re: Kellen Mond Thinks A&M Can Make LSU-Esque Leap

quote:

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This right here is why you cannot compare them to LSU. If you have that many players who have been playing, then why did you suck last year. They should have been much better. Like has been posted time and time again, the team is not progressing and getting better. Next year is so close, but always very far away.

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Yeah. Probably not a great comparison. LSU had a LOT of 1st year starters in 2018. Particularly on offense.

In fairness, A&M should be getting a good bit of preseason hype if you want to say returning production is a good indicator of future success. LSU was ranked in the top 10 to begin last season because they returned a ton of production from the 2018 season. For their part, A&M is slated to return the most production of any SEC team this year. (LSU is last FWIW). Plus, two of the teams ahead of them (LSU and Alabama) both lost QB's taken in top 5 of the NFL draft. That's not insignificant.

However, aside from the large amount of returning production, what made LSU great in 2019 was a COMPLETE revamping of the offensive approach. Right now it doesn't appear A&M is doing such. Rather, their hype is twofold (1) that guys with more experience, even in the same system, will be better and (2) the teams they have to beat (namely Bama and LSU) will be weaker than they were last season.

Taking off the P&G glasses, objectively, this looks to be A&M's best shot at winning the SEC. But if they don't, I think you're going to see the natives start to stir about the prospects of Jimbo's success. Particularly in light of the fact that HC's like Orgeron, Smart, Mullen ALL had their teams competing in SEC championships and/or big time bowl games at or before year 3.