re: Better LSU team defense

Also in 03 we were clearly schematically ahead of college football and running an NFL defense that opposing teams simply hadn't seen and weren't prepared for.

It was like Florida's O in the 90's... sure the play calls were great, but it also helps when every opposing team is built to stop the power-run. We were making calls at the line to adjust to opposing offenses when teams didn't know you could even do that.

Not sure how that compares to '11, but the offenses just played into our hands back then. My favorite Saban play was the all-out FS blitz where LaRon would go un-touched to the QB.

Maybe the coaching stood out even more following the Lou Tepper era, but once Saban got the athletes, that defense became impossible to score against, which was always the strongest argument of why we would've beaten USC that year. Noone could score against us.