There's no way to tell which of those 3 games will be the toughest for LSU. Georgia will probably be more talented than Fla and Auburn next year, I think.
I wouldn't call it a fluke... While we should have beat the Gators, their wining wasn't a fluke, they just played good, solid football and beat us. We didn't have the talent to play without heart and make mistakes against a team like Florida. Mauck was bad and the O-line never blocked anybody all day. If we got into the game as flat as last season they will beat us again. If we come to play it should be a great game.
Without a doubt, the toughest game will be at Georgia. Not only will the Dawgs want to beat the Tigers, they will want to embarass us, just like we did them in the SEC championship. Although Troy State may give us a run for our money too... :dis:
If UGA keeps having the injuries they have been going through for the last season and a half they may have all walk ons playing against us.
I believe what Saban says is the next game is the most important. I don't ever recalling him say that the next game is the toughest. It's quite clear to everyone that LSU's next game will be nowhere near the toughest.
I don't put Auburn in the same category as FL and UGA. I think FL is the toughest game, because FL is historically our toughest game. We seem to match up pretty well with UGA. I don't see Leak picking apart our d-backs, we have the best in the nation, and we will blitz often. It is more a question of our offense scoring on the gator defense. I think the key to our season will be splitting the back to back FL/UGA games. Oregon State might give us as good a game as Auburn. When a system has so much turmoil, it often shows on the field. They lost plenty of talent, as we did, but we reload and they rebuild. My guess is that it will take them all year to get used to running their new offense. Then they will fire the offensive coordinator, to buy Coach one more year, then they will fire him!
IMO - Florida seemed to be an inconsistent team last year. In the LSU vs FL game, LSU didn't look like they showed up to play - and FL handed it to us. But in other games, FL didn't show up to play. I think Florida could pose the biggest threat to beating LSU other than UGA. I really like how Saban handles the program by not getting cocky, but I have a fear that our players will not give UGA enough credit before our game against them.
Sure we were very talented, but not enough to beat a team like UF with similar talent when we just weren't ready to play, mostly on offense. In the SEC, if you don't show up ready to lay you will get your butts handed to you by the middle to top teams. The bottom 3 or 4 teams we might have gotten away with the way we played.
