LSU
vs. Tennessee
By
Jeff Sallas
Well we are finally
here. The awards have been handed out
and the bowl plans have been made. Now
it is finally time to crown the 2001 SEC Champion. As for myself, I went 6-0 last week and finally got an upset
right with Tennessee. I will finish the
year picking SEC games at 62-22 (74%).
I fell just a bit from the last 2 years where I went 63-20 (76%) and
63-21 (75%) but stayed pretty consistent.
It has been a lot of fun. Let’s
take a look at the last one...
LSU vs.
Tennessee (Saturday at 7:00 CDT on CBS)
Another good matchup in the 10th edition of this
game. This game has been a smashing
success. There are some legitimate cons
to it but they are overshadowed by the fact that it is the first taste college
football fans have ever had of a real playoff game. There have been great bowl games but there has always been the
huge layoff between the bowl and the regular season. The SEC title game is the first postseason game to be played
right after the season. It also is
better than the bowls in that you don’t have to go undefeated to get there and
head-to-head wins pretty much decide the ties.
I love it. I got to go to my
first title game last year and it really is a different atmosphere. I have been to bowls as well at they don’t
come close to the atmosphere at the SEC title game.
There have really been some classic games played over the
last decade. Bama and Florida started
things off in a great game with Bama winning on Antonio Langham’s famous
interception for a touchdown off Shane Matthews to win the game. In 1994, Florida edged an undefeated Bama
team by 1 point. In 1997 Tennessee and
Peyton Manning rallied to beat Auburn by 1 point. Tennessee got the big play late again in 1998 to beat Miss St and
Bama fan will ever forget the rout of Florida in 1999.
Of course there have been some not-so-good games as
well. I think the atmosphere is always
there but sometimes the games just don’t turn out to be that good. The 1993 game between Florida and Bama was
hurt by awful weather in Birmingham and kind of overshadowed by the fact that
both teams had been defeated by Auburn who couldn’t participate because of
probation. Thank goodness the game was
moved to Atlanta in 1994. I don’t like
domes and turf most of the time but think they are good for settling
championships. You don’t want weather
conditions dictating a title game.
Also, Atlanta is just a much better host city and a much more neutral
site. The worst game in the series came
in 1995 when a very mediocre Arkansas team took on an undefeated Florida
team. The result was expected, a boring
rout. The 1996 game wasn’t too bad but
featured a decent Bama team that was completely overmatched against Florida’s national
championship title team. Finally, last
year’s game turned out to be a dud as Auburn went very quietly to Florida 28-6.
LSU makes their first appearance and there should be some
excited cajuns in Atlanta. However they
better prepare themselves for the ocean of orange they will see. Tennessee makes their 3rd
appearance in Atlanta and they will bring a whole lot of people since they are
in the national title hunt as well. For
the 3rd year in a row this game will feature a regular season
rematch. The Vols beat LSU 26-18 in
week 4. It really wasn’t as close as
the score indicated. However both teams
have changed a lot since then. Both
teams are much better. This game will
feature the best playmakers in the conference outside of Florida. Tennessee brings QB Casey Clausen, RB Travis
Stephens and WRs Dante Stallworth and Kelley Washington. LSU counters with QB Rohan Davey, RB
LaBrandon Toefield and WRs Josh Reed and Michael Clayton.
That is a lot of firepower on both sides. The offenses are about equal except that I
think UT has a better OL. Defensively
the Vols are much better but LSU is definitely good enough to pull the
upset. However they will face their
biggest challenge since well they played UT and Florida at the beginning of the
season. I look for this game to be a
bit of a shootout but I just can’t bet against the Vols right now...
TENNESSEE OVER LSU