LSU at Alabama, Saturday, 4 CDT

LSU fan: “Saban? He’s an asshole.”

Alabama fan: “Yeah, but he’s our asshole.”

Well, it’s Saban Bowl Eve. Nick Saban is a money-grubbing turncoat, Les Miles is an incompetent opportunist, blah, blah, blah. Click here if you don’t know what I’m talking about.

Saban is the knownest of known quantities. He’s the highest-paid football coach in the NCAA, he’s a demonstrated winner, he’s got little use for the press, and he’s got no use for kissing boosters’ asses. He’s also turned down a dinner invitation to the White House to study film, and made a professional football player cry.

A friend of mine recently referred to Miles as a “bumbling ogre,” and I’m not sure I’ll go quite that far. I will say, however, that finishing a game 5 for 5 on fourth down conversions, as LSU did recently against Florida, is not a sign of “guts” or “mettle,” as was so widely stated. It’s a sign that you can’t close the damned deal on third down. And don’t get me going on that touchdown pass that torpedoed Auburn.

When I picked the whole season before it started, I picked us to lose this one by 10 points. I haven’t missed yet. I said we’d be 6-2 right now, and we are. I said our two losses would be Georgia and Florida State, and they are.

But hell, that doesn’t mean anything. You go with what you think given the information available at the time. There’s no such thing as ESP. There’s no such thing as fate. (Or the chupacabra.)

I’m looking forward to the game, and I feel pretty good about it. I have one mental image of a toe-to-toe slugging match, with LSU helping us just enough with mistakes. I have another mental image of us jumping out to a 14- or 17-point first-half lead and never relinquishing the momentum. (That’s heart, not head, but wouldn’t it be great? After all, did anyone sober predict that Tennessee beatdown? Hmmm?)

I’ve laid in the 52″ LCD, the Sam Adams, and the picante, so I’ve done my part. Y’all do yours, get after it, and put us in first in the West, guys.  Dare to dream.

And Roll Tide.

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