re: Defense - I'm going to keep it real simple

It's never just one thing.

I've never loved Aranda's 3-4 scheme, but it has had relatively good success. A big problem is LSU simply doesn't have any great pass rushers at the DL/OLB spots. That hurts the pass defense. No matter how great your DB's are, they can't cover forever. Plus, Delpit hasn't been anywhere close to the same player he was in year's 1 and 2 for whatever reason.

Then, we see just how big of a loss D. White was. In addition to being a tremendous athlete, he was a very instinctive football player. The current ILB's are inconsistent in their reads and often get out of position (we saw that Sat. where they allowed huge cutback lanes). Take all of that and combine it with the fact that offenses are having to throw the ball often to try to keep up with LSU, and the numbers look bad (relative to past LSU defenses).

I don't think this is a good defense. But I don't think it is bad either. It is inconsistent, and teams have seemingly been able to adjust during the game while LSU hasn't (except for maybe the Fla. game). LSU did fine shutting down Texas, Alabama, Ole Miss in the first half.