I've posted more than a few articles in different forums and small time papers (with largely varying degrees of vulgar language, mind you)about the first few weeks of Lsu's schedule for 20-12. One thing that I keep coming back to and telling people is not to sleep on the Vandals.

Returning for the Vandals in 2012 are 11 starters, 6 offensive and 5 defensive guys. While their Qb does return, Lsu fans will be relieved to hear their RB, who amassed over 1,700 yards and scored 21 TDs is gone on to the NFL. The defense, which ranked first to third in nearly every statistic that matters, including points scored will be filled with talent again. Here's hoping Lsu can find a better play to run than the option for yet another game in a row. shite, wait. These are my fricking Alabama notes, gimme a sec....

Ah, okay, here we go, The Vandals, of Iowa. Or Idaho, I don't really know. I'll start with the numbers, 107 in points for, 98th in points against. The story here about the Vandals is that last year, when they actually had an established starting QB, something they do not have this year... they went 2-10, with one victory coming by way of a Division 2 team, and the other coming by way of a team that should be Div 2, San Jose State. This year looks to be much worse. This year, Idaho has had to replace 3 out of their 5 offensive lineman, and they had five injured linemen over the course of the Spring, causing them to miss snaps. One returning starter will even be a sophomore this year. More troubling yet is the fact that the Idaho coaches are implementing a new blocking scheme called, "Stop People From Killing Our F'ing QB, For F's Sake", and since two of the starters were among the injured, they are going to suck even worse. Have you ever wondered what West Monroe, John Curtis, or The Evil E of Evangel, Christian Academy would look like playing against Lsu? Yeah... well get ready.

Also, another key area to watch for between naps during this snoozefest, is how the Spuds respond to Kenny Hilliard and Spencer Ware. After losing 2 DL, 2 LB, and 2 from their less-than-vaunted secondary, it will be interesting to see not only how many Lsu OLmen make blockes on Safeties, but also how early the entire Spud defense calls it quits and lets our big bruisers have their way. The biggest issue the Idahoan defense had last year was their own offense. The offense couldn't stay on the field long enough to give the defense a break, and this game will be like a short walk down memory lane.

I could go on and on about the holes in thier game, but let's take it to this week's breakdown to get a good look at what to watch for:
QB - I look for Idaho to start Dominique Blackman (real name, not a racist joke) against Lsu. Blackman has DL size at 6' 5" and 263 Lbs, and it should be a real treat to see all the different ways a guy that size gets sacked. The one disadvantage here of his size is that rather than being a real asset, his size will simply make it easier for the Lsu Defense to find him. Against Mett, there's really no comparison, I expect Mett to throw for over 900 yards in the game before he is pulled at halftime. Advantage - Wives of guys who usually stay up and holler to the end of games.

HB - Ryan Bass, the oft injured (missed 5 games last year and spring this year) Rb will do himself a huge favor by faking an injury. I look for him to be absolutely ineffective in every way, shape, and form. If he does get the start, Lsu will have a huge night, because that gives Idaho a double dose of crap, a Qb who sucks shite, and a Rb who can't run anymore. When compared to what Lsu has in the stable, this really isn't fair. I see Lsu's 1-2 punch getting 6 ypc, and the change up backs getting 9+ ypc. This one is a 2003 Honda Civic vs 4 M-1 Abrams Tanks, no contest.
WR - One starting receiver is gone for Idaho, which wouldn't have mattered anyway. The only people catching Blackman's passes this game are going to be Reid, TM7, and Simon. There is literally no one on the roster who has any meaningful game experience or catches beyond Paul McCartney. If it seems like every position becomes more and more a clusterfricked pile of dogturds, you are very astute. Without even comparing this team in any way to Lsu, you just get the sense that every single segment of this team is a hopeless fricking calamity with not even so much as a speck of light at the end of this rapetrain they call a football season. I take that back, this year, they have hired a WR's coach! So they have that. Advantage - People who host Lsu game parties but don't like when people stay all the way to the bitter end of games.

OL - Dear God. Sometimes at night when I'm getting ready for bed, I close my eyes and ask God what Robb Akey (Idahoan Head Coach) did to make Him hate Robb so much. I occasionally imagine that maybe Robb sold his soul to Satan in exchange for a head coaching position among the college ranks, but that the devil tricked him, not telling him it would be catastrophe after catastrophe at Idaho. But I digress, the Idahoan Spud OL is perhaps the biggest joke we'll play this year. (Yes, I remember that we play Towson) Their protection scheme (which actually was newly implemented) will have more holes in it than Fiddy Cent, and when you couple that with a brand new QB, it's going to get ugly in a hurry, fumbles, interceptions, crying in the fetal position, sacks for huge losses, throw aways, and pooing in pants. Verdict - High school all star team with no cohesion vs LSU's top 2 or 3 alltime caliber defensive line.... yikes.

Defenses - The Idaho Defense will not be able to keep fresh bodies in the entire game. It is a legitimate concern among the DL that they just need more people to eat up minutes. When coupled with Lsu's rape first, answer questions later style of offense, there's only one thing to do, hide yo kids, hide yo wife, because it's coming. On the other side, for Lsu, the key will be getting the backups some good reps with SEC play coming up. How those backups do will tell us a lot about a championship run, because depth for Lsu is a major concern, except in the DL. What isn't a concern however, is Idaho.

Final Thoughts
I know some people were worried about homerism in these posts, and rightly so. But this game really comes down to one team that hasn't beaten a BCS conference team in 13 years vs one of the top 3 teams in the nation. Lsu could run their BCS National Championship offense, inviting JJ back for one more game, and still beat Idaho by 30. But as it stands, I like the Tigers defensive points alone scored vs Idaho's team total, 23-0. (With extra points)

Week 2 -
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Week 1
LINK

This post was edited on 5/10/12 at 3:31 pm