Pete
Fiutak
Q:
Make the early call ... LSU vs. Ohio State
A:
Florida deserved to win
last year's national title. There's no question it was the better team,
and I'm not going to make any excuses for the debacle. With that said,
I'm not buying that a perfect storm of factors will happen again.
If you recall, you had a Florida team able to play the disrespect card
to the max. You had a fat and lazy Buckeye team thinking it had already
won the national title by beating Michigan, and then getting a
ridiculously long layoff.
If it's Tigers vs. Buckeyes, you're not going to get that Ohio State
team again. No way, no how. I know they game would be played in New
Orleans, and I know LSU is phenomenal, but I'm a true believer that the
Buckeyes would pull it off thanks to a far better defense than last
year's, a more disciplined offense than it gets credit for, and an
offensive line that could hold its own against the Tiger defensive
front.
I'm still not convinced the LSU defense is anywhere near as good as the
hype. I'm not convinced that it can handle a balanced offense, and I'm
certainly not convinced that the offense can power the ball on the
Buckeyes like it has against the SECers.
With all that said, there's no need to worry about it. In this crazy
year, there's no way these two will end up meeting for the whole ball of
wax. With the way this year has been, it'll probably by Kansas vs.
Arizona State.
Richard
Cirminiello
Q:
Make the early call ... LSU vs. Ohio State
A:
If the Buckeyes and the Tigers meet in New Orleans in January, do
yourself a favor and grab a copy of last year’s BCS title game won by
Florida over Ohio State, 41-14. It’ll be a good primer for what’s about
to come this year. The Bucks are good, no doubt, but they’ll be no
match for a superior SEC team that has the edge in speed and will be
very tough to stop in its own backyard. The time off will be good for
an LSU team that hasn’t had all of its weapons at full strength this
year (see Early Doucet), while the million-day layoff will screw with
the Buckeyes’ momentum for a second straight year. While everyone is
beatable this season, in a one-game situation, give me LSU, the closest
thing to a complete team in 2007. The Tigers win this match up by
double digits, with the potential for the game to get real ugly. Oh,
and if Ohio State fans learn to dislike LSU head coach Les Miles in the
five weeks leading up to the championship game, it’ll be good practice
in case he ever returns to Ann Arbor to coach the Maize and Blue.
John
Harris
Q:
Make the early call ... LSU vs. Ohio State
A: Although the Buckeyes would matchup a
little better with the Tigers than they did with the Gators last year,
it would much of the same. LSU would stretch the field with healthy
wideouts Early Doucet and Terrence Toliver, who’s going to emerge over
the last portion of the season and then threaten the perimeter with
running backs Jacob Hester, Keiland Williams, Charles Scott and Richard
Murphy.
The difference though would be
that the Buckeyes could pound between the tackles more effectively than
they were able to do against the Gators last year. With Troy Smith in
the lineup, Jim Tressel went out of his way to make sure that Smith had
the ball in his hands. However, with this team, he doesn’t have that
option and wouldn’t rely on Todd Boeckman to carry this team; it’s be
more on Chris “Beanie” Wells and the offensive line. Teams haven’t been
scared to run on LSU lately, and Ohio State would have to establish the
run to open the airways for Boeckman.
Regardless, the Tigers would
have over a month to get everyone healthy and be at full strength –
Virginia Tech found out what happens when the Tigers are 100%. LSU
would win a physical matchup 27-17.
Matthew
Zemek
Q:
Make the early call ... LSU vs. Ohio State
A: LSU would win.
Before the people of Columbus go nuts, a cautionary note: I'm saying
this only because the title game is in New Orleans. Put it in
Glendale or Miami or Pasadena, and it's a different story.
Ohio State is so superbly coached, and the Bucks' offensive line
would figure to give Todd Boeckman the ability to throw downfield.
Given that OSU's defense is much better than anything Florida and
Kentucky threw at the Bayou Bengals, and you have a matchup that
certainly lines up in the Buckeyes' favor.
Only in the Superdome would LSU's talent and emotion overwhelm the
Bucks' systemic precision and sound instincts. If this matchup were
to occur, the luck of the draw--make that "the luck of the
dome"--would side with the Tigers.
