Welcome to LSU's best forum site! I love PAC 10 football, of course not as much as SEC. One of the most exciting college football games I've ever attending was the Cal/USC game in 2003 at Berkeley. It was a triple overtime win for Cal. The Trojan Band had marched throught the Cal campus the night before playing their fight song and pissed the entire student body off. There was a near riot after the game as Cal fans tried to rush the USC band after the game. I had no idea the importance of that game during LSU's BCS Title run. Too bad we could not have played USC for the title. I have always felt the AP protested the BCS format by voting USC their award. I think LSU's defense would have been to much for a young Leinart much the way Cal's defense pressured Matt into 3 interceptions during the Cal game. However, we will never know. Maybe this year in New Orleans, who knows!
I can see gradin throwing his hands up. :hihi: There were some disparaging remarks made about comments from LSU boards about in reference to a particular subject, so I posted (With a link) that those comments were not true of our forum. I was speaking to the class of you all here........for what it's worth. Actually, the first time Hector and I encountered each other, he was chewing on my azz, about two weeks ago. Vball intevened and told him I was a "Regular" even though I seldom visit since the season ended and they have a new forum that is REALLY SLOW to get around in. Hector and I have shared pm's since then and from what I know of him, he's a good guy and a lot of fun. With LSU/USC where both programs are, I expect there will be more visitors, can't wait till his pro-USC comes out. :hihi: I will say this, it is unreal how many flamers visit the USC forum- from all conferences. Unfortunately, that is predominiantly the representation they see of us the most and why I always like for them to visit here to see this forum is different- tight-nit, very skeptical of "Outsiders", just like our rural towns in La. Hector is a lucky man, he lives in freakin Hawaii.
Yeah, I remember when I visited Hawaii it was $3+ for gas... oh wait never mind. And you gotta love that McDonald's serves spam.
Thank you all for your warm greetings. Like you, I have high expectations for both USC and LSU and my dream is to watch them play for the BCS NC in person with my teenage son next January. Hotel reservations have been made. As for tickets ... hahaha. I am no "expert" on USC football, but I am a long time fan (since '60) and a great lover of CFB in general. All mine are therefore personal opinions only and may be off from what others more knowledable about the team than I may state. That said, I believe USC has four question-marks they will need to provide answers to: 1) Wide Receivers - who replaces Smith and Jarrett and how long will it take JD Booty to work out the timing and communication with them? P. Turner and V. Hazelton are the odds-on at this point, and D. Ausberry & T. Patterson represent a good second echelon. We also expect R. "RoJo" Johnson to see some chances, but right now he's a 100% unknown quanity at D1. 2) Who will emerge as the number 1 & 2 RBs and at what point will they get enough PT to find their groove? There is so much depth-with-talent that sorting this out may take more time than ideally desired and keeping everything "peaceful" on the reservation in the meantime will be an interesting "challenge". 3) Depth at FB? Havili at FB looks like a very solid candidate to fill the slot with excellence, but depth at that position is a justified concern. A solid #2 needs to be identified. P. Hill (JC incoming?) could fit the bill nicely, but no offer has yet been extended, so that's "counting chickens" for sure. 4) Center? Having to replace our great center, Ryan Kalil, poses some potential problems for us. We have some real ballers (but unproven), and exchanges were an obvious problem during Spring. M. Spanos looks to have the inside track, but I don't think this has been definitively settled yet. Many are looking to incoming K. O'Dowd to start by mid-season, but I think this is highly unlikely. We should be firing on all 8 cylinders by mid-season, but we'll have to get by Nebraska early, if we are to achieve all we hope to. Have a great week. HS
Hector, I've always wondered- how seriously do y'all take ND? It seems like the rivalry is more on their end than at USC. We have our anti-LSU teams (La Tech, ULL), but I often forget they exist. On your end, do you have a huge loathing for them as they do you?
lsutiga: those are kind words and a good synopsis of our "past". I am a new poster to message boards of any type and have needed some time to learn the proper protocols (being a somewhat aged old cuss). Unfortunately, what lsutiga says is true about the many visiting flamers we get on our site and, to my discredit, I made some assumptions about lsutiga that were unfounded. A little more of a self-intro may be in order: I live in Hawaii, am married (29 years) and have 4 kids (27 - 17). I am most certainly a staunch Trojan fan, but I love CFB in general. I have many secondary favorites and they may shift annually, depending on match-ups, team character perceptions and who's doing what at any given point. Consistent secondary favorites in the respective conferences include: LSU & Tenn (Sec West & East, respectively), OU (Big-12), OSU & UW (Big-10), Rutgers (new) (Big East), UNC (ACC), & U Hawaii (WAC). Can't say I have a fav in the Mountain West, MAC or Sunbelt but I'll watch any game any time and will have a preference 99% of the time. Underdogs are high on my favored list, if there is no other leaning that I may have.
