By Hunt Palmer
Whistles are blowing. Pads are popping. The sun makes its presence felt, relentlessly pounding the sod on The Ponderosa.
In many ways, this first week of fall practice carries the same tenor as the rest I’ve covered over the last 15 years.
But it’s different.
I was around in the Augusts of 2011 and 2019. I’m not sure I saw the impending greatness. In the same way, I don’t think I could have accurately forecast the imminent doom of 2016 or 2021. Both of those seasons terminated a coaching tenure midseason. Candidly, I thought the 2016 team that featured Leonard Fournette, Darius Guice, Tredavious White, Arden Key, Jamal Adams, Kendell Beckwith, Davon Godchaux, Russell Gage and Donte Jackson had a shot to be great.
That group has reported for work on a lot of NFL Sundays since then, and its coach didn’t make it through September.
That fall camp felt like the others. Generally speaking, LSU is loaded up with four- and five-star recruits, some projectable NFL Draft picks, a tough schedule and a shot at competing at the top of the SEC. Unlike far more than half of the league, LSU pulls that last part off a few times a decade. Texas Bowls and Capital One Bowls fill in the rest.
Rise, repeat.
This doesn’t feel like that at all. This time, it feels like LSU has to compete at the top of the league. If not, it feels like the new coach with the new roster will have been a failure in the new-look league under the new NIL and transfer portal rules with the new playoff format.
Just when you thought the South Louisiana sun produced enough heat.
The term “all-in” has been tossed about since LSU unloaded its NIL war chest to haul in 18 transfers in the offseason. The result was the top transfer portal haul in America to pair with a quarterback who threw for the second most yards in the history of the program in his first year as a starter.
I dismiss the term because, unlike a poker player without chips, LSU gets to play its hand next season and the one following. Rather, LSU has itself a heck of a hand as August moves forward.
It’s not perfect, and it will have to be played well. That’s not uncommon in Baton Rouge. The difference is the mounting pressure.
As difficult as navigating the daunting schedule figures to be, and Yahoo! ranked LSU’s schedule among the eight toughest in America, the pressure associated with it can make things more difficult if LSU isn’t mentally strong.
While more than 100 teams in college football would love to break camp with as much talent as LSU has assembled, perhaps no program is shouldering more expectation. That the beauty of excitement versus expectation. LSU’s chore is to embrace that excitement without the burden of expectation.
I’ve been asked many times whether or not LSU is overemphasizing the Clemson game. What if they lose? Your eight-month goal has been shattered. Is that a huge mistake?
If a loss does come to pass, it won’t spell the end of LSU’s season. Quite the opposite. My contention is that LSU’s season will be defined in the way the team responds to the first loss, whenever it comes. More importantly, how does LSU respond to the second loss?
That’s another difference in the new era of college football. Should the Tigers finish 10-2 against an SEC schedule with an out-of-conference game at Clemson, a birth in the College Football Playoff is assured.
That primetime opener with another playoff hopeful is still three weeks away. For now, the Tigers are still living in a hotel, busing to practice every day. Meetings, treatment and meals consume the rest of their time.
That’s business as usual for fall camp. It just feels different.
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