BATON ROUGE, La. -- Late Saturday night, LSU coach Les Miles was virtually inaudible when meeting with the assembled media. The Man under The Hat was gassed in the wake of a 23-21 victory against third-ranked South Carolina. He was exhausted, but relieved.
It had been a long week here, answering questions about a beleaguered offensive line and how the Tigers were going to move the ball. And now? Nov. 3, when Alabama comes here, remains a relevant date on the national level, and LSU remains in the BCS discussion.
In fact, the list of viable one-loss teams is growing. In addition to the two here Saturday, Oklahoma and USC belong in that conversation (maybe West Virginia, too, although that's debatable after the nature of its loss Saturday). And another thought: Where does Notre Dame fit in if it should lose at OU or USC and win out otherwise?
If there's another shakeup similar to the Oct. 6 quake, those teams will again ascend. It's still early enough. Remember that it was a team that lost in early November that wound up winning the crystal football last season.
LSU's hopes of hanging around in the title discussion were flickering after a miserable day at Florida, but the patchwork offensive line destroyed a talented South Carolina front to restore hope for those on the bayou.
"We're not used to losing around here," linebacker Lamin Barrow said. "This game wouldn't have broken our season, but we couldn't take another loss. It was beautiful to see us come together as a team."
To read Travis Haney's full Week 7 college football takeaways column, including which coaches are on the hot seat, you must be an ESPN Insider.
Travis Haney
ESPN Insider• Joined ESPN as Insider's national college football writer in April 2012
• Previously wrote for The Oklahoman and The Post and Courier
ABOUT THIS BLOG
Travis HaneyTravis Haney joined ESPN in April 2012 as Insider's national college football writer. He previously covered the University of Oklahoma Sooners for The (Oklahoma City) Oklahoman for one season, and the University of South Carolina Gamecocks for The (Charleston, S.C.) Post and Courier for four. Additionally, Haney has contributed since 2003 to ESPN publications and projects, including ESPN The Magazine.
A native of Cleveland, Tenn., Haney's initial introduction to a college football cathedral was Neyland Stadium. He later graduated from the University of Tennessee, in 2003, and has spent time covering the Volunteers, the University of Georgia, Clemson University, and other schools. Safe to say, football, and football in the South, was injected into his bloodstream at a young age.
Haney is the author of three books -- Gamecock Glory and Gamecock Encore, which chronicled the South Carolina baseball team's run to the 2010 and 2011 national championships, and State of Disunion, a historical look at the Clemson-South Carolina football rivalry that he co-wrote with Larry Williams.
Haney resides in Charlotte, N.C. You can follow him on Twitter here.
