Backup linebackers are expendable, backup QBs less so

Some of you are probably already familiar with the commotion that happened down at LSU this past Friday. Since the Tigers had the week off, that meant Friday night was all right to go out and party.

Anyway, to cut to the chase, three LSU football players, Derrick Odom, Jeremy Benton and Ryan Perrilloux were all involved in a brawl at the Varsity nightclub.

Odom is also accused of smashing a car window. And Perrilloux, well there's a real a question about what else he did. From the official police report:

Much later, on the night of the 26th, nearly 24 hours after the original fight, an employee of The Varsity reported for the first time, to an off-duty officer, that he was leaving the Varsity when the original fight was going on, when a man he believed to be Ryan Perrilloux ran up and pointed a gun at him and his girlfriend.

The employee, however, couldn't identify Perrilloux in a photo line up. Perrilloux also supposedly passed a lie-detector test in which he said he never had a gun.

Regardless of the gun issue, reports say Odom and Perrilloux were the primary people keeping the fight going. Both have some past scrapes with the law to say the least.

Perrilloux was cited by Baton Rouge police last spring for attempting to enter a downtown gambling casino with false identification that said he was 21. He was also questioned by federal authorities late last year for his tertiary role in a counterfeiting ring in his hometown of LaPlace.

Odom was arrested twice in recent months on misdemeanor charges — one for damaging an automobile of a woman and the other for damaging an automobile and threatening the owner and his father.

Yesterday Odom was charged with a misdemeanor for smashing a car window after the brawl. He was soon kicked off the team by Les Miles. Benton was also kicked off the team.

Perrilloux, however, will remain on the team but Miles says he will not play Saturday when LSU faces Alabama.

Odom getting kicked off the team is understandable. He's been charged with yet another misdemeanor. It also helps that he's a redshirt freshman linebacker who's seen no action this year.

But Benton is harder to understand. He hasn't been charged with anything, just like Perrilloux. Yet now he's been kicked off of the team.

So what's the difference between Benton and Perrilloux? Benton's a backup junior linebacker who's only seen action in 4 games this year. Perrilloux's going to be the starting QB next year.

I know this isn't surprising, but it sure speaks volumes. It continues to hammer home the point that if you're an important component of a team (and play a real critical position), you can get away with quite a lot. If you're not that important and do basically the same stuff, well, expect to get the door.

It also says that a lot of football teams - and coaches - put winning above everything else, including character and academics. I'm looking at you, Les Miles.

But in the end, this seems to be the norm rather than the exception. Which when you truly stop and think about it, is rather depressing.

-WCK