10. Les Miles. As long as he is calling the shots, Les Miles will be a concern. His spectacular mental implosion against Ole Miss was just the most obvious and inopportune display of his issues. Fewer people seemed to notice his bizarre decisions when he was winning, but they’ve been there since he arrived at LSU. And, no doubt, they will remain as long as he does.
9. Fate. No, I don’t actually believe LSU is fated to return to mediocrity, but history favors it. After winning its first national championship in 1958, finishing No. 3 in 1959 and winning the SEC in 1961 and 1962 with top-10 finishes, LSU dropped off just a bit and didn’t claim another SEC title until 1970. And though the Tigers were mostly decent through the 1970s and early 1980s, the next SEC title didn’t come until 1986. Two national championships, three SEC titles and finishing ranked in eight of the past 10 years is an unprecedented level of success for LSU. It’s gotta end sometime – right?
8. Pressure. And lots of it. Not only is LSU desperately trying to shake off two sub-par seasons, they’re doing so having to defend the SEC’s honor against the ACC to start the season, facing the unfamiliar and unpredictable West Virginia and then heading in to SEC play against Alabama, Florida and the others. A rational Tiger fan could accept that two losses are a given, four would not be shocking and six is hardly out of the question. But everybody wants and expects 10 or more wins. If things go poorly in Atlanta, every week after that will be critical and pressure-packed. If things go well, not as much … until they lose a game.
7. 112th. There’s reason for hope that the Tigers can turn around the horrendous offense of 2009 (Billy Gonzales, Russell Shepard, a smarter Jordan Jefferson). But the reality is there’s a long way to climb to respectability from finishing 112 in total offense, and LSU has lost five big pieces of its offense in Charles Scott, Brandon LaFell, Ciron Black, Lyle Hitt and Richard Dickson.
6. Inexperience. The Tigers return just 10 of 22 starters and have 21 freshmen or redshirt freshmen listed on the depth chart.
5. The Quarterbacks. Jordan Jefferson might as well replace the “9″ on his jersey with a “?”. He may well emerge as a seasoned, confident, capable quarterback this year. But until he does, quarterback play will be one of the closest-watched and most-concerning aspects of the Tigers’ play. If Jefferson doesn’t get it done and the ball goes to Jarrett Lee, quadruple the close-watching and concerning.
4. Gary Crowton. I’d put Crowton as our No. 2 concern if not for the arrival of Billy Gonzales (and to a lesser extent new RB coach Frank Wilson and new TE coach Steve Ensminger). Crowton’s offense has gotten worse each year he’s been on the staff. If he’s less in control now; great. If we get more of the Gary Crowton Offense this year, surely it will be his last.
3. The Schedule. As mentioned, it’s brutal. About the best thing you can say about it is LSU gets Alabama at home. But Alabama is still there, as is Florida and four other teams ranked in the pre-season Top 25. Schedule pacing is tough up front, with the UNC game to open, a breather against Vandy and then MSU, West Virginia and Tennessee at home before heading to Gainesville. MSU and Tennessee are not expected to be very good, and I hope that’s the case. LSU does get breaks with McNeese State coming in before the Tigers head to Auburn and then an open date before Alabama. Then it’s the Homecoming break against UL-Monroe before Ole Miss comes in and LSU heads to Arkansas. Things will never be easy in the SEC, but I wouldn’t mind seeing Tulane instead of West Virginia this season.
2. The Linebackers. After Kelvin Sheppard, the backers’ experience disappears fast. Ryan Baker is marked as the “Will” starter, and he’s played exactly nine snaps as an LSU linebacker. Stefoin Francois is a converted defensive back marked as the “Sam” starter. At least those guys are juniors. Every one of the four guys listed on the linebacker depth chart behind the starters are redshirt freshmen. That’s an astonishing level of inexperience, and really concerning.
1. Les Miles. It starts with him; it ends with him.
