It's Only SEC (but I like it....) : Louisiana Edition
GEORGE SOMERVILLE – THE TOUCHDOWN SEC CORRESPONDENT
If you read last week’s piece, you know that I have been on one of my US road trips.
Last week I wrote about my experience in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. This week, driving across all of Mississippi, stopping in Clarksdale, Oxford, Drew and Jackson, I have arrived in Louisiana. Home to LSU football, New Orleans Saints & some of the best food in the country!
A Saturday night visit to watch LSU football in Death Valley at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge has been atop my bucket list for as long as I have been a fan of college football. So this was my Everest moment, getting into this cathedral of college football in the South and experiencing Death Valley at its very best.
This is what I thought about the epic evening.
Saturday Night in Death Valley
They tell me with some certainty that a Saturday night game at LSU football in Death Valley, Baton Rouge, is raucous. Crazy. Insane. Off the charts. Many superlatives are used to describe this as an unnatural experience.
Not to name drop, but chatting to ESPN’s Marty Smith beforehand, he said my head was going to explode from my shoulders with the experience of a night in Death Valley. Marty does like a superlative, but I got the feeling he wasn’t overegging this pudding.
back in Baton Rouge
I have been to Baton Rouge before, a couple of times, but never for a game. The town itself teases you when you visit on a non-football day. It suggests a footballing religious experience awaits you. Tiger Stadium, Death Valley to non-Clemson people, is a cathedral. With a capacity of over 102,000, it should be. Putting the scale into perspective, that’s a bigger capacity than the Camp Nou in Barcelona.
Last year, as I traversed the South on my way to Starkville, I stopped off in Baton Rouge. On that occasion, I jumped on the Stadium tour, which was incredible, except that the Stadium was empty. I vowed then to return, but to a packed stadium.
So the first SEC conference game of the new season for LSU football, playing against the Florida Gators with a 5.45pm CT kickoff, ticked all of the boxes, and my trip was set!
welcome to Death Valley
Each time that I’ve been on the LSU Campus before, it’s been quiet with the opportunity to explore without bumping into too many people. The same could not be said this time.
I arrived on Friday afternoon in time to catch the end of the Paul Finebaum show. With the SEC Nation crew in town for the game, Finebaum sets up his Friday show on their set. So I always try to catch the Guv’nor in person when the opportunity arises. He never disappoints.
too hot to handle
With boots on the ground, the first thing I noticed was how hot it was. The temperature was in the 90s and very, very humid. The forecast for gameday was for warmer temperatures, which, for this Scotsman, was worrying.
Outside of the student base, fans had already started to arrive on campus and on the drive in, I passed RV after RV displaying the obligatory stuffed tiger in the windshield or flying a Tigers flag to signal their allegiance to Louisiana’s biggest College team. It was like one big convoy.
On the climb up from the stadium to see Finebaum, I stopped off to see Mike the Tiger. It genuinely is one of the great sights and traditions in college football. Given the heat, Mike, a Siberian tiger, was luxuriating in his cooled pool. And for anyone concerned about Mike’s well-being, it’s worth noting that Mike’s enclosure is one of the most sophisticated enclosures on the planet. It’s climate-controlled in many ways, including a pool which is adjusted to the outside temperature and landscaping which is also climate-controlled. It’s pretty amazing stuff, and the benefit of having support from a University with a world-renowned Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine program.
It was not surprising that many fans had also made their way to see Mike, who is really the star attraction.
To be honest, that’s not where the craziness started. On the way up the hill to see Finebaum, an elderly man on a push bike with a giant stuffed tiger in a trailer on the back cycled past, music blaring. He gave me a wave and a smile as he sprinted past. I can’t say I’ve seen that too often on my travels.
The Gameday Experience
tailgating on a different level
Despite the evening kickoff, fans piled into Baton Rouge from early on Saturday morning.
I walked through the different tailgates as I tried to navigate a campus I thought I knew well, but which had been transformed into something which looked like a festival site once the tailgaters set up camp.
I saw more than one gator being BBQ’d on a spit, and alcohol was being ingested at a frightening speed for so early in the morning. I thought that those tailgaters had peaked too early, but something makes me think I underestimated Tiger fans. They said that the Tigers fans could tailgate, and they were right.
Marty & McGee
I dropped in on the SEC Network guys catching Marty & McGee, which frankly just never gets old. This partnership exudes passion and joy for the game, especially when they get on campus during the fall. I loved seeing the show live and then catching up with the boys afterwards. They wanted to hear all about my trip and were fascinated by what I thought about Tuscaloosa and Baton Rouge so far.
Country superstar Lainey Wilson was the guest on SEC Nation, sweeping onto the set in a way only a country superstar could. I’m going to be honest here. The heat was searing, so I decided to grab a drink. This was a schoolboy error as I missed the end of the show, but somehow fortuitously bumped into Laura Rutledge as I sauntered back to the set, clueless to the fact that the show had finished. I don’t know who was most shocked, Laura or I but what I do know is that it is hard to find someone who has supported the College Chaps from the get go as much as Laura has. So it’s always great to meet and catch up.
By this point, it was still early afternoon, and I was wilting under the Louisiana sun. So back to the hotel to take shelter until I could pick up my credentials.
The Game
For some reason and without any facts or advance knowledge, I thought the LSU football press box was old. It was not. I was very wrong. It was everything a press box should be, spacious, easy to get to, and the view was tremendous. Although it was open air, it was cooled with great hospitality, with some good ol’ southern cooking!
I could not wait for the game to start.
pre game shenanigans
A quick point about pre-game: down on the field, it was blistering hot and tempers flared quickly. As the teams neared the conclusion of their pre-game practice, Gator players appeared to encroach onto the LSU football practice area. I was too far away to see what happened; however, an SEC investigation found that Florida assistant Head coach Jabbar Juluke struck or pushed one of the LSU players. A melee ensued, which raised the mood of the game before it had even started.
Juluke has subsequently been suspended for three games by the SEC.
The atmosphere was set for an SEC rivalry game.
The anthem
I’ve been to many events, both sporting and otherwise. The national anthem tends to be played at the larger events. I can say with some certainty that the atmosphere inside Tiger Stadium will live with me for the rest of my days. Incredible. Passionate. Emotional.
And then three US Air Force jets performed the flyover. I’ve added my video of the event. It was sensational. The 102,518-strong crowd went crazy.
The Game
This was a game that fascinated for many reasons. This Gators team needed a positive result, given the pressure on Head Coach Napier’s shoulders. His team were dogged and spirited and had much of the ball in the first half. It wasn’t a classic, but the Gators put the first points on the board and could have led at the half if only DJ Lagway had not turned the ball over quite so often.
This is the story of this game. The LSU defense is elite, and I reckon it can be a National Championship-winning defense. The offense, however, continues to stutter- but more on that later.
The Florida defense is also pretty good and could not be faulted for their performance inside Tiger Stadium. They did not give up the points – the offense did. Lagway, much touted at the start of the season as a Heisman favourite, threw five interceptions, all on third down. This crippled the Gators. One of those turnovers was a pick-six, which sealed the Gators’ fate to a disappointing defeat and a long journey home.
So, unfortunately, it was another hard-luck story for Gator fans, but the LSU football fans were ecstatic.
unbelievable atmosphere
The atmosphere inside Tiger Stadium was as advertised, but it has to be seen and heard to be believed. The noise is deafening, and I cannot imagine what it’s like to play in that environment. Yes, communication is near impossible, but overcome by a silent count. I found it hard to think, let alone avoid a linebacker and thread a pass through the eye of a needle. I have a newfound appreciation for what these young players go through to play a game of football in these parts.
Final score – Florida 10 LSU 20
The Aftermath
Now, before I get to the now infamous press conference, I want to talk about the experience at the end of the game. As was also the case in Tuscaloosa, the media is allowed onto the sidelines with 6:00 left on the clock. This provides a unique opportunity to witness the play up close and experience the atmosphere as the players do. It was magnificent.
But really, the purpose is to make sure that the media is on the field and ready for post-game interviews.
I had learned my lesson in Tuscaloosa that you need to be darned fast to get anywhere near the 50-yard line as the Head coaches meet. I now realise my pace is nowhere good enough to make that sprint, so on this occasion I decided to save my dignity and took in the bigger picture of the end of the game with players celebrating with fans.
That press conference
By now, you and the rest of the world have seen and heard the comments made by Kelly.
The Tigers’ Head coach took exception to the first question by a local TV reporter, which questioned the effectiveness of the Tigers’ offense.
“Stop, really? Is that the first question?” Kelly asked, clearly annoyed. “We won the game 20-10. Try another question. What do you want me to tell you? I just laid it out for you. We played the game to win the game. We played the game to win the game.”
The reporter continued to probe Kelly about the effectiveness of running the ball and a perceived lack of success on third down.
“It’s one game,” Kelly said. “Last game, we were good on third down. You’re looking at this from the wrong perspective. LSU won the football game, won the game. I don’t know what you want from me. What do you want? You want us to win 70-0 against a Florida to keep you happy?”
Kelly continued, clearly getting more and more irritated
“We can run the ball,” Kelly said. “Did you see the last play of the game? That’s all you need. You just need one. Those are ridiculous questions and I’m getting tired of it. That football team just worked their tail off to get an SEC win and you want to know what’s wrong. You know what? You’re spoiled, you’re spoiled. This team is 17-1 at night, 17-1. Give them some respect, how about that? Give them some respect instead of microanalyzing every little thing. This is ridiculous for a group of seasoned reporters. That kind of question is so out of line.”
with apologies
Brian Kelly has since apologised to the reporter concerned, Michael Cauble. Kelly was slated in the press and on TV for his response. But in the grand scheme of things, was Kelly wrong in what he said? If you listen to his words, he was defending his players, particularly his offense. Kelly knows they aren’t clicking, and we know that QB Nussmeier isn’t 100% fit. So perhaps Kelly was giving his team some space and a strong message that he is behind them and supports them.
But regardless, Kelly knows that there is work to be done on the offense. But make no mistake, should the offense click, then this Tigers team will be in the heart of the college football playoff.
an awesome experience
This was the end of my trip, as I had to sprint back East via Tuscaloosa to Atlanta to fly home. But what a trip it was.
Tiger Stadium and Baton Rouge were as advertised on gameday. It was hot, crazy, raucous and loud – everything that SEC football is and we love about it.
I highly recommend a trip South to anyone looking to take a sports trip to the States. I know a lot of NFL fans make the trip Stateside, and on the same weekend that I was in Baton Rouge, the Saints played the 49ers in New Orleans on Sunday, which is only an hour’s drive away.
just do it
If you don’t fancy NFL (& I don’t blame you), this is really the hotbed of college football in the US. You don’t even have to commit to SEC football as Memphis was a couple of hours North and I passed through Hattiesburg on the way across Mississippi. In fact that weekend that I was in Louisiana, Southern Miss hosted Appalachian State which would also have been high on my list of games to watch.
If you re thinking about it, DO IT!
With the greatest thanks to the Sports Information Team at LSU for their fantastic Southern hospitality, and a special shout-out to C Kent Lowe of LSU football. Thank you & Geaux Tigers!
GEORGE SOMERVILLE
COLLEGE FOOTBALL WRITER
GEORGE IS A LONG STANDING FANATIC OF LIFE AND FOOTBALL IN THE DEEP SOUTH AND WRITES HIS WEEKLY COLUMN CALLED “IT’S ONLY SEC” FOR THE TOUCHDOWN. HE IS ALSO CO-HOST AND ONE THIRD OF THE COLLEGE CHAPS PODCAST, THE UK’S FIRST PODCAST DEDICATED TO THE COLLEGE GAME.