Smiley Anders for August 6, 2008

• By SMILEY ANDERS
• Advocate columnist
• Published: Aug 6, 2008 - Page: 1B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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I fear this might be a less than stellar year for both the LSU football team and my Fearless Football Forecast.

After correctly predicting LSU’s BCS championship run back in August of 2007, I can hardly hope to have the same luck this season.

And without a proven quarterback and some other holes to fill, I don’t see the Tigers winning it all again. (Needless to say, I hope I’m wrong.)

Still, the lads in purple and canary yellow will have the kind of season that some teams would kill for.

After struggling against Appalachian State in the opening game, the Tigers have less trouble dispatching Troy and North Texas.

But their first game away from the friendly confines of Tiger Stadium has a sad ending, as the Auburn Tigers pull one out on a last-minute field goal despite being outplayed much of the game.

A stout bunch of lads from Mississippi State give the Tigers a tussle, but finally fall in the fourth quarter.

Another road game results in LSU’s second loss, as our boys get Tebowed in Gainesville by the Florida Gators and their Superman quarterback.

The Tigers finally break the road jinx in Columbia, walloping the South Carolina Gamecocks and causing Coach Steve Spurrier to toss his visor in disgust on three different occasions.

The twice-beaten Tigers are solid underdogs against the undefeated Georgia Bulldogs, who come roaring into Tiger Stadium ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 in national polls. But our lads rise to the occasion and lay a solid whipping on the Dogs.

The game with Tulane almost gets away from the Tigers, still celebrating their upset over Georgia and looking ahead to Alabama. But they pull it out in the final quarter for a victory over the Greenies.

There’s a lot of drama when Nick Saban brings his Bama team into Tiger Stadium, but the game proves to be a one-sided affair, as the Bayou Bengals play their best game of the season. Nick is not amused. …

After a surprisingly easy win over a troubled Ole Miss squad, the Tigers go back on the dreaded road again, this time to always troublesome Arkansas. LSU loses the game and the chance to play for the SEC championship.