Only 10 days till the Tigers first game. Week 1 - ULM A tuneup game to work on getting the preseason kinks out of the offense and defense. Game one is the best time to get the timing down and eliminate those costly offsides and motion penalties. An easy win against one of the worst teams in Division 1A with lots of playing time in the second half for the young guys. Week 2 - Arizona Road trip against a bad team from a big conference. Zona could be dangerous if Tigers are sloppy but if we jump on the Wildcats early they are a team in disarray whose coach is on very thin ice it will be another blowout. Week 3 - Western Illinois WI is a pretty decent Divison 1AA team but Tigers superior talent should turn it into a rout in the second half even if a lot of mistakes are made in the first half. Another game to get PT for young guys in the second half. Week 4 - Georgia A good old fashioned knock the hell out of each other physical SEC game. Tigers have to come into this one totally focused and not have dumb penalties. Week 5 - Mississippi State Tigers will have bumps and bruises from the Georgia game. Win or lose against Georgia its no time for a physical or emotional letdown. LSU should be able to start putting the game out of reach at least by the middle of the 3rd quarter. Week 6 - Open Date at a welcome time for it. Time for those nagging injuries to get better and to work on the game plan for Florida Week 7 - Florida The Gators might be better than most people think but LSU should be clicking on all cylinders by now and should prevail at home. Week 8 - South Carolina Gamecocks are at home and get LSU between Florida and Auburn. Tigers need to be especially focused to avoid looking past SC to Auburn. SC not a very good team but never underestimate Lou Holtz. Week 9 - Auburn Could be a huge SEC matchup between 2 undefeated team in the Top 10 of the polls. No doubt that both teams will be hanging it all out to dry for this one. If Mauck has continued to develope and is clicking with Clayton and Henderson by this time LSU wins a close one. Week 10 - Louisiana Tech Again a time to guard against a letdown. Tech not as good as they have been in the past but still have a dangerous passing game. Tigers coming off an intense physical game with Auburn. LSU wins but not as easy as people might think. Might be a good game to take Tech and the points. Week 11 - Open Date I really wish this open date came after the Auburn game. That would give LSU time to recover from the phyical battle with Auburn and use the LA Tech game as a tuneup for the rest of the SEC schedule. Week 12 - Alabama Tide was a pretty good team last year and have a lot of starters returning. With all the turmoil of coaching changes its anybodies guess how they will respond. Mike Shula comes from good coaching bloodlines. Don't count him out just because his brother Dave didn't win many games when he was given the Cincinatti Bengals job at the age of 26. Who the hell could win with the sorry Bengals organization? Still I see this as a Tiger win in Tuscaloosa. Week 13 - Ole Miss Could either be a close game with LSU winning or losing by a point or two or an LSU blowout. Will have to contain Eli Manning on D and control the ball on O Week 14 - Arkansas The teams have a recent history of winning against each other at home. LSU puts the Razorbacks away in the 4th quarter after Arkansas keeps it close despite having a sorry offense. Week 15 - A surprisingly easy win over Tennessee in the SEC title game in the Georgia Dome. Sugar Bowl - Tigers block a last second Miami field goal attempt to win the National Championship!
The key thing thru this season is injuries, QB play, and as you pointed out avoiding the letdown game. that last one seems to haunt LSU every single year.
