Line: LSU by 6.
Series Record: LSU leads 2-0.
WHAT'S AT STAKE
Clemson is trying to reach 11 wins for only the fourth time in school history and the first time since a 12-0 finish in its 1981 national championship season. LSU, which one year ago was preparing for the national championship game, is hoping for a top-five finish and to close with four straight wins after its 21-17 loss to Alabama on Nov. 3.
KEY MATCHUP
LSU freshman cornerbacks Jalen Mills and Jalen Collins, who have had prominent roles since the dismissal of Tyrann Mathieu before the season, will be challenged to contain DeAndre Hopkins, who is second in the nation with 16 TD catches, and Sammy Watkins. Mills, the starter, and Collins, who plays on passing downs, have combined for four interceptions. LSU QB Tajh Boyd has 34 TD passes, taking advantage of his fast receivers.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
LSU: LB Kevin Minter, a second-team All-American who leads the Tigers with 111 tackles, will be a key to LSU's hopes of containing 1,000-yard rusher Andre Ellington and Boyd's runs on QB keepers to make Clemson's offense one-dimensional. Minter had 12 tackles and an interception in LSU's 24-19 win over Johnny Manziel and Texas A&M on Oct. 20.
Clemson: Watkins has only three TD catches, a big drop from his 12 as a freshman last season. He could be ready for a strong finish after missing three games early in the season — two to a suspension and one to illness. He had 11 catches for 110 yards and a touchdown against N.C. State on Nov. 17 and could have another big game if LSU leaves him in man coverage while focusing on Hopkins.
FACTS & FIGURES
The Atlantic Coast Conference and Southeastern Conference are 10-10 in the annual game. ... LSU is 36-1 in non-conference games since 2005, with the one loss coming against Penn State in the 2010 Capital One Bowl. ... LSU running backs have a streak of 271 carries without a fumble since two against Towson on Sept. 29. ... LSU is 9-1 all-time in the Georgia Dome, including four wins in the SEC championship game, four wins in the Chick-fil-A Bowl and a season-opening win over North Carolina in 2010. Les Miles' 5-2 bowl record at LSU includes a 2-0 mark in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. ... Clemson needs 25 points to break Florida State's ACC record of 532 points in 1995. ... Boyd is tied with former N.C. State star Philip Rivers' 2003 ACC record of 34 touchdown passes in a season. Boyd has 10 more TD passes than Manziel and 20 more than Heisman runner-up Collin Klein. ... LSU is Clemson's highest-ranked bowl opponent since Clemson beat No. 6 Tennessee in Atlanta in the 2003 season, when the game was called the Peach Bowl. ... Clemson leads the nation with 49 pass plays of at least 25 yards. ... Clemson's Brandon Ford has eight TD catches, the second-highest total for tight ends in the nation, behind the 10 by Marshall's Gator Haskins.
MAY 17 Here's a column from James Gill, this time in the Advocate. Gill, who has jumped ship from the Picayune, writes about the absurdity of dueling polls in this post. The numbers are so wildly different, it is obvious that both sides are "cooking the books," he writes. In particular, he looks at Sen. Mary Landrieu, and how her recent actions in DC have been received by those polled. Gill's acerbic, amusing prose is a welcome addition to a paper so conservative as to be occasionally lacking in personality.
MAY 17 Blogger Tom Aswell continues delivering bombshells about the state education department and Gov. Jindal's education "reform" efforts. In this post, he reports that students in the Shreveport area have been signed up for a charter school without their knowledge or consent. Most interesting to Aswell is how this Texas-based charter (with ties to GOP types) got the personal student information it has, if the students didn't give it.
MAY 17 This post by JR Ball in the Baton Rouge Business Report is an interesting tongue-in-cheek look at recent Baton Rouge economic development efforts. Among the items he examines is the idea that gaining a Costco makes BR a "world-class city." (Really? All you need is a different brand of Sam's? MK!) This effort, and other recent ones, are all built on the taxpayer's back, with tax zones, tax incentives and tax rebates, Ball writes.
MAY 17 Blogger CB Forgotston is critical of the legislature's reliance on a revenue-estimating committee's decision to include projected tax amnesty income in this year's forecast. That's a problem, CB posts, because the deadline for these people to pay their taxes is June 30, 2014. So when do you think these people who haven't paid taxes in years are going to pay their taxes? Surely not before June 30, and that means the money won't be there for this year's budget, he argues.
MAY 17 Here's an interesting blog out of California by a Hollywood writer, attorney and academic named Brian Alan Lane. He blogs about higher ed, and was a whistle-blower in a scandal over false credentials. In this post, he takes aim at LSU's new top dog, King Alexander. It's convoluted and a little confusing, but it sure makes Alexander a lot more interesting than he was yesterday.
MAY 17 Blogger Robert Mann writes about the LSU Board's refusal to allow Dr. Fred Cerise to testify before the legislature about Gov. Jindal's plan to close down all the state's charity hospitals and dump the poor on the private system. It's hard to imagine anyone more qualified than Cerise to testify about that, so why would anyone try to prevent him doing so? Mann thinks it is because the powers that be aren't interested in hearing any truth about the plan.
MAY 17 This post on the Louisiana Sinkhole Bugle, a blog that notes developments in the Bayou Corne and Jefferson Island salt domes, talks about a proposed expansion of the salt dome storage under Lake Peigneur in Iberia Parish. Residents are working against it for several reasons, including two biggies: the sinkhole disaster in Bayou Corne and the continuing, unexplained bubbling on the surface of the Lake.
MAY 17 NOLA police arrested more people Thursday accused of either being involved in the Mother's Day shooting or hiding the suspect afterward, this Gambit story reports. The NOLA police chief said he suspects the whole thing was gang-related and throws out a challenge to the gangs: he's got informants now, he says, and he knows a lot more than the gangs want him to know. The people who live in the neighborhoods terrorized by gangs are ready to talk, he says.
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