Mel Kiper was a guest tonight on the ESPN radio show "Game Night" and was asked what coach in college football is doing the most with less. Mel said, "Nick Saban at LSU" in terms of the amount of talent he has among his seniors. Mel's point was that LSU seems to have fewer seniors among its top impact players compared to other highly ranked teams. Therefore, Nick Saban is getting more out of a young team. It was a good point and one I had not really given much consideration to. Though there are some very valuable players among the seniors (Lavalais, Reed, Peterman, Henderson, Hunt, etc.), LSU is not a senior-heavy team. It certainly does not seem to have hurt us this year and bodes well for next year.
By that reasoning, shouldn't he have gone with Bob Stoops? What's Oklahoma have, three senior starters? Aren't LSU's recruiting classes the past few years comparable to those of the Sooners, overall? Don't get me wrong - I love seeing Coach Saban get his props. But Kipe almost makes it sound as if Saban's doing it with mirrors, or something. LSU puts some damn good talent on the field, with great speed - which kills in football - even if they are not seniors. This may be the kind of thinking that contributes to the Tigers being rated lower in the BCS than we'd all like to see them. It could be an attitude of: "Well, Nick Saban's a great coach and he's got those youngsters playing over their heads." :geaux:
