LSU posts "Welcome to LSU and the Dark Side of being the villain" message at facility ahead of Texas matchup

LSU didn't let Monday morning start with a film clip or a depth chart. It started with a message on every screen in the building.

Two days after #7 Alabama walked out of Tiger Stadium with a 31-13 win, LSU put a letter addressed "To every player and employee" on every projector screen and TV monitor in the football facility, as Michael Cauble shares. 

It opens like this:

"You just experienced something that comes with being at LSU. When you win, everybody loves you. When you lose, everybody has an opinion. The media questions you. The fans criticize you. People who have never done what you do tell you what you can't do. WELCOME TO LSU and THE DARK SIDE OF BEING THE VILLAIN!"

From there, the message pivots from the noise to the response.

"Their opinions are not your identity. Their criticism doesn't define you. Their disappointment doesn't diminish you. And their noise doesn't get to determine what happens next."

It lays out two choices. Players can spend the week "defending yourself, explaining yourself, feeling sorry for yourself," or they can get back to work. "You cannot control what they say. You cannot control what they write. You cannot control what they think. But you damn sure can control how you respond."

It closes with "Don't run from the embarrassment. Don't make excuses for it. Own it. Learn from it. Get better because of it."

The loss stung for reasons beyond the scoreboard. LSU outgained Alabama 457-285 and piled up 27 first downs, but went 0-for-4 on fourth down and came away with 10 points on four red-zone trips, per USA Today. The Tigers took their only lead on a 90-yard drive late in the third quarter. Alabama answered with a five-play, 75-yard touchdown drive and scored twice more in quick succession in the fourth.

"It comes down to the red zone and fourth downs," Lane Kiffin said afterward.

Quarterback Sam Leavitt was more blunt. "It just got out of hand really quick. It just kind of shocks you," he told USA Today. "Like, wow, it's 31-13 right now? I thought we were just about to go win the game."

LSU is now 6-3 and slid to #24 in the latest AP poll, with losses to Ole Miss, Kentucky in overtime and now Alabama. 

Kiffin told reporters Monday he'd already addressed the outside chatter with his team.

"I just spent time with them today discussing that, 'Hey, you can't listen to the noise,'" Kiffin said. "The loss at Tiger Stadium. Yeah, that's bad and I feel bad for our fans, for the state. We're supposed to win. We're certainly not supposed to score 13 points in a game ever."

He added that it was his first time being part of a home loss in three years. "That's not the expectations we have, what we're used to, and not what it's going to be like here."

LSU gets its answer quickly. #8 Texas visits Tiger Stadium on Saturday, November 14, at 6:30 p.m.

See the full message below.

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