Stage is set for LSU-UCF in the Fiesta Bowl
LSU was not expected to play a game on Jan. 1 this season.
A ticket punched to the Fiesta Bowl in Arizona will bring a lot of firsts for this program -- the first time in this particular New Year’s Six bowl game, the first time lining up opposing UCF and the first SEC team involved in this game since 2000.
With a 9-3 mark and finishing No. 11 in the College Football Playoff rankings in December, the overachievement factor left a positive taste for Coach Ed Orgeron’s program in his second season at the helm.
“It’s a reward for our young men who have worked very hard,” Orgeron said on a joint teleconference with UCF Coach Josh Heupel on Sunday.
“We had a good season and these guys started off unknown throughout the season, won some big games and gelled as a football team. It’s a great reward for our football team. Very well-deserved New Year’s Six bowl game and a big step for the Tigers.”
Orgeron’s point carries weight with national expectations that LSU would finish near the bottom of the SEC West in 2018 and was largely pegged as a six- or seven-win team.
It’s a similar sentiment hanging over the Tigers’ opponent, who despite a 9-0 record an AAC conference title in its back pocket finished the season in the No. 8 spot outside of a playoff seed.
“They made themselves their own name,” Orgeron said. “A 25-game win streak … I watched them play a great brand of football. It’s tough. It’s unbelievable they’ve got that done, especially through a coaching change. It’s a great culture out there and they know how to compete and they know how to win.”
LSU will be challenged to deliver UCF its first loss of the season. The team will have to do so with major question marks in the secondary.
Orgeron ruled starting left cornerback Kristian Fulton out for the Fiesta Bowl and labeled his status as “unknown” entering spring practice after undergoing ankle surgery in the past month. Greedy Williams, the Jim Thorpe Award finalist who starts on the opposite side, declared for the 2019 NFL Draft on Sunday evening and is a rumored candidate to possibly sit out of LSU’s season finale.
“We haven’t had talks with all our players yet,” Orgeron said. “I’ll be speaking to most of them. I expect a final decision from most of the guys this week.”
Despite moving pieces in the Tigers’ secondary, UCF is bracing for an SEC opponent littered with speed and power.
Heupel, who is wrapping up his first season at UCF, has been on coaching staffs in the Big 12, Pac 12 and the SEC with Missouri in 2016-17, and has a deep understanding of what’s expected from teams in this conference.
“Through the years, I have seen LSU,” he said. “They’re going to be long and athletic, run really well, powerful and explosive up front. They’re going to pose a lot of issues defensively. Offensively, they have a bunch of skill guys that are big-time weapons and have the opportunity to make explosive plays when they get the ball in their hands. They’re going to pose issues, things we need to be able to handle in all three phases of the game.”
The Fiesta Bowl will also provide Heupel’s club another platform to make a statement to the College Football Playoff selection committee.
Along with a 25-game winning streak, UCF topped Auburn in last year’s Peach Bowl and will have a second opportunity to state its case of belonging as one of the best four teams in the country against LSU.
That’s the only avenue to do so, the coach hinted.
“I’m not sitting in that room,” Heupel said, “so I don’t know what else this program needs to do. We need to continue to compete at a high level, continue to go play football games and win a bunch of ‘em.”