What a week it's been in the world of football!
LSU wins its biggest regular season game in... well, maybe ever, beating Alabama 9-6, in overtime.
The Saints continued their up and down season with an up note, beating Tampa Bay, a team they lost to three weeks earlier.
Of course, the last few days, the biggest story has been the child sexual abuse and perjury charges coming out of Penn St.
Starting in Baton Rouge, things have been relatively quiet compared to the unbelievable hype of the previous two weeks leading up to the Bama game. LSU's defense deserves most of the credit for the hard fought victory.
Both offenses struggled against the other team's superior defense, but the Tigers' kicking game (field goals and punting) was the difference.
Looking ahead for LSU: 1) Jarrett Lee struggled at QB, throwing two straight interceptions, after having only one passed intercepted through the first games, so who is the #1 QB now?
Jordan Jefferson ran the offense pretty well, making no major blunders, but leading the team to only two field goals in regulation.
I hope Lee gets a chance to redeem himself against Western Kentucky, because the team is going to need him if it is going to win the national championship.
Sticking strictly with Jefferson, means going back to the offense that struggled mightily the last two seasons, especially throwing the ball. More Jefferson means less Rueben Randle, because Lee and Randle have better chemistry.
Lee will be needed without a doubt when the offense can't move the ball in upcoming games.
2)The upcoming schedule: LSU should win the next two games (West. Kentucky and Ole Miss), but then comes probably the greatest chance for a loss the rest of the way for the Tigers.
If the Razorbacks are able to come into Baton Rouge and win, then there would most likely be a three way tie for first in the west (LSU, Arkansas, and Alabama). I don't know what the tiebreaker would be, but most likely the highest ranked team would play in the conference championship against Georgia or South Carolina.
Georgia has won seven in a row, after dropping its first two games of the season. They will not be easy to beat in the Georgia Dome if they win the east. If LSU just plays the way it's been playing, then the Tigers WILL play for the national championship against OK St., Stanford, or Boise St.
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Staying in Louisiana, the Saints are really hard to figure out this season. They lost the close one to Green Bay on the road, then won four in a row, but have gone 2-2 since then.
They lost to Tampa Bay in a game that they should have won, then destroyed the Colts, and looked like the best team in the league.
They then followed up that game with their worst outing of the year, losing to the previously winless Rams in St. Louis.
Continuing their up and down ways, they beat the Bucs last Sunday to avenge the earlier loss in Tampa Bay.
Looking ahead: The Saints travel to Atlanta on Sunday and can take a 1 1/2 game lead over the Falcons with a win, but a loss will put them 1/2 game behind Atlanta. New Orleans needs to improve its defense, especially in the red zone, where it is dead last in the league, and run the ball better if it wants to go any where in the playoffs.
The bottom line is that the Saints probably will have to beat Green Bay at Lambeau Field in January to make it to the Super Bowl. That will be a tough task.
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The scandal at Penn St. is getting worse by the day, as victim after victim comes forward to implicate former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.
That the alleged sexual abuse of little boys by Sandusky went on for so many years with some strong evidence that something was terribly wrong, is almost unbelievable. Of course, the coverup only made things even worse, costing the president, head coach Joe Paterno, and two other officials their jobs.
The rioting that happened yesterday after the announcement of Paterno's firing was completely uncalled for. It may be nothing more than an excuse for young people to get drunk and vandalize property, more than outrage over what happened to Paterno.
It's a shame that Paterno's career had to end this way, but he should have done more when he was informed about the abuse that was happening right under his nose.
What if one of those little boys had been his grandchild ( I understand he has 17 grandkids)? I bet he would have done a lot more if that had been the case.
What happened to those boys is much more important than Joe Paterno's job and a football game on Saturday against Nebraska.
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