Ad Disclosure
The game of the year for LSU is over. It’s done, finished, in the books.
Yes, the Tigers laid an egg, and a rotten one at that. But there’s no need to panic. One loss hurts, but it does not break a season. How the Tigers react to the stinging defeat moving forward will determine their season. The final three games on the 2015 schedule will define it, not Saturday’s 30-16 loss to Alabama.
In fact, should the Tigers win out impressively against three quality opponents and finish 10-1, there still remains the remote possibility of earning one of the four slots in the College Football Playoff. Pie in the sky maybe, but three big wins might do it.
Can you say The Rematch; Part Deaux?
But let’s return to reality for a moment. Here’s what’s left of LSU’s regular season, a home game this weekend against Arkansas, a trip to Ole Miss and a home game at the end with Texas A&M. Those are three games against highly talented – and high profile – SEC opponents and big wins would surely impress the playoff committee.
It’s been pointed out often – even in the silly Dr. Pepper commercials – that three of the four teams that made the playoffs last year did so with a loss, including national champion Ohio State. One-loss Alabama had one of the four playoff spots in the first poll released last Tuesday and likely will be in the top two this Tuesday night when the latest poll is released.
LSU will need lots of things to fall in their favor. Let’s presume that Clemson, Ohio State and Alabama take the first three seats at the playoff table. For the Tigers to get the final seat, they need the Big 12 to beat up on itself. Baylor and Oklahoma State, ranked No. 4 and No. 5 in this week’s AP poll, would surely fall behind LSU with a loss. They play each other next week, and both still play Oklahoma. Baylor still has TCU, too, so lots of Big 12 blood-letting would be nice.
Then they also need help – or become more eye-catching – to pass two other one-loss teams, Notre Dame and Stanford. That’s a lot of ifs, certainly, but it’s not impossible.
So you say there’s a chance?
The key is winning those final three games impressively and letting the playoff chips fall where they may. If LSU doesn’t get an invite to the big dance, there’s always the Sugar Bowl, which would love to have the Tigers in a high-profile bowl game, especially against one of those high-flying offenses from the Big 12.
Either way, give Miles credit for pumping his team back up after the huge letdown. He’s done it before, many times. The Tigers are 6-1 over the last three seasons following a regular season loss to Alabama.
The only blemish? That was last year’s 17-0 drubbing from Arkansas. The Tigers have a score to settle with those Hogs on Saturday in Death Valley.
It’s a big game. So is next week, and the week after that.
After all, that’s life in the SEC. Three big wins might equate to a big reward.
Glenn Sattell is an award-winning freelance writer for Saturday Down South.
