Florida beat LSU, as all experts predicted, simple as that. LSU got beat by a better football team. We can go back and forth on who's fault it was, the adjustments that were or were not made, the lack of execution on the offensive and defensive lines, the coaching, etc, etc, but the bottom line is Florida needed that game more than we did, and they played like it. Florida is the strongest team in the Southeastern Conference right now. Is LSU the second best team in the conference? Right now, the answer is no. But where a team stands right now at mid-season means absolutely nothing. Will LSU be the second best (or best) team in the conference when the season ends? ... no one knows as we've got a lot of football left to be played and we still have a great deal to learn about this LSU team. This is a very young team, especially at QB and in the secondary, arguably the two most important game-changing spots on the field. Coming into the season, our question marks fell directly in those two areas, and we still have question marks in those two areas ... Again, AS EXPECTED. This is not a surprise to anyone that follows this team. I was, however, very surprised that Florida had so much success running the ball on us, but I do believe that stopping the running game against a spread offense is not a strength of our defense because it is not a very good matchup for our defense given our big DLine ... we match up a lot better against Alabama and Georgia's ground game with their more traditional offensive approaches.

Jarret Lee will be successful at LSU, he just needs more experience. Not counting the Miss. State game (and we shouldn't), the UF game was Lee's first ever "real" start as LSU's starting QB ... he'll get better as time passes, I have no doubt as I've already seen many things from Lee that give me great optimism in our future offensive prowess, including but not limited to his arm strength and ability to recognize where the pressure is coming from and find the vacated spot/receiver and get the ball there ... not many RS Freshman QBs can do this this early in their careers. While I certainly see weaknesses in the secondary (mainly due to matchups and youthful mistakes from Jones and Co.), the secondary did not play as bad as many non-informed fans will claim. Florida only threw for 210 yards, and 70 of those came via a very fortunate bounce on the third play of the game to Harvin ... ( also as a side note for those of you that claim LSU should be more aggressive and blitz more, we brought pressure on that play which partly led to it being a 70 yard TD instead of a 40 yard completion and tackle or even simply an incompletion and ensuing punt by Florida). While we have had some struggles in the secondary, it is not nearly as severe as many make it out to be. We just need to continue to get better and more importantly grow up, and that will obviously come in time. And just imagine how good this secondary could be in two years with Jones, Peterson and Loston back there with experience - Potentially awesome, right? Patience is key with these youngsters, though.

LSU will be fine ... we're a young team at some very key spots. I've got the utmost confidence in Miles to make the changes (if necessary) to put this team in position to compete for a conference title. He has given us absolutely no reason to NOT have trust in his abilities. I'm not sold on the co-DCs yet like many of you, but it's very, very early in their regime. Let us not forget that we all wanted Pelini fired after his first two games as LSU's DC. I'm glad Miles didn't take our advice then, because it worked out pretty well for us in the end. I'm not asking you to trust in Mallory & Peveto, b/c they haven't earned our trust yet. I'm asking you to trust in Miles as our HC to make the decision when the time comes to make a change in the leadership of the defense, if that change is even necesssary. Miles tried to go out and get Muschamp last year, and it simply didn't work out on Muschamp's end, so this is Plan B and we should at least let it play out before jumping off the bridge.

No one outside of Baton Rouge expected LSU to win the national or SEC title this year ... No one ... Not one single reasonable person knowledgable about the game of football. Had you told me before the season began that we would go into the South Carolina game with only one loss, I would have been very content about that and told you that we would be in a great position to have a very successful season, and we in fact are in that very position. If we win at SC (which will be a tough game IMHO and true test of the leadership on this team), we are in perfect position for a young team to come home to the friendly confines of TS and finish the season on a nice roll and also with a 3-1 road record in an even year's murderous road schedule. We were not going to beat Florida twice this season anyway. If we can take care of business, we may very well have the chance to avenge that loss in Atlanta with a chip on our shoulder. We've got a long season in front of us, though, and some very tough games. We've got to take it one at a time and simply continue to improve and I think we'll all be happy with the final product at the end of the season.

This is a 10-2 / 9-3 team. We all expected that, and that is what likely will happen. This team will get better as the season progresses. Let us also not forget that this team will definitely take some lumps as this season progresses, and that should be no surprise to any of us because that is what WE EXPECTED. The goal is to continue to improve, correct the mistakes, tweak the defense where it needs tweaking, and go play football. LSU fans are a lot like Auburn fans in the sense that we've always heard about how great Florida was and is, how much tradition Alabama has, Florida, Alabama, Florida, Alabama ... and it gets old, I understand that. But it sure seems like LSU fans get way too high and low with wins and losses and are quick to fold at the first sign of adversity due partly to this very inferiority complex that we have ... see Auburn firing their offensive coordinator mid-season ... stupid move which will kill recruiting and probably send Auburn from the "elite" level of SEC teams to the "mediocre" level of SEC teams. Fans of LSU just need to take a deep breathe, don't mimic Auburn's mistakes of "abandoning ship" and realize that it was simply a loss to a better team. LSU fans should be aware of what this LSU team has in terms of strengths and also be aware of the weaknesses that this LSU team will continue to have and hopefully improve upon, and simply accept both the strengths and weaknesses as part of this 2008 LSU team, and go from there. No team is perfect, but the goal should be to strive for perfection. Even if we don't "get there," we'll all be satisfied in the effort and results that follow in my opinion if we're realistic about the substance of this particular LSU team ... (one more note on Auburn, if LSU doesn't drive down and score that last TD, Auburn is probably undefeated right now and ranked #2 in the country b/c they would've gone into the Vandy and Arky games with confidence built from the LSU win and probably come out with wins in both of those games). It goes to show you the fine line between winning and having the fans solidly behind you as opposed to taking immense heat and losing your job as a head coach in this conference ... it's a bit ludicrous when you take a step back and take an objective look at the fickle nature of fans at some of the big-time college football programs, but I guess it is what it is.

All will be fine in TigerTown ... Trust in the Hat. Oh, and Urban Meyer can choke on an apple.

Tigers 28
South Carolina 20 ... Tigers get back on track in a very tough fought game.

This post was edited on 10/14/08 at 11:37 am