Well the only way LSU shocks the world is to win the NC again, so your statements are somewhat contradictory.
I am with SabanFan!!! I just can't wait to watch LSU play football again. If you worry too much on how the season will end (victory,Champs,ect...) you will never enjoy each game and your get togethers. Besides if Saban starts someone it means he is the best on the field at that time, and thats all that can be done.......so enjoy the season. (I think we will do just fine)
I know most of us have forgotten (or won't admit it) what we thought and said about Matt Mauck at this time last year. I'm sure we all knew he would be the QB who would lead us to the MNC, right? There is nothing wrong with our DLine. Lavalais will go down as one of my all-time favorite players, but I think Wroten will be much better than Chad. Spears will dominate and Pittman will be a pass rushing machine. We have tons of young talent on the line, just inexperienced. We'll win 8 or 9 games with our defense alone ... the rest will depend on how our QB situation unfolds.
One of the best post I've read. This team will be good, but there are a lot of good teams we will be playing. That will make for a great season.
SabanFan is correct, enjoy the season, don't let your worries and expectations get in the way of enjoying life as a Tiger Fan. If your only goal is to win a NC then you will be totally spent and will not enjoy the season as it unfolds and in the end probably be disappointed. This team has more talent coming back in my opinion then any team in our history, the depth is like none we have ever seen before, and I think when the season plays out I will be satisfied that we are having another very good to great season of football and be very happy. Every year we go into the season with several question marks. Sometimes those question marks hold true and cause us fits, such as the field goal kicking does almost every year. The overall D was a big question mark last season, the DB's were a giant ? as we knew we had one good corner, are DB's cost us a win vs Arkansas and got toasted in the Cotton. Look how they turned out. Our LB's were very unproven 2 years in a row, in 2002 they stepped up pretty good, last year they played way over their heads and were a large factor in us winning a NC. 2 years ago we had 2 great RB's coming back and we thought we would control the clock and rush for 250 every game with Toe and Double D, it happened in the Miss ST game but overall I was kind of disappointed by the overall runnng game by the end of the season, especially in it's ability to take the pressure off of Randall. I hope the entire run offense works very hard in the offseason to keep up the good work from the end of last season and improve on how they finished in the Sugar Bowl, where in my opinion JV was really the only one who had a good game, albeit vs a great D in OU. There are no givens going into a college season, just because we won last year and our D was the best in the land does not mean we will have as good or better D next season. We need for several guys to step up, others to iprove and new guys that have played not at all or only a very little to gain experience very quickly. That's what I love about college football the most, the constant shifting of players and strengths, the question marks, the emergence of new players and stars every year, the redemtion of guys like Hnt and Gay. So don't worry about the upcoming season, relish the opportunies to watch how it all unfolds.
I'll just say this. Give Randall his proper chance. The kid has worked his butt off for his opportunity. Just wait and see what he can do. Further, football's in his blood. His brother Eric, don't know if yall remember him, was the all-time passing leader at Southern until Richard came. Randall will get the job done. He just has to remember, the quaterback position 50% physical & 50% mental. he has the physical abilities. Now he has to step up and be the leader and go to guy.
I think Randall can get it done. If he can't, we have much better depth than when he was forced to start two years ago. I have confidence the team of Jimbo/Saban/pick your QB will be successful. Especially with the O-line, RB's, WR's. I remember hearing we had a new O-line coach last year. It's possible the continuity will be even greater this year. I think Mauck won some games for us last year but the defense also won games in spite of Mauck (UGA in BR, Ole Miss, Oklahoma). We'll probably have a couple of games that the D will have to win for us this year to win it again. The QB would also have to win a couple. Winning it all is tough. I'm just enjoying the moment while it lasts. We may never be in this honeymoon period again. Hopefully we'll win it again sometime but it'll never be like your first time (wasn't around in '58). Two very important factors are the unknown. Bad breaks/calls during a game that you can't predict and then the injury factor. We were remarkably injury-free last year. Hunt's injury may have hurt us vs the Gators when the D looked confused a few times. Other than that, everyone but the RB's were healthy and nobody suffered any season ending injury. I've heard a little about our strength coach recently and he must be doing a hell of a job.
LSU 2004 Quarterback Remember, you cannot change the spots on a leopard. Go to last summer August issue maybe, of the The Sporting News, College Football Issue. LSU quarterback, Marcus Randall, writer states that Randall has a limited play selection capability, poor play selections, can not hit open receiver. (my comments)Under pressure in Auburn, Alabama and Cotton Bowl 2nd half against quality teams, not only was above true but happy feet occurred and ball was throw up for grabs, interceptions. If Matt Flynn plays, his final year in H.S. was I believe 13tds and 9 inteceps. We are looking for big improvement here. If J. Marcus plays, a gun for an arm can equal uncatchable balls for some ala Bert Jones, will need to develope the Rohan touch, easier said then done!. I doubt very seriously if he is/will be(MR) as good as B. Jones or R. Davey!! A realistic scenerio will be first game M.R. will play like his first game against S. Carolina and LSU could win against Ore. St. 31-14. Maybe LSU defense will not be as good as last year but after a few games the redshirts will/should come off. Unfortunately if MR plays against the tough teams, and there are more than a few, more of the above will happen (2nd half of Cotton Bowl). So we should not paint too optimistic a picture and plan for a 1st place tie West while losing tie braking honors again and playing in the Cotton Bowl again and winning!!
Let's give Randall a chance! People seem to remember the sophomore that was throw to the wolves, but I see a QB that has matured into a senior leader. The passing game is not going to be as good as last year, but we lost a first and second round draft choice and our starting TE. The fact that we go back to back on the road to GA and FL is a killer. Like Saban has said, don't compare this team to last year, we are 0-0 like everyone else. Everyone will be gunning for us. We may not win every game, but I have supreme confidence that Saban will have his QB prepared for the season.
Go check out Mauck's passing stats for 2001, 2002 and 2003 ... then come back and tell me he didn't make serious improvements in 2003, or as you say, changed spots! To suggest players can't learn and improve from year to year is crazy! Jack Hunt is another player who "changed his spots" from 2002 to 2003. Hell, if we really knew what was going to happen before it actually happened, we'd be making a fortune!
