re: When was the last time LSU was a LEGITIMATE national threat?

Not really going the way you thought and typed before you did your research, huh? It you asked any national media person on November 1, 2015 if LSU was a LEGITIMATE national threat to win it all (several picked LSU to be at that time and before the season started), they would all have answered yes. If you asked most national media persons if LSU was a LEGITIMATE threat to win it all on September 1, 2016, most would have answered yes. On September 1, 2016, Vegas thought so and LSU was a 12-1 favorite to do so (only Bama and Ohio State had better odds - I know, I placed at bet in Vegas on LSU last summer). So, for the last 2 football seasons, LSU was a LEGITIMATE national threat. The fact it didn't pan out, doesn't mean they weren't a threat. Easy to be a Monday morning quarterback and use hindsight.

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Not really going the way you thought and typed before you did your research, huh? It you asked any national media person on November 1, 2015 if LSU was a LEGITIMATE national threat to win it all (several picked LSU to be at that time and before the season started), they would all have answered yes

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Yes, and they would have all been wrong. LSU was not going to win any championship that year no matter what our schedule-inflated record and ranking indicated going into November. We had only played one decent team (Florida) and had exhibited fatal weaknesses that precluded any chance of being a contender.

The defense was very weak that year. In spite of playing something like five opponents in a row who had lost their starting QBs, we had held only one opponent under 20 points and that one (Miss. St.) had scored 19. We had had only one good, balanced offensive performance (against Florida), while the passing game had mostly struggled otherwise.

Obviously, any team that is 7-0 is going to be ranked highly, but that doesn't mean they are actually as good as their ranking. That LSU team was never, at any point during the season, anywhere close to being the 2nd best team in the country. Further, it had no possibility of contending because the usual Miles strategy of shutting down the opposing offense and wearing their defense down with the running game could never have worked with that team because we didn't have the defense to carry it out properly.

The 2015 LSU football team was not, at any time, a LEGITIMATE threat to win the national championship. Yes, they were in a good position in the rankings to be, but that means nothing unless the team is actually as good as its ranking. In that sense, being ranked #2 in November of 2015 was no more legitimate than being ranked #5 in August of 2016. Both rankings were good enough to put us in contention, and both were much better than the team actually was.

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The fact it didn't pan out, doesn't mean they weren't a threat. Easy to be a Monday morning quarterback and use hindsight.

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Of course it is, which is why it's incredibly stupid to ignore the reality that has been revealed in hindsight. Just because people THOUGHT we were a legitimate contender doesn't mean we were. People were wrong. It's understandable to be wrong when you're trying to guess before the fact, but after the truth has been exposed it's pretty stupid to hold on to false beliefs from beforehand. The Earth was never legitimately in danger of being destroyed by the vengeful act of an angry Zeus, even though for centuries many people absolutely believed that it was. Hindsight tells us Zeus was never a threat to the Earth just as it tells us that LSU was never a legitimate threat to win the national championship in 2015, regardless of what you, me, Vegas or any national media person might have erroneously believed at the time.

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But having this thought process, Notre dame wasnt a "legit national threat" then in 2012. And they made it to the title game.......

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You could say that, yes. I think it was pretty apparent even at the time, and certainly after the fact, that the Alabama-Georgia SECCG was the de facto national championship game that year. But yes, no way in hell was Notre Dame going to win the championship over either Alabama or Georgia. A lot of people thought they had a chance, but those people were wrong. You could have played that game over a dozen times and ND would have had to get lucky to win even one. Georgia was a much more legitimate contender than Notre Dame was that year.

Is this a troll or trick question? Go look it up. Then u can answer your own question. Look how many different answers u got. How do u define competitive? I'm sure it's different for most people. Not sure what u trying to get accomplished in this thread.

Since you live in DC, when was the last time a Clinton was a LEGITIMATE national threat for the presidency. Now, you have to admit, that is funny.

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thought 2013 would be the Tigers' year.

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Dbs were young, lost all our depth on the line. Already had UGA penciled in as a loss.

2012, 22 scholarship players missing by the UF game. LSU is basically a tackle away from winning the sec west. Might have been Les' best job considering.

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Is this a troll or trick question? Go look it up. Then u can answer your own question. Look how many different answers u got. How do u define competitive? I'm sure it's different for most people. Not sure what u trying to get accomplished in this thread.

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I guess I could have made the post more clear. I believe that the 2012 team was a legitimate, competitive team that had the tools to win it all. They lost three games, but they had an opportunity to win all (maybe / maybe not the Florida game).

In 2013, our defense was way too soft.
2014 was an obvious no.
2015 rolled into November ranke #2. They left November and the end of the season 1-3 and unranked. They obviously weren't a legitimate national threat.
2016 the team under performed and was out of it after game one.

Late 2015 when Alleva et al choked on pulling the trigger to fire Miles.

We were set up for a championship run in 2016.

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2012 was a classic Chavis drive away from playing Georgia for a shot at beating the shite out of Norte Dame.

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that was the game when the kid from L.C. dropped a pass on the drive before last.
He then whiffed on a tougher ball on the last possession, that only luck would have anyone on earth catch.
The first one, any player would have a play on.

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Only to a degree. They still share the same fundamental problem as preseason polls. They are based on incomplete evidence that may be misleading. Through the first seven games of 2015, our record was very misleading because we hadn't really played anybody who was anywhere close to an elite team. Even Florida was only a pretty good team, but not an elite one. After the fact, we can see that the committee and almost everyone else were woefully wrong if they/we ever thought LSU was actually the 2nd best team in the country.

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Are you saying there should be no polls until after conference championship weekend then? Because this hindsight argument is pretty weak when "elite" is such an ambiguous standard.

Who did Clemson beat last season that was "elite" in their first 7 games? Because after the fact we can see that almost everyone was woefully wrong if they thought Louisville was the #3 team in the country.