Slow News Day No More

After complaining yesterday about slow off-season news, the LSU football team went and did something about it. I guess they showed me. I should have remembered that in the off-season, no news is good news.

Backup QB Ryan Perilloux was cited for a misdemeanor yesterday and suspended from the team indefinitely. He apparently tried to enter a casino using another person's ID. He is underage. Les Miles responded by suspending him, with no word on what the terms of the suspension will ultimately be.

Taken in isolation, this incident is not particularly severe. It is, as they say, a victimless crime, unlike the burglaries and assaults that plagued the team earlier this Spring. The law that Mr. Perilloux allegedly broke is in place not to protect people from theft or violence, but to protect Mr. Perilloux and those like him from themselves.

I think, taken in isolation, a brief suspension is in order. As the backup QB, probably the worst suspension you can give him is to suspend him for games against rent-a-wins like Middle Tennessee State, where a backup QB is otherwise likely to get a lot of snaps. Suspending him for Virginia Tech wouldn't really hurt him because he'd only likely play in the event of an injury to Matt Flynn.

"Taken in isolation" is a key phrase here. There is some indication that Mr. Perilloux has not been a choir boy in his time at LSU, and in particular has acted childishly on numerous occasions, all handled in-house and kept out of the press, but all with adverse consequences to him.

I trust Les Miles to get this one right, but I hope he is keeping in mind my argument that it is not necessary or even desirable to treat all athletes and all incidents the same way. Ryan Perilloux is very important to this team. He is going to be the only scholarship backup QB on the team who has gone through a Spring Practice. He is the heir apparent to the starting job next season.

If Ryan Perilloux is not available next year, and Matt Flynn gets hurt, our QB will be either a true freshman or a walk-on. Our chances of winning the SEC will be very small, and our chances of winning the National Championship will be nil.

If Mr. Perilloux has been THAT bad of an actor that he really needs to go, I'm fine with that, and I won't ultimately question the decision. I will however be very worried about the state of affairs on the football team.

Here's hoping Matt Flynn stays healthy.