No, LSU Players Aren't Blaming Heat for Loss

USA Today headline: "LSU players blame the heat (yes, heat) for Florida loss". Result: firestorm on Twitter, which is exactly what the headline was designed to cause.

The actual meat of this was a quote from LSU linebacker Kevin Minter, who had a hand in a remarkable 20 tackles on Saturday and could've had more if he didn't have to go to the locker room for fluids in the third quarter. The quote:

"It is Florida," said Minter, who set new school record with 17 solo tackles. "The humidity is ridiculous."

So it's not heat that Minter complained about, it's humidity. The headline falls apart right there. Minter was also referring to his cramps, not anyone's fatigue. Strike two. Toss in the fact that Minter is the only one who mentioned the weather, and the plural "players" makes the headline entirely without merit.

This story from the USAT is actually an summarized version of one from the Shreveport Times by Glenn Guilbeau. Both publications are owned by Gannett, so here USAT writer Paul Myerberg is or was assigned to give wider exposure to a story within the Gannett family by making an misleadingly inflammatory story even more misleading and inflammatory.

The only story here is that LSU's defense got tired, but that should be patently obvious when Florida won the time of possession battle 37:24 to 22:36. Defenses wear down when they're on the field all game. In other news, water tends to be wet. Minter's comment about cramping, however, opened the door for Guilbeau to work his magic.

Glenn Guilbeau is a professional news troll. He took a comment from Minter about humidity and twisted it to refer to heat instead. He took an unrelated quote (from a question about time of possession) from Sam Montgomery about the defense's stamina not "holding up" as further evidence of the weather being a problem, completely ignoring the time of possession angle. For color, he threw in another quote from Florida OG Jon Halapio about LSU's defense tiring, but again, no mention of time of possession.

Guilbeau does this kind of thing all the time. If there's anyway to blow something out of proportion to get attention, he'll do it. He's worse than most media trolls because, while they tend to work in dumb opinion columns, his are supposed to be news. His article is ostensibly just a news article, as its not labeled as an editorial, but he ignored the real story (time of possession) and fabricated a different one by taking one player's quote and running with it. This sort of thing should result in disciplinary actions, but he's probably earned the Times and, by proxy through Myerberg, the USAT enough page views that instead he'll get commended for it.

Long story short: don't pay attention to Glenn Guilbeau. As soon as you see his name on something, just close that browser tab.