Before every season in college and pro football, fans hope and dream that their favorite teams can either play in a major bowl game or make a hard run to the Super Bowl in the NFL.
This summer in south Louisiana the dreams were that the LSU Tigers would play for the national championship and that the Saints would be in that number for a “Two-Dat” finish for a Super Bowl title.
It’s early in the season, but those football dreams are looking as though they are in place.
Saturday night in Morgantown, West Virginia the LSU Tigers faced their third Top-25 team in four weeks to start the college football season. While it was not the dominating defensive game we have become accustomed to seeing, it was a very impressive 47-21 victory.
The victory was so impressive the Associated Press moved the Tigers into the No. 1 spot in their balloting. While you would rather see them claim that top spot in early January of 2012 it does go to show just how impressive this football team is.
What jumped out to me in the win over West Virginia was just how well the Tigers’ passing game has progressed since Week 1 against Oregon. Quarterback Jarrett Lee was outstanding against the Mountaineers, and despite some untimely drops, he was able to complete 16 of his 28 passes for 180 yards and 3 touchdowns.
On defense the Tigers gave up more than 460 passing yards to the best passer they will see in the regular season in Geno Smith, but the play of sophomore cornerback Tyrann Mathieu has captured the attention of the college football world.
Ever since leaving the St. Augustine High School campus in New Orleans the 5-9, 175-pound defensive back has been a major impact performer for the Tigers. The last cornerback to be this huge of an impact performer in his first 17 games as a collegiate was Champ Bailey at the University of Georgia.
Against West Virginia Mathieu was in on 6 tackles, a strip and recovery of a fumble and he deflected a pass and raced 16 yards downfield to the one yard line on another turnover.
Mathieu right now is the most dominant defensive force in college football and his play was helped out due to the big play skills of his counterpart at cornerback in Morris Claiborne, who returned a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown.
Other than Alabama in early November I don’t see another team on the schedule that can match the Tigers defensive talent and athleticism. To be honest they are really starting to jell on offense also.
As for the Black and Gold they faced one of the best offenses in the Houston Texans Sunday afternoon and it was a shootout like the opening game of the season against Green Bay.
Quarterback Drew Brees passed for 370 yards on 31 completions and he threw 3 touchdowns. Texans quarterback Matt Schaub threw for 373 yards, 3 touchdown passes and one costly interception made by cornerback Jabari Greer, but it was the ability of the Saints defense to bend and contort themselves like a pretzel near the goal line and force the Texans to kick field goals instead of scoring touchdowns that was the difference.
The Texans were only 1-for-5 in the redzone while the Saints were 3-of-5 in the redzone.
That is the difference in the NFL today. The rules and talent level on offense are made to score points and move the football, but if you can force teams to go for 3 points instead of giving up the touchdown you normally are the winners.
The wild fourth quarter produced a combined total of 294 yards of total offense and 37 points scored, but it was the Saints defense that pulled this game out of the fire against one of the most explosive offensive teams in the NFL.
The two young men who have really stood out the past few weeks have been tight end Jimmy Graham, who has caught 14 passes for 235 yards and one touchdown, and all-purpose back Darren Sproles, who accounted for 193 yards of total offense against Houston and has registered 528 yards of total offense all season.
There is no more talk about how much this team would miss Reggie Bush with Sproles in the lineup.
And the dreams of the Saints playing in another Super Bowl and the Tigers playing in the BCS National Championship game are looking stronger today than they did just a month or two ago.
Wouldn’t that be something special.
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