LSU Players Are Planning to Have a Home-Field Advantage

Louisiana State football fans, hungry for the team’s first national championship since 1958, are expected to turn the Superdome into Tiger Stadium South on Sunday night, giving LSU a decided home-field advantage for the Sugar Bowl game against Oklahoma.

“It’s going to be crazy, man,” said Tiger receiver Michael Clayton, a native of Baton Rouge, La. “This game is going to go down in history, and families in Louisiana are going to be talking about this game 50 years down the line.

“I played in the Sugar Bowl [in 2002, a 47-34 LSU victory over Illinois], and it was the experience of a lifetime. I can only imagine what the emotions are going to be like for a national championship game.”

Senior offensive tackle Rodney Reed hopes those emotions don’t overwhelm the Tigers.

“We’ve played in some pretty big games, and we know how to deal with it,” Reed said. “You don’t want to come out with so much emotion that you’re drained too early, but you have to have some emotion because it’s a such a big game. There’s a balance there.”

Oklahoma is not intimidated. Some Sooners relish the idea of playing in a hostile environment, much as they did when they traveled to Miami and beat Florida State for the national title in the 2001 Orange Bowl.

“We played Florida State in their back yard and beat them,” Oklahoma defensive end Dan Cody said. “I think we play our best football when our backs are against the wall.”

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A key matchup Sunday will be Clayton, the LSU junior who caught 74 passes for 1,041 yards and 10 touchdowns, against Oklahoma cornerback Derrick Strait, a senior who won the Nagurski Award, given to the nation’s top defensive player, and the Thorpe Award, given to the nation’s top defensive back.

“We’re all competitors, and you want to test your skills against the best, and what better opportunity than to go against the guy who is rated No. 1,” Clayton said. “He’s definitely the best defensive back in the country. I feel like I’m at the top of my game and he’s at the top of his game. It’s a great opportunity to see where I stand.”

What separates the 6-foot-4, 200-pound Clayton from other receivers, LSU offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher said, is his strength.

“He understands the physical part of football, and not all the skill-position players understand that,” Fisher said. “ ... On our team, Michael is the guy the players look up to, and he sets the tone. No matter what the challenge, he never backs down. He has a great work ethic, he’s tough, and he’s very unselfish.... When he blocks you, he blocks you. There was a highlight film of his blocks this year.”

Strait’s response: Bring it on.

“We’ve been playing physical receivers all year -- we just have to go out and play our defense,” Strait said. “LSU’s receivers are playmakers. The quarterback gets them the ball in the position where they can do something with it. We just have to be there when they catch it and tackle them.”

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Since Mike Stoops, the brother of Oklahoma Coach Bob Stoops and the Sooners’ associate head coach and co-defensive coordinator, took the job as Arizona’s head coach in December, he has been gradually phased out of Oklahoma’s program.

Mike Stoops is in New Orleans this week, has provided some input and sat in on some defensive meetings, but the fiery assistant will not wear a headset for Sunday’s game and may not even be on the sidelines or in the booth.

“The thing we’ll miss most is how tenacious he is, the attitude he gives us,” Cody said. “But having his brother as head coach and his understudy [Brent Venables] as defensive coordinator ... yeah, we’re going to miss Mike, but you can’t help but feel good about our situation.”

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Oklahoma junior defensive tackle Tommie Harris, who won the Lombardi Award as the nation’s top lineman, has been projected as a top-10 pick if he decides to forgo his senior season and declare himself eligible for the NFL draft.

Harris claims he hasn’t made up his mind, but added with a chuckle, “I’m going to make my decision in the fourth quarter, and announce it after the game.”