re: LSU is a very young team and have been for some time.

Two redshirt freshman won the Heisman recently. If it was as simple as a lack of experience, they would have ridden out last year with Harris.

The post I replied to nailed it. Linebacker and quarterback recruiting has been atrocious. I don't care if you got three top ranked QBs the year before, going an entire class without a qb is suicidal these days.

This a rational and thoughtful post. Roster management is the biggest issue facing LSU. The reason that Mississippi State had an uptick the past two years is a lot of experienced talent. It is the reason for Arkansas's uptick. But they will not stay up there as they will lose experienced talent. Alabama is the only who consistently reloads at all positions recently. LSU used to recruit that way and their misses in recruiting coupled with losing more than normal personnel to the NFL earlier has lead to the widening gap with Alabama. LSU will improve next year as they are losing less player to the NFL (last year and this year). They will be more experienced, but unless they get better at balanced recruiting, they will slide back. Having Ogeron, Steele, and Grimes on staff will continue to help recruiting on the line of scrimmage which help close the gap with Alabama. That is the biggest reason why LSU can not keep up with The Tide. The quarterback issue has been systemic, even in the years when LSU was beating Alabama. When the gap widened in the areas where LSU was on par with Alabama, that is when the gap opened up in the series. Ole Miss was able to mask their gap with Alabama the last two years due to outstanding quarterback play, Outstanding receivers, and game changers like NKiemdeche. With people like Laremy Tunsil, Laquan Treadwell, and Robert and Denzel Nkeimdeche are no longer there, you will see Ole Miss slide backwards next year, especially against Alabama.