Sports

How ‘Bout Them Dawgs?!

The College post-season has been set, and the two teams that I pull for are both playing in bowl games. The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (my alma mater) will be squaring-off against Northern Illinois in the Independence Bowl. And the LSU Tigers will be meeting Georgia Tech in the Chick-fil-A Bowl.

The Bulldogs were able to sneak into this bowl because the SEC and the Big 12 didn’t have enough bowl-eligible teams to fill the slots. But that’s okay. The Bulldogs haven’t been in a bowl since 2002, and all of us Bulldog fans are grateful for whatever we can get. I think we have a good chance of winning this one.

LSU had a sub-par season, but teams like this one often go to bowls anyway. LSU has their work cut out for them in this game. Georgia Tech beat Georgia last week, and Georgia trounced LSU earlier this season. I am not so sure that the prospects look all that good for the Tigers. Nevertheless, I’ll be pulling for them.

BOWL

LOCATION

DATE/TIME

NETWORK

Independence

Northern Illinois vs. Louisiana Tech

Shreveport, La.
Independence Stadium

Dec. 28, 8:15 p.m. ET

ESPN

Chick-fil-A

LSU vs. Georgia Tech

Atlanta
Georgia Dome

Dec. 31, 7:30 p.m. ET

ESPN

15 Comments

  • Matt Svoboda

    Yeah, Georgia Tech had over 400 rushing yards against Georgia… I expect the same with LSU… But LSU certainly will not score 42 like Georgia did… I am picking Georgia Tech by 20!

  • Carlito

    Well, Denny, your Tigers are in a lot better shape than my Vols are.. We are already looking forward to next year to see what Kiffin can do. It’s been a LOOOONG and pitiful year on Rocky Top.

    I hate to do it, but I’ll be pulling for the hated Gators in the NC game. SEC all the way!

  • Matt Svoboda

    Les Miles is very overrated. He was never very good at Oklahoma State. He won the National Championship with Nick Saban’s players and Bo Pelini’s defense. He lost both of those things and now he is terrible…hmm.

  • Darius T

    What did I say? I just asked if Les is on the hot seat yet. It’s a fair question, as Denny has routinely hinted that he’s not much of a fan of Miles. I agree somewhat with Matt, Miles is overrated. He had some limited success at Okie State (primarily by upsetting OU twice, which in the Big 12 qualifies as success). His decision-making last year was atrocious but they lucked out and won a national title despite his awful coaching.

  • Ryan McBride

    I was just wondering why you guys dislike the SEC so much. Just seems like the SEC commish has been coming to your homes and giving you a swirly or something…

  • Kris

    Coach Miles coaching abilities are being exposed and will continue to be. When I say abilities I am saying his ability to let his coaching staff do their job, he is too much hands on and doesn’t alway make the best decisions. We watched him for four years here in Okla.

    Merry Christmas, Denny &

    BTW Boomer Sooner

  • Jon Borofsky

    Just for the record…I’ve been keeping up with these Big 12 Vs. SEC posts.

    I’m a Sooner fan…so there’s my bias.

    However, records speak louder than biases.

    The ONLY team in the SEC with an oustanding defense is Alabama. The rest look great because of the offenses they play.

    Now…if we’re going to argue that the SEC has great defenses, then we have to assume we’re not saying “the TOP 3 teams in the SEC have good defenses”. Because then, you may have a case for 2 of them.

    #1 Georgia vs. offensive “powerhouse” Georgia Southern – W 48 – 21
    Not to mention Georgia and Kentucky’s incredible defensive game (42-38) or the “most memorable defensive powerhouse game of all-time” LSU-Georgia (52-38)

    Georgia is SEC #3

    Who can forget Ole Miss? After battling it out with ground-and-pound Memphis, they only allowed 24 whole points! What a stand! Now, Ole Miss did have an out of conference loss. But they made that Wake Forest pay for every point! All 30 of them! That’ll teach the ACC to try and mess with a stout SEC defense!

    Ole Miss is the SEC #4

    LSU….the mighty defending national champsions….

    In 6 of their last 10 games, they’ve allowed over 20 points. Against the mean and lean Troy, they allowed 31 points.

    31 is also their unlucky number, as that is how many points they gave up in each of their last two games (both losses to embarrassingly awful teams)

    Miss. State…well, do I need to say anything?

    Ditto for Arkansas…

    South Carolina WOULD have done better in their out of conference games….except they played the Defensive walls of Wofford and UAB, winning by 10 and 13, respectively. Don’t even talk to Steve Spurrier about Clemson (31-14….another ACC team)

    Whoops….guess the SEC doesn’t have good defenses afterall, according to their out of conference games!

    So, no one educated on these facts can say “the SEC has good defense”. If the SEC consisted of only Florida and Alabama, that statement would be true.

    SEC defense makes offense “just look bad”? Most of those out of conference games were close ones (10 points or less), with the scores being in the 20’s.

    Now, in the Big 12 out of conferences games….

    OU – Chatt. (on par with Troy, UAB, Wofford, etc.) – OU 57 – Chatt. – 2

    Weak Big 12 defense makes offense look good?

    OU – 52 – Cinci – 26 (their game average)

    Oh yeah….Other than OU and UConn, Cinci. has allowed a maximum of 23 points.

    The Longhorns did not allow 2 touchdowns to be scored in a game until they started conference play against Colorado (who only scored 14….who had scored around 25 PPG up to that point)

    Not until Texas played the top 4 teams in the Big 12 did they allow over 20 points to be scored. Since coming out of that stretch, they allowed 21, 7, and 9 points to be scored.

    Not to mention Missouri with about 46 PPG being held to 21 by OU….7 at the half.

    But I guess out of conference games should be the true determining factor of “Weak Big 12 defense = good Big 12 offense” and vice versa.

    The fact of the matter is, out of conference the Big 12 scored more and allowed less than the SEC.

    But hey, it’s cute the way SEC fans defend their conference, even though it’s one of their worst years in recent history.

    As for the Big 12 fans….we’ll gladly bask in the fact that this year, the Big 12 is noticeably better than the SEC.

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