This season has real potential to be disastrous. By disastrous, I mean a losing season...the first one in 15 years. If Les and the staff are able to elevate our team's play and strengthen our obvious weaknesses it will be an impressive feat. I have not seen an LSU team physically get its collective arse beat down in years (notwithstanding Alabama); the last time was several years ago when Arkansas drove the length of the field to win the game in the 4th quarter. They handed the ball to Knile Davis and he and his OL repeatedly pummeled our defense into the ground. Prior to that game you need to go to 2008.

If we do not correct our defensive problems then we will get destroyed by Alabama, Auburn, and Texas A&M. Moreover, I do not see us beating Arkansas and Ole Miss with our current level of play. Arkansas has a very strong OL and two very good RBs. With that being said, our problems:

The DL:

We have a gaping hole all the way through the center of our defense. Our DEs are average at best and our interior line is soft as pudding. The hard truth is that our DL is physically weak. LaCouture needs to add around 25 pounds of hard muscle to his frame to be a legit factor. He is being pushed around and at times even tossed like a rag doll. Thomas is not 100% but, honestly, I don't know how much of a factor he would be even if he was at full strength. He has been here four years now and has yet to make an impact. Godchaux shows potential and I hope he continues to develop as the season progresses because we need him.

The fact that a true freshman recovering from a serious knee injury is playing and Gilmore, Herron, and Bain are getting scraps speaks volumes regarding the staff's faith in those latter guys. If you believe the coaches are playing the best guys (LaCouture, Thomas, Godchaux) then if follows that the guys that are not playing (or playing very little) must be seriously deficient and are not developing.

The DEs are not applying consistent pressure to opposing offenses. Hunter and Rasco will make a play every great once in a while but are largely unremarkable. Both seem slow off the line. Neal looks like a munchkin out there and does not have the physical size to play on the DL. There is no way he is as tall as his listed height; he looks 5'10" in cleats at best. I have yet to see anything in Bower this year or last year to signify that he will be a factor. He has received a lot of PT and shown absolutely nothing. I see no progression.

LB:

MLB has been a huge issue for two years now as is evident to 99% of all people that have watched us play. Someone mentioned yesterday that we miss the Honey Badger...true, but we really miss Kevin Minter in the middle of the field. Welter is out of position at times and slow. When an opposing player makes contact with him he is immediately out of the play. He is physically weak; he was owned throughout the game. What is troubling is that he continues to play. If you take the coaches at their word and believe that they play the best players (and I do) then it must follow that Beckwith is not on Welter's level of capability. This is extremely worrisome. The only alternative is believing that the coaches are incompetent and not playing our best players. We need someone to step up and assist Alexander in the LB corps...whether it is Garrett, Riley, Jones, or Louis.

Most of the discussion on this board is focused on the offense. We do have problems with our underperforming OL but on the whole I'm not worried about the offense because of Harris, Fournette, Williams, Dural, Dupre, Quinn, Diarse. They are only going to get better; you can see the talent. The drop off in defensive capability has been remarkable. Think about opposing offensive staffs when they played us just a couple years ago. You know they spent a lot of time thinking about Mathieu and stressed that they need to be aware of where he was on the field at all times. They would have to think about throwing in the direction of Claiborne. They would have to deal with Minter patrolling the middle of the field. They would have to come up with plans to keep Mingo and Montgomery at bay.

Right now, who do we have that causes them worry? Who on our defense makes them say in their meetings "We have to be ready for this guy."

?