LSU's aggressive defense will guide Tigers to victory

Sorry LSU fans, it's not Pasadena. But could there be a better fit for the first Sugar Bowl in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina than the Bayou Bengals?

The No. 4 Tigers finished the regular season as arguably the best team in the SEC, winning six straight, and had their fan base pining for a trip to the West Coast as they snatched up 42,000-plus advance tickets for the Rose Bowl. Instead, the Tigers will be staying close to home in the Big Easy, taking on No. 11 Notre Dame.

The Irish haven't won a bowl game since the 1994 Cotton Bowl -- a string of eight straight losses -- and aside from ending that dubious mark they could also earn a victory that would take some of the sting out of those 26- and 20-point losses to Michigan and USC, respectively, that derailed their national-title aspirations.

Bowl Breakdown: Sugar No. 4 LSU (10-2) vs. No. 11 Notre Dame (10-2) Jan. 3, 8 p.m. (FOX) Superdome (72,003) New Orleans

Three Things You Should Care About

1) The Tigers have the weapons to exploit what has continued to be the Achilles' heel of the Notre Dame defense. The much-maligned Irish D is average, ranking 50th against the pass (192.7 yards per game) and 50th against the rush (127.8 ypg), but there's no denying the passing game is what's hurt the Irish the most, especially against top-flight receivers.

Notre Dame gave up 111 yards and a touchdown to Georgia Tech's Calvin Johnson, 137 yards and three TDs to Michigan's Mario Manningham and 132 yards and three scored to USC's Dwayne Jarrett. Against LSU, they'll have to deal with possibly the deepest receiving corps they've seen.

Dwayne Bowe, Craig Davis and Early Doucet each have 50-plus catches and have combined for 2,355 yards and 23 touchdowns. The speedy group has benefited from quarterback JaMarcus Russell's increased confidence. Russell is third in the country in pass efficiency, completing a career-best 68.5 percent of his throws. He has thrown for 2,797 yards and 26 TDs with just seven interceptions.

Irish coach Charlie Weis says this unit's chemistry is his biggest concern.

"I think that when you have a veteran group of wide receivers with a veteran quarterback that have been playing together for a little while, it gives you a better chance of getting in sync," he said. "A perfect indicator of that is their completion percentage being over 68 percent. That is not done by fluke. That means that guys are on the same page."

2) The most important player on Notre Dame's offense will be Darius Walker. With Brady Quinn, Jeff Samardzija and Rhema McKnight, the Irish (who averaged 32.4 points per game) will find the end zone, even against LSU's second-ranked defense, which has allowed just 238.8 yards and 12.5 points a game. But in order for Notre Dame to really get going, Walker has to be involved.

This season, the underrated running back rushed for 1,139 yards and seven touchdowns, but Walker's biggest contribution came in the passing game, where he caught 54 balls for 361 yards and a TD. When he has 100-plus yards of offense the Irish are 8-0, when he doesn't they're 2-2. When Walker is a threat running and coming out of the backfield it takes the pressure off of Quinn, which will be imperative against a potent LSU defense that brings the heat.

"One of their strengths is they have very good athleticism across the board, and it's across the board, so it's everywhere," Weis said

All-America defensive lineman Glen Dorsey emerged as a force, racking up 59 tackles, 8 1/2 tackles for loss and three sacks to anchor a defensive line that also has two fierce pass-rushing ends in Chase Pittman and Tyson Jackson, who have combined for 13 1/2 sacks.

Quinn, the Maxwell Award winner as the nation's top player, completed 50 percent of his passes against Michigan and 48.9 percent against USC, both season lows. He also had a 6-to-3 TD-to-interception ratio in those two losses compared to a 29-to-2 ratio in 10 wins. An effective Walker would give Quinn more time to pick apart the LSU defense, a luxury he didn't have in those losses.