OU Could Meet LSU For All The Marbles Again!

Yes, I know we are well into basketball season by this time of the year, but a lot of people are still talking football. Many sites have already released their "Way Too Early 2011 Season Rankings" for football. While we do see some consistency of which teams will be ranked, there is much diversity in who should be #1 and #2. Oklahoma, Stanford, Oregon, and LSU have all managed to earn the #1 ranking in several random rankings and don't forget about Alabama. But when it comes down to it, all that matters is holding on to your preseason ranking while letting the teams above you pick themselves off, especially if you find yourself in the top 5 or even the top 10 for that matter. The 2012 National Championship should prove to be an interesting game and will be hosted in the Superdome, a venue that is a mere hours drive from the Bayou and the Campus of LSU. You can bet the Tigers are looking to make a run at the title game and play in front of a home crowd in a place where they have won two titles (2004 vs OU and 2008 vs tOSU). The question is will the Sooners meet them there once again?

The Superdome has always boded well for the LSU Tigers. They are 2-0 when playing for a national title in the venue and would be a heavy favorite to win it again assuming they make it that far. I don't know if it's the culture or just the fact that everyone in the state of Louisiana is a Tiger fan that makes it so tough to play there but I would be willing to bet that not many teams and coaches would raise their hand to sign up to meet the Tigers on their home field of the Superdome to play for all the marbles. However, if the LSU Tigers are looking to repeat their 2003 and 2007 seasons, they are going to have to dig deep. They play a tough schedule with their season opener against Oregon being played in Dallas and later traveling to Tuscaloosa to play Bama. Right out of the gate, one of the teams hoping to win a title will have their dreams smashed in a game that will pit a high powered PAC-10 offense against a high powered SEC defense. The biggest question on defense for this 2011 LSU team is the DT position. They will be replacing both DT's but have seven returning starters on a defense that gave up 18.2 points per game on 169.8 yards a game passing and 137.31 rushing a game. These numbers were good enough to see LSU among the top defenses of the 2010-11 season. I would expect to see similar results in the upcoming season for the Les Miles and the Tigers. However, given the format of the Big XII and other conferences next season, it will be possible to see the Tigers absorb a loss and still make it to the title game. Expect LSU to be loaded with talent on both sides of the ball (16 expected returning starters) but the position in question for the Tigers has to be QB. LSU's receiving core showed that it is more than capable of producing game in and game out, especially star receiver Rueben Randle, but will Jordan Jefferson and/or Jarrett Lee be able to distribute the ball or will we see a run heavy team again this year? With the QB position being inconsistent, I say we see a team the punches the ball and relies on it's defense to win games considering they had the 107th ranked passing game in all of college. If LSU can escape the SEC unscathed or with a single loss, it is very likely they will see the PAC-10 or Big XII champion in the Superdome. Here is the full LSU 2011 schedule:

Oklahoma on the other hand has not had the same luck in BCS Title games as the SEC teams have had. I hate to bring this number up but OU has gone 1-3 in NC games and the last time OU met LSU in the Superdome, the Sooners suffered a 21-14 loss. Bob Stoops has even said how tough LSU is in the Dome and that he would do things differently assuming the two teams meet next January. It does, however, seem that Oklahoma has broken the slump in games played out west and I hope it continues in the east this upcoming season. Bob Stoops and this Oklahoma football will have some tough tests ahead of them as well in traveling to Tallahassee to play Florida St. and later traveling to Stillwater to play OK-State. This past season did not bode well for the Sooners away from Norman until the return of Austin Box (not saying that he was the sole difference but he definitely helped) and they suffered two losses on the road. However, with the way OU ended this season on the road at Baylor and at OK-State, we should see this road loss trend broken. Expect OU to be loaded on both sides of the ball as well with 17 returning starters. OU's biggest position in question would have to be RB for me even though we graduated both safeties. How will Finch handle carrying the load and will he be able to stay healthy or will Oklahoma running backs continue to be plagued by injury? We have not yet seen Roy Finch at 100% but I would expect him to be there by the time kickoff rolls around in September. I think we will see a balanced attack with the Sooners plethora of receivers and running backs and solid defensive play to win games without one side of the ball needing to out play the other. In my opinion, it is pivotal that OU run the table in order to see the title game. People are going to view the Big XII as a watered down conference with the loss of Nebraska and a championship game and unforgiving on this deep OU team. If the Sooners can run the table, I think it will be highly likely that they see the SEC or PAC-10 champs. Here is the full OU 2011 schedule: