Football Weekend

LSU squeaked out a win; closer than I expected actually as Auburn pretty much shut down their running game. Discipline has never been the Tigers’ forte, but they were more than usually undisciplined, with late hits and procedure calls. I thought Les Miles was going to either rip a player’s head off or have a heart attack a few times. I didn’t see him eating any grass, but LSU was never trailing by very much.

Georgia Tech was nothing if not entertaining. First they were trailing Miami by 19-0. Then they scored 36 unanswered points and led 36-19. Then their wheels came off and they lost in overtime, still with the same 36 points, a final score of 42-36. They performed this feat in Grant Field Bobby Dodd Stadium in downtown Atlanta, and the crowd was not happy.

Nor was the crowd happy in New Orleans as the Saints lost their third in a row. I must say I am pleased as punch to see them open 0-3, as this is the team with players who filed a lawsuit based on the theory that they should not be punished for taking money to physically injure players on opposing teams. They haven’t lost to good teams, either, as all three losses have come to teams with losing records. In fact, the teams which beat New Orleans have a record of 0-6 in games in which they did not play the Saints.

The Chargers game was mercifully blacked out locally which, hopefully, is the beginning of a trend if they are going to keep playing like that. I followed a “live blogging” stream online while watching other games, and some of the comments were hilarious. Like, “If anyone asks again if Gates is playing I will track them down and kill them” (he was) and, “Oh look, I think Michael Turner is sobering up.”

Philip Rivers had a quarterback rating of 42.5 by the end. I think a quarterback who never enters the game has a rating of 38.5, so obviously there is room for improvement. The much vaunted Ryan Matthews had 44 yards and one fumble, but he went a whole game without getting injured.

The team is, of course, downplaying the absolute beat down which Atlanta handed them, saying that they will “be fine next week.” They offer, of course, no clue as to precisely why they will be fine next week, nor as to why they stunk up the stadium this week. The only thing they offer which approaches an explanation is that Atlanta is “a very good team.” Okay, well, San Diego is supposed to be a very good team as well, and when two very good teams meet the result is not supposed to be a blowout.

The less said about San Diego State the better.