Laney: Tigers welcome road trip

• By GARY LANEY
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Nov 3, 2009 - Page: 1C

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When the image of Bear Bryant declaring that he “ain’t never been nothing but a winner” appears on the big video board, putting the Bryant-Denny Stadium crowd into a frenzy before the LSU-Alabama game Saturday, Ciron Black wouldn’t mind being out there on the field, taking in the atmosphere.

It doesn’t bother the LSU offensive tackle that the excitement and energy from that tradition will be expressed in disdain for the Tigers, who are sure to hear the taunts in Tuscaloosa.

“I love going to Alabama because it is hostile,” Black said Monday. “They don’t like us and that gets your adrenaline pumping and it gets you ready to play. You have 90,000 people in there and they are screaming at you and they hate you because you are wearing purple and gold. That just makes you want to play harder.”

It’s good that Black and the Tigers embrace life on the road because, truth is, if they are to make a third run to a national championship in seven years , the heavy lifting isn’t going to be done in Tiger Stadium. Starting in Tuscaloosa, the key games are on the road.

After Alabama, the next big game will be in Oxford, Miss., on Nov. 21 when, if Ole Miss beats Tennessee the week before, the Rebels will host LSU likely as a ranked team.

Win the rest of the regular-season games, and LSU will go to Atlanta to play for an SEC championship against Florida, whose fans already know they are in the championship game, giving them a head start scrounging for tickets for an event closer to Gainesville than Baton Rouge.

Win there and LSU would probably play for a national championship at the Rose Bowl, which means the Tigers would play their first BCS bowl game not played in New Orleans.

Home advantage was such a big part of the 2003 and 2007 title runs. In 2003 there were key home wins over Georgia and Auburn, ranked teams when they came to town. Then the national title was won at the Sugar Bowl over Oklahoma.

Four years later, LSU won another national title in a season where the signature home wins were over highly ranked opponents Virginia Tech, South Carolina and Florida. Then there was the BCS title game win in the Superdome against Ohio State.

Not this year.

In the one big game at home, the Tigers lost to Florida. On the road, they have their most exciting wins against Mississippi State and Georgia. The season started with the longest road trip in school history, at Washington.

They’ll need more road heroics against teams better than the ones they’ve beaten so far, a challenge Scott welcomes.

“(Playing on the road) makes it more exciting if you come out with a win and it’s silent and all you hear is a little faint fans off in the distance,” Scott said.