Looking at the CFN feature, Preseason All-Americans and Top 25 players at each position... Not a whole lot of LSU players listed here... Most major periodicals pick LSU to lose at least 2 of its 4 road games... While a top 15 finish is expected by most, is LSU flying under the radar this year? I think so... how quickly people forget about good recruits who have been buried on the depth chart...
No we are not flying under the radar, we will be expected to be among the best teams in the nation and that is not flying under the radar. Miss. St is flying under the radar.
The rest of the SEC's recruiting hasn't exactly been mediocre. We don't out-talent every team on our schedule like we think we do. How can we be flying under the radar if we're only expected to lose 2 games, and mostly because of our tough road schedule?
I think, in any year, prognosticators would look at the talent on hand, the experience that left after last season, and the home/away schedule and say it'll be tough to be a top 5 team. Toss in the media's misperception of the QB situation---seeing a QB controversy and possible QB by committee where there isn't one--and their fear of being made to look like fools again, as they did with a talented 2005Tennessee team with a murderous schedule, and that also is why they're downgrading LSU's chances at a title. Of course, good talent and a brutal schedule also describes Notre Dame...but, as all college football fans know, the Domers get a free pass in such circumstances.
When was the last time LSU WAS voluntarily placed directly ON the radar by the national pundits??? Seems as though every year, we have a few that say, "they arguably have national title talent" and one or two give us major props...but then you have the vast majority of the so-called "experts" that will say we have "loads of talent" yet, somehow rank us 15th or so....
Sure, some of the players are under the radar a little bit. Jamarcus has the most raw talent then any other qb in the nation is only at #12. Bowe has great ability and will have a big year. LSU as a team isn't under the radar though. We are at #4 in the preseason polls.
I think we are being treated fairly by the media from what I've seen. Bottom line, we are set at most skill positions, except RB, where we have questions due to injuries. We are inexperienced in both lines and at linebacker. You can't come out and hang a top 5 rating on a club with so much youth and question marks. Does that mean we can't clean the table. No, the inexperienced players could step up, the coaching could be perfect, we could avoid the injury bug, the players could find leadership on the field that translates to discipline off the field, everything could come together and we could go 12-0. Usually that much good doesn't all come together every week for a college team with a lot of 18-22 year olds, and that's why its so special when it does. I've seen us rated 5th through 12th, and that seems like a reasonable range, unless something really special happens during the season. But as CParso says, the other teams in the league have their 5 and 4 star recruits they are counting on also. I'm ready for the guys to get into summer camp and start hearing some reports.
And many of our fans dwell only on those guys who rank us low and so that they can then cry about the media. And looking at our pre-season rankings the last few years, I'd say a bunch of them have ranked us very high "voluntarily", whatever the hell that means.
