re: is lsu REALLY thaat much better than last year ?

Yes, whenever he becomes trust-worthy!

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is lsu REALLY thaat much better than last year ?

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No.

I would not call it a "killer" schedule. Challenging, yes, but with Bama and Ole Miss coming to Tiger Stadium, we should feel much better.

And yes, 18 out of 22 starters, very few first time starters that also have played alot of football, that is HUGE!

the 21-0 loss to Bama set LSU back until right this minute.

NFL ready guys left as soon as they could.
Then not having a QB for a couple of years meant you could not even hope.
More guys left early.

Harris must improve immensely. Don't tell me he can be a game manager. If he does improve, they will compete for championships. If he is just OK, they will lose from 2 to 4.

there's a reason that NFL teams took QB's 1 and 2.
You have to have a good QB. Period.

Just OK is not going to beat Alabama, and probably not Arkansas, and probably not Florida.

People--LSU fans, specifically, seem to to not understand just how hard it is to win a national championship. We were spoiled during our '03-'07 run and became entitled brats. And then our former coach going to a bitter rival in not only our conference, but in our same division, and proceeds to create probably the greatest run in the history of college football. And of course, we're jealous. And it plays into the deep rooted psychology of Louisiana's inferiority complex, though likely subconscious.

It's hard to win a fricking national championship. So many things have to go your way in so many different areas. But I can't stand the people who rag on Miles for going 10-2 every year like that's some sort of disgrace. Throw an occasional 9-3 season in there and we are "accepting mediocrity." And they say that Alleva and Miles only cares to "compete for championships." If you think Miles has "settled for mediocrity" you're an imbecile. What has happened since the end of last season to make anyone with a brain think Miles is "settling?" Was it the hiring of the best young DC in college football? Was it hiring fantastic assistants in Jaluke and Craig? Was it poaching our highly valuable recruiting admin who had only taken the USC gig a few months later? Was it busting his arse to reel in a top 2 recruiting class? You can disagree with his philosophy, but anybody who thinks Les Miles is not über competitive and doesn't want to win every single game he ever coaches is kidding themselves.

All that to say, if you go 9-3 or 10-2 every year, eventually the stars will align and the right leaders will emerge and you go on a magical run. This year looks like it's setting up that way for LSU. I don't think it will be any one player that makes or breaks the season--we can win big if Harris just slightly improves. The most important thing for this team is going to be staying healthy and taken advantage of all that experience we have coming back.

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Same coach. No care.

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Same coach went to the national title with Lee and Jefferson.

I'm starting to think with my p/g glasses and see it this way -

Last year, we hired Kevin Steele. We all saw that his defenses basically sucked the past few years

this year, we hire Aranda. We all see that his defenses have been tops in the country the past few years

We will win it all this year. Most talented and experienced team top to bottom in the nation.

we have more experience coming back then we've had in a little while so we should be better. We will have to wait and find out though.

Can LSU win a championship if our special teams fail to improve? Would being as bad as we were last year on ST be enough to lose us games assuming offense and defense live up to expectation and improve?