Major production funding for game notes is provided by Hargrove.

Engineers and constructors is proud to support LPB.

Since 1995, Hargrove has been employee owned and relationship driven with 2700 teammates around the world.

Hargrove works as one team to go beyond expectations.

You have what it takes to begin your journey.

Curiosity.

Ingenuity.

Intellect.

Determination.

Through a vast portfolio of affordable and in-demand academic programs, hundreds of student focused activities and wraparound services.

Southern University meets you where you are, giving you the tools and support that lead you to a successful career in the sciences or the arts.

Begin with your goals anywhere.

Finish stronger at Southern University.

At subject.

The agency is proud to support this program.

Based in Louisiana, Ralph Pierce provided marketing services nationwide since 1981.

Partnering with clients in health care, retail, automotive and more.

For more information, visit our agency.com.

With additional support from Lafayette Travel.

The LSU Alumni Association and the Cook Hotel and Conference Center at LSU, Louisiana Tech University.

Northwestern State University Red Stick Sports, the foundation for excellence in Louisiana public broadcasting.

And viewers like you.

Thank you.

Well, good morning everybody.

Welcome to week two of the college football season and week three here for game Notes.

When you count in week zero, it's great to have you with us on Victor Hollow.

We have a lot to talk about here on week two of the season.

Another full slate of football for all of our schools around the state.

You have Tulane playing its home opener against South Alabama and some really nice threads.

We'll show them to you in just a moment.

McNeese gets set to its third straight home game and welcomes a top five opponent to Lake Charles.

We have two of our teams, both of the HBC teams in Texas playing FBS opponents and so much more.

But we are going to start this morning show pretty much the same place we've been hanging out for the end of August and much of September, and that's on our legal beat.

And that involves LSU in this week's edition of Who Can Flex More?

We start back on Tuesday, when a legal curveball was thrown at LSU by the SEC and Commissioner Greg Sankey.

They amended their federal lawsuit that was filed in Alabama against LSU but aimed at more at people rather than the university, citing lack of institutional control by many.

They also threw in state Attorney General Liz Merrill into the mix.

Meanwhile, LSU announced earlier in the week that Lane Kiffin had filled the final two roster spots and neither one included either of the two players who originally petitioned to play.

That's right.

And Xavier Harris, you remember them right from the NFL and Baton Rouge courtroom.

Just making sure you're keeping up.

So anyway, LSU president Wade Roos sent a letter to Commissioner Sankey this week telling him the moves that had been made, that LSU has complied with everything, and that a reported vote ready for this to kick LSU out of the conference wasn't necessary on Thursday.

But LSU basically wouldn't stand in the way if they wanted to do it.

In other words, sort of a we dare you type of counter.

In the end, the federal trial in Alabama didn't happen.

It's been put on pause.

Neither did the vote to kick LSU to the curb.

All of this was just a power grab and a bunch of posturing for what that means.

We're done, right?

Right.

So no more lawsuits.

The other thing to keep in mind is, let's say LSU chooses not to roster these football players.

I've had conversations with attorneys all throughout this whole proceeding.

And the commonly held opinion is that if these players get an injunction, a court order that says you can play and a school says, we're not going to follow that, we're not going to play you, then you're opening up lawsuits from those players to sue for damages.

So now you're talking about a civil case where these athletes are saying, you took away my opportunity to make money, they're going to win against the NCAA, the SEC, the schools.

Who's going to pay that again?

This was a total lack of vision, a total lack of foresight from leaders at the NCAA and the university level.

They made a hasty decision.

And when you make a hasty rule, generally that is going to spark legal action.

That's what's happened here.

And it's far from done.

And he's actually right.

The attorneys have already said they're now looking into suing the SEC and the NCAA for what it's worth.

There was that Thursday conference call.

Wade Roos from LSU was on the call and advised everybody that because he is being sued by the SEC, who was holding that conference call, that he would remove himself from the meeting and he dismissed it the rest of the way.

So, in other words, stay tuned.

It's not over yet.

Meanwhile, on the field, the conference that is suing LSU recognized players of the week from week one.

And guess what?

Three players are LSU Tigers.

I can't make this stuff up.

LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt tabbed Offensive Player of the week in his first start in purple and gold.

The redshirt junior quarterback had two rushing touchdowns, one passing touchdowns and led the offense to 644 total yards and a school record.

38 first downs.

Also recognized on offense was offensive tackle Jordan Seton, who also made his list A debut.

And on the defensive side of the ball, Jordan Ross was named player of the week.

Monster game with that early pick six for the Tigers, plus four tackles and a sack.

Some nice accolades to start the season for sure, and the team certainly made a massive national splash with the beating it gave Clemson in prime time.

But Lane Kiffin doesn't want to discuss game one anymore and is challenging his players to look forward with blinders on.

Yeah, that's a big challenge, one that been on from the locker room immediately with them just knowing how that goes.

And that's a real thing.

And it happens more now than it used to because of their phones.

You know it's constantly if they're on their phones all day long about how great they are.

And so just managing against that, obviously we've had meetings already today and discuss that what you do the week before, whether that's good or bad, has nothing to do with what you're going to do the next week.

And we see that all the time in all sports.

But college football seven days later, things that just shock you if you try to compare the scores from the week before.

I would say Coach Giffin does an amazing job of making sure that we're having fun and also handling business because we prepare very, very hard and like I feel like to to to compare to anybody in the country.

I feel like we prepare the most because when we go into the game, he makes sure that we, we know every answer to every question on the test, you know?

So when we get into the game time now it's time to have fun because we already prepared all these weeks and all this time and all these walkthroughs and all these meetings to go out there and have our have our fun and showcase our talents.

You need to reset.

You need to practice the way that we do prepare the way that we do.

And I challenge them to.

Now you have one week.

You know, we took two weeks to prepare as far as practicing for Clemson.

Now you have one week this week, so you're not going to have near as much time.

And your focus has to be.

And that opponent is Louisiana Tech, who rolls into Baton Rouge the second straight season.

Last week, the Bulldogs hung an 80 burger on Northwestern State in a 74 point win.

The points were the most the school has ever scored as a D1 program, and they scored touchdowns on their first 11 possessions.

Dedrick was named Sun Belt Conference Special Teams Player of the week after he racked up 107 all purpose yards, including a 58 yard punt return for a touchdown.

Tech head coach Sonny Company was asked what his team can take from week one victory into Tiger Stadium against a much different opponent.

Things that carry over again are the calls a lot of the calls are going to carry over.

It's the players that execute them and how they do it.

You know the defensive looks will be different this week, and the speed of it will probably be a little bit different this week.

But I think the execution is what's important.

And that's really the execution is a part of our preparation and our hard work.

And so I think we just have to have a great week of practice.

And I think the carry over is our guys play extremely hard.

They take care of the football.

We've got to be efficient throwing the football and running the football.

But also when we have opportunities to be explosive, we need to be able to do that.

And and then I think that Blake did a nice job and the and the throwing the football down the field.

And I think those are all things each week that we've got to be able to do is run the football hits your explosive plays, protect the football.

I think our offensive line did a really nice job of protecting the passer, which that includes our running backs and tight ends.

Blake's decision making allowed him not to have a sack on Saturday night.

So I think all of those things that are things that we look to have carryover.

I mean, I feel like it's big for us.

I'm a down south Louisiana guys.

So I mean, just growing up, I didn't really get those experience.

So getting them now in college is it's like a second to none.

You know, especially being a player in the on that field, you know, being able to experience that.

So I feel like it's definitely special.

And then I just go out there and make plays.

Man.

It's a blessing.

Well this will be the 22nd meeting between the two schools.

Remember, last year was not a blowout victory for LSU by any stretch, Tech's lone win.

But it came 122 years ago.

Six nothing win back in 1904 LSU has won 39 straight games against in-state opponents, and they'll look to make it 40 tonight at 630.

You can stream all the action on the SEC network plus.

Well, if you're a raging Cajun fan, you need to work in a nice, long afternoon nap this afternoon to get ready for tonight's 10:00 kick out on the West Coast when the Cajuns face the 14th ranked Trojans from USC, who are two zero on the season after they opened up on week zero with a very nice win.

The Cajuns are coming off a very nice 387 win over Lamar last weekend at Our Lady of Lourdes Stadium, and that good balance on both sides of the ball in that win.

But this week will be a whole different animal facing a ranked Trojans team with a creative play, calling head coach, an extremely well respected defensive coach and the defensive side of the ball that head coach Michael Decimal says.

He sings their praises and says it's one of the best he's ever faced, if not the best he's ever seen.

I don't think we're gonna have a hard time getting these guys focused on the things we got to improve on because, you know, it's pretty damn good football team.

You know, no other way to say it.

I mean, on offense, they're explosive.

They've got a quarterback who can throw it all over the field.

You know, I think Coach Riley, it is well documented how good of a play caller he is.

That certainly hasn't changed.

And they have got some creatures on defense.

I mean, it's this is probably the best defensive line, in 11 years of being here, maybe outside of maybe Alabama, maybe in 18.

This is this is about as good of a defense as as we played in a long time.

So, certainly, you know, we got things to fix.

We better do with some urgency because, you know, it's going to it's going to be on the line here on Saturday, and we better be ready to play.

We got a bunch of guys who want to play on Sundays.

You know, we got we got a bunch of guys who, you know, we want to get ourselves in the College Football Playoff.

Like, I mean this is a talented team.

Like this team has as much talent as anyone.

We play like we have to go and play well and handle those moments.

And you know, if you don't, then it tells you you're shorter there and you got a lot of work to do the rest of the year if you want to get there.

So, you know, it's an opportunity for our guys to better step up.

And, you know, we got to play harder than they do, period.

It got to play harder.

And we gotta, you know, we have got a strength.

We got to want to win the game more than they do.

Like it has to mean more to us to have a chance in this game.

Well, to LA and California is a rarity for this program, which is heading to the West Coast for just the sixth time in school history.

In fact, decimal was asked if he had ever been out West, and he said personally, he's only been to Lake Tahoe once, and he wasn't even sure if that technically counted as being in California.

It will be quite the challenge for the Cajun.

So get that extra boost of caffeine and settle in for some late night football.

They will kick it off at 10:00 local time, and you can see all the action on the Big Ten Network.

We're looking forward to playing Houston.

Obviously, I'm going to tell you the truth.

To to the guys on this team that that's looking to, you know, they want to make the jump to power for power five.

This is a great opportunity for them.

If if they want they want some eyes on them.

They go out.

They go out there in this game and they show up and they show out and make a name for themselves as well as as for the university representing us and and being being the best player possible, which makes us the best team possible.

Some honest thoughts there from head coach Marshall Faulk on current players who might hope their talents can Sunday take them to a higher level.

It's one thing to play smaller division schools early in the season, but now you get to take your shot on the major level and get the chance to see exactly where you stand.

You know, it's been a rough week for the Jaguars when it comes to distractions, power outages and transformer issues on campus all week basically made southern a work remotely campus for the week, but the team has done its best to keep their routine as normal as possible.

Coming off his first career.

Coaching win Saturday night at home, Fox said he's excited about the challenges team will face tonight when they take on the Houston Cougars in Houston, who are coached by Willie Fritz, who's in his third season in H-Town.

And if that name sounds familiar, it should.

Before taking over the Cougars, Fritz was at Tulane, where he went 23 and four in his final two seasons.

Kickoff for tonight's game is set for 6:00.

You can catch the action on ESPN plus.

Well, some sweet threads are hitting the field tonight at Yeomans Stadium as the Tulane Green Wave hosts South Alabama in their home opener.

It's the custom City Edition uniform celebrating Mardi Gras.

Head coach Will Hall hopes his team will play as well, as well as it will look on the field.

It was a rough one last Saturday in the season opening loss to Duke.

Basically a one step forward, two steps back kind of game.

Not the direction you'd like to see on the surface.

The 14 point game was closer in a lot of areas, but to many mistakes and breakdowns.

Did the wave in.

And that is something that has not set well with coach.

All week long.

I don't ever like to lose.

I don't like to lose it at ping pong, you know?

So like, I, I hate losing with everything I've got.

But more importantly than that, I hate how we lost.

Like, ultimately, as a competitor, you want to put your best showing out there.

Like the the goal of competition.

The goal of being a competitor is to play your best at the moment and time that the opportunity has called for you to do that.

We did not do that.

We played hard, we played extremely physical and tough, but we did not play smart.

I don't know if the emotion of it.

We were so fired up.

You know, the talk of disrespect and, like, proving people wrong and all that.

But we just played like we were storming the beaches of Normandy, and.

But we forgot our gun.

Like, we literally, like, like, just lost our mind and was running around trying to knock the crap out of people.

And we've got to play more under control, but still play with the same passion.

And we can do that.

Well.

One game in and already a big change for the Green Wave.

Caden Simmons is getting the start at quarterback tonight.

He came off the bench in the second half.

Last week was 11 of 21 for 140 yards.

Remember the wave are looking for their first touchdown of the season.

They just had a field goal one week ago.

And you might want to stay tuned to this one till the very end.

Three of the four matchups between these two teams have been settled by three points or less.

Should be a great environment off of Claiborne Avenue down in the Big Easy.

If you can't make it, you didn't get a ticket.

Catch it all on ESPN plus starting at 6:00 tonight.

Well, the demons from Northwestern State have made their way to Commerce, Texas, for their conference opener against East Texas A&M.

As you know, it has not been the best start for the season so far for the demons.

And most of the time, you would be extra worried about a team coming off a 74 point loss.

But according to head coach Blaine McCorkle, his team has taken the losses as plenty of learning moments to get ready for success that they hope to find in the South End Conference.

You know, you get in those situations where you kind of get it handed to you a little bit, you're going to learn, you know.

So it's how are you going to respond and what are you going to take from those games and those environments to make you better and, and grow from it?

So you can either let them break it or you can let them, you know, make you, so to speak.

And I think we're where our team is, you know, still young, but growing and maturing.

I think we can learn a lot from those things, because there were moments in there where we saw some things out of our kids that were really encouraging to us, know that they're locked in there, bought in.

They're trying to get better.

They're trying to work hard.

They're trying to play hard.

They're trying to finish the game.

Right.

And you can build on those things, you know, the first drive of the game and the last drive of the game should give our guys some confidence.

Hey, you guys can do this.

You know, you can play, and we just have to do it more consistent longer, you know?

And, those games do get tricky because they get away from you in a hurry.

Then you have to kind of change your game plan and get away from what you wanted to do.

But there was a lot of things to learn from.

And I think, you know, with ten games to go, there'll be some lessons from that game that may show up 6 or 7 weeks from now that we need to lean on.

I think.

That's the best thing we have going for us right now is our locker room and how positive we've been through these last two weeks.

I mean, there's no sugar coating it.

We haven't had the best performance last two weeks and it's been rough.

There's been a lot of, social media input and, you know, we say it's it's all poison at the end of the day.

So we're trying to stay out of it and stay together.

Well, something has to give tonight as both teams go after win number one on the season.

And how about this note the demons are ranked fifth in the NCAA for time of possession.

So they have the ball now.

We'll see if they can finish off drives and convert the points.

They will kick things off tonight in Commerce at 6:00.

And once again, demon fans, you can catch all the action on ESPN plus.

Well, like many teams after a disappointing week one the Warhawks from you.

Monroe are looking to improve on mental mistakes and self-inflicted miscues as they get set to take on the Blazers from UAB.

Admittedly, they were up against a bigger, faster, much stronger team last week in the loss to Mississippi State and Starkville, but head coach Brian Vincent found plenty of positive steps and things to build on, like, for instance, success they had on first down and second downs to establish a drive.

His worry this week was fixing the mistakes, like careless penalties or the inability to keep any momentum on offense because they had no success on third down.

If you look at.

First and second down, I thought we really did good staying ahead of the sticks on first and second down, we just didn't execute.

You know, the third down situations, that's where we were you know three for 16.

It's hard.

And then you're throwing your defense right back out there right back out there.

And they're going tempo.

But overall you know to be in that environment and to play against that that caliber of a team, I think we were able to find a lot of things out that we got to clean up, and we're we're ready to move forward and focus on being one and oh, this week and we've got a quality opponent obviously coming up with you a B. Now, there are personal ties to this ball game tonight for Vincent because he coached at UAV back in 2014, then again from 2018 to 2022 before he made his way to Monroe last week.

The Blazers open up the season on the road at Illinois.

Dropped that 142 to 23.

It's an afternoon kick.

They'll be getting set to go here in just a few hours.

You can watch the action this afternoon from Birmingham on ESPN.

Plus lots.

Of the financials.

I'm curious like what do you feel like is the value of this matchup?

You know, obviously you got to play Ohio State in years past.

Like you've obviously been on the other side.

Two of the four team hosting the FCS opponent.

Like what do you think is the value I guess like in these matchups.

Got to pay the bills.

Got to pay the bills at Grambling.

Paycheck games have always been a necessity in college football.

Some programs can easily make half, if not more, of their athletic budget.

With just 1 or 2 of these games, they pay you a nice seven figure check.

You and your team get to experience college football on the biggest stage.

Visit some incredible stadiums, usually take a lopsided loss on the field.

Hope to get no one hurt, then head back with some notes.

Lessons learned.

Cash money in your budget and then you get ready for the next week.

After two home games against smaller competitions and Grambling.

Now, Mickey Joseph alluded to this, this is the paycheck week for his Tigers.

Last year it was a trip up north to Ohio State.

This year, the trip isn't as long and the venue is not as big.

But still, a nice challenge awaits tonight in Fort Worth when they face the TCU Horned Frogs.

It's the home opener for the frogs and their first game of the season on U.S.

soil.

You might remember TCU lost their season opener two weeks ago to North Carolina.

That was a game that was played in Dublin, Ireland.

The Horned Frogs scored ten in the first quarter, failed to score again in the final three.

This is the second meeting between Grambling and TCU.

The first one was a win by more than 50 points for TCU.

Ramblings had two fairly balanced outings in the first two games of this campaign against smaller level schools.

The last one of 4826 win over Central State last Saturday night.

But this ain't Central State, which is fine with Joseph, who says he uses games like this one to measure what he's doing at Grambling in many areas to these bigger programs.

We get to see where they're at.

We get a measuring stick outside of a D2 school.

We're on the match financially.

They they they're better than us.

Talent wise, they're better than us.

But you still can see what the teams at, because there's certain things that we're going to get away with, with the D2 schools that we can't get away with on Saturday night, certain things we're going to get away with in a in the future that we're not going to be to get away Saturday night.

But it's a good measuring stick for the for the coaches and for the players just to see where we're at.

It's a one game series.

It's not a four game series and not a five game.

It's a one game series.

So now we got to go play our best ball for one game.

We never have to see TCU again.

TCU has nothing to do with us winning the West, nothing us doing the Swac championship, nothing was doing winning the HBCU national championship.

But we want to we want to see where we're at.

We want to see how we measure up.

We want to see who's going to step up, who's going to play with their roots, who's going to be overwhelmed.

And we'll see if anybody is indeed overwhelmed tonight when they kick it off at 7:00.

It's the second meeting all time 56 to nothing with that score back in 2012.

And check this out.

TCU has scored 30 or more points in 18 straight home openers.

And that's what this is tonight.

Enjoy the game Tiger fans.

It'll be televised on ESPN plus.

Well game three for southeastern is tonight.

It is over in Hammond, America for the Lions to be playing back at home.

And they're going to be welcoming another team from Alabama.

One week ago they were playing South Alabama in Mobile.

Tonight they get North Alabama making its way to Hammond.

It's also the Hall of Fame game for southeastern.

Head coach Frank is looking for four consistent quarters.

That's one thing he hasn't had all season long with his team.

Last week in mobile, the Lions got off to a slow start.

Then they righted the ship and played pretty steadily for about two and a half quarters.

He liked what he saw.

Here's the problem.

On the offensive side, they ran just 37 plays.

The defense, 86 plays.

It's just a big time in balance that he's trying to fix this week and get consistency.

Looking for win number one tonight against North Alabama.

Football is really a humbling game.

It's a humbling sport because everything is exposed.

You can't hide.

There's no place to you can go to hide the weaknesses that you have.

The, what?

There's a tendency to overlook things when you come out on the right end of the school board, and then there's a tendency to magnify stuff when you don't come out on the right hand of the school board.

And that's not lost on me.

But it's also not the most important thing to me.

It's it's the improvement that's that we make.

We kind of week out and how we grow and progress throughout the course of the season.

Our offensive line played better in the second game against the better front, and we saw a lot of junk against Houston Christian, but we saw some.

I think the talent level was a little bit better against South Alabama, and I thought our guys held up pretty good.

Then I thought defensively up front, you know, we had we went we had seven series at our defense had where they got three and out got off the field.

And you look at that against an F team and you go well you can't do that.

You're an FCS program.

Our guys are good enough to go ahead and do those things.

Now when we had breakdowns, that's when the big plays happened.

That's when those things took place.

But I thought a huge improvement defensively, especially stopping the run and doing some things like that.

Well, the last time these two Lions played in Hammond was 1977.

It was supposed to be in 2021, but many in this area will remember Hurricane Ida.

And the effects of that storm moved the game to North Alabama's campus.

As I mentioned, the Hall of Fame game tonight, the new inductees to the Hall will be honored.

Kick off at 6:00 tonight inside a Strawberry Stadium.

Head out and enjoy the action.

We'll catch it all on TV on ESPN plus.

I think there's.

A lot of things to clean up.

I mean, obviously I'm happy with the four touchdowns, but I'm more happy that we got to win.

The quality of the opponent doesn't matter to me.

It's the same preparation every single week.

You get in, get out, do your job and keep pushing forward.

Doesn't matter the opponent, whether they're playing SFA, Tarleton or even out to you.

It's the same preparation every week.

That's Devin Lippold, the starting quarterback now for McNeese because Jake Strong is out hurt.

He started last week for the first time and took home Offensive player of the week in the South End Conference.

Well, tonight they will be hosting Tarleton a top five team in the country who's been on the roll.

Last week they won on the road at Bowling Green by seven and did it with a stingy and aggressive defense.

Target has won two straight in this series with the Cowboys, including a 5234 win in Lake Charles the last time they visited the state.

That was three years ago.

It's easy to see why they have all of Matt Vita's attention.

Since the highest ranked team that's come in here since 2013, which I forgot about that year when Sam Houston came in.

So I think anytime you have an opportunity like this is our second 1 in 3 weeks to host a ranked team.

This time it's a top five team and coming into our place, it's exciting.

And, I think our guys will be ready for the for the challenge.

Got to give them credit, Charlton.

I mean, they have really ascended in the last several years and, you know, they they have resources.

They have what it takes there to I know in every conversation you see there, they're the name that keeps being brought up in terms of moving to be.

I know they've positioned themselves to do that and they've done a really nice job.

They have a good football team.

But really, if you look at the last several years is when they really started to they're heading in a really good trajectory.

Having won their last two games against opponents.

Tarleton, running back Till and Hines was named national player of the week last week after racking up 297 total yards in their big win.

This one has all the makings of a high scoring shootout, so get out to Navarre Stadium and enjoy it.

If you can't get there, ESPN+ will bring it to you starting at 6:00.

And the Nicholls Colonels are back home.

It's Family Day, third game into the season.

Currently riding a four game win streak at home, they welcomed Texas Rio Grande Valley down to Nicholson Nichols.

Tonight 6:00 is kick off.

If you can't make it out there to John Landry Stadium, catch the action on ESPN plus.

Like I promised a lot of action from around the state and it gets start with that 230 kick this afternoon.

Enjoy all the football everybody, and we'll see you Monday for postgame notes.

Until then I'm Victor Hall.

See you later from Game Notes on LPB.

Major production funding for game notes is provided by Southern University and A&M College and Hargrove Engineers and Constructors, and the Romp Pugh Agency, with additional support from Lafayette Travel, the LSU Alumni Association, and the Cook Hotel and Conference Center at LSU, Louisiana Tech University, Northwestern State University.

Red Stick Sports, the foundation for excellence in Louisiana public broadcasting, and viewers like you.

Thank you.