What do you think the Top 5 LSU Problems are?

1. Quarterback. LSU has quarterbacks that can't take advantage of the quality of receivers that we have. Jefferson has improved, but not much and far too slowly. Lee has improved, but not enough to be a starter. Shepard can't throw the ball, apparently and the other quarterbacks aren't ready to play at this level.

Passing must improve, pocket presence must improve, happy feet must be cured, taking silly sacks must be cured, and we must learn to take advantage of opponents blitzing, like smart quarterbacks do. We have to have a QB who can make his hot reads.

Jefferson will be a mature junior veteran next year, but he must improve at a far faster pace than he did this season if we are to return to SECCG.

2. Offensive Line. The line has underperformed all year and much of last year. There was too much reliance on the starting five and too little substitution forcing us to start a couple of really green guys next year. T-Bob and Hitt are both aggressive players that coaches love, but both are undersized and got pushed around on running plays all year. Dworaczik is playing out of position at guard and I expect him to move to tackle. Both Barksdale and Black got beat on the outside on pass protection all year. Can you say "pocket collapse"?

I put this one on coach Stud. I think our players lacked technique, we didn't play enough guys, we had guys out of position and promising young guys like Blackwell and Lonergan maybe should have started ahead of Hitt and Hebert. At least they should have split time. I think coach Stud may need to move on.

3. Defensive Line. Lack of an effective pass rush has been LSU's only liability on defense, but it's a major one that has cost us. I only hope some young defensive linemen step up and become a dominant player because we just don't have one there. It's Brick Haleys first year at line coach but I ain't impressed so far. He had a lot of players to work with and never found the right combination. He'll get another year, I imagine but he has to find a stud somewhere and build a defensive line around him. It won't be Alem.

4. Offensive scheme. The offense was very predictable all year. Partly because they put too much on a green QB the year before, the simpler offense for Jefferson proved easy for defenses to figure out. It took too long to realize that the "meercat" huddle was hurting consistency. It failed to take advantage of a wildcat quarterback who averaged 7 yards a carry. It failed to take advantage of some fabulous receivers. I still think Crowton is a good OC, but he needs to completely remake the offense or Les must find someone who can.

5. Lack of team leadership.For two seasons now we have seen very little leadership from our team captains. The coaches can't do it all themselves. Team spirit come from within and effective team leaders just have no emerged. Coaching leadership has been sporadic, too. A team must trust that its head coach is managing the game and the position coaches are playing the right people.