re: Highlights of 2000 Mississippi St vs LSU overtime game

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Man 20 and 21 reminded me so much of 98 and 99. Yeah the records weren't AS bad but the program was in a better state going into the seasons too. I'm thinking the 2022 season will be another fun season like 2000, where you can tell something great is coming

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Hopefully you are right. LSU was a top 10 team to open the 98 season...with several key veteran players. Those guys didn't just suddenly forget how to play. It was Dinardo's decision to put Tepper in charge that completely destroyed an otherwise solid defense for two years.

Same with 20 and 21. While not quite on the 2019 level, LSU still had talent on the 20 and 21 teams. But like 98-99, the decision to completely change the defensive approach was disastrous. I've said it a hundreds times on here, but the best thing Orgeron did from 17-19 was to stay completely out of the way in terms of the game-play approach. After Aranda left O decided to run "his" defense...which was an abject failure. This was conclusively proven when LSU finally changed their terrible approach prior to the '21 Alabama game. Suddenly a lot of backups and guys who were a part of the prior 1.5 seasons of bad defense looked dominant vs. one of the best teams in the country.

Like in 98-99, there was talent on the 20-21 teams. The hope is like in 2000 LSU has removed the awful coaching that handicapped that talent.