In my opinion, LSU was playing over its talent level in the first two years of Saban. Year 3 was a transition year when the talented-depth caught up to the coaching, but Mauck got hurt and Randall did a horrible job at quarterback. Year 4: Fisher tailors the offense to Mauck's strengths and masks his limitations. We run the ball and throw a bunch of bubble screens. Our talent and coaching are as good as anyone in the nation. Year 5:Our talent is still great but the coaching staff have badly misjudged Randall's potential to be a starting SEC quarterback. They should have recognized that he did not have the potential to be a good passer years earlier and prepared other quarterbacks. Russell and Flynn should have been given the job to compete against each other ala Tenn Phil. Instead, we have to play without a passing game. Randall drops back and cannot read the field or is afraid to throw the ball because of his inaccuracy so he runs (well). We are left with a three loss season, which was good considering our quarterback play. Russell is not given enough time and patience to develop. Perhaps, that is good in the long run because it got Ryan here. Incidentally, I respect Randall. He is a great athlete and football player. He did his best. I blame Saban/the coaching staff for not scouting their personnel better. Of course, considering they did an incredible job as a staff over the five years, they were certainly entitled to make a mistake every once in a while. I think that the quarterback position is the key to this season. Russell appears to be the starter. He must play smart and consistent enough. We have the talent and the coaching to go as far as our starting quarterback will take us including 13-0. I think the regular season over/under should be 9 wins. To me, the APP ST, NT, MS ST, Ole Miss, VANDY and ARK games are gimmes. That is six wins. Four games could go either way: TN, FL, AZ ST, and AUB. Alabama is a wild card depending but I put that in the should win category. Assuming we win those seven games we would just have to split the four tough games, and aren't they all at home. I would think eight or fewer wins would be disappointing, but I'd rather get to Atlanta with 8 wins than not with 9. Ryan did win the Ball Park Award. Perhaps, he can come in and play like Vick, Leak, Ball, Ainge, and Greene did as freshmen quarterback among others. It will be fun as always.
Well, the QB position always is a major factor..... I don't understand how many of you post sentiment like that as if it is something new. QB play last season had a direct impact on LSU's season and it will again in 2005. Regarding your comments about LSU playing over their head in saban's 1st 2 years, that is something I couldn't disagree with you more about. LSU finished 8-4 in 2000 and beat a pretty good Ga. tech team by 2 TD's in their backyard in the Peach Bowl. In 2001, LSU had a QB transition and by the end of the year LSU won the SEC Title, won the Sugar Bowl, and was arguably playing some of the best football in the country at that point. LSU won the SEC Title by beating a TOP 5 Tennessee team in the SEC Title game and followed that up with a total destruction of the Big 10 champion, Illinois in the Sugar Bowl. Man, that kind of success doesn't happen with smoke and mirrors.
To say the QB is the key to our success, is like saying "The Pope is Catholic" because it is the same for every team.
Re: Well, the QB position always is a major factor..... don't forget the NC game we denied them! i always like to mention that for good measure.:thumb:
Alright, someone correct me when I get something wrong. Didn't Vick redshirt his first year? Didn't Leak struggle his freshmen year and the team lost a few games because of it? Isn't Ainge BEHIND CLAUSEN (according to some comments made by Phil) right now at Tennessee? Inexperienced QBs make mistakes. Mistakes lose games. I want the best player to be our QB. My gut tells me that Perrilloux will spend the first half of the season learning and may be able to get some mop up duty by the second half of the season (assuming he doesn't redshirt or Flynn doesn't transfer). If Flynn transfers, he could very well see time in the very first game of the year. Those who have seen him play swear he's the greatest thing since sliced bread. I'll withhold judgement until I've seen him as well.
Our QB situation doesn't have to be great at all next year to win the SEC. Russell just needs to keep his INT's down and play smart. He doesnt need to throw for 300+ yards and 3 TD's every game. We have the running game and D to have his back through average games
