will be a very interesting year. Yeah, I know we've still got a bowl game to play but the regular season is over and next year is really going to be very interesting. Jimbo may get a head coaching gig somewhere. Ryan will get some snaps. We play a very tough road schedule. Les settles in with this year under his belt. Alot of seniors heading out. Great depth stepping up. Broussard healthy. Any crystal ball types out there predicting what might shape up?
I'm a little worried about the running game for next year. They lose 4 of tonight's OL starters to graduation. Vincent is the only returning back with experience from this season. Alley is coming off a major injury. The other backs will be redshirt freshmen. Add that to our WR's constant case of the drops and the offense might sputter again. I think the defense can be pretty good as long as they find someone to fill the hole at middle linebacker (isn't Sanders undersized?). I think the defensive line will still be a strength despite losing Williams, Wroten and Oliver. Dorsey should be a beast. Also, they'll have two four-year starters at the safety positions. I think LSU wins all of their 8 home games with Arizona and Alabama being the toughest. Of the road games, I think they beat Arkansas and lose at Auburn. The Florida and Tennessee trips are toss-up's IMO. That would put them around 10-2 or 9-3. I haven't looked at how many guys Auburn loses to graduation, but my guess is they'll have the upper hand in the SEC next year. EDIT: I just realized Auburn loses almost all of those enormous wide receivers. Cox is still a very good QB, though. I think it'll be tough for LSU to win at Auburn.
I dont have much confidence for next year with our o-line situation. Whats worse is we are not doing that good at recruiting o-lineman for this year either. That was our prime recruiting need.
I predict that we will lose to Auburn, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Florida. We lose our two best DL who along with our safeties are the strength of the team. If Landry goes pro we are in real trouble. Our best hope is if the offense will pick it up and we can outscore somebody. We play Auburn, Tennessee, and Florida on the road. Check the record of how many times LSU has beaten Tennessee in our history. The record is about the same for Alabama in Tiger stadium. Nutt seems to always play us close and has beaten us on the last drive/play of the game a few times. Tubby will embarass us if he gets the chance. It may get so bad that fans will turn out for mens basketball just to see a winner.
A friend of mine from TAF told me that donations were down this year even before the hurricane. Miles unlike Saban will not excite most fans. I think if we would to have a bad year next year like 6-5 or maybe 7-4, we should cut our losses before it gets ugly.
Before I say anything, I have to say the players did a great job this year, showed real heart in all the games, and dealt with the challenges of a national tragedy and coaching changes very well. With that said, I am worried about next year and possibly the 3-5 years after that, with the way some of the coaching has gone. The bright spot was the defense once the embarrassment of the 1st games was put behind them. Pelini and the guys put on a good performance and like Saban days, won games for us. To be honest the defense was my worry when Pelini was hired. I felt really good about the offense but was skeptical of JR at the start of the season. and he has improved a great deal. I'm worried because with all the talent on this team, the offense was not very good and inconsistent. With an offense guy as the HC I was expecting much more with all the talent we have. I think he will have a much harder time recruiting because of his persona and personality than Saban. Other than JR developing well into a QB, the player development at WR was lacking. The playcalling was very predictable this year. I don't know if this is Jimbo's doing or Les' doing. If Green was in the game, the ball was going to him, lately if Addai was in the game it was a pass play b/c the whole country knew he was hurt and was in for pass blocking only. BTW, why continually put him in the last 4 games knowing he is hurt and never let him recover. THat was piss poor decision making. Due to the losses on offence at OL, Addai, a questionable Alley, and the suspect WR development I think the offense will struggle more in the future. If there was a year to show how good of a coach you were and how much offense intellect you and your OC have, this year should've made Les and Jimbo look really good. With this much talent on the team it should've been fairly easy for Jimbo and Les to look impressive. Instead the offense was mediocre and only won decisively against very poor teams. As last year the defense held on and won the game for the lackluster offense, but last year we had unreliable QB play, less depth at WR. Jimbo won't be getting a HC job in 2006 with the performance of his offense, predictable and vanilla plays and play calling. Pelini's schemes looked bad for the 1st game and the 2nd half of the Tenn game, but he utilized the talent he had with an improving defense all year and they could play lights out. In other words, the talent and speed on defense in the hands of a good coach will make that coach look really good. This has happened in Pelini's case. This has not happened in the case of Les and Jimbo. Considering the offense numbers are virtually identical the past 3 seasons that were posted on TF, I think Jimbo has a big part in that equation. The defense has helped Jimbo look good every year. With the huge losses on defense in 2006, I don't know if this will continue next year as it has in the past. The offense must get into gear and put up points and stop forcing the defense to win games for you. The offense should've put a lot more points on the board this year, the WR's should've been developed much better, the plays and play calling need to be less predictable, and spread the field more with this WR speed.
