I couldn't care less about the expectations for other teams. I look at what we have and see a lot of reasons to be excited, and other reasons (including the big one at QB) to be concerned. Until we see how this team plays come Labor Day weekend, we're all just guessing. I'd love nothing more than for JJ to prove me wrong and have a breakout senior year and for LSU to dominate its schedule. But at this point I'm not going to convince you there are potential weaknesses on this team that could lead to some losses down the road, and you're not going to convince me that all is rainbows and kittens on the LSU sideline.
"So all in all, while the challenges will decidedly be different this year, I simply cannot believe they are any more formidable than the challenges we faced last year. In fact, imo, the challenges we face heading into this season are considerably less formidable, as we really only have three areas of major concern (QB, DT and kicking game) as compared to last year when we had much more and worse concerns (worse QB situation, entire DL, LBs, Secondary, and RBs)." All great points, but how can you not mention Linebackers as a concern. LBs are more of a concern than our D Line by far. I hope I'm wrong. I hope those kids step up and get the job done. Explain to me why I'm wrong. Cheers LSU!
I have done no such thing, you made that up. That was not my point. Go back and read it again. Every reference to "certainty" and "absolutely impossible" came from you.
Well, I disagree. So that makes any notion of ZERO disagreement a moot point. Jefferson has not won the SEC or even gotten us to the SEC game. How you conflate this into people having ZERO reasons to disagree with you is not apparent. How you "feel" has nothing to do with quantification, amigo. And neither does "assume" and "expect". Absolutely. "Reasonable" leaves room for dissent. I do not think we can do any better than last year without a better passing game. I do not insist that this is a certainty, nor do I insist that there can be no dissent. But that is what the evidence suggests to me.
Jj is his own worst enemy. When he plays poorly he gets very flustered. His aggravation causes him to pout and this negativity tends to rub off on the rest of the offense. He doesn't make the quick decisions needed to play the position when he is flustered. If it wasn't for the heads up play of hebert we would have lost to Tennessee. Keeping jj from being flustered has to be a prime mission of krag this year. Jj has to learn how to keep his emotions in balance. I don't know if miles will play mett more than he played lee last year. When jj's attitude falls apart mett should be put in to allow jj to regroup. I personally would rather mett start even though he doesn't have jj's experience. When this team is on an emotional high they steam roll the opposition. When jj gets aggrivated the offense stalls and makes numerous penalities. I believe the special teams play was the primary reason for us winning the closer games last year. The field position granted us by pp7 allowed us to be almost in fieldgoal range almost every possession and when the offense floundered the punt team stepped up to make a long field for the opponet. Without atleast the same quality special teams play to offset jj's deficiency there will be little chance to win a nc in my opinion. Lots of things will have to fall in place to win a nc and I am doubtful we will succeed unless jj finds himself a way to control his emotions when he plays poorly.
But if that is no more true of us than any other team, why would you be concerened? Are you concerned simply because we don't have a perfect team at every position? Why is it anytime someone suggests LSU fans should be excited, they are automatically accused of not seeing any possibility of a single loss and believing "all is rainbows and kittens"? Can you people not recognize moderation at all? I have stated REPEATEDLY that I recognize the potential for significant problems for this team. What I do not understand is why that is cause for concern. Anyone who is concerned simply because there is potential for significant problems for their team cannot ever be anything other than concerned, because there's ALWAYS potential for signficant problems. I guess what I should be asking you is whether there has ever been a team in any sport that four months prior to the season had so close to zero potential for a loss that you would not have been "concerned" as a fan of that team? Because I sure as heck have never heard of one. And if you think there has ever been an LSU team that came anywhere close to that, you are badly, BADLY mistaken. There are ALWAYS potentials for problems for EVERY team. The teams whose rational fans are most excited are the ones for whom that potential is lowest. If you think our potential is significantly higher than that of other teams, I'd like to ask which teams and why. And I'm not being sarcastic, but if you really "couldn't care less" about other teams' situations, then that suggest a lack of understanding of how competition works: it's not about how good you are, it's about whether or not you're better than the competition. And you cannot have a rational concern over us not being better than our competition without considering how good that competition is likely to be. ldskule::geaux:ldskule:
Can you not recognize that people have differing opinions and nit-picking every post to death doesn't necessarily bolster yours? I have conceded several times that you may be right regarding how this team could perform, and you seem to have done likewise. There is no point in continuing this seemingly endless speculation until we see just how good LSU is, and yes, how good our SEC competition is. :huh: This is a facetious and ridiculous argument, and doesn't deserve any further discussion. And neither you nor I can quantify that potential with certainty for either LSU or any other team four months before the season starts. If your crystal ball is that good, there are Vegas bookies who would love to hear from you. Case in point: how many people predicted at this point last season that Auburn would go undefeated and win the NC, after returning a team that went 7-5 the previous year, starting an almost unknown JUCO QB transfer named Cam Newton? You have your opinion regarding those potentials, and I have mine. I respect yours, though I disagree with it. Why not accept that instead of repeatedly trying to prove that my cause for concern is irrational, when it's a futile exercise given what we know right now? Is this like the "with all due respect" phrase where it magically makes whatever follows not sound insulting? Wow, thanks for pointing that out to me, it must have escaped me in my state of irrational concern. I see no point in continuing this discussion. If having the last word makes you think you're right, then have at it.
Well, I was specifically listing our DTs as opposed to the DL as a whole, because we lose both starters at DT but return everyone at DE. But I don't see a huge concern over our LBs because we return 2/3 of our regular starters, and the guy we lost (Sheppard) wasn't anything super special until he became a full time starter as a Junior, and we have multiple guys who have as much going for them or more as Sheppard had before he got his shot. You're not wrong in believing someone needs to play well, but you're wrong if you think guys like Sheppard don't occur often. It may be that only 1 out of 7 or 8 recruits turn out as well as he did, but we've got a pool like that to pull from (counting the guys who already missed the cut and are gone). Minter, Hatcher, Barrow, Muncie, Welter, Jones; and don't forget Hatcher's move down to LB could open up possibilities to move Baker over. We never know who will be the next one to step up, but that doesn't mean we should worry that no one will. ldskule::geaux:ldskule:
Unless you are suggesting that winning the SEC would not be "championship-level play", I fail to see how this is not an assertion that you can't win the SEC throwing only 4 TDs in a season. . [emphasis mine] "Must" and "cannot" are statements of certainty. My apologies if I took them too literally. ldskule::geaux:ldskule:
Because the fact that a chosen factor does not produce a certain result in one specific incidence does not logically suggest that such a result can never occur with that factor. I'm quantifying the terms I use to describe my feelings and expectations about this coming season. So in this case, yes, how I "feel" has everything to do with quantification. Okay, "can" is simply the existence of possibility. "do not think we can" means does not think it is possible. That is where I believe I became confused regarding your position, and I apologize if I have again taken your words too much for their literal meanings. ldskule::geaux:ldskule:
