re: 2 All American corners and defense was horrible.

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You know...you’re right. We shouldn’t have pulled the plug on Bo so quickly. It wasn’t his crappy coaching- he just didn’t have enough guys.

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A rational observation- there was a lot more going on besides "Pelini sucks", to be very honest.

LONG writeup here:
Game 1: system is NOT in place yet, people don't know their assignments from their asses. Stingley, your primary corner, is a gameday scratch, you have to shuffle the secondary and play someone you didn't intend to... vs an Air Raid attack.
Recipe for disaster which turned out to happen perfectly.

Game 2: fools gold against Vandy, defense "performs" because Vandy missed open receivers.

Game 3: Chaos- game gets moved mid-week from home to Mizzou. Defense exposed again, Mizzou doesn't miss like Vandy. Offense compounds the issue, despite putting up big numbers they fail on 3rd downs and most famously at the 1 yd line.

3 games in, you're 1-2 instead of 3-0, confidence is shaken and everyone is pointing fingers, and you find out your QB is done.
Team needs strong leadership, instead we see a whole lot of internal craziness seeping out.

Week 4, Fla game gets postponed, some fans call it a break, but the random chaos and uncertainty might further screw with players badly in need of a calm, ordered schedule and a sense of structure. It's clear enough that this team isn't clicking on all cylinders.

Week 5, home game against SC, defense shows holes still but holds SC to 24, offense goes off for 52. Seems to be at the threshold of maybe turning the corner and starting to come together.

Week 6; the Auburn massacre. What I saw was that the defense started off respectable, but the offense got wiped out. Defense crumbles under continued pressure with no support. It really wasn't that bad on defense compared to earlier games- but Auburn was a better opponent than we'd faced, it was a road game under adversity, and the offense (without Brennan) failed to keep pace for the first time.

Week 7- Bama game postponed. Another "break", and again more things out of control. This just wasn't a normal year, and I don't think anyone got comfortable ever.

Week 8- win at Arkansas. Say what you want, Arkansas was playing well and had confidence, this was a big win for the team. Arkansas played "good" teams very well, we played as good as those "good teams".

week 9- loss at A&M. A&M ranked in the top 5, defense held up all game, had trouble with the run. Finley can't move the offense, gives up a pick 6. Johnson comes in and shows he can handle pressure better. This was a good game for LSU, in all reality. With more offense they would likely have won. Team seems to be gelling decently.

Week 10- Alabama massacre. Alabama scores at will. Um... Alabama has scored at will all season long, against everyone. I would be shocked if they punt more than twice against Ohio State in the Natty.
It stung, but I don't know how you can hold it against us and not everyone else.

Week 11- win at Fla. Defense gives up a lot to a good offense, but makes big plays too. Offense under Johnson moves and scores, keeps pace, pulls out the W.

Week 12- win against Ole Miss. Carbon copy of the Florida game; defense gives up a lot but makes big plays too. Offense under Johnson moves and scores, team pulls out the W.

TL;DR version:
we began the season not yet ready. Took some heavy hits and the defense started out lost. Lost our QB, took awhile until we figured out Johnson was better for the gameplay than Finley was. Defense started making plays middle of the season, was never dominant but after the Auburn game, kept us in every game (except Bama).

Chaos around the team, we hear Pelini and Orgeron feuding in the press by late season. Can't have been a good climate to be in.