Well, it’s Orlando after all and what says Orlando like Amusement Parks? Most
specifically, roller coasters. In this case, it’s a metaphorical version of the rides that make the city so popular. Two of the country’s most-intriguing and most-exciting teams are in Orlando for what appears to be one of the sexiest match-ups of the entire bowl season. It’s the Louisville Cardinals (9-3, 7-1)) and their sea of red from the Bluegrass State invade Central Florida (much like their approach to recruiting the entire peninsula) and the Tigers of Louisiana State University (7-4, 5-3) from Baton Rouge along with Coach-O (Ed Orgeron) and a sea of good times and food from Cajun Country.
As far as this season is concerned, these two programs embody what it means to ride the roller coaster of emotion. The Tigers and the Cardinals started their seasons diametrically in the rankings. They waved at each other as early as week two headed in polar opposite directions following early-season results. They were separated by as many as 30 spots at one point, then somehow managed to finish within 4-5 spots of each other in the final rankings once the dust from the season-long fracas had settled and were merely a game difference in the loss column. The drama emanated from these two programs on the national, and most certainly local-levels, kept news cycles afloat at times all by themselves.
Louisville is celebrating their first Heisman Trophy winner in program history in Lamar Jackson from Boynton Beach. Meanwhile LSU, although not exactly celebrating the fact that all-world running back Leonard Fournette will not be playing on Saturday, expect to be celebrating plenty once heralded freshman running back Derrius Guice gets the ball in his hands. While the Tigers and their faithful got what they wanted following the removal of Orgeron’s interim label and promotion to full-time head coach. Speaking of staffs, while LSU’s staff was lauded for keeping things together as the turmoil of Les Miles’ termination unfolded, it was Louisville’s staff that was fined $25,000 for their involvement in the “Wakeyleaks” scandal at Wake Forest.
On the field, these teams provided a plethora of talk radio and television fodder from the very get-go. Just five days following their report to fall camp on August 4th, the Tigers were dealt a serious blow on the defensive side when starting DL Christian LeCoutoure suffered a season-ending injury to his knee. Three days later, a Creedence Clearwater Revival remix to “Who’ll Stop the Rain?” broke out. For three days straight, the rain fell on the bayou, and enough water to fill Lake Pontchartrain four times fell. One day later, the Tigers were forced to cancel their Media Day. Countless people associated with the program (including players, coaches, and administrators) were displaced.
The “hits” just wouldn’t stop coming once things from the floods were calmed. On August 23rd, less than two weeks from the Tigers’ trip to Lambeau Field to face Wisconsin, one of the nation’s best running backs and all-out weapon on offense for LSU in Leonard Fournette significantly injures his ankle. Fast-forward to the game, and it’s an excruciating
16-14 loss to the Badgers and mechanical issues on the team’s charter that caused hours of delay even getting home. The Tigers would eventually make it back to Baton Rouge, and the next week they would go on to defeat FCS powerhouse Jacksonville State by a 34-13 score. Meanwhile, Louisville began their first two weeks of the season outscoring Charlotte and Syracuse by a combined score of 132-42.
Who can forget the week three disembowelment of Florida State at the hands of the Cardinals? While LSU was free-falling in the polls, the Cardinals’ complete and utter embarrassment of the ‘Noles (63-20) on the 17th of September gave us the Lamar Jackson Show, and propelled him straight to the top of the Heisman conversation, while vaulting them into the top 3 and hypothetically in the playoffs, although early. That same week, week three, the roller coaster ride for LSU continued as they nearly blew a 23-3 lead to Mississippi State, but held on to defeat the Bulldogs 23-20. While a win on the record, the loud noises for Les Miles’ firing crescendoed to Boeing engine-test levels.
Weeks four and five couldn’t have been any different in the results for the two squads. Week four saw the sputtering Tigers lose to the Tigers, err, the War Eagles of Auburn 18- 13, while Louisville boat-raced Marshall nearly getting to 60+ points for the fourth consecutive week. That loss on the plains to Auburn was the quintessential roller coaster (and Les Miles coached game) as the Tigers appeared to have won the game on the final play, but could not get the snap off, which replay confirmed. When the rankings were published on the 2nd of October, what started as a season with vision of crystal balls dancing in their heads, was now a smashed pumpkin as the Tigers were all the way out of the Top-25 in both the AP and Coaches Polls less than sixty days after being placed in the top-3, while the Cards were sitting pretty within the top-4.
That following day (9/25), it was announced that Les Miles and OC Cam Cameron had been relieved of their duties. The emotions had reached a boiling point for the fans/boosters, and the unfortunate decision of letting Miles go so early in the season had to be made. Enter Da Coach-O. One of Baton Rouge’s–and Louisiana’s–beloved. Enter a ‘W’ that following Saturday (week 5) for LSU as they hammered the Tigers of Mizzou, 42- 7. In another spectacular night for Tigers, it was Clemson’s version putting a serious dent (or so we thought) in Jackson and his Cardinals’ CFP hopes with a 42-36 defeat of the ‘Ville in an instant classic in Upstate South Carolina. While it was thought that a loss would hurt more than help, they way in which they lost, might have actually helped as Louisville only fell a handful of spots to 7th in the AP and 8th in the Coaches Poll.
With Louisville on a scheduled bye week October 8th, the attention turned to week two of Orgeron’s interview for the full-time gig, an impending trip to Gainesville to face the Gators. The real MVP (not really, not really at all) was Mother Nature as Hurricane Matthew put the State of Florida in its crosshairs. That cancellation forced a rousing edition of he-said/he-said amongst athletic departments, that spilled into the hot-topic machine that is television and radio, eventually resulting in the Tigers getting to host the Gators in November–(more on that shortly). And as if things couldn’t have gotten any more surreal for LSU that week, Mike VI, LSU’s handsome and statuesque live mascot passed away with Cancer. A true roller coaster indeed.
Both teams were victorious during week seven with the Cards defeating Duke in a slugfest 24-14, while the Tigers under Orgeron had extended their record to 2-0 since his promotion with a 45-10 romp of Southern Miss. Week eight was the first time the two
teams had won in consecutive weeks all season. Louisville crushed N.C. State 54-13, while LSU was impressive–more importantly Leonard Fournette’s return since the Auburn game and a school-record 284 yards of rushing– from start-to-finish in a 38-21 victory over Ole Miss heading into their scheduled bye week–a scheduled bye week that would be treated as game week since Crimson Tide loomed on the horizon. Louisville on the other hand was riding a wave of emotion with a 32-25 victory over Virginia in which they needed some late game heroics from their stud QB.
The Tigers would go on to hold the Tide to just ten points that following week, however it’s very hard to win a game when you don’t score a single point–as the case was on the evening for LSU. While the Tigers were licking their wounds, Louisville rolled against a hapless Boston College squad 52-7 as the roller coaster continued for the respective fan bases. The following week LSU won the “Battle of the Boot” versus Arkansas 38-10 in a game that wasn’t even that close yet again lifting the spirits of the Tigers’ faithful. Louisville would struggle in the 2.5 quarters with Wake Forest, but eventually pull away 44-12. Only problem was that it would eventually be uncovered that the Cardinals and their coaching staff knew about plays and formations that NO ONE should have had intimate knowledge of–which is a small problem in the eyes of the NCAA and the enforcement committee.
For the first time all season, the roller coasters reached the same levels, but not at the height of happiness they had hoped for. The Tigers were defeated in their week twelve contest against Florida in Death Valley scoring a mere ten points against the Gators. The Cardinals’ trip to the lone star state and to Houston specifically, ended in complete disaster for Petrino, Jackson and crew as the Tom Herman-led Cougars pounced all over the birds in a 36-10 defeat. While it was a foregone conclusion since week three that LSU wasn’t going to factor in the CFP race, the Cardinals certainly had hopes–hopes that were demolished that night in H-Town.
The final week of the season for both produced a mixed bag as Louisville was defeated (at home nonetheless) to their bitter-rivals Kentucky in a 41-38 shootout, while Orgeron– still an interim at this point–defeated Kevin Sumlin and the Texas A&M Aggies in blowout on Thanksgiving, 54-39, just two days before naming Orgeron the Head Coach and ending every crazy rumor that had made its way throughout the entire collegiate football universe.
So while it’s possible to arrive at the same destination via different methods, it’s safe to assume this is one roller coaster that neither program wants to immediately jump off and head back in-line for, don’t you think? It’s also safe to assume that the very roller coaster they want to avoid in the future, is the same ride that we cannot wait to get on this Saturday morning as we prepare for the inevitable fireworks of New Year’s Eve.
– Doug Pugh, BCP Contributor