The NCAA football schedule hits Week 12 and already attention is focused on the SEC Championship game, to be played a couple of weeks from now. It will, barring a complete disaster, be a matchup between the #1 Florida Gators and the #2 Alabama Crimson Tide. This online sportsbook currently has the Gators as the odds-on favorite to win the SEC at 5/9, with Alabama sporting odds of 7/5.

The BCS’ Top 5 teams remain unchanged from the week previous with the Gators at the top, the Tide No. 2 and the Texas Longhorns, TCU Horned Frogs and Cincinnati Bearcats rounding out the Top 5 in that order.

Florida hasn’t deviated from top spot since the BCS rankings first came out a little over a month ago and with two more easy games before the conference championship, there is no reason why the Gators shouldn’t remain at the top of the BCS rankings heading into the big game.

This week, Florida has a tilt against the Florida International Golden Panthers…this should be a blowout. It is one of the biggest pointspread margins of the season, with sportsbook listing the Gators as 43-point favorites.

Florida is currently riding an 11-game straight up winning streak. They have recorded a mark of 9-5-1 ATS the last 15 times they’ve been listed as a favorite of 8 points or more, but they’re only 2-5-1 ATS in the last eight in that spread range. Although 43 points is a wild spread to ask a team to cover.

Sports bettors are still enamored with the #1 team in the nation, as 74% of all the betting volume on this is laying the 43 points.

A quick note on the Total in this one: the last eight times the Gators have been favored by eight points or more, they have a mark of 1 Over, 6 Unders and 1 Push.

The Gators should be able to get by FSU the week after when the cross-state rivals meet.

Since 1995, Florida is 5-2 ATS in seven home games against the Seminoles.

All signs point to the Gators being undefeated going into the early-December SEC title match against Alabama.

With the exception of a blip in early-November, Alabama has been a constant in the BCS’ two-spot this season.

The Tide also have a powder-puff game this coming week against Chattanooga, but looking ahead, there could have trouble vs. the Auburn Tigers during Thanksgiving weekend.

‘Bama has struggled in its last eight games against Auburn, going 2-6 SU (these two have recorded 2 Overs and 6 Unders in those games).

In the Tide’s last seven road games against the Tigers however, they may be 2-5 SU but are 5-2 ATS.

Alabama has been a great road team in its last nine overall away games, going 8-1 SU and an impressive 8-1 ATS.

This much-anticipated SEC Championship matchup in a couple of weeks will be the biggest game of the year so far in college football.

Good luck this weekend.

At this time last year, #2 LSU was preparing to meet #1 Ohio State in New Orleans for a showdown at the Superdome with the national championship crown on the line. LSU won, and was preparing to defend its national championship title this year when they lost their quarterback.

Ryan Perriloux was dismissed from the team for violating numerous team rules and the job was up for grabs. During the first games of the season, pocket passer Jarrett Lee and scrambling quarterback Andrew Hatch split playing time in the games but during the Auburn game, Hatch sustained a serious injury and Lee was the starter for the rest of the year.

In one of the latter games in the season, I forget which one (maybe the Ole Miss game), Lee sprained his ankle and true freshman Jordan Jefferson was thrust into the starting role. He will start tonight.

The game, played at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, will be more like a home game to the Yellow Jackets than for the Tigers which could affect LSU. LSU is unranked but they are at their ninth bowl in a row with two championships thrown in for good measure. Kickoff is at 6:30 PM on ESPN and the LSU Sports Radio Network.

LSU men’s basketball is 7-0, Nicholls State men’s basketball is 6-3 on the season. LSU has won 14 straight against the Colonels. The Tiger hoops team will play 5 games in the next 15 days to round out the 2008 portion of the schedule.

In other news, LSU offensive lineman Herman Johnson was named a first team All-American by the AP.

Listed at 6-feet-7, 351 pounds, the Olla, La., native is called, “The House,” by his teammates and is famous for being the heaviest baby recorded in Louisiana birth records. He was also a first team SEC guard following his junior year in 2007 and seems certain to play on Sunday’s next season after the NFL draft.

Here is some video highlights of future LSU quarterback Russell Shepard, you decide if he’ll be a star for the Purple and Gold someday. And make sure not to miss our new vidcast, “The Talk of Tigers Town” which is coming soon. Stay tuned.

Now that LSU’s regular season is over, lets check up on the rookies that we sent to the NFL last year, the players that gave LSU a national championship. First up, Jacob Hester. We all knew that Hester could score in college but could he score in the NFL? The answer is yes. Hester is now San Diego’s backup fullback.
    

After a disappointing 7-5 season, the LSU Tigers will at least go bowling. They will play the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl on New Years Eve. The Yellow Jackets went 9-5 in regular season play and this will be the first time that the Chick-Fil-A Bowl has hosted a defending national champion. This will be the ninth year in a row in which the Tigers have appeared in a bowl game.

The Yellow Jackets have already beaten two SEC teams this year (Georgia and Mississippi State) and are trying to go 3-0 against SEC teams this season.

In the meantime, check out this video from the 2007 season. Check back for updates on the Tigers on the field as well as on the court.

Near the end of the third quarter, LSU’s chances at winning the game were looking bleak, very bleak. Troy had racked up a lead of 31-3 over the Bayou Bengals, they had thrown everything at LSU that they had but they didn’t count on LSU actually passing the ball. All night long, Troy had held Charles Scott in check again and again and without a consistant passing attack, the Tigers were floundering. Many of the fans had mandatory evacuated Tiger Stadium and it looked to be over……

But Jarrett Lee began to throw the ball, and like a pro at that. As if the team had the only card that can outdo every poker hands, the team marched a comeback and outscored their opponents. LSU actually racked up 30 points in just over 5 minutes. That has to be some kind of record.

LSU fans and cheerleaders flapping their arms like angel wings, they did this between every play while LSU was making their comeback

Two of the quarterbacks above are held in high regard around Baton Rouge, Louisiana and the surrounding area, either of them would be approached by any LSU fan seeking an autograph and that fan would possibly call that the highlight of their life maybe even held above such “important” things as his marriage or the birth of his children. I mean, when it comes to meeting a high profile LSU quarterback does that stuff even matter?

The other quarterback may be booed off of the streets or possibly even arrested………………for his own protection of course. Would you like me to introduce these quarterbacks? Well, I shouldn’t because if you know anything about LSU football then you would be able to name these players right off of the top of your head but I’ll tell you their names anyhow.

From left to right: Matt Flynn (back when he wasn’t making a pile of money with the Green Bay Packers), Ryan Perrilloux, and Jarrett Lee.

Flynn and Lee are the ones to be held in high regard but Perrilloux is the one who might be hauled off by Baton Rouge’s finest for his own protection….or possibly for any crime that he may have committed since he arrived.

You see, Perrilloux wasn’t always hated (or disliked) around Baton Rouge. Back at the end after the 2007 season, the Tigers had just placed the national championship trophy into its case (that’s Flynn’s reason for being loved) and were getting ready for the new season. Many LSU fans were looking forward to seeing Perrilloux become the full-time starter. Andrew Hatch and Jarrett Lee were looking forward to learning from him as he guided the Bayou Bengals to wins each weekend.

He had played well in the SEC Championship Game while Flynn was out with an injury, leading the Tigers to a 21-14 rout of the Tennessee Volunteers. But Perrilloux got himself into trouble off of the field, he was caught trying to sneak into a casino and he had more problems with the law. Finally he was knocked off of the team for disobeying team rules and he soon found a new home at Jacksonville State (that’s him playing for his new team above).

Meanwhile, back on the bayou, Hatch and Lee were thrust into the limelight as future starters for the Tigers. Ultimately Lee beat out Hatch and has made the freshman mistakes, but many Tigers fans are on his bandwagon now, many have dropped his name into the NFL conversation and if he doesn’t win a national championship in his time at LSU, a lot of people are going to be very disappointed.

The Tigers’ immediate future is riding on the arm of Jarrett Lee, pure and simple.

Had Perrilloux not gotten himself into trouble, this team may have well been in the national championship conversation right now instead of Alabama, he was that good (see videos). But now its time to get behind our quarterback, Perrilloux isn’t coming back but Lee is here. GEAUX JARRETT LEE and…

Perrilloux Throwing The Ball

Perrilloux Running The Ball