“Domination” is being used way too loosely

[CHorn427]

The word “domination” has been heavily abused these days. Most recent instance: LSU vs Clemson. People (including Gerry and Bobby) claimed LSU “dominated” Clemson in the second half.

LSU outgained Clemson by 50 yards and outscored them by 14 points (Clemson outscored them by 7 in the first half). Clemson was 15 yards away from tying the game with a minute left. That is NOT domination! LSU just won a hard fought game. Why can’t we just leave it at that? Swinney’s comments about 63 for LSU and 58 for Clemson was accurate. Both of them played Sloppy games and LSU came out a little ahead. Boasting about dominating a team when you won like that is just bad sportsmanship and I think breeds bd culture. What Would Saban Do? He would be on his team like they lost if they won by 35 points. 
 

Other examples of non-domination being called domination: our loss to Ohio State this year and last year (close games in position to tie late), loss to UGA in the SEC championship game, Big10 winning two natties in a row. People can’t help but exaggerate these days.

True example of domination for reference: winning a game by double digits in their house and running the last 6 minutes of game clock like we did vs Bama in 2023. 
 

A one score game is just NOT domination. 

[Hookem72]

In today’s click bait internet world, everyone talks in hyperbole.

 

[Gerry Hamilton]

9 hours ago, CHorn427 said:

The word “domination” has been heavily abused these days. Most recent instance: LSU vs Clemson. People (including Gerry and Bobby) claimed LSU “dominated” Clemson in the second half.

LSU outgained Clemson by 50 yards and outscored them by 14 points (Clemson outscored them by 7 in the first half). Clemson was 15 yards away from tying the game with a minute left. That is NOT domination! LSU just won a hard fought game. Why can’t we just leave it at that? Swinney’s comments about 63 for LSU and 58 for Clemson was accurate. Both of them played Sloppy games and LSU came out a little ahead. Boasting about dominating a team when you won like that is just bad sportsmanship and I think breeds bd culture. What Would Saban Do? He would be on his team like they lost if they won by 35 points. 
 

Other examples of non-domination being called domination: our loss to Ohio State this year and last year (close games in position to tie late), loss to UGA in the SEC championship game, Big10 winning two natties in a row. People can’t help but exaggerate these days.

True example of domination for reference: winning a game by double digits in their house and running the last 6 minutes of game clock like we did vs Bama in 2023. 
 

A one score game is just NOT domination. 

I agree with Brian Kelly on that one. LSU did dominate Clemson in the second half ... when you consider it was a talent neutralized game and LSU was on the road. They got hosed on a TD call, or it's 21-0 in the second half of the game. In a top 10 matchup, if the road team outscores you by 21 in a half, the home team got dominated in the second half IMO. 

[Gerry Hamilton]

And in no way did I watch that game and thought LSU played a sloppy game. I'm the opposite. Considering it was your first game of the season and on the road vs. a top 5 ranked team ... LSU didn't play "sloppy". They literally shut out Clemson at home in the second half. Not perfect, but not sloppy. LSU executed at a pretty high level in game one on the road in that environment against Clemson. 

If LSU had played a sloppy game on defense, they would have lost and given up 24-31 points against an offense as talented as Clemson. Instead, they executed at a pretty high clip. 

Offensively, had the two TO's, but if you watched the game, they executed a game plan really well. Had 25 first downs in the game and possessed the ball for 37 minutes . You don't do that playing "sloppy" against a quality opponent on the road.

[CHorn427]

13 minutes ago, Gerry Hamilton said:

I agree with Brian Kelly on that one. LSU did dominate Clemson in the second half ... when you consider it was a talent neutralized game and LSU was on the road. They got hosed on a TD call, or it's 21-0 in the second half of the game. In a top 10 matchup, if the road team outscores you by 21 in a half, the home team got dominated in the second half IMO. 

I just highly disagree. Do you think anyone on this site, with how highly invested and critical as we are, would be saying that we dominated a team in the second half of the team had the opportunity to tie the game from the 15 yard line win a minute left? I know I would not feel that way- I would feel that we got a good win and were lucky to get out of there. 
 

Also disagree with the “missed call”- ball was moving and got pinned. Again, “dominance” would be receivers streaking wide open and having no doubter TDs (again, see 2023 Bama game). 

[CHorn427]

21 minutes ago, Gerry Hamilton said:

I agree with Brian Kelly on that one. LSU did dominate Clemson in the second half ... when you consider it was a talent neutralized game and LSU was on the road. They got hosed on a TD call, or it's 21-0 in the second half of the game. In a top 10 matchup, if the road team outscores you by 21 in a half, the home team got dominated in the second half IMO. 

What do you think we’d be saying about Sark if he had the ball with 3 minutes left, and instead of getting one first down he went 3 and out only gaining 3 yards, then had to rely on his defense to keep the team out of the endzone from the 15 yard line. I don’t think people around here would be overly pleased with that ending.

LSU had 108 rushing yards. It wasn’t a dominant performance. And it’s not a slight by Dabo to say LSU didn’t play as good as they could of- that is actually a compliment to suggest the opposing team could have played better but still came away with the win. If Brian Kelly wasn’t a man child he could have understood that

[UkowWhatImSAYEN]

We dominated A&M last season but you wouldn’t know by looking at the final score 

[Gerry Hamilton]

We agree to disagree. I believe LSU dominated Clemson in the second half of the game because of the who and where the game was. In talent neutralized situations, being dominant is different for me. 

[Gerry Hamilton]

9 minutes ago, UkowWhatImSAYEN said:

We dominated A&M last season but you wouldn’t know by looking at the final score 

Correct

[Hashtag]

Gerry just dominated OP

[pinkman_90]

1 hour ago, Gerry Hamilton said:

We agree to disagree. I believe LSU dominated Clemson in the second half of the game because of the who and where the game was. In talent neutralized situations, being dominant is different for me. 

To be fair you also said you would’ve dropped Texas below Clemson in the rankings.  When one played in a “talent neutralized” situation on the road and the other at home.  And one out gained the opponent on the road by 140 yards and the other got dominated at home.  

[Texasrocks]

This feels like one of those games that looks good in week one - road win vs a top 5 team. Then it turns out the loser just isn't very good. Both teams looked bad the first half. LSU's first half went: punt, fumble, punt, field goal, fumble. To their credit, they played much better the second half while Clemson continued to suck. Still, LSU was primed and ready to give the game away. My takeaway wasn't that LSU dominated, it's that they are capable of playing well for stretches while Clemson was significantly over-rated. Again.

[CHorn427]

3 hours ago, UkowWhatImSAYEN said:

We dominated A&M last season but you wouldn’t know by looking at the final score 

This is exactly what I’m talking about, the fact that you think the two games were similar enough to compare.

Our game vs TAMU was a 2 score game from midway through the 2nd quarter to the end of the game. They NEVER had even a chance to tie the game from there. We had ~250 yds running down their throats. TAMU forced one three and out the whole game (first series).

Our last series, we did not go quick 3 and out and give them hope. We gained a first down, bled clock and made them burn their TOs.

You have to put blinders on to say the games were similar. We truly dominated that game. LSU did not.

 

[CHorn427]

3 hours ago, Gerry Hamilton said:

Correct

Now you’re just burying your head in the sand if you think LSU’s performance against Clemson amounted to the same level of domination as our game vs TAMU. 
 

If we had just over 100 yds rushing vs Clemson and a quick 3 and out on our final drive to give them an opportunity to tie, there would be PLENTY said about Sark’s imperfections. 
 

We had over 150 rushing yds vs Ohio State, yet the common talking point is not that that was a really good showing, but that RBs left yds on the field. True double standard at play

[Hashtag]

6 hours ago, CHorn427 said:

This is exactly what I’m talking about, the fact that you think the two games were similar enough to compare.

Our game vs TAMU was a 2 score game from midway through the 2nd quarter to the end of the game. They NEVER had even a chance to tie the game from there. We had ~250 yds running down their throats. TAMU forced one three and out the whole game (first series).

Our last series, we did not go quick 3 and out and give them hope. We gained a first down, bled clock and made them burn their TOs.

You have to put blinders on to say the games were similar. We truly dominated that game. LSU did not.

 

We are the A&M in this comparison while Ohio state was Texas. 

[CHorn427]

14 minutes ago, Hashtag said:

We are the A&M in this comparison while Ohio state was Texas. 

Unlike A&M, we did not get beat by two scores and had the ability to tie the game on the last drive.

Ohio State  and LSU did not put the game away- they gave their opponents a chance on their last drive. 
 

TAMU had no real chance

[Hashtag]

Just now, CHorn427 said:

Unlike A&M, we did not get beat by two scores and had the ability to tie the game on the last drive.

Ohio State  and LSU did not put the game away- they gave their opponents a chance on their last drive. 
 

TAMU had no real chance

We had no real chance, we were scoreless through 3 quarters. 

[CHorn427]

1 hour ago, Hashtag said:

We had no real chance, we were scoreless through 3 quarters. 

Down 7 points with the ball in your hands on the 50 yard line (or 15 for Clemson) with 1- 2 minutes. That is a chance. That is the other team not putting the game away and not dominating 

[CHorn427]

1 hour ago, Hashtag said:

We had no real chance, we were scoreless through 3 quarters. 

If the only chance your opponent has is to get a quick score and onside kick, then you put the game away and you can talk about dominating