First and foremost, all things considered equal, LSU looks to be slightly better from a talent perspective. The "equal" part stems from injuries, which clearly impacted LSU's performance in the second half of the season. After LSU's 48-7 victory over Virginia Tech and 44-0 win over Middle Tennessee in September, injuries began to whittle away at a superb football team and foundation. The cracks would ultimately show in losses to Kentucky and Arkansas and a couple of close call wins over Auburn and Alabama.

The fact that the Tigers have not played since December 1 is of tremendous value and importance in evaluating this game as the Tigers have had over a month to get healthy. That applies to Matt Flynn, Early Doucet, Darry Beckwith, Craig Steltz, Trindon Holliday, Ciron Black, Herman Johnson, and, most notably, Glenn Dorsey. Some had minor injuries. Others were of a more severe variety.

With the possible exception of Jacob Hester, these names comprise the heart and soul of the LSU football team. When healthy, LSU looked like the nation's best team. Another reason to like LSU is strength of schedule. LSU's strength of schedule was #21, according to Sagarin. Ohio State's was #63. LSU faced eight bowl teams, winning six of those games. Ohio State faced six bowl teams, going 5-1.

Other primary factors include the fact that LSU is playing a virtual home game at the Louisiana Superdome and will have a community and crowd behind them. The Tigers have not lost in the Superdome since January 1, 1987, when they lost to Nebraska 30-15 in the Sugar Bowl. Since that time, LSU is 7-0 in the Superdome, including a 21-14 victory over Oklahoma for the BCS national championship on January 4, 2004.
 
Perhaps the most telling factor is that Ohio State has lost eight consecutive games to SEC opponents, including last year's embarrassing 41-14 shellacking at the hands of Florida in the BCS title game last season. There is no doubt that this serves as a motivator for the Buckeyes, who are employing the "us against the world" mentality for this contest. One player even equated the match up as being analogous to Rocky Balboa against Ivan Drago in the movie Rocky IV. There is no doubt that OSU is an awfully good team with the likes of Brian Robiskie, James Laurinaitis, Kirk Barton, Malcolm Jenkins, Vernon Gholston, Marcus Freeman, Alex Boone, Todd Boeckman, and Chris Wells. While I do not underestimate the talent level and resolve of Jim Tressel's Buckeyes and totally respect the tradition, including seven national championships, of Ohio State University, I'm going with THE Louisiana State University--LSU 27 Ohio State 20.

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