[January 3, 2007] SUGAR BOWL - Notre Dame (10-2) vs LSU (10-2)

[chasseur4]

I'll be darned. I knew about the high Catholic population in LA and specifically at LSU. But I didn't know you were all origionally Candadians, eh. That doesn't mean you hosers get to play with 12 men on the field or get a running start before the snap.

Non, monsieur, only our cousins up there in L'Acadie get to play the 12 man game. . . . and nobody around here ever says "eh?" or "hoser".

For a Cajun perspective on football, tune in to New Orleans' WWL radio (AM 870) some evening. (The Clear Channel station can be heard nationwide in the evening.) A sports talk program from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. (CDT) is co-hosted by former Saints and Falcons QB, Bobby Hebert (that's "Ay-Bear"). Bobby grew up in a small coastal shrimping town, where everyday conversation is more often in French than English. If you can endure his thick "down the bayou" accent, the guy can be downright hilarious with some of his commentary. Coincidentally, at South Lafourche High School, Hebert was a team mate of the Ole Miss head coach (former USC OC), Ed Orgeron.

 

[jerseyborn1971]

On Jan. 3rd, Touchdown Jesus should be wearing purple & gold.

BLASPHEMY! BLASPHEMY I SAY! We had another thread on this board reporting that Jesus was going to be our defensive co-ordinator next year, so there is no way he'll be wearing purple & gold.

Are the LSU colors offically purple and gold or is it some other fancy version of gold? Like Michigan's "maize".

 

[chasseur4]

BLASPHEMY! BLASPHEMY I SAY! We had another thread on this board reporting that Jesus was going to be our defensive co-ordinator next year, so there is no way he'll be wearing purple & gold.

Are the LSU colors offically purple and gold or is it some other fancy version of gold? Like Michigan's "maize".

Maize?!!! Hell, that sounds a bit too much like GRITS - something to have for breakfast alongside bacon & eggs.

There is some discrepancy in the origin of Royal Purple and Old Gold as LSU's official colors.

It is believed that those colors were worn for the first time by an LSU team in the spring of 1893 when the LSU baseball squad beat Tulane in the first intercollegiate contest played in any sport by Louisiana State University. A team captain reportedly hand-picked those colors for the LSU squad.

Later that year, football coach/chemistry professor Dr. Charles Coates and some of his players went into town to purchase ribbon to adorn their gray jerseys as they prepared to play the first LSU gridiron game. Stores were stocking ribbons in the colors of Mardi Gras -- purple, gold and green. -- for the coming Carnival season. However, none of the green had yet arrived at the Baton Rouge stores. Coates bought up all of the purple and gold stock and made it into rosettes and badges. Meanwhile, their rival in New Orleans bought up the third color in the Mardi Gras scheme, and became the Tulane Green Wave.

 

[njuneardave]

not gold.

gold.


Purple and yellow. LSU is purple and yellow. Don't make things more majestic than they are. that is like saying my crap is titanium.

 

[jerseyborn1971]

We all know your crap is uranium.

 

[dankus]

OK. Trash talk aside. LSU is one of the few SEC schools I don't loathe with all of my being. Should be an exciting game.

LSU is the only team in the SEC I can stomach at times.

Arkansas is gaining, but their fan base is borderline idiotic at times.

 

[chasseur4]

not gold.

gold.


Purple and yellow. LSU is purple and yellow. Don't make things more majestic than they are. that is like saying my crap is titanium.

That's a big LOL.

Tigers DID wear actual old gold about 40 years ago.
Don't know why they switched to the yellow.
Maybe we should start a campaign for "retro" uniforms to go along with a NC run next year.

BTW, that bank of Rockne-type quotes on this website is awesome.

 

[chasseur4]

Yeah, I remember one particularly big idiot from Hope, Ark. who gained some notoriety a few years ago . . . something about a girl in a blue dress, and defining the word "is".

 

[jerseyborn1971]

Yeah, I remember one particularly big idiot from Hope, Ark. who gained some notoriety a few years ago . . . something about a girl in a blue dress, and defining the word "is".

Cigar smoker if I'm not mistaken....

 

[njuneardave]

i dont understand.... im outta the loop

 

[jerseyborn1971]

Slick Willy, Bill Clinton.

 

[irish_10]

I for one am extremely excited for the game. You have an explosive offense (ND) up against a lockdown defense of LSU. Were I see the game won is on defense and special teams (which is often the case). If ND can come force some stops early and cause a turnover or two. And then capitalize on the miscues. We have an excellent chance of winning.

 

[jerseyborn1971]

LSU is a great team with lots of speed as we're told every minute, but before we admit defeat, ND has faced a speedy SEC opponent twice since 2004 and won both games.(Tennessee) Speed doesn't always = win. And yes, Tennessee was down last year, but they weren't slower.

 

[flick0069]

This will be a very tough match up for us....especially for both the O and D lines. LSU has tons of speed. If Brady can get decnt prtoection i think we can outscore them.

 

[jerseyborn1971]

Auburns offense is about as anemic as you can get with no passing threat, yet they beat the speedy Tigers.

 

[chasseur4]

Auburns offense is about as anemic as you can get with no passing threat, yet they beat the speedy Tigers.

Wait a minute, there.
Auburn only scored 7 points on us - same as Tulane.
It was those Auburn defenders wearing the black & white striped shirts who saved the day for the War Eagle folks.

 

[cmadden8]

A bowl win would be very nice this season. It's been a while.

 

[NDOM]

A bowl win would be very nice this season. It's been a while.

Uhhhhhhhh Ya think??? 1994 sound about right? So here's to an Irish Bowl victory dammit; Beat Lsu.

 

[Timugen]

Yes, we will have to play a MUCH better game than USC, we cannot come out flat in the game and be playing catch up the entire game. Hopefully, also, since the game is indoors, the kicking will be somewhat improved (not likely to happen) and won't have to gamble on 4th downs when inside the 25. The fact of the matter is in order for us to be an extremely competitive LSU team we will have to play a perfect game, or pretty damn close to it. We cannot have dropped passes, missed tackles, and terrible miscommunications. Also, look for Carlson to have a big game. With Carlson back in the lineup, it will be much harder for people to defend the pass because without a deep threat down the middle of the field, a team can run a very successful Tampa 2 defense.

If field goal kicking becomes relevant (with the exception of a game-winner at the end) then we will definitely lose this game. Unless our defense plays a miraculous game or LSU lays an egg we have no chance if we're having to settle for field goals. If we want to win we're gonna need to put it in the endzone when we're in that close.

GO IRISH!!!!!!!

 

[jerseyborn1971]

Wait a minute, there.
Auburn only scored 7 points on us - same as Tulane.
It was those Auburn defenders wearing the black & white striped shirts who saved the day for the War Eagle folks.

Oh, I'm not on the Auburn bandwagon, I'm just trying to get people off the ledge about this game. Some have already conceded a loss before the game has already been played. I'm just saying SEC teams are not the unbeatable machine some are making them out to be. I heard about the SEC speed twice in the last 3 years. ND won both games. This game is going to be far better than some are expecting.

 

[IRISHDODGER]

LSU is IMO the best team of the SEC & I'd much rather play Florida or the one-dimensional Arkansas.

Nobody, has an "off day" when they line up vs. the IRISH, so ND can't hope for that. As overrated as the Nat'l Media said we were, teams like Arkansas were praying that they got matched up w/ ND b/c of ND's name even though they aren't playing nat'l champ. caliber ball just yet. Funny how other fans rant about how overrated ND is until they have to play them. Then they all sound like Lou Holtz talking about Rice, "We'll be lucky to win on the last play of the game...don't be fooled by Rice, they're sneaky quick!".

As a fan, I'll be expecting the worse, but hoping for the best. After 3 embarrassing losses to elite teams, I reserve the right to be realistic about this game. Final Score: LSU: 42 ND: 21.

 

[jerseyborn1971]

I'm going on record as saying I believe the Irish can and will win this game.

 

[FleaFlicker]

LSU is IMO the best team of the SEC & I'd much rather play Florida or the one-dimensional Arkansas.

Nobody, has an "off day" when they line up vs. the IRISH, so ND can't hope for that. As overrated as the Nat'l Media said we were, teams like Arkansas were praying that they got matched up w/ ND b/c of ND's name even though they aren't playing nat'l champ. caliber ball just yet. Funny how other fans rant about how overrated ND is until they have to play them. Then they all sound like Lou Holtz talking about Rice, "We'll be lucky to win on the last play of the game...don't be fooled by Rice, they're sneaky quick!".

As a fan, I'll be expecting the worse, but hoping for the best. After 3 embarrassing losses to elite teams, I reserve the right to be realistic about this game. Final Score: LSU: 42 ND: 21.

That is a realistic final score. But that's how it will end up if we play exactly the same as we did vs. UM and USC this year. I would be surprised if ND doesn't play more solid, all-around.

Realistically, for LSU to score 42 points on us... our defense would have to play the same or worse than it did against USC (which is hard to imagine). On the other side, our offense would have to play about the same as it did against USC (not good at all).

I whole-heartedly believe that ND is capable of playing MUCH better than they did against USC. The Penn State game was a good example. Sure, Morelli wasn't a great QB, but we held them to 3 points until the 4th quarter, when we put subs in the game.

We also put more points on them than anyone else this year. That includes UM, OSU and Wisconsin.

ND is capable of a great game, we just haven't seen it yet this year, against the two toughest teams we played.

But I really do think ND is going to win this game.

If, for no other reason, because no one is expecting them to. We were expected to beat UM and loss. We were expected to at least be in the game with USC, and we lost.

ND traditionally over-acheives against teams we don't have a chance against, and vice versa.

 

[nd1]

I think nd has a great chance to win this game.It just depends on how the breaks go. If they don't turn the the ball over and play field position I think they have a great chance.I actually think alridge should get alot of carries in this game because he is a bigger and more of a power runner. can play clock managment.

 

[jerseyborn1971]

The defense will not give up huge plays in the beginning of the game and the o will not turn the ball over. This will be a methodical game type game that ND has used to perform well against good teams like USC last year. We won't get behind early and have to play that crazy catch-up game.

 

[solo]

The defense will not give up huge plays in the beginning of the game and the o will not turn the ball over. This will be a methodical game type game that ND has used to perform well against good teams like USC last year. We won't get behind early and have to play that crazy catch-up game.

You know, our offense hasn't executed like that since that game. I thought that the game plan was brilliant. Use the short passing game as a ball control offense. Throw it deep just enough to keep the D honest. Keep the powerful USC offense and our not so powerful defense off the field. We had the ball twice as much as them that game.
I would love to see that gameplan executed like that again.

All I can say is that the D better show up as I can't see us scoring more than 24 points against LSU's defense. So Minter better earn his paycheck and not sit back hoping that the LSU offense will stop itself or make mistakes.

 

[IRISHDODGER]

I was so bored that I broke out game tapes from the 1992 & 1993 seasons, coincidentally the 2 years that the defense was under the command of Rick Minter. After all, it's the only way to watch ND beat USC, lately!

The first noticeable difference was, obviously, the superior talent that Minter had to work with back then. Can you say "speed". Even the announcers were commenting on how futile it was to run around the corners on ND b/c of their superior speed. Oh how nice to have a Demetrius DuBose (1992) at LB & a Bobby Taylor, Tom Carter or Jeff Burris in the secondary. Even Greg Lane was considered one of the best CBs in the nation. Of course, the line was blessed w/ players like Bryant Young & Oliver Gibson.

The 2nd thing I noticed was the amount of well-time blitzes that Minter called. Even when they gave up big plays, the defense was flying all over the place. He utilized the nickel efficiently. Minter must be more creative & aggressive w/ the blitz on 01/03/07, or the ND fans will be hitting the Bourbon St. bars by halftime.

In my unprofessional opinion, I don't think Minter can be totally held responsible for the D based on the inferior talent (yeah, I know a few will be 1st day draft picks). The only ? I have is whether or not his play calling has gotten more conservative based on his fear of getting burned or based on his lack of talent or both. After the Fiesta Bowl, the UM game & the SC game, what does he have to lose by just going "balls to the wall" & taking some gambles? What's the worst that could happen, ND gets beat by 31 pts instead of 21? GO FOR IT MINTER!!!!!!!!!

 

[Vince Young]

Good analysis, Dodger. That's bugged me this year too, how timidly our defense has been playing.

I'm still not on the Fire Minter bandwagon yet, but after the USC game, you have to wonder if Charlie is thinking of making a change. The Sugar Bowl may end up being make-or-break for ol' Ricky. If Rick does get canned, I can't say I'll mourn him, but I do still think he deserves one more year to turn things around.

Then again, see my sig below.

 

[Vince Young]

13 hours, 32 minutes and counting...

Just for fun, and to whittle away the hours until kickoff... what's everyone's predictions on jersey color?

I have a gut feeling on this one... both teams are gonna reach for some jersey magic. ND will go Green as the overwhelming underdog with "no chance," while LSU will go "Gold" to counter ND's green and to evoke the 1997 Independence Bowl in which LSU wore "Gold" jerseys and pwn3d ND 28-9.

Notre Dame: Blue or Green?

LSU: White or "Gold"?

Gentlemen... SOUND OFF!

 

[TexasDomer]

I think the difference in the game will be John Carlson. SC didn't have to spy on Freeman the way they would on Carlson, especially with JC's ability to stretch the field. If he's 100%, the LBs and safeties have to be aware of him, and that will open up Shark and Rhema.

Between that and healthy safeties and CBs, this game will be closer than the "experts" think.

On jersey color, we have a habit of wearing green in New Orleans...