Rotoworld's SEC West Preview

quote:

---

1 Alabama 11-1 (7-1)
2 Mississippi State 9-3 (6-2)
3 Auburn 8-4 (5-3)
4 Ole Miss 8-4 (5-3)
5 Texas A&M 8-4 (5-3)
6 Arkansas 7-5 (3-5)
7 LSU 6-6 (2-6)

---

quote:

---

NFL Draft prospect to watch: CB Greedy Williams (Round 1)
How should I think of this team? A place to transfer from, it would appear.

---

quote:

---

The case for: Remember that scene in APOLLO 13, when Ed Harris says, “Tell me what’s on the spacecraft that’s good,” and the technician is like, “I’ll get back to you, Gene”? That’s LSU. The Tigers landed a grad transfer replacement for QB Danny Etling earlier this offseason, with Ohio State’s Joe Burrow scooting down to the bayou, but “signed at OSU” does not mean “good,” and we don’t know what Burrow is as of yet. We do know that he was so clearly out of the quarterbacking competition in Columbus that he opted to transfer almost immediately after spring practice. The addition of Burrow ultimately resulted in major upheaval with the Tigers, as both Lowell Narcisse and Joe McMillan have decided to transfer since the start of preseason camp. LSU HC Ed Orgeron has praised Narcisse’s upside in the past and the former four-star recruit was supposed to be the answer for the future. Instead, he’s gone, and the team is yet again stuck in the bad cycle of being dependent on a graduate transfer. LSU’s best hope is simple enough -- that Burrow can provide an Etling-esque replacement-level signal-caller who can hit it off with the team’s oddly-ever-present receiving talent, which this year has a much-anticipated new face in Jonathan Giles, who sat out the past campaign after coming over from Texas Tech via transfer. In his final year in Lubbock, Giles put up a gorgeous 69-11158-13 receiving line. Sad thing is, those numbers could have been infinitely larger and they still wouldn’t matter. Comparing Texas Tech’s offense to this 1980’s/1990’s pro-style offense that Orgeron and staff will be trotting out this year is pointless. Still, Burrow doesn’t need to be a world-beater. The bar here is Danny Etling, after all. LSU’s defense is brilliant enough that a bare level of offensive competence could be enough for seven or eight wins.

---

quote:

---

The case against: We don’t know if a bare level of offensive competence here. Burrow is an unknown quantity who is more name than anything else right now. Even overlooking the perpetually anemic passing attack -- LSU’s lone stab at creativity under Orgeron came with the hiring of Pitt OC Matt Canada last winter; he had barely begun with the team before Coach O started scaling back his offense -- the Tigers are now in the weird place where they also lack an obvious starter at running back. Leonard Fournette and Derrius Guice served as transcendent lights amidst the offensive darkness, and now the torch passes to Clyde Edwards-Helaire, who performed well on special teams a year ago but saw just nine carries. So essentially, we don’t know what LSU has at either quarterback or running back, and a potentially fun receiving corps might be swallowed up by the Sahara-like sands of Coach O’s wayback machine philosophies. The focus with LSU is almost always with its offense, but be aware, there’s actually at least some potential for defensive slippage off of their No. 18 rank on S&P+. They’re out three of their top four linemen from a year ago, but that’s just the start -- at linebacker they’re down four of five, cornerback two of three. The headliners on this defense are about as good as they come in LB Devin White and CB Greedy Williams, but we’d worry somewhat about depth on the whole. Of course, everybody on roster is talented. But there’s no offensive net if the defense slips to any real degree. We don’t know if Orgeron keeps his job if the Tigers turn in a basic 7-5 campaign.

---

quote:

---

Bovada win total over/under: 7.5
Prediction: UNDER
Projected record: 6-6 (2-6 in SEC)

---