Sport Illustrated Top 25: LSU #1

As much as it pains me to say i have to agree with my friend Tusktimes. If we dont think the SEC West and SEC for that matter is not a two horse race between LSU and Bama we are fooling ourselves. Bama will and always reload with Saban. LSU is no different and dont sleep on R-Kansas. Some think Petrino's behavior was becoming tiresome and his constant ripping of players wore on them. Next year they have nothing to lose. They will also be a force.

 

I thought BP gave up on the run way too early in their contest with us, over the years. IF and a big IF, Knile Davis is back to form, they could actually control the line of scrimmage and manage the game much better. But John L. Smith has always been a weird dude to me, but so far, all the assistant coaches have settled in.

You're on with BP's profile. He was not beloved by the players or high school coaches and it's obvious he managed to alienate most of the university hierarchy in his brief stay in the Ozarks.

 

Reloading is a very overrated concept. Florida "reloaded" after their last NC, too. In fact, with the recent state of FSU and Miami, UF could sleepwalk into a Top 25 class every year. Where are they now? How did Bama end up "reloading" in the 2010 season? The point is no program immediately replaces the loss of top-level talent with the next man up, no matter how good he is or how good the coach is.

 

So how are we any different ?

 

Wasn't the talent in 2010, it was the effort. We had most of our O-line coming back, plus Julio, Ingram and Richardson, to name a few and we struggled to control the ball on the ground. G-Mac was getting hit mercilessly, before he had a chance to look his first receiver off. Only the Michigan St. bowl stood out as evidence that Bama could dominate in a 4 quarter game. Even though are d-backs were young and got burned a few times, for example the SC contest, the offense just did not respond. An offense, with eventually 4 NFL, first round draft picks on it.

 

How many Heisman winners and star players did we lose? Arky's D and WRs are depleted. Bama is in better shape but lost a lot of their best, experienced defensive players in every unit. Replacing Claiborne is the only spot I'm terribly worried about. Losing Brockers hurt, too, but we have a lot of experienced talent to anchor that line. On paper I have to give us the early edge.

 

That goes to my point about immediate reloading being mostly a fantasy, whereas experienced, seasoned talent is more likely to pay dividends a season or two further down the road. And sometimes fantastic potential is simply never fully realized, and there's no predicting when that will occur. College football ranks are littered with the corpses of 5* HS players who just couldn't make it at the next level.

 

My point being we were seasoned and a very veteran team on offense with 4 first round picks on it. Our offense was the problem, most of that season. We lose Richardson on offense this year, that's it, we will see.

 

The Alabama Michigan game to start the season should be interesting. I think Alabama will win, but it will be a good test to see how far Brady Hoke has brought the Wolverines.