re: How did we lose 3 games in 2001 with a team loaded with nfl players?

Skipping the 2,000 pages here:

Saban inherited a team that was loaded, make no mistake...not loaded the way Saban and Miles would load, but loaded nonetheless. The best young LB corp in the country...a future Biletnikoff winner, a great qb, a hell of a DL and some great O-linemen...yada, yada...DiNardo recruited well, too. The cupboard was bare when Saban arrived = not the case. Also, DiNardo arrived to some pretty damn good NFL talent as well (Northern, Faulk, Tori James, A. Stansberry, Denard Walker, A McFarland, Chuck Wiley, David LaFleur, etc.). The cupboard was only bare during the failing years of Mike Archer and Hallman's first year.

That said, I see the OP's original point. It's semi-clever and it does warrant a question. Think about how excited we were to play f'ing Illinois in the Sugar Bowl that season. Think about those 3 losses...one of them being an absolute embarrassment at the hands of Florida and an inability to adjust on Manning and his corp of wide-outs and TE's in the second half of the Ole Miss loss (Ole Miss didn't go to a bowl that season). Had the offense been firing that season like it did vs. Illinois, Arkansas, Alabama, and Auburn, would we have gone undefeated? Perhaps...at least just one loss. Still, that was a different time.

Did NIck Saban make LSU or did LSU make Nick Saban? Did Mark Emmert make LSU? Or did LSU make him? Saban was a coach who'd been nowhere incredible. He was not at the top of any list when we DID hire him. He was not so well-liked until 2001. Then, in 2002, he blew the Mauck qb situation in Florida. He blew the decision to kick a meaningless FG at the end of the game and allowed a soft defense and ST to allow Arkansas down the field easily. To this day, I have never been more stunned in a game. We backed into the '03 title game, yes. Still, I wonder what type of game LSU/USC would have been...not Oklahoma with a hobbled qb who couldn't win their Big XII title game. In '04, we saw a very similar year to 1996. So, did we regress? Were we going to become after 5 years an absolute power every season with Saban? Who knows? BUT...again, I end with did we make Saban or did he make us?