TigerSmack

In the spirit of Tulane-LSU week, I offer the musings of the proprietor, Dave, of TigerSmack to a series of questions I posed. My similar experience, as a reciprocal guest, can be found here (ed. -the link appears broken?).

Questions:

Clearly Tulane is not a viable on-field rival for LSU any longer- so what program in LSU’s measuring stick?

All of our old rivalries seem to have died, and that’s a kind of sad. Tulane, Ole Miss, and Texas A&M all used to be bitter rivals of LSU and the games were fiercely competitive. Now, Tulane has gone in a different direction as an institution and just isn’t a football power, so the games just aren’t competitive enough to get anyone excited, much less bitter or angry about. We’re not playing for the same prize, and Tulane’s not likely to keep LSU from obtaining it’s prize, even with a win. Ole Miss, on the other hand, is in our conference and does share our goals, but let’s be frank: for an SEC team, Ole Miss sucks. And as long as they’re not playing at LSU’s level, it’s hard to think of them as a rival. Even if they get better, it’s likely that the old rivalry is dead and buried; their rival is Mississippi State, and probably will be for a long time. Texas A&M? Well, when you don’t play someone any more, they’re not a rival any more, right? I can’t remember how or why our relationship with them came to an end, but it’s unfortunate. Of course, like Ole Miss, these days they’re not very good, so it probably wouldn’t matter if we played them. And like Ole Miss, they’ve got a more natural rival at home (the Texas Longhorns).

For the last few years, university officials and tv networks have conspired to make LSU and Arkansas bitter rivals. They play the game on the Friday after Thanksgiving every year, to try and make it a special occasion that people can mark on their calendars. And they created the most God-awful ugly “trophy” ever, which the winner gets to keep. It would really make more sense if the loser had to keep that damn thing for a year and display it somewhere prominent on campus. Now that would be motivation to win. Alas, it just hasn’t worked. LSU and Arkansas aren’t “rivals”, and I don’t think we’re going to be.

Most LSU fans would say Auburn is currently the closest thing we have to a true rivalry. Despite the fact that their true rival is Alabama, even Auburn fans and sportswriters are questioning whether LSU is the bigger rivalry for them now, due to Alabama’s recent lack of competitiveness, and the fact that LSU and Auburn dominate the SEC West, so whoever wins the game between them usually wins the West. Add to that the fact that LSU-Auburn games tend to be very close, very exciting, and quite often something weird happens that defines the game. This year it was a series of highly questionable calls by officials. Last year, their kicker missed five field goals and they lost. The year before that, LSU lost on a truly bizarre penalty that I’d never seen before and haven’t seen since, something about a player using another player to elevate himself to block a kick. A few years before that, a building next to Auburn’s stadium burned down during the game. One year our quarterback threw three interceptions, all returned for touchdowns, in the fourth quarter to squander a seemingly insurmountable lead. Then there’s the famous “Earthquake Game”.

And the smack-talking between LSU and Auburn fans seems to get nastier every year, especially with the growing popularity of internet sports forums and blogs. Sometimes it’s really out of control.

What do you think of LSU’s out of conference scheduling strategy? Do you like the games? Are there too many Tulane & ULL home games- and not enough Penn State road games? Or are the softies the way you have to do business in a power league?

It’s a delicate balance, to use a cliché. You need the “tune up” games, the “rent-a-wins”, to get your team in shape, work out kinks, and put experience on the young guys. And the guaranteed “W” doesn’t hurt, although with strength of schedule playing a role in the BCS, it doesn’t always help much, either. You don’t want to play too many cupcakes, or you don’t get enough points in the BCS Magical Mystery Formula to get into a good bowl or the championship game. On the other hand, despite the tv revenue windfall, you don’t want to play four or five solid, highly ranked teams either, because you’re apt to lose a few of them, and that’ll keep you out of the big bowls, too.

This year, I think we went a little soft— ULL, Arizona, Tulane, Fresno State. To be fair, nobody knew Arizona would be this bad, since they used to be pretty good, and Fresno State has been better in recent years than they are this year.

My strategy would be one in-state school per year (ie. Tulane, ULL, ULM, etc.), two or three good but not-great non-conference teams (ie. Teams you should beat but that should give you a good game and might lure ESPN2 to town. Teams like Fresno State or TCU), and then one strong, highly ranked team that will get a good TV billing and be highly competitive, like a Notre Dame, Florida State, or USC.

I guess my main thing is that if you’re going to play some “cupcakes”, some “rent-a-wins”, then at least some of that money should be kept in state. Lately LSU seems to be adopting that approach. I don’t see any reason to give a six figure payday to some directional school in Texas when our own state schools could really use the money.

Can Tulane win a single one of these games the next ten years?

I hope so. Not that I want LSU to actually lose a game to Tulane, but the notion that it was at least possible that Tulane would win—a notion not many people on either side give much weight right now—would make the games more interesting for everyone.

Certainly if everything holds constant for these next ten years, that is, LSU remains a top 10 team and Tulane continues to recruit and play at its current level, the series will go 10-0 in LSU’s favor, or maybe 9-1 allowing for a fluke upset. However, and perhaps fortunately, at least in some ways, many things don’t often hold constant for ten year periods. It’s unlikely that either team will be exactly where it is now, ten or even five years out. Whether they’ll be better or worse, no one can say. My gut tells me Les Miles isn’t going to be a long-termer in Baton Rouge, one way or another. Either he does a DiNardo (has a few good season then tanks) and gets run out of town, or he has a couple of great seasons, Lloyd Carr retires or gets fired, and he goes back home to Michigan. So it’s quite possible a few years from today, LSU will have made a Hallman-esque coaching hire and find itself where previously competitive teams like Mississippi State and Ole Miss find themselves today. I hope not, but these things do happen. And it’s also possible, I suppose, that Tulane’s fortunes turn around and they’re a top 25 team again. (Sorry, top 25 is about as far as I can go and keep a straight face. I don’t think anyone really thinks Tulane is ever going to be more than that again, barring a complete philosophical and strategic change at the highest levels of that University)

What will actually happen is something less drastic, in all probability. I don’t really see LSU hitting the pitiful lows of the 1990’s again; they’ve got too much money invested now to let it get that bad and allow revenue to drop off. I think for the foreseeable future, LSU will bounce around between 8 and 11 wins a season, with an occasional 6 or 7 win “bad year”. And I suspect Tulane will improve a bit and win 5 to 8 games a year over the next decade.

So I guess my answer to your question is: As things stand today, no, but let’s hope it gets more competitive.