Tigers, Green Wave meet in ‘Katrina Bowl’

By Darrell Laurant  |   Tuesday, September 19, 2006  |  Comments( 2 )

LSU Tigers
Got something to say?

Log In above and share your thoughts on this topic with other fans!

It's a shame, in a way, that the Tulane and Louisiana State football teams have to play each other this year.

Instead of trying to knock each others' helmets off, maybe they should adjourn to some funky restaurant deep in Baton Rouge or the French Quarter and trade stories about what it was like to be a college football player in Louisiana in the fall of 2005.

Tulane quarterback Lester Ricard could tell a few. He and his teammates were evacuated to Dallas just before Lake Pontchartrain poured over the faltering levees like an all-out watery blitz. In their wake, the ironically named Green Wave athletic facilities were submerged in as much as eight feet of stagnant water. Thanks, Katrina.

JaMarcus Russell, Ricard's counterpart at LSU, filled up his apartment with refugees -- including music legend Fats Domino, a relative of Russell's girlfriend.

LSU, heavily stocked with New Orleans players, managed to put it all aside and finish with an 11-2 season and a Peach Bowl rout of Miami. Tulane floundered and finally sank, finishing 2-9.

Thinking about 2005 almost makes the questionable pass interference penalty that cost LSU its game with No. 2 Auburn last week seem minor in the great scheme of things -- unless you're a person wearing purple and gold.

Lester Ricard used to be one of those people, enrolling at LSU after a spectacular prep career in Amite (also home to the Landry boys, LaRon and Dawan) but he saw the writing on the depth chart and transferred east. As a sophomore at Tulane, he threw six touchdown passes against UAB and four against Navy. He can throw a football 70 yards.

JaMarcus Russell is 6-foot-6 and 250 pounds. Ricard looks like Russell after a crash diet, his own 6-6 frame almost 30 pounds lighter.

Both QBs, however, have "it," that indefinable quality of stardom. On the final, almost-but-not-quite drive in front of a screaming Auburn crowd last Saturday, Russell was riveting. Although he's not as nimble as Vince Young, that final assault on the tough Auburn defense had a Youngian feel to it. Everyone in the stadium knew he was going to throw on every down, and he still found his targets.

Russell's passes don't float or flutter, they zoom. He can throw a football 50 yards through the goal post uprights while on his knees, over 80 yards standing up.

Ricard is similarly gifted, and he went over 400 yards in last week's 32-29 victory over Mississippi State. An opening game collapse (45-7) against Houston, however, raises questions as to whether the Green Wave defense is capable of stopping Russell, wide receivers Dwayne Bowe, Craig Davis and Early Doucet and a trio of bruising running backs.

Saturday's 7 p.m. contest is the first in a 10-game series between the two schools, a natural rivalry. Especially now.

And JaMarcus Russell and Lester Ricard already know how much they have in common --- their altitude, their almost supernatural right arms, and a hurricane.

They should call it the Katrina Bowl. Give the winners a FEMA trailer.

Get weekly LSU Tigers coverage at RealFootball365.com
Got something to say?

Log In above and share your thoughts on this topic with other fans! (2)

About Darrell Laurant

Sorry, Darrell Laurant's bio is currently not available. Please check back soon!
read more
Article Tools Share!   |  RSS  |  Bleacher Report About Bleacher Report