Showing Thanks For LSU’s Win Over Texas A&M

Ok, let’s just get this out of the way now: Davon Godchaux was off sides. Like, way off sides you guys. It appeared as though his helmet was nearly flush with the Aggie center’s helmet, but I suppose the football Gods decided this Thanksgiving Day to reach smile fondly on our beloved Tigers. I indeed am humbled and thankful.

I’d like to take a moment in this belated season of thanks to look back and recognize the things that made this tumultuous season of Tiger football another one for the books.

Firstly, I am thankful for Les Miles and what he means to the identity of LSU football. Every week we tune in for what will inexorably be a practice in futility. Anthony Jennings will flounder in the passing game. We will run the ball on third down and seven. The defense will look stocked with All-Americans until the final drive of the game. Despite all this, the Bengals somehow manage to pull out a win. Maybe it hasn’t happened as much this season, but Miles hasn’t won 80 percent of his games on accident. The man is a winner, and nobody can argue that fact.

Second, I am thankful for Leonard Fournette. Oh my, oh my, am I thankful for this young man. “Buga,” as he has taken to being called, has a future so bright I have to wear two pairs of shades when I think about it. Can you imagine the things he is going to be doing two years from now if he stays healthy and completely commits to the strength and conditioning program and doesn’t let his ego get the best of him? The Tigers need only a serviceable quarterback under center (Looking at you Brandon Harris) and Fournette is almost (almost) enough to build the entire offensive game plan around.

Thirdly, I thank whomever decided to stick with Anthony Jennings through thick and thin this year. I am a huge advocate of the idea that having two quarterbacks rotating in is suicide for creating any sort of offensive consistency. It was downright painful to watch the offense at times, but at least we knew exactly what their identity would be each week and didn’t have to worry about any sort of back-biting or ill will developing among the first-team players, such as we saw between Jordan Jefferson and Jarrett Lee two seasons ago.

Finally, I thank all the underclassmen who departed early for the NFL and allowed all these freshmen and sophomores to see the field this season. Again, I ground my teeth to nubs sometimes seeing the mistakes made by the young men forced into action this year. However, halfway through the season I found this glimmer of hope and was at last able to sleep peacefully at night: we will have the most experienced, battle-tested team in the SEC over the next three seasons. There will not be a formation or a situation this team of Tigers has not seen in the coming seasons. You could already see the maturation of the defense throughout the second half of the year. Who knows what the ceiling for those young guys is going to be.

Well, I have leftover turkey calling my name. I’m extremely interested to see how the bowl selection is going to shake out. Where do you think the Tigers will end up?

What are you thankful for after this 2014 season? Let us know in the comments!