First, he took care of business and won a big road game after losing to Troy. Then he came back from the dead to defeat what were thought to be the bigger and badder Tigers of the SEC. Now, ten years have passed and this time, it’s personal! This SEC Saturday Coach O is…Ed Orgeron: Rebel Hunter!
Saturday night is Ed Orgeron’s most must win game of the season. This is not just because it is LSU’s “next game,” but also because of how much Coach O wants this one whether he admits it out loud to the public or not. Orgeron kind of already alluded to how much he wants this win with his comments about “the gas station with the great chicken on a stick.” These not-so-subtle jabs at Ole Miss is what makes Coach O the most entertaining coach in the country and it is also what makes him one of the country’s best recruiters.
Stories about Phyllis and her amazing fried chicken aside, Ed Orgeron has proclaimed this game a “must win” as he has for other games in his short tenure at LSU. But rarely does Orgeron bring up why it is a must win, which is what he did when he said, “it’s a rivalry game.” And “this is for the fans, this is for the ’70s this is for our players, this is a battle, a border state, bragging rights, all that stuff.” Capping it off with a good old fashioned, “this is what college football is about.” Coach O is building up this rivalry more than the other big games he has coached so far at LSU not just because he wants his players hyped up so they can roll with the momentum, but also because he is already hyped up and hoping to run the score up on Hotty Toddy.
Ten years ago Orgeron was given the opportunity of a lifetime to coach in the SEC at Oxford. While he was there he was a punching bag and hardly given a fair shake by the administration compared to what resources his successors received at Oxford. Ole Miss folks used Orgeron’s colorful personality against him instead of embracing it. They made fun of him, probably because they were sick of being made fun of by so everyone else in college football. They finally found a guy who sounded funny to them that they could rag on and use as a scapegoat. It was toxic but a blessing in disguise. Ten years gone and now Ed Orgeron is back in Oxford, not as a position coach, not as an interim head coach, but as the head football coach at Louisiana State University, and you can hear it in his voice, Coach O is out for sweet sweet revenge.
Sure Orgeron coached LSU to a 38-21 win against Ole Miss last year, but it’s so much more personal this season because he is officially the man in charge and it is taking place in the place where the only person who treated him nice was the lady selling chickens on sticks. It doesn’t quite behoove LSU to try to outgun the high octane Rebels, so in the midst of pounding the rock 47 times, expect Ed Orgeron to have Matt Canada call a trick play or two. Expect Ed Orgeron’s special teams to unload on Ole Miss, maybe even with a fake punt. Expect Ed Oregron’s defense to pin their ears back and get after Shea Patterson. Then after all of that, you can expect Coach O to finally have a chance to dance on a Mississippi Saturday night.