Purdue, Stanford, BYU, Miami, Maryland, Michigan, and Washington have all, at one point or another, been called "Quarterback U." And of course Southern Cal remains "Tailback U."
But from now on, if Morris Claiborne has say in the matter, LSU will be known as DBU.
"We try to have the best secondary in the nation," said Claiborne, who won the Jim Thorpe Award as the nation's best defensive back.
It is hard to argue the point with Claiborne at one corner, Heisman Trophy finalist Tyrann Mathieu at the other, and certain sophomore phenom Eric Reid at safety. They are so good that one NFL scout, who would only speak on condition of anonymity (since everything NFL scouts say get credited to their teams), said that Claiborne will likely be in the first handful of players taken and could go higher than his former teammate Patrick Peterson did a year ago. That would be an astonishing feat since Peterson went fifth overall. But, according to this scout, the LSU defensive backs are NFL caliber today.
Two of them, Mathieu and Reid, are ineligible for the draft, but if they were, they would be high first-rounders.
Mathieu, the most explosive player on either team, who earned the nickname Honey Badger for his relentlessness, is also the most vocal and emotional. Part of his holiday study regimen was learning the names of the mothers of Alabama players. It elevates trash talking to an art when you can not only insult your opponent's mother, but do so using her name.
"I think we feed off of Ty's emotions," Reid said. "When Ty's having a good game, we're all having a good game. If he gets the ball on the ground, you'll see 11 of us swarming to it trying to get it, and then blocking for him if he gets an interception. So he makes big plays, and we feed off of that."
The other safety, Brandon Taylor, agreed, saying: "It just makes you step your game up, seeing them making plays and getting the ball and making interceptions. You tend to feed off of that as a player playing this style of defense."
Fans have known that LSU's defense was good, but recent offensive bowl performances by Oregon and West Virginia have shown just how good. West Virginia hung 70 points and had 401 passing yards against the ACC Champions in the Orange Bowl. But in the LSU game, Gino Smith threw two inceptions to Mathieu, one of which the Honey Badger returned to the one, while Claiborne returned a punt 99 yards for a touchdown in a game that was never close.
Then in the Rose Bowl, Oregon put up 508 yards of offense and scored 45 points to beat Wisconsin. LSU forced four Duck turnovers, including one fumble where Mathieu stripped the ball and returned it for a touchdown. The final was 40-27, but it was never really that close.
"Everybody talked about Pat (Peterson)" said LSU defensive coordinator John Chavis. "And Pat Peterson was a great football player. Sill is. You see what he's done in the NFL. But I said (at the time) we won't drop off, because Mo (Claiborne) is going to be every bit as good."
Chavis won't say so, but others will: Claiborne is better. And next year, there is a pretty good chance Matheiu will be even better still.
"Being surrounded by guys like Patrick and Brandon, Morris and Eric, they tend to bring out the best in you," Mathieu said. "You see those guys working hard and you want to work harder. You want to make plays and you want to be that guy that the team looks to to be such a special player."
They have all proven themselves to be special. Monday night, they could make themselves historic.
