The Confluence of Events Leading to O's Downfall

We are not where we are today for any single reason. It wasn't COVID, BLM, or young girlfriends. I think what you are seeing is Woodward taking advantage of chaos to remake the athletic department and catapult himself into the LSU system president's chair.

The relevant factors allowing such a move:

1) Losing. This is the worst team in 20 years and it is THE MOST IMPORTANT factor in making a change possible.

2) Title IX investigation. They are going to find enough dirt on O to either fire him with cause or force a negotiated resignation with a reduced buyout. This would serve the dual purposes of A) undoing Woodward's mistake with Ed's enormous raise and B) making it much easier to absorb Pelini's buyout.

3) COVID. We handled it very poorly compared to other programs. More than infection rates or contact tracing, it is the restrictions we have placed on the athletes that have led to a deterioration of the team culture. They are doing nothing but practicing, losing games, and sitting at home smoking weed. It's not healthy and no one is having fun. Ed's primary selling point is culture and he has failed miserably this year.

3) Turmoil in personal life. The divorce and photos of the new floozy in bed has rattled Ed. If drinking and a pregnancy are also part of the story, it's even worse than we know. Also, Ed and Woodward are not getting along as friends.

4) BLM garbage. Ed did not sufficiently kow-tow to the black players' political demands. Right or wrong, it created a divide in the locker room and another source of instability.

5) Attrition. Most of this is a side-effect of losing and COVID restrictions killing team morale, but I have a feeling we are about to see this hit the recruiting class. If we implode on early signing day next week, this will erase the single bright spot on the season and encourage Woodward to make his move.

6) Other NCAA violations. These would normally be minor self-reported things, but everything is magnified this year. O is notorious for getting into NCAA trouble.

For all of you who say this is impossible due to the COVID financial squeeze, I promise you that the powers that be will not hesitate for one second to clean house if they can use the Title IX issue as a cover and to reduce the buyouts. "No amount of money is too much to do the right thing and prevent sexual assault" is what they will say.

If they weren't about to move on O, they would have cleared the air by now. The athletic department announced a bowl ban 24 hours after Ed went on the radio to talk about how excited his team would be to play in the post season. Read the writing on the wall.