LSU opens title defense against upsetminded Appalachian State
editor1 |Aug 25,2008
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BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (Ticker) -- Appalachian State dashed
Michigan's title hopes in last season's opening week. If Les
Miles and reigning national champion Louisiana State want to
avoid the same fate, they will have to find a way to contain
Armanti Edwards.
The sixth-ranked Tigers begin their title defense Saturday when
they host Edwards and Appalachian State, the three-time
defending Football Championship Subdivision national champion.
The game figures to have a festive atmosphere, as LSU will take
the field for the first time since routing Ohio State in last
season's BCS championship game.
But the Tigers will have to remain focused against the
high-scoring Mountaineers, who shocked then-No. 5 Michigan in
last year's season opener and went 13-2 en route to their third
straight FCS title.
The preseason FCS No. 1, Appalachian State is led by Edwards, a
junior who ran for 1,588 yards and 21 touchdowns while also
passing for 1,948 yards and 17 scores last season.
Edwards stole the show against Michigan in Ann Arbor last
September, running for one TD and passing for three scores in
the Mountaineers' 34-32 upset of the Wolverines. The
multi-talented Edwards once again will quarterback a
Mountaineers team that scored 641 points last season - the
highest total in both the FCS and FBS.
Although the Mountaineers exposed the weaknesses of the
defensively-challenged Wolverines last year, they will be
hard-pressed to repeat the feat against LSU, which yielded a
total of 279 points en route to a 12-2 record and a national
championship last season.
It was the second BCS title in the last five years for the
Tigers, who reached last season's championship game in New
Orleans despite suffering regular-season losses to Kentucky and
Arkansas.
But courtesy of their victory over Tennessee in the Southeastern
Conference championship, the Tigers jumped to second in the BCS
rankings, setting the stage for their romp over the Buckeyes.
Miles, who turned down overtures from Michigan - his alma mater
- last season to remain at LSU, will coach another talented
squad in Baton Rouge this season. The Tigers return 12 starters
from last year's team and boast one of the nation's most
talented and complete defenses.
But while Appalachian State has a proven quarterbacking
commodity in Edwards, LSU will have an unknown under center
since Miles dismissed Ryan Perrilloux this past winter for
repeated violations of team policy.
Andrew Hatch, a redshirt sophomore who transferred from Harvard,
will make his first career start at quarterback for the Tigers.
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