Gameday: LSU-Fresno State

First off I want to say it is great to have someone running a heisman website for Sean Norton. It is pretty obvious this person has been a fan of Norton far longer than most of us Bulldog fans have and it's definitely a good thing to have support in this sense. Now on to tonight's game against 14th ranked LSU. I wrote yesterday that I truly think it's possible the Dogs can keep this one close. Whether they do or not will depend on the defense because LSU will not give up to many points. I am not sure but their season high may be the 23 points they gave up to Florida, a far cry from the 68 Fresno State allowed this past weekend. Seaon Norton is going to have the world on his shoulders tonight because I just don't see the running game exploding like it usually does. At the beginning of the year many Bulldog fans thought LSU might overlook us as we fell right in the middle of their tough SEC schedule. Well I hate to say it but it doesn't matter if they overlook us or not, they still have the talent to win the game even if they don't play their best game overall.

I think the most interesting angle on this game will be how the Bulldogs react after it is over. I realize because we have quite a few seniors from Pat Hill's so called best class of 2002 that many of these men have played in front of 90,000 fans before. When this game ends the Bulldogs will have to turn their attention to Boise State who they will face ten days from now. Although Fresno State cannot win the WAC they can do their best to create some havoc by knocking the Broncos off. I am sure Hawai'i would love us for it because that would give the Rainbows an inside track to the WAC title as they would tie the Broncos (so should we try to win the game against Boise then?). Remember for all of you thinking "But didn't Boise beat Hawaii?" the WAC does not use tiebreakers and instead crowns co-champions. Tonight's game could very well be a springboard into the rest of the season for the Bulldogs. Yes the Dogs could be 1-7 after the next two games, but if they run off four straight wins and get their defense figured out maybe that would be the kind of springboard we need going into the 2007 season. At the same time we may be able to ruin San Jose's bid for a bowl game, and of course every Fresno State fan would love it if we could do that to the Spartans.

Tonight's game could end up ugly or the Dogs could fight and stay in the game throughout. The only impossible outcome would be Fresno State winning this game by more than seven. I realize before tonight my game predictions have been no where near correct. The last four games I have been as far off as possible, but maybe tonight will be where my thoughts get back on track. I just cannot see the Dogs faltering over and over again as they have up to this point. Eventually we are going to play a good game and I feel like this will be the game to start the remainder of our season. Today I also wanted to mention something about a QB I watched play again last night in the Clovis West - Clovis East game. I understand everyone thinks that we have our future QB in Ryan Colburn. I have to say Beau Sweeney for Clovis West is as good as it gets in high school. He is only a junior right now but has an absolute cannon. Although he doesn't get to show off his arm often I have seen four games this season and he can throw the ball 45-50 yard on a line if needed to. At the end of his senior season it would be nice to see Hill go after the son of former QB Kevin Sweeney. I have been hearing a lot of pub about Marks from Buchanan (the tall RB) but I watched him play and he cannot break a tackle. When he is hit he goes down at the point of contact. Don't second guess the Dogs not getting this guy because he just would not fit into our system. We need strong physical RB's and he is not one.

Well I hope most of you will watch the game tonight. It may not go the way we want it to but as long as the Dogs play hard that should be enough to keep the fans watching. Go Dogs, give the Tigers hell.