Game Day: Arkansas

I'm still in Gonzales, preparing to watch this game on my parents new HDTV. w00t!

There are only two games today with any importance to us. And by "us" I mean people who care about SEC football. If you only care about LSU football, there's only one game of any importance today. That game, of course, being Arkansas vs. LSU at 1:30pm today on CBS.

The other game is Mississippi State vs. Ole Miss, which I have come to find out is on Lincoln-Financial at 11:30am. Of course, it won't be over by the time LSU's game starts. I'll watch it until 1:30, because I want to know who wins, and hopefully this game will be decided by then.

In our game, LSU is playing only for national championship positioning. We have already won the SEC West outright. We have already clinched a spot in the SEC Championship Game. We know we probably have to win that game to get to any BCS bowl. This game is all about pride, momentum, the seniors, and the national championship.

And what a great group of seniors we have this year. Let's rattle off the names: Early Doucet, Glenn Dorsey, Jacob Hester, Matt Flynn, Kirston Pittman, Ali Highsmith, Chevis Jackson, Craig Steltz, Jonathan Zenon, Luke Sanders, Keith Zinger, Shawn Jordan, Mit Cole. There have been very few senior classes with more accomplishments, and if this group gets the national championship this year, they will be hands-down the greatest group of seniors ever to don this particular set of jerseys.

Looking ahead to next year, I think more than anything, the 2008 team will miss the leadership these guys have shown. We could get a nice bonus if Kirston Pittman decides to exercise his option to get a medical redshirt.

As for the game, I don't really know what else there is to say about it. Arkansas is not as good of a team as they were last year. They don't have the offensive line or the defense this year that they had last year. They still have McFadden and Jones though, and that makes them dangerous. They also have Marcus Monk, who is definitely one of the most skilled receivers in the conference. He was hurt for most of the year, and had incompetent quarterbacking for most of the rest of his career. Let's hope Casey Dick continues to be unreliable.

When LSU is on offense, they need to look for the big play. Arkansas is vulnerable to it. I hope we don't go into our usual shell of trying to grind out yards 5 at a time with Hester. That works with a lot of teams, but I think we can have more success another way here. And if we try to grind it out, I fear that Arkansas may be better at it.

So the schedule is:

Now - 11:30am: Hang around, play with the baby, etc.

11:30am - 1:30pm: Mississippi State vs. Ole Miss, Lincoln-Financial. I sure hope MSU wins this one. I want them to go to a bowl game.

1:30pm - 5:30pm: Arkansas vs. LSU.

5:30pm - whenever: I'm going meet Poseur, Anthony, and Anthony's parents to go out to eat. We're all in the Baton Rouge area at the same time, so we're going somewhere to meet up, probably to Chimes East.