Grown Man FOOTBAWWL!!

So many of this boards posters seem to be a little low in the confidence department. Well, this thread is here to let you worry warts know that Big Dick is pumped up and hungry for four hours of intense fanatical Action!!

This isn't one of those rowdy "Kill Bama" threads with no substance and I don't do cliff notes so bug out if you don't like to read. I am telling all of you guys that this LSU team is more physical than this year's gump group and THAT is what Les will make sure that his players are going to use to win this game. Les Miles is one of the last truly hard nosed coaches in the nation who recruits, builds and conditions his team to be more physical than their opponents from the first day at practice til the last seconds of the 4th quarter of their bowl game. I am going to tell you exactly why Bama will have a much harder time against LSU than most people believe going into this weekend. No matter what the score will be at the end of the game, they are going to wish that they had a bye week after this game. From the moment that Les unleashes them out of their tunnel to the last seconds on the game clock, these LSU players aren't going to be looking like a visiting team at the top ranked program's field. They are going to own the ground under their feet win or lose and they will make a point of beating the man across from them physically. This mentality will not be affected by the scoreboard. This will be a personal imperative that will govern every action and reaction they each make and Les Miles is going to make sure of that.

Is there a more physical team in the nation than our Tigers? Of coarse not. Nearly every aspect of this program is about physically dominating and asserting the will of the Tigers upon their opponents for four quarters no matter what that scoreboard says. Their previous games thus far certainly do not always show this but this is Bama and the nation will be watching and taking notes.

The high number of injuries pretty much tell me what happens when this team is playing serious hardball.I have no doubt that these LSU players don't want to cause injuries by the way that they have acted against the rent a wins this year (and every other year). To me, they sure look like they approach the lesser teams like they want to win with their talent in an injury free game for both programs. When it comes time for SEC play or when they are backed up into a corner, this Tiger team is physically more than their opponents can handle. Geo got beat up so badly that they could hardly compete for a month after playing us (Mainly due to Girley's injury IMO). If Ole Miss thought that they were hurting before they played us they sure knew it after limping off of the field with more than twice the guys injured than they started with.

Although they have been physically outclassing and steam rolling their unimpressive list of opponents, Bama just doesn't seem to be quite as physical as they have been in recent years IMO. Maybe it's just that Nicky can't really "bump bully" their opponent's receivers with this year's relatively undersized CBs like they normally would so they can't play the front 7 as aggressively as they usually like to play them? I have reached this opinion by only paying attention to their few games against the better teams on their schedule.

At the same time, the Tiger offense looks to be just as capable of playing grown man football as they ever have been. They are sporting two of the biggest North-South runners in the nation following the biggest and baddest duo of FBs in the nation. If that little tidbit doesn't make you smile, Bama won't be able to just stack the box against us all night long as long as CCC can dial up a couple of scoring drives through the air to start the night off with. Mett will have to earn that advantage because I fully expect to see Nicky start off by playing his oversized 3-4 and making Mett beat them through the air. I also have to expect that Nick has a pretty good plan in place that should allow the gump safeties to help those corners more times than not against our two WRs. But that is all good my fellow fanatics because Les' favorite formation is also my favorite formation for playing grown man football! Is there a better formation to utilize LSU's current personnel than the single TE I-Form? At the same time, is there a better formation for Mett to throw to the TEs and RBs than that same formation? If any team was built to score on the gumps, it is this LSU offense.

Unfortunately, I can't see much of a weakness in their offense but nobody has walked right up to them and punched them in the mouth yet. A+M put pressure on them to keep scoring and they sure did exactly that but they haven't faced a defense that can play toe to toe with them yet. Now that the Chief might have a little more faith in his secondary, I hope to see him start getting those guys to pin their ears back more often and take the game into the gump backfield.

Don't allow the lack of aggressive blitzing to get you guys thinking for a moment that our D Linemen aren't physical guys. If the Tiger play aggresively and tackle well, I wouldn't be too shocked to see the Tide fall short of 30pts but that is certainly not very likely at all. We are going to definitely need much more aggressive play from the Mike backer spot so I hope that DJ is planning on bringing his grown man britches this week because he needs to attack instead of getting attacked by blockers. Holding the gumps to less than 30 pts is no small order but it can happen if they stay aggressive. The best news is that the Tigers could score more than 40 pts so the defense doesn't have to play as well as they have in the past. I think that it will be much more important for the Chief to dial up aggressive play and keep pressure on AJ on third downs if the Tigers are going to keep these guys in check. Likewise, playing aggressively will fall right in line with playing physical grown man ball.

Yes sir, this Tiger team is much better than their record guys. It was heart breaking to watch that game three weeks ago and I hope that the Tigers are going to Tuscalooser to rip some heads and bust some damn face masks. The LSU/Bama game should never be played any other way. I might not really be able to get that Ole Miss loss out of my head but I know one thing... I would rather lose to a depleted Ole Miss AND beat Bama this weekend than the other way around. This is the week that those ESPN talking heads can't stop using the term "Grown man football". It is that way for a damn good reason.