I need to give you a pulpit and let you preach that to these dadgum Les Miles haters that I have to hear every day. We have established ourselves as a national power, and we haven't been underdogs in a game in a long time. I see the next few years looking just as good. We are EXTREMELY loyal fans down here, but we have been known to put way to much pressure on teams. Look at the Saints this year...we practically made them the saviors of a city....they are just football players. Let em play ball and sit back and enjoy it. :thumb:
YES we have to win it this year! A NC will be the final nail in Little Nicky's coffin here at LSU. LES Miles will be the man no matter what else happens. With the talent we have we had better win it because we won't have a leg to stand on against all the CLM and LSU haters. We have bragged all year about how good we are it's time to nut up and prove it and nothing short of a NC will do that. You only get so many chances like these we can't waste it. Now next year no I will not expect a NC next year if we win 10 games I would be very happy.
For where we are placed @ this point in the season, it's extremely realistic to hope for the NC. They aren't, however, easy to win, so when we get the chance, we have to grab it. In '03, on this very forum, some folks said, "Well, if we don't make the game, it doesn't matter because we'll be even better in '04 (and we don't want to play OU, the best team EVER, in the NCG.) Well, we WEREN'T better in '04; we were way worse. And OU wasn't the best EVER. We're really close to getting in the game (if we win out), so I hope we get to go.
Our goal should be to win the toughest conferrence in major college football every year. If you win the SEC, a NC will be in our reach every year. But concentrate on winning the conferrence championship and consider playing in the NC game as lagniappe.:lsup: :geauxtige :helmet: :crystal: :crystal:
Winning the SEC is good and all but on a national level 90% of Football fans could not tell you who won it the past 3 years but I bet most can tell you who won the NC for the past 5. We need to think outside of the SEC and what the Recruits see is a program built to win NCs not just SEC titles.
We have to win the SEC. All these wins are great, but we got to win the conference to legitimize these wins. This is the year to make it happen. We don't need any help from other teams to make this a reality. Anything less will be disappointing. Winning the SEC puts us in position to play in the BCSNG, but we don't control that. Auburn proved that teams don't control what happens with the BCS, they only control their conference. Spurrier is considered one of the greatest coaches, but yet he only won 1 NC in 12 years at Florida. But he dominated the SEC by winning 6 titles. Good things will happen when you win the SEC.
Personally, I think that if we get to the SEC Championship, whomever we play will be a tougher opponent than anyone we would play in the national championship. For that reason, I place much greater importance on conference championships than the national championship.
Generally, I expect LSU to challenge for SEC and National titles in odd numbered years, when the home schedule is favorable (is that ever going to change?). This year, combining the home schedule with what I consider the most talent in the country (or at least very very near the top), and an apparent lack of great teams, I will be disappointed with anything less than a :crystal:. A loss in the SEC Championship Game would be a bitter disappointment. Failing to even reach the SEC Championship Game would be a failed season.
