, we felt that Chris was the best one to run it. Boy, I'll tell you what, he took his opportunity. We said next man up, we put 11 men on the field, and we fight like Tigers, and he did it. I'm so proud of him.

Coach may be working hard to keep him out of the transfer portal.

He runs hard, with a head of steam, looks like he can push back a couple of DB's.  But, he never really broke one like Clyde does.  Maybe its experience and vision that Clyde has gained, instead of going too fast and running into a guy, he slows just a bit and sees a better path to daylight.  That's experience.

Edited January 1, 2020 by houtiger