re: There was obviously some major dysfunction going on behind the scenes

Ya think

I think LSU had a plan of what they wanted to do, but did not anticipate the talent drop off would be so steep. They also did not anticipate essentially losing two DL coaches in the span of a few months and having their most experienced secondary play have to leave the team because of a cancer diagnosis. The transfers also didn't adapt as well as the transfers did last season.

A drop in the talent level was the reason this defense wasn't great. Terrible coaching is why the defense wasn't, at least, average. It appears LSU had a predetermined plan as to who and how they wanted to play and refused to deviate from it, to any substantive degree, even though it was quickly evident the approach wasn't going to work. In addition to the overall approach, the personnel decisions were sometimes baffling. Guys seemed constantly confused as to what they were supposed to be doing from the beginning of the season all the way through literally the very last game.

That ultimately led to a lack of trust in the coaching staff. As a player, when you are getting beat time and time and time again you start to tune out the coach's message because there is no tangible proof that what he is telling you to do will be effective. That creates a snowball effect where the coaches can't get through to the players because they players don't believe in the coaches.

Again, this wasn't the most talented LSU defense ever. Far from it. But good coaches adapt to their personnel. Maybe this team wasn't going to be able to consistently cover well in the secondary. So why not take a few more chances to create pressure to limit the amount of time the secondary had to cover? The effort of some of the defensive tackles was poor (to say the least). So play the guys who are willing to give you the effort...even if they may not as physically gifted as the others. You were worried about playing "young, inexperienced" players. That's fair. But when the veteran players aren't performing, what good is it to leave potential other options on the bench?

At some point the mindset should have changed to "frick it. We aren't going to be great. But we just have to find a way to get 4-5 stops per game. If that means we occasionally get embarrassed for a long TD, so be it. We weren't shutting anyone out anyway." That never really seemed to be the mindset. It just stayed the same throughout with the apparent hope that the offense would score enough to allow LSU to only have to make 1-2 stops at the end to preserve victory.

2023 will never be remembered as a "bad" season. LSU won 10 games. The offense was incredible. The QB was the best player in college football. But it will ALWAYS be a wasted opportunity.