You distinguished guys in Birmingham, those who come up with these great statistical tables, etc., have you ever lived in Louisiana? You don't have to answer. I can tell by what you say about LSU as to whether you have.
Please permit just an example of the kind of thing you would hear from LSU people about Alabama football were you to live there like I have. We as Alabama fans have heard it from Auburn fans too, that it wasn't Alabama who won all those games from 1958 til 1982 -- it was Bear Bryant who won them. Alabama just happened to be where Bear Bryant was when he won all those games.
Now, if you peruse Tigerrant.com, you will read about how LSU is one of the top-tier programs in the country -- just like these distinguished gentlemen are saying on this thread. Hey fellows, was LSU one of those top-tier programs before Saban got there? LSU people themselves will tell you what a down-time they went through with people like Curly Hallmann, Mike Archer, and even Gerry DiNardo and Jerry Stovall. Do you think that these same LSU people are going to admit to you that it was SABAN who made the difference over there?
ALL of us football fans twist the facts to fit our idea that our team is the best in the country. I'm sure it's easier to see it in the OTHER guy and his opinion of his team than it is to see it in ourselves and our team. But, man, I wish you would just take a look at some of their threads on Tigerrant lately. Alabama, according to some of them, is no threat this year because we have an untested quarterback, and if he goes down, there is no one to take over. Therefore Ole Miss is the team to beat in the West. LSU has solved their problems on defense with Chavis, and they have two QB's to take over for Jarrett Lee, therefore LSU will win the West.
"Statistics tell the story." Well, then, let's look at ALL the statistics, instead of just those over the past ten years, especially since we now have the coach here at Alabama that brought about the statistics at LSU that have been so eloquently presented here. College football history goes back further than ten years, anyhow, and from the longterm perspective, Alabama is up there, not LSU, and not Florida, really. USC, Notre Dame, Michigan, Texas, Alabama -- THOSE, historically, are the top-tier teams. Yes, LSU had some great years in the late fifties, and some good years under coaches like Bernie Moore and Charley McClendon (who was fired). But does the overall record at LSU compare with that of Alabama?
This is why I think it is important that we contest this matter of the "vacating of wins". . . . .