Are you saying the SEC is better this year than last? Or the same? Or not as good? Just curious as to how you're determining the prediction that if JJ stays the same, we do as bad or worse than last season. Again, not attacking...really just curious as to what others see in the SEC this season. I don't see a truly dominant team, and only see LSU as one that COULD become dominant. I suppose Alabama COULD as well, but there isn't another. AU without Cam and Fairley won't be NEAR what they were last year. OM is OM. MSU will probably be good, but shouldn't be better than last season. Arky will be good, but again, no better than last year, especially without Mallett. In the east, UF is really just rebuilding. USCe is still without a definitive starter at QB with Garcia suspended. UGA is a complete unknown, but it wouldn't surprise me if they win the east. That said, they won't be dominant ala AU last year or Bama the previous 2 years, or UF before that.
There may not be a dominant team as of right now, but it's still the SEC. Look at the teams that beat LSU in 2007 with a far more efficient offense....Arkansas and Kentucky....Neither of these teams were close to being dominant. It doesn't take a dominant team to beat you when can't throw for 100 yds in a game (3 games for the team, 7 games for JJ) Honestly, I don't think he could manage to do that bad again next year. Crowton's gone and JJ should benefit from that.
True enough. Just wondered what everyone else is seeing in the conference right now. I think some just look at the glass half full, and some look at it half empty. Fact is, it's just a half a glass of water either way, and if you're not careful...you can spill it in a hurry.
I would argue that Les Miles has not produced a "dominant" team to date, even in 2007, compared to Florida in '08, and undefeated Bama in '09 and Auburn in '10, which tends to steer me into the "glass half-empty" camp, until we see evidence to the contrary.
FWIW, I didn't even imply that Miles has produced a dominant team. In fact, I stated AU last season, Bama the previous two, and UF before them. I didn't mention LSU on purpose, because you're right...LSU wasn't dominant...not consistantly. I did say I feel IF a team becomes dominant, the most likely one is LSU. But understand, I have NO delusions about that happening with JJ at the helm. It would only happen if Mett comes in a really shines. That said, I still agree with King Joey that it's very possible for LSU...even with Jefferson...to win the SECC. For that to happen, a few things have to line up. 1)No other team steps up to another stratosphere like AU last year. 2)Gotta get up for big games (UO, Bama, UF, FRIGGIN' ARKANSAS!!) 3)Defense has to be what I think it is. 4)Running game has to be what I think it is. 5)Gotta win the games we're supposed to.
I agree the challenges will be different, but I believe they will be less formidable. At this time last year, we were trying to overcome the losses of our top 2 RBs, our top WR, our top TE, 4 of our top 5 tacklers, 3/4 of our D-Line, 2/3 of our LBs, half our secondary (that's SEVEN starters lost from our defense) and 2 starters from the O-Line. Plus, we had also lost our top PR and KR specialist (Trindon Holliday), and managed to turn that significant loss into a significant improvement. But now, after having answered alllll those questions from a year ago with an 11-2/top 10 season and this close to an SEC Championship, the loss of two or three guys has you this concerned? Leadership? How about Charles Scott, Ciron Black and Chad Jones? Harry Coleman, Rahim Alem and Brandon LaFell? Those were all upperclassman leaders we lost off that '09 team. And we replaced them. In fact, if you go back a decade, the only seasons where LSU's teams got worse one year to the next were years in which we lost our upperclassman QBs ('01 to '02, lost Davey; '03 to '04, lost Mauck; '07 to '08, lost Flynn). Obviously, that doesn't appear to be the case this season. 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). I guess where I'm losing your point is, for what team do you think the expectations should not be tempered at least as much if not more than us? And if there's not a team in that position, then why shouldn't we be excited about having as good a chance as anyone else? ldskule::geaux:ldskule:
And yet, we've already won the SEC a couple of times with 2 or 3 losses. So has Georgia. And that's just counting SEC losses. Florida and Alabama have also done it with a couple of losses overall. So projecting 2 or 3 losses (especially if one of them is likely to be Oregon or WVU) does not at all eliminate us from the hunt. I don't sense that there's any disagreement in this area. Jefferson has been bad, Lee has been bad, and if either of the or Mett (or anyone else) can just manage to be not bad, we are immediately a much stronger team. We could very likely go all the way without a strong passing game. But our chances of success drop dramatically if our passing game continues to be a true weakness. ldskule::geaux:ldskule:
I'll assume you're talking about the 2010 version of JJ. But I'll add the 2010 version of the SEC. Like I was saying, the SEC had a dominant team last year, AU. Not seeing that type of team this year, at least not an opponent of LSU. So yeah, I agree, it wouldn't be possible for LSU to win the SEC in 2010. Just jacking with you, but what I mean is this. The 2010 version of the SEC was more of a factor in LSU not winning the SEC than the 2010 version of JJ. IMO. Cam Newton and Fairley kept LSU from winning the SEC last year...and JJ was terrible...even turble. But if that was the 2009 version of AU, LSU would've won the west at least...and probably beaten USCe, too.
