What constitutes "media darling" and hypathetical scenario?

everyone hates LSU....always.

Why do you care so much about the media? Only opinions you should care about are from the oddsmakers. Not a producer that's pushing for ratings

No, Alabama has been a "media darling" basically as long as there has been a media. However, even media darlings need to be good to get the slobbering that the media is eager to give them. It is the combination of the explosion of college sports media (especially football) in the last 12 years or so and the re-ascendance of Bama football under Nick Saban that has resulted in the gorging of hype we've seen lately. When college football coverage was really exploding (the most recent time), Bama was down so there wasn't as much opportunity to pump them up. But SC was doing really well so there was no real need for Bama. When SC crashed, Saban had Bama back into national preeminence so the spotlight turned back to them. Some of us older fans may recall how Bama and Florida shared the spotlight (such as it was) in the early '90s, but then Bama sort of faded as Florida (and to a lesser extent Tennessee) took over dominance in the SEC. But at that same time, Florida State and Nebraska were kicking arse, so there were others to take the spotlight.

The "media darling" tag isn't necessarily a guarantee of drooling. If you look at the attention Notre Dame has received the last few years, it does far outpace the attention other 7-5 or so programs would be receiving. However, it hasn't all (or even mostly) been flattering. The media darling status is pretty much just a measure of how much interest they can get from an audience by talking about you. In the cases of Alabama, Notre Dame, SC, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Michigan, Ohio State, Florida and even LSU (to an extent, recently), they can garner significant interest from a nationwide audience by talking about how good we are when we are really good. In the cases of Notre Dame and SC, they can also garner significant interest from a nationwide audience by talking about how bad they are when they are not good. Alabama may well fall into that category as well, especially now, once they eventually slip back into mediocrity (as all great programs do).

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I disagree and believe fully that a coach plays a very large factor in influencing media.

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Yes, and almost all of the factor is how much he wins. Saban didn't make Michigan State a media darling, or Toledo. And he didn't make LSU a media darling until he starting winning big, and even then it didn't really take hold until after he had left. Saban didn't make Bama into a "media darling" any more than Pete Carroll made SC into one. A long line of guys with names like Bryant, Wade, Jones and McKay, etc., did that. Saban took that media darling program and turned into a national championship caliber media darling program. That's why there's been so much hype around Bama lately.

If we keep winning big and winning National Championships, we will definitely ascend to that level. And once that happens, after we inevitably slide back into mediocrity we too can see a superstar coach bring us back to national championship caliber status and see a whole bunch of media hype around us, too. It might not ever be as much as Bama gets, but they do have a lead of decades more greatness than we do.

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Thinking hypathetically, if Nick Saban returns to LSU instead of going to Bama and there is no Les Miles, do you think LSU would be considered a "media darling?"

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LSU will never be a media darling. ESPN hates LSU, remember?

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If some of you cared as much about LSU as you do about Alabama, your lives would be much better.

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HypAthetical
HypOthetical
HypERthetical
HypIthetical
HypUthetical
HypYthetical

As long as there is a vowel I guess it doesn't matter.

Teams that win are not always "media darlings," for example, Notre Dame.

Yes, you are correct about LSU being a "media darling" just a little further down the list. We were 100 percent a media darling/marketing tool when all the buzz was around the honey badger last year.

Regarding 07, I think Herby owed LSU one after falsely reporting Les Miles taking the Michigan job. However, I beleive we would have gotten in anyways.

Thanks for all of the comments.