The Sports Corner

2008 Chick-fil-A Bowl

LSU 7-5 (3-5) vs. Georgia Tech 9-3 (5-3)

Wednesday, December 31, 4:30 p.m. PST.

Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia.

SEC West #3 vs. ACC #2

Coaches: Les Miles (41-11) vs. Paul Johnson (9-3)

Quarterbacks: Jarrett Lee/Andrew Hatch/Jordan Jefferson vs. Josh Nesbitt

The line: GT -3.5

Payout: $3 million

If LSU loses this game, Les Miles will have doubled the amount of losses he had at LSU coming into the year, in just one season. It might be time to question whether or not LSU got the right man. 

In the last four games of the season, they lost to arch-nemesis Nick Saban and Alabama, then got pushed to the brink by Troy, narrowly escaping what would have been LSU’s worst loss of the decade. With the Cotton Bowl on the line, Ole Miss came into Death Valley and beat LSU 31-10, then to close out the season, Arkansas - yes 5-7 Arkansas, beat LSU 31-30. 

Les Miles won a National Championship with a roster still full of players recruited by Saban. Lose this game to upstart Georgia Tech, and Miles will find himself on the hot-seat next season.

On the other sideline, Tech head coach Paul Johnson just signed a contract extension. Tech had better hope the ACC doesn’t figure out how to defend the triple option next year or this won’t have been a very shrewd deal on their part. Early results have been good, but crowning coaches the second coming after only a short period of time is never a good idea. 

Then again, with a running back like Jonathan Dwyer, it’s hard to imagine this team out of contention in the ACC. Johnson will have to get as much out of Dwyer next season because it’s likely to be his last before he makes the jump to the NFL. The 230-pound sophomore has a burst of speed that makes him unlike any back in college football right now.

But it hasn’t been a one man show, as sophomore quarterback Josh Nesbitt has been a perfect fit in the triple-option offense. Another sophomore, receiver Demaryius Thomas is right behind Darrius Heyward-Bey (Maryland) and Hakeem Nicks (UNC) as the best in the ACC. Then there’s freshman slot back Roddy Jones, who’s a big play waiting to happen. There’s enough youthful talent on this team to win the ACC next year and the year after that. 

LSU hasn’t done much of anything all that well this season. They haven’t tackled well and they sure as hell can’t throw the ball. Junior running back Charles Scott has been the lone bright spot, rushing for 1,109 yards and 15 TDs, but even he has been nonexistent in big games. 

You can place some of the blame on Ryan Perrilloux, who was supposed to be the starting quarterback but was dismissed from the team in the spring. It has been a revolving door at quarterback without Perrilloux. Jarrett Lee, Andrew Hatch and Jordan Jefferson have all had their chances but none of them have proven to be ready for SEC football. Jefferson, because of his athletic ability, is the future for LSU at the position 

LSU’s defense should be among the best in the country and freshman corner Patrick Peterson has been very impressive. But they haven’t played well this season and the inexperience in the back seven has reared its ugly head. 

LSU has the front four to compete in this game but defending the triple-option is hard on the linebacking corps and LSU doesn’t have the talent there to stop Dwyer and co.

Tech completes their first 10-win season since 1998, beating LSU 28-20.