Pretty similar to this year, no? Similarities: Killer DL (+), Good to great safeties (+), OK LBs (push), bigger QB question (-) Differences: Even better offense surrounding QB (+), untested CBs (-) Clair was right (about LSU) last year. Can we parlay it? :hihi: :champs:
LSU didn't turn the ball over during the Arkansas game..... 1 turnover in the Kentucky game. I think OK LBs might be a little generous.
Yeah, I struggled with that a tad. However, I think there's a very good chance that Sheppard and Foyil and Cutrera (and maybe Theriot) will step up. But I could easily see that as a (-).
Originally Posted by clair LSU- Question at QB, but there is too much talent on this defense to not win the west. If LSU scores 17 points in every game and doesn't turn over the ball, they will be 12-0, playing in the SECCG. Yes, the defense is that good. Not complaining about last season by any stretch, but as I recall, the defense wasn't all it was stacked up to be, (maybe due to injuries, Pellini thinking about NU, who knows...but it wasn't), and LSU was forced to score far more than 17 to pull out some games, such as Bama and UF. Also, they lost two more games than he predicted before playing in, and of course winning, the SECCG. No offense to Clairice's projection, but I'd say he missed it pretty bad. The offense carried the team for the most part...setting records along the way. Nowhere in that projection do I see the offense mentioned as a strongpoint. I know that Clair was touting R. Murphy as the next Reggie Bush in the preseason, and although IMHO, he's gonna be a great one, he didn't show much last year. (due to lack of opportunity, but still)
True, we lost two games in 3OT, and won three games that were nail biters. But I'd say the defense was pretty friggin' good. I believe we ended the season in the top 3 for defense, correct? No reason to think the CB and LB situation won't be more reload than rebuild and we see another great LSU defense. No doubt, though, that the offense was WAY better than ANYONE predicted. I don't remember anyone - media, message boards, blogs - thinking LSU would score almost 40 points per game. I wouldn't throw spears at Clair for that one.
Funny... I don't..... :grin: I was reading the box scores and INTs during a PAT don't count against stats and I really must have blocked that from my memory.
Right, but the defense next season doesn't include a Glenn freaking Dorsey (seriously, we'll only get a DT like that once every blue moon), or some freak overachieving nut-case like Steltz, or two solid upperclassmen CBs like we had with Jackson and Zenon.
Good point. Kentucky and Arkansas beat us because they exploited our defense, not because they shut down our offense. Granted, our defense was sick last year, one of the very most elite in the nation, but it still failed to shut down Kentucky and Arkansas (as well as at least Ole Miss, who had more total yards against us last year than we had against them).
