I would agree except for the fact that Mauck led us to a national championship with several brain farts and slip ups(Ole Miss, OU, UGA), we just overcame them. Our defense was just incredible, so to me that is the most important thing this team will have to do; play incredible defense.
If this D plays as well as that D all year then of course there is wiggle room. I'm just not banking on that. That defense won the Ole Miss, OU, UGA games. Mauck also had Clayton to give him some margin of error - Russell must be on point for this offense to be explosive. Bottom line, Russell simply can't struggle in the big games. Russell may need a year to really get it fully together. The only problem is that this is LSU - we fans don't really have the patience for a development year. Russell was awful at Florida. Has he really come that far? The national media doesn't seem to think so. Perrilloux doesn't seem to think so. Flynn homers don't seem to think so. Nick Saban left LSU very disappointed with Russell's preparation habits. Maybe Miles will have better luck bringing him along. Maybe he is ready to lead a Top 5 Football Program. I have no idea. My only concern for the season is a Russell breakdown or a problem with being up to speed in the system. We needed Mauck to not lose - we will need Russell to win...
That is what holds me back from a LSU NC in 2005....Russell. Not that he does badly but he is still quite young and I think it may cause us to lose 1-2 games.
I guess we can't count on our defense being as good as that 2003 unit as they were something special. However, I feel that we may not need JR or MF to win games, I feel like our running game should be much better this year with us having all 4 of the RB's still on this team and the most veteran o-line I can remember LSU having in a long, long time. I hope that is the way it works out anyway.Of course it wouldn't bother me one bit if one of the QB's does explode on the scene.
so no one thinks that jamarcus matured a lot last year? he seemed pretty heady in the cap. one bowl. and judging from the spring 'game', he seems a whole lot cooler under pressure.
Just when you need ramah's input, he's nowhere to be found. He has all the answers to everyones questions. I for one will wait for the great ramah to speak before I will be able to pass judgement or render an opinion on what I might think the Tigahs' chances are with Russel at the helm. So it is written!
