My fear: LSU is headed down the same road we went down with Les

Let me start off by saying I, like very other fan, am sick over the 29-0 home shutout. However, I'm very optimistic for the rest of the year. 10-2 is a very real possibility and we have to keep cheering on our Tigers. The season is not over and the sky is not falling. I'm just fearful that we're heading down the same "okay with 2 or 3 losses every year" road we have been down before. I'm not trying to flame anyone. I'm just trying to have a real and honest discussion.


Les Miles achieved lots of early success which allowed for such flexibility by the DA and BoS when his teams' results started to decline. We as fans enjoyed his success so much but were so frustrated with his failures and the decline.

Coach O came into this 2018 season, technically his 3rd season at LSU, already on the hot seat and with very low expectations. Most fans were predicting only 5-7 wins for the year.

Now fast-forward to today:
We're 7-2 with losses to Florida and what is undoubtedly the greatest college football team to ever exist. We have a very real likelihood of going 10-2 and playing in a very decent, if not, great bowl game.

Of course, we as fans are happy with a 10-2 season and a good bowl game as opposed to a 7-5 or 6-6 season and a crappy bowl. But do we accept 10-2 or 9-3 and just a decent bowl game each year?

Typing that question out makes it seem to me like such a spoiled thing to ask. But let's be real with ourselves for a moment:
Are we going to be so thrilled with the way this season played out, relative to our pre-season expectations, and be okay with a contract extension for Coach O?

Yes, I know if JA wants it to happen it's going to happen whether we're happy with it or not. But my fear is that the administration is going to offer and approve an extension and probably a raise too simply based off of the better than expected results in 2018, even after our abysmal performance against Alabama.

Are we okay with just writing off the Bama game as a loss every September?

I know, I know, Alabama is a freaking machine. They're a playstation game. They're like puppets being controlled by God himself and defy the laws of physics (and football, but that's another discussion). But just because they're in a class of their own and on their own doesn't mean we automatically should accept getting our butts handed to us by them every single year.

Look, I'm thrilled with our overall performance this year and I feel like Coach O is responsible for it. He recruited Burrow and Burrow is a very good game manager. Coach O has given the team fire that it's been lacking for a long time. He has put the fun back in LSU football - I give him total and full credit for that.

But if we're being honest with ourselves, we know deep down that things still have to change in a major way for us to be able to compete with Alabama.

And like it or not, in this age of college football, that's the benchmark. We don't have to beat them every year. Hell, we're not going to beat Mississippi State and Auburn every year. But we have got to beat Bama every 2-3 years and as of this weekend, that hasn't happened in 7 years and 8 games.

What is the answer? Because I don't know what it is. Most of me says a different head coach is not the answer, because I feel like Coach O deserves at least another shot or two at beating Bama. But is the answer to Bama opening the checkbook to the best offensive coordinator in the country? Do we break the bank on a new OC? Do we recruit better? If so, how do we go out and recruit the best of the best when Saban is out there telling those same kids "look, come to Bama and win championships or go to LSU and get beat by us every year"? What do we do? Because as a fan, I'm too tired and frustrated to think. I'm almost kinda of apathetic towards it as well. Which scares me.