Right around a year ago, when this board was pumping the Tigers hard and claiming Nuss for Heisman, I made a post about having realistic expectations. That Nuss wasnt as good as the board thought, that our Oline was still going to be weak, and that Perkins still didnt have a real position besides see ball, get ball. I thought that 9-3 was our actual ceiling and that our defense would have to carry us to most of our wins due to returning most of the player base, having the most experience, and not needing to gel like the offense needed too. That post went over like a fart in church.

But, Im here to do the same thing. The national media pundits have this fan base believing its Championship or bust in year 1. And they've done that by design. They realize that Lane isnt a favorite outside of LSU, and so if they create this unreachable goal in year 1, it can drive the conversation towards LSU screwed themselves again with another coaching hire that isnt as good as they thought.

So lets look at this team from that same perspective.

Our QB may very well be our saving grace. Ive heard hes putting in the work to excel and that hes doing all of the things Nuss didnt. Hes spending a ton of time in the VR, and also throwing with WRs and TEs outside of practice. That being sad, he's new to LSU, new to Lanes offense, didnt get to practice as much during Spring, and had never played a down with ANY of these WRs. Its going to take time to gel.

Our Oline, looks to be improved on paper but once again, 0 time playing along side one another. You have to understand what the guy on the left or right of you is thinking on every play on these college O lines. Blocking schemes aren't simply "you have this guy, block him" since they stunt and have exotic blitz packages. You have to understand when to pass off on blocks, or when that pass off is coming so someone can pick up the stunting DL or blitzing LB/safety.

WRs. Man, if what Im hearing is correct, these guys are all studs but we heard that about last years guys. Once again, we need time to figure out whos who and what each person excels at on game day.

RBs. We have legit 3 starters for most teams right now. This is our biggest strength and if these guys can have patience and vision I think we see our first 1k rusher RB in a few years.

Defense side should be close to the same as last year if not better. Ive pounded my chest for 3 years that Perkins was actually a weak link, so if we stay healthy I think this defense is better. We are going to be relying on them through the first 4 games
I believe.

But staying healthy is going to be the key, especially in 2 positions. DL and DB. We are INCREDIBLY lacking depth at these 2 positions. One injury at the DB position and our season could fall apart.

Do I think we make the playoffs? Maybe. This is a hell of a schedule with basically a new team on the offensive side. Dabo is going to pull out all of his tricks he can to try and get an upset, because his career is on the line right now. Dabo gets blown out at LSU, I dont think he makes the end of the week. And we all know Ole Miss is going to be a wild ride.

It'll be a LSU season for the history books one way or the other. I still think the good guys prevail in the end with at least a seat in the playoffs but give it some time.