On Friday, August 10, the LSU
football program announced the not-so-surprising news that Tyrann “The Honey
Badger” Mathieu had been dismissed from the program for violating team rules.
“We have a simple policy here of
behavior, and consequences are pretty spelled out and defined,” LSU Coach Les
Miles said Friday at a press conference. “We did what we could do, but Tyrann
Mathieu is no longer on our team. He violated team policies.”
There’s no denying that Tyrann
Mathieu was one of the most exciting football players to ever don the purple
and gold. Game after game, Mathieu wowed college football fans across the
nation with spectacular plays, accumulating six forced fumbles, five
fumbles recovered and four touchdowns scored — two on fumble recoveries, two on
punt returns. The only thing more dynamic than Mathieu’s on-field play was his
larger than life off-field persona. His signature blonde faux hawk and Honey
Badger nickname made him an instant superstar in college football. Unfortunately,
his star faded much too fast.
Now he’s gone, dismissed from the
LSU football program in the blink of an eye. So where does that leave the LSU
football team?
As the old adage goes, “the darkest
hour is just before the dawn.” Tiger fans never fear, because the dawn is
almost upon you. In just 19 days, the LSU Tigers will open the season against
North Texas. The game will be competitive until the coin toss, which the Tigers
will most likely win. Coach Les Miles’ toughest decision will be which side of
the ball he wants to showcase first: his new high powered offense led by
cannon-armed quarterback Zach Mettenberger and an arsenal of skill players or
his defensive juggernaut, which fields a murderer’s row of defenders in Eric
Reid, Barkevious Mingo, Sam Montgomery, Tharold Simon, and Anthony “Freak”
Johnson coming off the bench.
The LSU football program has been
through this before – last season. Jordan Jefferson was arrested outside of a
Baton Rouge bar last summer and suspended from the team for four games. How did
the Tigers respond? They went 13-0 against a gauntlet SEC schedule that
included wins against a Top 5 Oregon team in Dallas and at West Virginia,
winning the SEC Championship, and making the BCS National Title Game. The
Tigers face a much easier schedule this year, filled with plenty of cupcakes
(North Texas, Idaho, & Towson) and facing their arguably stiffest opponents
at home (South Carolina & Alabama).
For the Tigers, a trip to Miami is
not enough. Anything but a crystal ball is unacceptable. It’s imperative that
Tharold Simon step up and, with safety Eric Reid, lead the rest of the young
secondary. For young guns Jalen Collins, Dwayne Thomas and Jalen Mills, it’s
time to shine. The Tigers are good enough to overshadow the growing pains of
this suddenly very young secondary, but for how long? Time will tell how fast
these cubs mature into Fighting Tigers, but LSU fans are keeping their fingers
crossed that the maturation process finishes by November 3, when rival Alabama
comes to town for the BCS title game rematch.
Alabama’s thrashing of LSU 21-0 in
the Superdome is a memory most LSU fans would like to forget. Maybe they will
rejoice November 3 if the Tigers win. Maybe the Tigers will take their talents
to South Beach this January. And maybe, just maybe, someone will be able to
replace the swagger and tenacity of the Honey Badger.
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