I have to ask. How old are you? How closely have you followed SEC football over the last 20 years?

This has to be taken into context. Yes, winning record. And yes, the win over Auburn was a heck of a W in that column. But...

BYU- 4 wins
Syracuse- 4 wins
Florida- 4 wins
Ole Miss- 6 wins
Arkansas- 4 wins
Tennessee- 4 wins
A&M- 7 wins (7-6 record overall.)
I have no idea what UTC's record was.

TerryP....UTC was 3-8 in 2017. However, let this be a warning. Because you're basing your points with fact and reality you're going to get labeled a NegaTiger. I pointed out the same things out on a local radio station and quickly got dismissed as an O hater and NegaTiger.

Thats because Kirby will be there in 4 years with a good possibility Oeaux will not be here but thats on him. Win big and hes golden. Oeaux should be on the hotseat but he isnt. Because we cant afford to pay another coach. We are stuck with him for better or worse for at least 2 likely 3 years.

So you felt compelled to list a 2-7 guy from 1940 in comparison? Man yall really are on easy street in tuscaloosa if youre that bored already. Anyhow, Oeauxs 3 wins against 21 losses in the sec is historically and mathematically incomprehensible. I hate that you made me reremember that. But we comin'.

First: I am older than you 71
Second: have been following football since my brother Eddie was offered an LSU scholarship in 1957
Third: I played college football

Here is my point. Oeaux was dealt a bad hand. Had to take over after 4 games in the season and I think did outstanding. Inherited a team with basically one QB and one untested QB with 2 true freshman QB's. His first year as HC was maybe 3 or 4 plays away from being 11-2 instead of 9-4. This year will be his first REAL recruiting class, last years was not all his. To his credit he was able to get 3 tranfers among them Joe Burrow whom I think is the real deal. He is also on track for a top 5 or top 10 recruiting class.

Leave the dude alone for a while let him do his thing. Most new coaches get 4 to 5 years yet there is a clan here that are ready to run him off than they will probably be the first ones to scream about losing a top recruit to Bama or Georgia.

Hard for me to watch too but did. Made enough mistakes in that game to cover 3 games. As I said in my other post just having a healthy Guice we would have won.

Not that bored. His name on the practice field drew my attention to his time in Tuscaloosa. Having read about college football during the war periods led me to his time at Ole Miss and his winning percentage there just stuck out to me as being bad, but not the worst.

Incomprehensible as well ... I believe he totaled two wins against teams with winning records during his stint at Ole Miss. I want to say both were against Memphis. I remember his offensive staff shuffles back then as well. Art Kehoe, Dan Werner, and Noel Mazzone have all done decent jobs at other stops in their respective careers but couldn't muster a damn thing in Oxford.

I doubt I'll get labeled as a nega. You've been around here long enough to know where my allegiance lies, for one. And secondly, it's not that type of approach (at least I don't believe it is.) An Auburn fan might be a good person to ask what their impressions are of Ensminger and there's where my doubts lay for this fall.

I'm a stat guy. It plays well for me when I wager on sports (and I do so more often than I probably should despite doing pretty well.) I made my post about which teams that winning record came against because I think it bears noting. I believe that way because I also believe we'll see the team digress this fall. Part of that is Ensminger. A large part of that is returning production on both sides of the ball.

A member on my site put this together. I knew it, but didn't bother to do the "math."

"Over the last four years, 37 teams have returned at least 80 percent of their production based on current calculations; 32 of them (86 percent) improved, and 22 (59 percent) improved their adjusted scoring margin per game by at least six points.

Meanwhile, 56 teams returned under 50 percent of their production; 48 of them (86 percent) regressed, 27 (48 percent) by at least a touchdown.

Thus far for 2018, 11 teams return 80 percent or more, and 11 return under 50 percent."
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LSU returns 48%. I know. The talent is deeper than most schools can dream of. However, we're also discussing recruiting classes that haven't been up to par in a lot of fans eyes these last two years.

Then why, or how, do you have this much faith in Ensminger? I admire your faith because it's truly based on the unseen.

When O took over from Miles and fired the OC and made E the OC, the offense looked different (in a very good way) immediately even though he had no time to incorporate many changes.

Check out LSU's offensive stats during Ensmingers interim OC stint in 2016. I saw it did you not watch our 2016 season? Keep in mind that he was thrown into that position basically overnight.

Don't take my word for it take a minute or two and click this link.

https://www.seccountry.com/lsu/numbers-steve-ensminger-successful-canada-cameron

I know LSU dropped from '15 in points per game, first downs per game, and rushing yards on the season. There was a slight improvement in passing efficiency and a slight improvement in total yards. Ball control, as in turnovers due to fumbles, went horribly awry. A little better on third down conversions and if I recall correctly a little better in red-zone percentage. In other words, '16 compared to '15 really didn't show much of a difference--better in a few areas, worse in a few areas.

And that's without reading the article. Now I will.

As far as the article...

They are talking about some improvements over the last eight games. To me, that's a real small sample size and it's also numbers reflecting a different offense.

I'm familiar with him since his days at Clemson. I learned more about his coaching style and acumen when he spent six years at Auburn--his last as OC running more of a spread offense which resulted in him landing back in the high school ranks at Smith Station. (BTW, Clemson sent him backwards as well.) There's only one tight end he's coach I find noteworthy--Hunter.

As to your link there's an important line that does fit with you:

Is this to say Ensminger is and was LSU’s best option for offensive coordinator? No. It’s to say that based off an eight-game sample in 2016, he deserves a longer look at the job.
​

I'm in the category of being familiar with who he is for two decades. I'm finding it hard to process I need to look longer at what he brings to the table.

Hey, I've been wrong before. There wasn't this much precedent in those cases. It's very seldom one can be familiar with a guy and his coaching stops for so long.

All that said...on record for taking the under on 7.5.