re: Why was 2012 supposed to be "our year" again?

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And it certainly could have been without injuries and suspensions

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Still would have had the same offense against florida.

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Still would have had the same offense against florida.

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Yeah, a 1st round Left Tackle starting, and other offensive linemen actually playing their actual position wouldn't have changed anything

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Why was 2012 supposed to be "our year" again?

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because 2011 wasn't. Just like 2013 will be our year again

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But I think we've come to some consensus that the O has to get better--like now.

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I thought this was the mindset when Crowton was let go.

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For those who believed it, why did you believe?

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I had hope.
I thought balance would put finishing touch on the LSU offense, but the Mettsiah was a false prophet, had huge OL losses and WRs got off to a slow start.
The increased passing actually put LSU in unmanageable downs and lost TOP, wearing the D down.

We expected more great special teams play, same that has been giving us short fields for years and making opponents drive the distance.

We expected that Reid was incredible, Simon would be the next great, Loston would put it all together, and Mathieu would be playing(our starting secondary, shite the bed)

We expected the OL to be a beast laden with experienced talent and even better than it was last year. Other than the guys underwhelming pass protection, Faulk was out, which switched our worst lineman to our mud footed QB's blindside who can't read a cornerback blitz. Hurst quit, Williford was also injured which put 2 freshman starting the entire right side of the line(and did pretty good except against Clemson)

We expected the RB committee to be four horseman of the apocalypse good with great players like Blue and Hilliard leading the way, our dash and bash so to speak. And the were that good, even better than that having 573 yards and 8 TDs combined the first 3 weeks. But alas Blue gets injured, Ware comes back, and somehow magically obtaining the starting role again(mostly for his blocking and 1 20+ yard catch a game) and somehow Hilliard has been pushed to fourth string. If not for Hill, we lose against USCe and aTm.

WRs were supposed to be great before the season started but Johnson's grades left him back home, and we lose our our tall receiver who Miles praised before the season starts. Also the WRs had the worst case of drops that I have ever seen.

And finally a QB who most thought was our final piece and who would lead us to the promised land, flopped flat on his face and back countless times. Not only is he slower than earth's orbit, he overthrows almost everything over 20+ yards. Even half of his short throws are so high that you have to leap to catch them. He has no touch and his pocket awareness was horrendous(even the few times he did have one). He has never read a CB blitz at all, and his passing on the run is more times a train wreck than a great throw. It seems he has gotten a little better in passing throwing for 1070yds in the month of November

Three reasons.

Reason #1: Observers thought that Mettenberger, the first talented quarterback since Matt Flynn not unexpectedly pressed into duty as a freshman and given time to develop, would finally give Miles the luxury of a good starting quarterback again. There seemed to be good reason to think that Jefferson and Lee being forced to start and win in the SEC well before they were ready hurt their development. Mettenberger was talented, had playing experience before LSU and wasn't rushed into something he wasn't ready to do.

Reflection #1: Mettenberger, for his talent, is still a raw quarterback. His deep ball is inaccurate and he's struggled with his pocket presence. Some of this might simply be his limitations as a player, but the conventional understanding is that the original assumption regarding LSU's ability to develop quarterbacks was wrong. The coaching staff has struggled to develop quarterbacks.

Reason #2: Related to the above, with a good quarterback, Miles and co. would be able to use a more complex and balanced offense. The previous offensive coaching snafus are accredited to a combination of limited QB talent (Jefferson/Lee) meeting overly complicated scheming (Crowton). With talent that can actually handle a complicated scheme, the staff could go back to a more complex attack.

Reflection #2: LSU's offensive staff doesn't HAVE a more complex and balanced offense. Even on days when Mettenberger wasn't limiting the offense, the coaching staff would still make mind-numbing decisions on offense. The running backs telegraphed nearly half the plays, not because of anything they did, but because the staff only had each one do one thing whenever they were in the game!

Reason #3: LSU returned a lot of leadership and talent on the defense and on the offensive line that would help the team get through tough games.

Reflection #3: Injuries and dismissals/suspensions ruined this, though that's not really on anybody (except, obviously, cases like Mathieu). An injured offensive line forced the coaches to scramble to throw together a functioning line with inexperienced players, and the loss of leaders like Mathieu on the defense hurt the intensity of the unit's play.

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In other words, observers missed on Mettenberger, the offensive staff and the leadership on the line and on defense. Some of it was foreseeable (offensive staff especially), some of it not (injuries). On the whole, this team had potential to do better, and though not all (maybe not even most) of the reasons why they didn't are on the team, the bottom line is that the preseason hype for this squad was warranted and the end result didn't live up to it.

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the awful playcalling/gameday coaching Miles had zero to do with the losses...ZERO

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Oh, it had an effect But with our full team, or atleast 90% of it.. things could be completely different right now

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So, you're saying with our full compliment of starters, we could have won those games IN SPITE of the knucklehead play calls and game management? Thanks for making that point.

We thought our line would learn how to block! Fault goes to stud IMO.