Good day, Tigers. lsutiga is a pretty frequent visitor to our side and he speaks highly of all you good people, so I just stopped by to say hello and visit your board. The office season is wearing a little thin, so I'm assuming everyone here feels like we do: "Let's play ball!" Wish you all the best in '07 (all the way up to, but not including, N.O. only, of course. I've been following LSU football for years and see you guys have some interesting match ups, especially V-Tec and Auburn at home. How to you guys see the SEC-West shaping up? Just curious to hear from folks a lot closer to the "fire" than I am. Thanks in advance.
Not an LSU fan...but from a Auburn fan's point of view. 1. LSU 2. Auburn 3. Arkansas/Alabama (will be a good game, could go either way) 4. Alabama/Arkansas 5. Ole Miss (Orgeron can't get over the hump without a QB) 6. Miss St. (Croom is over-rated and that program is a mess) I like our chances in Baton Rouge this year, but as always, I'm sure it will be a very close game, and I'll stick with recent history of the home team pulling out a close one.
Welcome to the board. It's always great to hear from other schools. As far as the West is concerned, LSU is definately in the cat bird seat. Auburn is probably the one most likely to give the Tigers a run for its money, but Arkansas and Bama are out there lurking. Auburn, with Kenny Irons gone, needs to develop its offense a bit more. It also suffered a bunch of injuries on defense, and has had to do some shufflling. Auburn could also do with a couple of good kickers. It has 12 returning starters: 5 offense and 7 defense. But Auburn has to play in Tiger Stadium this year, and that could be a deciding factor. Auburn/LSU games tend to be close. Alabama fans believe the glory days have returned with Nick Saban, but I think they will have to wait a bit longer. But they do have 16 returning starters, 9 on offense, 5 on defense and 2 special teams people. Saban will have to use most of the same people that were fielded last year when they went 8-4 and 2-6 in the SEC, so don't expect them to do much better this year. I don't expect them to be a threat the LSU's chances of taking the western division, at least not this year. Arkansas could definately be the dark horse contender for the western division title in 2007. They are retuning 11 starters, but their two wide receivers transferred to USC, but I am not sure if that is you guys or South Carolina. They are not showing up on either roster. In addition, they lost their defensive coordinator. For all these problems it remains a talented team and could be a spoiler for someone. The good thing is they have to play LSU in Tiger Stadium. Hope this helps you out. Don't be a stranger.
Not sure about 2 WR's but Damien Williams has transferred to USC and will red-shirt next season. He did work out this spring. QB Mitch Mustain allegedly began classes at USC on Friday.
Hector, Welcome to the board, stick around, we have some fun here. We have a small collection of SEC posters, who are all quite good I might add. We see the world through our purple colored glasses most of the time, but strive to obtain some objectivity on occasion. We hope to meet you guys in N.O., and we have a shot at it. With Va-Tech and our usual SEC schedule, its hard for any SEC team to go undefeated, but a one loss LSU might make it. Losing Russell, Bowe and Craig Davis is a huge loss, 3 first round picks. The passing game will not be as good as last year, especially the long ball. Flynn could be as good in the short to medium passing game, and we have to find some new receivers. I hope our running game is better than last year, as freshmen have matured and learned the system, and Alley Broussard is two years removed from an ACL injury. He was not normal last year, and the jury is out this year, but we hope for the best for him. If he is near normal, he is a great back.
Thanks for the responses and the insight. It's hard for me to imagine anyone beating LSU out in the West, even with the needed adjustments. As far as USC goes, after the 2 losses we got hit with last year, I hate to look too far ahead ... but I feel safe to say we'll get by Idaho. If not, I'll disappear from all the boards for a year. :yelwink2: Nebraska, away, (game 2) will be an early big test to see if we're as good as we hope to be. After that it'll be one game at a time, since we may have been looking past those 2 losses in '06. Thanks again and have a good week. Fight On!
Hector, A big advantage will be a QB with a years experience under his belt. I didn't think last year was your year. This year is different, Booty will be better. It happens with experience. I think you will be better than last season, but I'll admit I'm no USC expert. You guys just lost too much talent after the Texas championship game to be right back the next year. We lost some stars from last season, but have 8 starters back on defense, and I expect us to be very good if not down right GREAT on D.
The SEC is filled with questions heading into this season, but LSU looks to be able to answer them quite nicely. On defense, we're set. We're thin at some positions, so injuries could take their toll, but we will be one of the best defenses in country yet again. On offense, we've got a new OC, new QB, and young inexperienced WRs, not to mention very little depth on the OLine. Our quarterback is a fifth year senior who was the Peach Bowl MVP. We've got one proven WR, one young guy with some experience and promise, and a lot of guys who were highly recruited but haven't had a chance to show what they can do on the field. Our RB situation is looking very good, with Keiland Williams who came on strong at the end of last year as a true freshman, plus several other good RBs.
