1/9/12 -- What have you heard happened that caused LSU to play so poorly?

I know, I know...beating a dead horse. But I've seen a lot of random things here and there over the last couple of weeks or so that has caused me to wonder again about the 1/9/12 game and what happened to LSU.

First -- Finebaum told Marcus Spears that he had seen a lot of LSU players including Jordan Jefferson at Harrah's the night before the game, after Alabama players had left for curfew. He said he had to get on the floor and help JJ find his wallet at one point. He also said that a Bama assistant coach was highly confident because he saw all the LSU players out that night.

LINK to the video

Then, I googled that and found that Finebaum had alluded to that shortly after that game, and that he had refused to identify the "prominent" LSU player.

LINK

So, why were our players out that late on the night before? Why wasn't there a more strictly enforced curfew, and why wasn't their focus on the game? They can go to New Orleans anytime and do that. Were they that over playing Alabama again?

Second -- I saw a post on another thread today that said "i had friends that worked in the program in 2011 and they all told me that the offense had a great gameplan to attack Bama on the edges and use their size against them. the problem was that as soon as the game started, the offense got punched in the mouth and Les panicked. he told stud to forget the gameplan and keep it conservative." The offense played miserably poorly that night. Hoping for more insight on this.

Third -- Why not play Jarrett Lee? He was obviously wanting to go in. The team, and the fans in the Dome looking to help with the atmosphere, needed a jolt. That never came. I don't know why Lee never got the opportunity, especially after how efficient he was earlier in the season. I hope more comes out about that decision as time goes by and all of the players from that year are no longer in the program.

Ultimately that game was such a huge watermark for the program, given the opponent. I still do not think Alabama deserved to be there, based on the merits of not winning their division, having lost at home to LSU, and not having the resume of Oklahoma State (even with the Iowa State loss). But they were clearly superior that night. I hope people can shed some more light on what they have heard to explain what happened behind the scenes.