Looking back to pre-season (Sept.1st)--LSU predicted to be "flop" team for 2011

Mandel Even before Jordan Jefferson's arrest and Russell Shepard's suspension, this team was set up to fail. Les Miles needed a lot of breaks to fall his way to win 11 games last season, and the schedule this year is brutal.

Anderson"Flop" is a strong word, but LSU was a sure bet to lose two games even before the suspensions. A top five ranking is a hilarious stretch. Conversely, the Tigers could lose 20 players to the NCAA or injury and still win 10 games. It's LSU. It's what the Tigers do.


TrocchiPreseason arrests, uncertainty at quarterback, two killer nonconference games (Oregon, at West Virginia), a trip to Tuscaloosa and the odds that the Mad Hatter's luck finally runs out make this preseason top 10 squad vulnerable to the flop. There is tons of talent, but this is the year the ball fails to bounce the right way, the opponent only sends 11 men onto the field and the clock actually runs out before LSU scores the winning touchdown.

Stewart, I'm a devout LSU Tiger fan living amidst the Pac-12 conference fans in Northern California. As much as I love the Tigers, can you explain to me how they can possibly justify their high preseason rankings given they have one of the toughest (if not THE toughest) schedules in football this year?
-- Curtis Barthold, Danville, Calif.

Knowing the way the voters think, it's no secret how the Tigers garnered such a lofty ranking. They went 11-2 last year while playing in the big, bad SEC; they won a January bowl game; and, like Alabama, LSU is a recent national-championship program that recruits well year in and year out. But is it asking too much of the pollsters to dig a little deeper?

This is a team that caught every imaginable break en route to 11 wins last season -- the last-second mulligan against Tennessee, the fake field goal that bounced just right against Florida, the remarkable Les Miles fourth-down reverse against Alabama. I know many feel Miles is immune from typical football karma, but generally speaking, teams that eke out so many close wins one year tend to go the other way the next.

For example, Iowa, which went 11-2 in 2009 with a slew of comebacks and last-second miracles, then, with mostly the same core of players, reverted to 8-5 last year with several last-minute losses.

Throw in a murderous early schedule (non-conference games against Oregon and at West Virginia, and a trip to pesky Mississippi State all in September) and the continual enigma that is quarterback Jordan Jefferson, and you've got all the ingredients for a textbook "flop" team. In fact I'm puzzled why the Tigers are 10 spots ahead of the same Arkansas team that both beat them head-to-head last season and earned a BCS berth. Mark it down here: The Razorbacks will finish at least 10 spots higher than LSU in the final poll.