Daily briefing: On LSU, Boston College’s emotional win and Jimmy Lake
Ivan Maisel’s “Daily Briefing” for On3:
LSU’s narrow loss to Alabama an indictment of Ed Orgeron
Mediocre LSU pushed No. 2 Alabama to the very last play in Tuscaloosa on Saturday night before falling 20-14. The Tigers limited the Crimson Tide to 6 rushing yards and sacked Bryce Young four times. Alabama clearly missed starting center Darrian Dalcourt, who played one series before suffering an ankle injury. LSU lame-duck coach Ed Orgeron was left to utter the saddest of coaching words, “We should have won the game.” LSU had its chances. That a 4-5 team played that well is, in and of itself, the truest indictment of Orgeron’s tenure. His players are capable of this level of performance, yet they have gone 9-10 since the national championship season.
‘Four losses in a row is hard, guys’
Boston College won its Red Bandanna Game on Friday night, breaking a four-game losing streak by defeating Virginia Tech 17-3. Eagles quarterback Phil Jurkovec, who went out with a hand injury in Week 2, returned to the field and injected some life into a team that had scored 40 points in those four losses. But what struck me is the honest, emotional tenor of Boston College coach Jeff Hafley’s postgame remarks. “Four losses in a row is hard, guys,” Hafley said. “You find out a lot about your team when you struggle in life. You don’t really know much about your team when you’re winning because things are really easy and even finding out about myself, what kind of head coach I am. … (O)ur guys pushed through and I’m proud of them. It’s emotional. It was just a really special night.”
A messy week finally ends for Jimmy Lake
Washington coach Jimmy Lake must be the happiest man in Seattle because Oregon Week has finally concluded. What a mess from start to finish. First, Lake took a shot at Oregon’s academics, saying that UW competed for recruits with the Stanfords of the world. Whatever Lake meant to say, it played terribly. Second, during the game, he tried to break up a scuffle and appeared to lightly strike freshman linebacker Ruperake Fuavai, which promoted athletic director Jen Cohen to say the department has launched an investigation. Third, Lake makes the inexplicable decision, down 24-16, to punt with 1:59 to play. Granted, the Huskies faced a fourth-and-10 on their 10 in cold, wet, windy conditions. But it’s a lot harder to score without the ball. And fourth, the long snapper fired the ball high and wide and out of the end zone. Oregon wins 26-16, and no one is happier than Lake that Arizona State Week is here.