The question remains, will Alabama lose it's biggest home game of the year for the 4th straight year? Great opportunity for LSU.
They aren't ranking us how we did in our bowl, they are ranking us on how they think we do in 2013. A #8 ranking would mean they think you lose 2, which is a reasonable expectation for Clemson based on their schedule (they play two preseason Top Ten teams). A #12 ranking would mean they think you lose 3, which is a reasonable expectation based on our schedule (we play FOUR preseason Top Ten teams) Last year Georgia was preseason #6/#6 and Michigan State was preseason #13/#13...yet in the last game they played, Michigan State beat Georgia in their bowl game And last year, Ohio State was ranked 5 spots higher than Florida...yet in the last game they played, Florida beat Ohio State in their bowl game Despite not ranking them according to who beat who in the bowl game, they were right, Georgia finished #5 and Michigan State finished #26....and Ohio State finished #2 and Florida #10 As for LSU, if all our juniors had come back for their senior year (Chris Faulk, Ford, Ware, Bennie Logan, Mingo, Sonic Sam, Kevin Minter, Eric Reid, Tharold Simon, Brad Wing), then we would be ranked MUCH HIGHER than Clemson despite losing to them. But that's not what happened. What really happened is that those 10 juniors actually left, LSU had a SCHOOL RECORD nine players taken in the draft, and they are already doing well in the NFL. For 2013, LSU's D returns only returns 3 starters (Barrow, Loston, Mills), one of whom was a true freshman last year. On offense, we return an inconsistent QB, no proven star receivers, and only 4 of our 11 O-lineman that played last year (we lost Faulk, Lonergan, Dworaczyk, Hurst, Davenport, Domingue and most probably Williford) on an OL that wasn't very good last year (we were #67 in rushing ypc, #95 in sacks allowed, #93 in sacks allowed per game, #75 in TFL allowed, and #65 in TFL per game allowed) With all the question marks we have and the schedule we have this year, no way they would put us preseason top ten, even had we beat Clemson down. It's honestly pretty stunning they even have us preseason top 15, but it shows you the respect people have for LSU
Difference is they are ridiculously loaded on offense, us not so much. They go 2-2 in their four big games (LSU, SC, Florida, @Clemson), and beat everybody else they finish the regular season ranked #6/#7 so their preseason #5 is not far off.
To be fair the TigerFans must give Coach Cam the opportunity to develop the offense. If successful (which is worrying Alabama much I hear) LSU may reach a big plateau.
Saban went 7-6 his first year at Bama, 8-4 his first year at LSU, 6-5-1 his first year at Michigan St, and 9-7 his first year at Miami. Expecting a great coach to have great results his first year is not normal
