Hester never lost a fumble ever since his first game as a freshman. LSU's lost only 3 fumbles all year, one by a TE (Zinger), one by Perrilloux against Auburn and the last one was Holliday against Tennessee. There was not one fumble lost by a running back this past season. That's an unreal stat. Our O-line is the best part of our team, arguably along with our D-line. We return 4 of the 5 guys (3 are seniors), and we probably get better at the RT position with either Jones or Barksdale. We do have a question at blocking TE, but I think Branch will fill that void if we can't get anyone else to step up. Ridley and Scott hopefully can do a good job at short yardage, although we will never see a season like what Hester had as far as being "automatic". Special, special player.
:lol: Without going into the names (since I'm sure you know them all) I like what we have coming in for that NT position when they are combined with what we have on campus right now. Different styles of players, but I see a legitimate 3 man rotation, with 4 as a possibility. The question mark is going to be the playing condition of a few players coming in the summer and fall. A strong presence at that position will take this defense up a notch. I was worried about the middle of the DL last season because it can free up a player on the outside. We didn't have that player would could take up two gaps. This season, I can see two filling that role. I'm not trying to bring up an old debate here when I make this statement... I was more impressed with your offensive game plan in '06 than I was last year. The '06 attack was about as balanced as it could have been. Without looking up the numbers, I recall both the running attack and passing attack being over 200 yards with maybe a 15-20 difference (passing had more yds.) Last season, you had a lot of success through the air but less than 100 yards on the ground. Penalties? Geez, there are two ways to look at that. A lot of them lead to a few being drive killers. But, if you look at last year and the year before the team with the most penalities per game in conference play won the SECCG. I agree, it's all guesses right now. We'll both know a lot more when October comes around. One thing I feel comfortable stating, based on information and observations, is we are a lot further along now than we were at this point last season...or for that matter, the last 4-5 seasons. There are still some depth issues in terms of quality talent. But, even some of those players I saw a few months ago and wondered how far they were going to fall down the depth chart have improved in a lot of areas. All in all, our side of the scale weighs more heavily with the number of questions marks than yours.
Greenwood isn't a NT...but, given someone in that position it'll free up Greenwood. Technically, he plays a DT when we line the JACK up on the line, and in that respect I agree with you. That said, I suspect McCullough is getting as many, if not more snaps, that Greenwood when October rolls around. I wouldn't be surprised if we come out of fall with McCullough in a starting role and Greenwood and Davis being 2A and 2B. On the same note, if Cody comes in and he's in playing shape I wouldn't be surprised AT ALL to see Chapman and Cody taking 40-45 snaps a game (combined) and Washington sliding over to that position. Then, there's Motley.
Yes, but remember, he was playing against ND's defense in the spring game. He won't be so lucky when they face tough competition, like the service academies.
Don't get me wrong with this observation because believe you me, I am NO Notre Dame fan. One thing I've wondered about Weis is whether he could make a transition from the NFL to Div. 1 play. When he announced that he was giving up the play calling duties this season and allowing Mike Haywood (OC) to handle that responsibility I thought it was a smart move. It's one of the first steps to becoming that CEO type of HC. Now, I do wonder if it'll end up being a two man responsibility. Spurrier, as example, said a few months ago he was giving those responsibilities to his son. But, just in the last week he's not saying he'll be calling some of the plays as well. (8 int's in their spring game might have had something to do with that, I don't know) One of the reasons I suspect this has to do with last year. Clausen was there for spring ball and the QB race was between what, 4 different guys? I know he's had the majority of the snaps this spring. Now, does that carry over to August? I wouldn't be shocked if ND can make it to that 7-8 win season in '08. I don't want them to hit that 8 win mark considering the BCS implications...but, that's falls into another category dealing with one of the many reasons I don't care for ND.
What debate? One game does not define an offense. Last season LSU finished second in the SEC in rushing with 214 yards per game to go with 225 yards passing for an 11-yard spread, which was far and away the most balanced offense in the SEC in 2007.
I was referring to the Bama game, like I stated, and you were one dimensional last year versus the year before. That's a game plan for one game, but it's still a game plan. It was a compliment on your game plan in '06 vs '07. If the game would have been more balanced in '07, the outcome of the game wouldn't have been decided by a fumble in the 4th quarter. Relying so much on the passing attack last year led to those 3 INT's. Without those, we wouldn't have been as close as we were.