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RED BATON, La. – The primitive roar of LSU's Tiger Stadium is unleashing the attention of 102,321 spectators. Hope, despair and Crown Royal follow one another, a roaring cocktail of volatility and impatience that has gone through years of mediocre football. At Death Valley, only optimism has been set aside recently. It's been five years since the last LSU season, 10 years since the last SEC title and 11 years since the national title. In the last months of October, national relevance was highlighted alongside Abita in the parking chillers.
During this period, loyal fans of LSU have seen Alabama found a dynasty, Miles stammering during his last seasons and enough uninspired offensive to make billionaires liquor distributors in East Baton Parish Red.
Hope resurfaced on Saturday under Force No. 13 LSU, Georgia, 36-16. LSU has not been content to beat one of the top two teams for the first time since the 9-6 overtime win in Alabama in 2011. LSU took a hammer for Georgia's pride , revealing his lack of physique, his extreme youth and his called game offered less sophistication than "Tecmo Bowl". In 60 minutes of small-mouth football, LSU has reappeared as a SEC tyrant.
"I grew up watching LSU football," coach Ed Orgeron said after the game. You could feel it coming down the tiger walk. You could smell it all week [that] it was going to be one of those games for the LSU Tigers. "
This LSU victory came directly from the desperate souls of Death Valley and manifested itself through a guttural roar that doubled as an exorcism of mediocrity. Clyde Edwards-Helaire, the attacking halfback, led a precipitous 275-yard drive and quarterback Joe Burrow was clear guard underneath the center. And everything spilled on the Tiger Stadium at the end, while the student section emptied like a golden waterfall on the grass and turned into a mosh dance floor.
Ed Orgeron, LSU coach, celebrates a goal against Georgia in the second half of an NCAA college football game in Baton Rouge, La., Saturday, October 13, 2018. (AP Photo / Matthew Hinton)
Suddenly, with LSU's next two games against No. 24 Mississippi State and November 3 against No. 1 Alabama here at Baton Rouge, the road to the SEC title, College Football Playoff and National Title goes through the most exciting hangout of the university football. LSU (6-1) has a defeat – Florida last week – but is the ultimate advantage for the most critical matches.
All this is done at the expense of Georgia, who has seen his hopes of returning to the university football playoffs sink into oblivion, like so many passes by Jake Fromm. Too many passes of Jake Fromm, to be more precise. Of course, Georgia can still mathematically win the SEC. But anyone who attended this match has witnessed a team that suddenly looks vulnerable to winning the SEC East. Some of the injuries were self-inflicted, while Georgia's exciting gambling appeal defied common sense and Kirby Smart's reluctance to change quarterback was disconcerting. (Did he learn anything from Nick Saban's talent in the national title game last year?)
The lack of basic principles in Georgia – tackling the issue, addressing it, becoming aware of the situation – was alarming. But Smart admitted that his biggest concern was also the most important theme of the day: LSU was pushing Georgia all around the sand. "This is the most worrying part," Smart said, questioned that his team is physically out of date. "Look guys, we did not really play Missouri physics. Vanderbilt ran the ball over us. This [didn’t just] emerged from the ground. "
As Georgia struggled in the middle of a flawed game plan filled with too many passes from coordinator Jim Chaney, the dominance of LSU kicked off a decadent night that will be a precursor to two more home-game-markers here the next three weeks. LSU is far from being a perfect team. Burrow (15 assists for 30 assists) is still more a player than a star, the defensive line no longer has the previous iteration dogs and the offensive line could end up vulnerable against both states of the world. Mississippi next week (nation # 1 defense) and Alabama. But the most memorable clichés of this game come from Devin White, the leader of the attackers in the box, Greedy Williams speaking loud enough to be heard in the press gallery and Georgia methodically lowering himself into self-destruction . They shook a list of the SEC's youngest members – 68.5% freshmen and sophomores – and left them in the fetal position at the end of the match. (See Hardman's groping on a quarterback kickback in the fourth quarter.)
Nobody seemed more shaken than Fromm, who had been beaten, chased and fired so many times that he looked scared, while he was spending a good part of the afternoon happy feet in reverse. He finished the day 16-in-34 with two interceptions, the worst game of his career by a country mile. Fromm consolidated this low point without glory by taking a fourth quarter bag that pushed Georgia out of range early in the fourth quarter, which sucked the last fumes of his return without conviction. Fromm has gone from the incarnation of a cool client and a flawless freshman to a potential figure in a quarterback controversy.
As Georgia enters a week off, one wonders for two weeks in Athens why Smart did not want to play against substitute quarterback Justin Fields, the first quarterback of the country to double threat, who had a handful sporadic shots but never drive one's own. Smart danced around direct questions about the situation of the quarterback and the abandonment of the race. Talented hookers D'Andre Swift (12 carries for 72 yards) and Elijah Holyfield (seven for 56 yards) were both effective and significantly underused. Smart recognized the second choice in three different answers and summarized Georgia 6-1 in the following manner: "We did not pull out of this team what we should get out of it. And it's up to me as a leader and to us as coaches. "
Let's be honest here. Few coaches in the country are less respected as strategists than Orgeron. His Hummer commercials, his affinity for Red Bull, and his leaning for slogans – "One Heartbeat" – have called him a coach, who provides recruitment, energy and motivation relentlessly. But he has little attention for his strong sense of football in the media and in the coaching industry. Heck, LSU pays $ 2.5 million to defense coordinator Dave Aranda, and Orgeron comes from a defensive midfielder. But on Saturday, no one can deny that Smart, Nick Saban's precocious prodigy, left the tiger stadium after escaping. A series of questions about Georgia's offensive game plan, its toughness and a false goal on a well-grounded ground will hover in Athens.
The national paradigm of LSU has been completely transformed. A season after losing to Troy, getting run over by the state of Mississippi and being overthrown by Alabama, LSU has shown enough fighting to be considered a legitimate candidate for college football play-offs . The Tigers pushed Georgia as if it was a directional school of Louisiana.
And while the fans were posing for their last selfie on the field, they disappeared to celebrate something rare in these areas recently: high stakes games at Tiger Stadium in late fall. "Great crowd, great LSU football," said Orgeron. "And that's how it must be."
Someone has warned liquor distributors in East Baton Rouge that they would be working overtime in the next few weeks. The exorcism of mediocrity is over and the party seems to be just starting.
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