Ok. Hump day. Had time to get past all the chappedassedness

[gravedigger]

of the past Saturday. Onto the next one. But before we completely cover the lump in the litter box of the USM game, I need to ask you all some of my mind twisting questions. I want brutally honest answers. Or very creative snarky sarcasm. You pick. Do not choose the latter without expecting to be critiqued.

How MUCH do you depend on the opposing team to be nearly the SAME TEAM we played last year when looking at your expectations of the upcoming game?

Be honest. Not at all you say? I'm calling bulls#!t.

OF COURSE we all have a more pragmatic view of our team. We know all the twists and turns in the offseason. We've looked at all the Athlons/Lindy's'/Phil Steels and done our homework about the opposing teams.

But how much to we really expect them to be different THIS YEAR from the team we played LAST YEAR?

If, not much, then how does that relate to how different you expect OUR team to be?

What I'm getting at is this: Tell me you are basing your beliefs about LSU MORE on events SINCE our game with us last year or more on the game itself last year.

I say, there is somewhat of a correlation, but not much. We did not upset them last year. We beat the brakes off them. We were a better team and the mystique of death valley meant nothing.

Conversely, we could have hung 100 on USM last year and just didn't. Some due to 1st game jitters, some due to not being jerks. This year, I am less sure of how good we are compared to last year, but I am certain, beyond any doubt, USM is better and A LOT better.

So, if you are going to look at this LSU game, are you predicting it's outcome close because we didn't annihilate this years USM in the way we did last years? Are you expecting a beat down on LSU because of some expectation that LSU will not have improved?

[whosyourdawgy]

Shoot. I saw hump day and thought I was gonna see women with little on. Disappointed

[Barkman Turner Overdrive]

Shoot. I saw hump day and thought I was gonna see women with little on. Disappointed

Me too!

[CadaverDawg]

I factor in several things...

1. We beat LSU on the road badly last year. (Pro)
2. This year we lost some quality and depth, although not nearly what people think (Small con)
3. LSU returns a bunch at the offensive skill positions, so their offense WILL be better. But how much? (Con)
4. We played USM on the road this year, they are MUCH improved, we made tons of mistakes and still won handily (small pro)
5. We played a game to knock rust off (pro)
6. LSU has game film, we don't (con)
7. Our team feels like we have to play really well to win, Bc of the USM performance (pro - won't go in overconfident)
8. LSU watched USM film and thinks we stink (pro)
9. We are at home this year vs in Death Valley. And we smoked em there (biggest pro)

There's more, but I still feel the pros outweigh the cons. The big questions to me are....how much did LSU improve? Will they be rusty? Will we keep from making self inflicting mistakes?