Actually, I was pretty critical of LSU's defense last year after it somewhat fell apart toward the middle of the season (or in the South Carolina game). Not sure if you will find it on the board, but I didn't like the scheme then. It was on its last leg then, and now it has no legs.
Since 2003, 4 out of the 5 BCS national champions followed up that season with 3+ losses the next year. Just a little jog toward the median before going back up again next year.
Defense at LB and DB need to start over with Tackling 101. I have never seen so many guys with fundamental problems that position coaches should not tolerate.:geaux: It is amazing when you watch more than one team on a regular basis, the differnece in proper coaching.
If we get a new DC, then this year will be just a speed bump. If we get anyone with any type of aggressive style D, we will be fine. JL, JJ, and RS will all be working out in spring ball. Crowton won't be nearly as handcuffed, and we return all of our backs. Plus it is an odd number year so that means we will atleast win the West and go to Atlanta, right?
Our previous coach may have stressed this, but in actuality, it was a problem under Nick Saban more times than not, and have you watched his Bama team this year? They have largely been a one half team. Until this year, Les Miles' teams have been playing for 60 minutes. I still think that we're "fat and happy" off of a national championship, much like our '04 team, which played uninspired football for the entire season, save one incredible 4th quarter against Florida that year. Couple complacency with poor, inexperienced QB's and a DC experiment gone bad, and you have our '08 campaign. For what it's worth, I knew that people would begin doubting Les Miles AGAIN as soon as we had a disappointing season.
Intertesting perspective from Don Long today: I want to remind LSU fans not to give up on the Tigers. In 2002, LSU was blown out by Auburn 31-3, lost to Alabama 31-0, defeated Ole Miss 14-13 and it took the Blue Grass Miracle to defeat Kentucky 33-30. LSU could have very easily lost the last five games of the season. As you know, LSU went on to win the national championship in 2003. I've posted this before and I'm certainly not the only person making these points, the "big picture" isssues this year as I see it are: 1. Loss of Ryan Perrilloux 2. Loss of Bo Pellini 3. Hangover from '07 Nat'l Championship Issue 3 will not be an issue next year for sure. Issue one hamstrung us all year and limited what we could do on offense. I believe that we will be improved at quarterback next year, to what extent remains to be seen. Jordan Jefferson appears to be the caliber of quarterback that can lead our team. Jarrett Lee, despite all of woes this year will be a better quarterback next year. Probably all of our biggest concerns are over the defense. I've convinced myself that we don't have co-defensive coordinators. One of the two is making the calls and I believe its Mallory. Miles may have been accurate in his belief that Peveto and Mallory had a good understanding of Bo's scheme, however, I don't believe either is very good at putting that scheme in place on the field and adapting it to our opponents. Our DB's and LB's look lost and confused. If you will recall earlier in the year, Chad Jones, made a statement that the calls were coming in late and this was giving the defense trouble. I don't know enough about how our defense works, what our players look like in practice etc. to be able point out what needs to be done to fix the problem. If you read Miles' statements he appears to be at a loss as well. Privately he may know exactly whats wrong and is unwilling to make it public. Will he make a change at DC? Who knows. Miles knows that changes need to be made. If we head into next season with our defense playing the way it did, we will not only have long season but the recruits will stop coming and thats what you need to stay on top. Go Tigers !!!
Speedbump. We'll be ranked again in 2009 and compete for the trophies again in 2010. 2008 was going to be a down year anyway: There ain't a team in the country that could compete after losing its MVP starting quarterback, both his backups and play with a 4th string true freshman backed up by a walk-on. It was going to be a rebuilding year on defense, with green DB's and LB's. 2008 is an even year with the tough schedule. Even Nick never won more than 9 games in an even year. Still . . . there are some issues that require fixing and it may not be instantaneous: The offensive and defensive lines have underperformed badly all season and they were supposed to be a strength. And we lose experienced players from both. The defense looks like it doesn't know what it's doing out there. It's the DC's job to get the team ready to play and it hasn't happened. We'll likely have to implement a new defense under a new DC next year. There will be another quarterback battle next season and none of the quarterbacks except Lee will be truly experienced. We have to have a QB to compete in the SEC.
Just a speed bump really... Our DBs play should improve and if we get Loston, who I think will compete for a starting job right away, we'll be stronger at safety. PP will be much better and solidify his corner and our LBs can only get better atleast you'd think anyway. This off season should improve our QB play as they'll get more time learning the Offense and build off their experiences this season. But we need our O ine to get better and give our QBs more time to throw and block for the runners. As well our D line needs to get better and get more pressure on opposing QBS. All in all I think we'll be much better and contend for atleast an SECC.
Here's how I look at it. Every single team out there goes through what we're going through now. Florida is a prime example. Won the NC, then lost 4 games the next year. Granted, they looked more competitive in their losses than we have, but I believe all of our problems are fixable. We have another strong recruiting class coming in and, as confused as the secondary has looked at times, most of them were highly rated coming out of high school. Future is bright, the sky is not falling, and we'll be back.
