Note where I said "In my opinion"... Besides, I'd stop setting myself up to be upset off this year. We lost probably the best DC in the country, The best D-lineman in the country, a number of other quality leader-type team members, and now we're gonna start a QB with no experience this season on top of it all. If we lose 3 games, I won't be upset.. I know it's "Not likely" we're gonna win the championship this season and so do the people that rank us... thus the slide down in ranking... This is all in my opinion of course. :rolleye33: Hey Swoop: BTW.. We started #14 in '03 pre-season.... we were doomed from the start that year too I suppose. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/rankingsindex?seasonYear=2003&weekNumber=1&seasonType=2
I agree with the point about unrealistic expectations. I will be happy if the team continues to play well and have a winning season, while giving the QB's the necessary experience to grow to their potentials. It would be interesting to see how the defense holds up with the dual defensive coordinator system. I was thinking about the same things. IF it is destiny that next year's team will get another crack at the NC, then good things would happen. So, me no worry.:miles: Geaux Tigers!
We should be around #10. We're still a damn strong football team. But to expect another title even with RP was unrealistic. In '03 and '07 things had to fall our way to get a shot at the title. It's very difficut with the breaks going your way. I see us being very competative and winning 9-11 games. With a few breaks we could be playing for a title again. But I think a top 5 finish would be optimistic at this point.
Auburn doesn't have a proven QB either. And they surely don't have the hosses in the trenches that LSU has going into the 08 season. I projected LSU between 3 and 5 to start the season, I think we will slide to 8-10.
barring something weird happening during the off-season, we're gonna be in the 11-15 spot. Behind Auburn. But that's where we start. It's so early, but we could finish anywhere from 10-2 (losing 2 against Fla, Ga, Aub) to 8-4 (losing to Fla, Ga. Aub and one we normally expect to win) regular season. IMO
So far, one person says we'll be in the #3-#4 range, while the other six people said we'll be in the #8-#15 range (#8-#10 range, #9-#10 range, around #10, about #12, just out of the top ten, and the #11-#15 range). The Rivals.com pre-season rankings published in January had us at #8. Here are the updated preseason rankings by Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports: 1. Ohio St 2. Georgia 3. Oklahoma 4. USC 5. Missouri 6. Florida 7. Kansas 8. Texas 9. W Virginia 10. Auburn 11. Texas Tech 12. Illinois 13. Clemson 14. BYU 15. Wisconsin 16. LSU 17. Virginia Tech 18. Arizona St 19. South Florida 20. Tennessee 21. Connecticut 22. Pitt 23. Mich State 24. Fresno St 25. Cincinnati http://www.sportsline.com/collegefootball/story/10813944
considering we have more coming back this year compared to what we had last year. and considering that we had more holes and more question marks prior to last season than we do prior to this season, I'd say 16 is a friggin joke. Seriously. How many games did Matt Flynn have under his belt before last year? This year's RBs, WRs, OL, safeties, K will all be better than last years. The D-Line will be just as dominant and the LBs will be stout. CB and QB are the only unknown commodities. Find me a team in the SEC with no holes and I'll find you a team that doesn't exist. People are focusing too much on what we don't have (Perrilloux) and are focusing not enough on what we do have (an abundance of talent everywhere else).
Dodd's rankings do show where he had the teams ranked in his pre-spring ranking -- in his pre-spring rating, he had LSU ranked #9 (and Georgia #1, Florida #6, Auburn #15, Tennessee #20). But yes, he does make it apparent that he is focusing a lot on the loss of RP by having LSU go from #9 to #16 and Auburn go from #15 to #10 -- he writes that "Perrilloux leaving will cost Les Miles the SEC West" and "Guess who just became the favorite in the SEC West with Ryan Perrilloux leaving Baton Rouge? ... Tommy Tuberville"
that is just a shoddy prediction. It may turn out to be true and Auburn may win the west. But don't say it is because they are more steady at QB. They have an entirely revamped offense that they never ran before (outside of 1 bowl game). Look at how long it took UF to "get it" under Meyer's offense. And look at how bad LSU destroyed Meyer the 1st time we played him. (only 21-17, but UF had no resemblance of offense in that game). I understand the thinking that LSU is not as good without Perrilloux, because they're not. But I do not understand how people can argue that Auburn or some other team is going to be by and large more solid than LSU now. How is never seeing Jarrett Lee play any different than not seeing Auburn's offense in action? Why is LSU's inexperience more troublesome than Auburn's?
