It is finally here. The moment you all have been waiting for. The game you immediately circle before all the other games each and every year while saying, “if we can win this game it can all happen for us!” LSU versus Alabama is as professional as college football gets, meaning it is all business and it is all high caliber talent. Once again it is the same scenario as usual too; big time recruits who both schools pursued will take the field to prove to the other guys that they made the wrong choice, but as Coach Ed Orgeron said this week, “there is a different vibe.”
The feeling in the air for Tigers and Tide is different this year, not because of the new regime at LSU with Coach O now the made man in charge. The hype surrounding this game has not changed because Matt Canada is bringing a new type of offensive game plan to the mix. The vibe surrounding LSU and Alabama this year is different because of one main thing: the spread.
Sure there are a ton of new so-called “X factors” involved in this year’s contest, but the biggest difference from the last few showdowns is that 21 point spread. It looms over this game like Shadow Monster. The significance of the 21 point spread can be felt all over too. There is a sense of blatant disrespect to the LSU football team; penalizing them for early season mistakes against Mississippi State and Troy. The chip was placed squarely on the Tigers’ shoulders when this line came out and even though Coach O and the players will claim that they do not pay attention to it, just like Eggos & and little girls with psychokinetic superpowers, this 21 point spread is being used as fuel to increase LSU’s energy and strength this Saturday in Tuscaloosa.
You can also just see where we are at in the SEC in general with this spread. LSU is still considered Alabama’s greatest threat within the conference by many and LSU still can win the SEC West with a big win against Alabama as is the case most years, but now, even though it is virtually the same scenario as every season, the experts and game makers are saying to the world that at this point they do not even want to bother thinking about a team in the SEC overcoming the Tide. They have given up on LSU and the rest of the SEC and succumbed to Alabama’s dominance.
The good thing about that 21 point spread is that it can motivate you because if you are in the LSU locker room you better find it ridiculous to the point of laughter. The bad thing about that 21 point spread though, is that if you do not use it as fuel and you do not find it laughable, then you have major issues because you are allowing the notion that Alabama is superior to creep into your brain and when you open your head to these types of notions, the Mind Flayer that Nick Saban has unleashed on so many will get to you as well. The beast that turns into a Crimson smoke and enters every fabric of your being will consume you with doubt and despair. It has gotten so many and it has us in a state of stagnation and fear. LSU’s job on Saturday is to fight back using the 21 point spread and not letting it use them. If they can do that, then this game will be much closer, just like it always is, and hell, maybe the Tigers can even roll over the Tide this time.
– Alan Michael