Saban liked Mauck, but he basically took him on at LSU as depth more than anything. Marcus Randall can be thrown into the mix in the strong-armed tough to tackle type Saban likes. As I said, he's clearly altered what he wants since returning to college football from the pros, but it is hard to argue with the guys he recruited and wanted to take control of his offenses in Banks, Davey, Booty, Davey, Russell, etc. Mauck came in for an injured Davey and showed he had some skills, but it wasn't until he had his injury that he became more of a pocket passer. Flynn as well had to wait behind Russell to get an opportunity, and when he got to play in a postseason game due to an injury he excelled just as Mauck had. Just my opinion, of course.
One of my best memories as a tiger fan. My wife (new girlfriend at the time) started driving at noon on Friday. By 1:00 on Saturday we arrived. Joined some TF faithful (Aztiger03) and his family for some tailgating. Ended up sitting in box seats there. He, I, & my wife were the only LSU fans in that set of about forty box seats. That score was flat out AMAZING!
Fair points. The Auburn game to this day still bothers me, but hey, that was a top 5 team. As for the supporting cast argument, while not untrue, couldn't you argue that Craig Davis owes his success to the great QB he played with just as much as Russell owes his success to his WRs? As you say, it's not a 1-way street. Bowe was obviously a bona-fide talent and would've likely been a first rounder regardless, but Buster was more of an unheralded player during his early years and was a late riser in draft circles. The last thing I'll mention, because this is starting to go in circles, is that the running game of 07 was well beyond that of 06, when we lost Alley B. to an injury, JV to alcohol and Joseph Addai was routinely banged up. The very Auburn game you speak of saw LSU gain like 30 yards total on the ground. If you put the 07 running game with the 06 passing, it'd be a juggernaut squad. This much we should be able to agree on.
This is BY FAR the best post in this thread. All of your points are dead on Brian. One thing you forgot to mention tho was the defense in those two years. In 06 the tiger D only gave up 12 points a game while the 07 team gave up 20 points a game. So that makes Flynn's season even more impressive in the fact that he had zero help from the defense the second half of the season. So again, JR can have his rocket arm and sh!t for brains. I'll take a game manager like Flynn any day of the week.
Addai's last year was in 05. Alley B. only missed 3 games in 06, he just sucked that year. He was hurt in 05. Plus the 06 team had Scott, KW, and Hester just like the 07 team.
Oh yeah, oops, looks like I misspoke. Wish I could blame it on alcohol or marijuana but I've been sober as a bird all week. Don't know wtf I was thinking with mentioning Addai or Broussard's injury, looks like I just misspoke. I quite obviously stand corrected on that- dumb on my part, I should know better. But back to the point, sure Hester, Scott and KW were on the team the year before, but they were not quite as effective as they were in 07, at least not in the tough games. None could seem to be counted on to move the chains for an entire game, which is why none of them seemed to ever get more than 9-10 carries. Hester was a still part time fullback, Scott was a freshman with concussion problems and Keiland was best in spot duty. The following year, that trio combined for 1000 more yards, 10 more rushing TDs, and about 60 more yards per game. Sure, that can be attributed to more attempts (especially considering the nearly identical yards per carry) but you can't ignore the net effect of an offense that a more reliable running game can bring. Hell, the 10 extra rushing TDs alone nearly covers the 6 ppg difference between the two teams. Suddenly, that "Most prolific offense in LSU history" becomes less about how great Flynn played quarterback and more about how our OLine got after it and how Jacob Hester and his stable mates ran the football. Why does Russell's supporting cast count against him but not Flynn's? One had a better group of WRs, the other had a more experienced and reliable group of RBs. Anyone can be a "game manager" when your running game is clicking.
People forget how stocked Dinardo left the cupboard for Nicky. Obviously keeping Kevin Faulk was a huge deal, but I also remember when Rohan Davey signed how major that was to get a big-time QB from Florida. But yeah, I don't buy this whole "Saban's type of QB" thing, he's not really too concerned with how the offense works so long as they can keep the defense rested. He's won with many types of quarterback, and won the most with Mauck and McElroy, who are the antithesis of what 'his QB' supposedly is. I think he chose Culpepper over Brees because Miami management was weary of Drew's repaired shoulder. Little did they know how banged (and washed) up and 'Pep had become. But I really don't think Saban has a specific type of quarterback.
The rushing was far better in 2007, yes, I agree, but we also didn't have a consistent passing game because of the LaFell drops and injury to Doucet. We had to rely on the run more. I don't think anyone can look at that Auburn game and think JaMarcus was a great college quarterback. He amassed gaudy stats and an impressive record, but money plays make the big plays in the big games. When Russell was making big plays it often was because of his own inconsistencies. He was bailing himself out in last second victories over AZ State and Alabama, etc. He didn't get the job done at Auburn when we could not run the ball. We needed our leader and supposedly great college quarterback to carry the day via the pass and with incredible weapons he only mustered a field goal? Thanks, but I'll pass on canonizing him. Flynn was buoyed by quite an impressive roster as well, yes, but he didn't have near the passing threats and was given a similar stable of backs in the running game. As was mentioned our defense was dramatically affected by injuries to Charles Alexander and then Glenn Dorsey in 2007. As they succumbed to injuries, so did our defense wilt late in the year. I do not recall Russell ever authoring a beatdown that Flynn and company did of a team that was the quality and caliber of Virginia Tech in his entire career at LSU.. (BTW, I put in there Davey twice, I meant to add in Marcus Randall. Thanks to TT for correcting me on some of the recruitment, as I wasn't nearly as avid a recruiting fan back then as I am now. Two thumbs up.)
We can all debate all we want about JR, but highly paid and much smarter than all of us, NFL scouts thought JR's college football accomplishments were 1st round overall worthy. They were wrong.
Hindsight is 20/20. I was a huge JR supporter when he was at LSU. I wish the guy well in his future endeavors but if he fails miserably at everything he does from here on out, i won't shed a tear.
