Were losing an aweful lot of talented Players & Coaches. It's realy easy to say "We got a guy that's even better than the NFL guy!". That mig ht be true for 1 or 2 players, but when you say that with 20+ players, you're not living in reality. Of course LSU has lots & lots of talent, but experience is not that easily replaced. I think 10-2 would be a pretty damn good year, for this team.
But it's still too early to know if we'll even play this season yet. I'm just looking at numbers & players so far. Nothing else to compare/contrast with so far.
I think Bama might have the strongest LB'er corp in the SEC & both their OL & DL look very, very solid. QB is a question so far. Woould not be surprised to see Saban use both Mac Jones & 5 star phenom Bryce Young. After last year, I'm betting Saban wants this one really badly. O thinks the "Monkey is off his back". But if he doesn't beat Saban again, that monkey returns really quick. It's hard to pick against a coach most think is the best in the nation.
Florida has many great athletes too. Dan Mullen is a great coach ( Kirby Smart might disagree
) mostly winning at nearly unwinnable MooU & has finished 2 seasons at UF with a 21-5 record & 2 Bowl wins. QB Kyle Trask as a sophomore, hit us for 310 yards, 3 TDs, 1 pick as a sophomore. I don't see us beating them easily in the Swamp. We'll need to have a huge game there imo, to win. Going to be a tough game.
Then there are the others: Auburn & A&M.
I won't ever buy into the Gus Malzahn hype. Auburn is said to have some of the best talent he's ever had and they appear to. They gave us fits in last year's game losing 23-20. But the Strangeness of the LSU/Auburn game over the years cannot be denied. I never know what the Gus Bus is bringing. It's either very good or just plain terrible. We play them in Jordan Hare stadium, which could mean trouble..or not. LSU has won the last 3 games against them by a total of 8 points. The one game played at Auburn was a 1 point win for us. Let's hope no touchdowns by LSU are called back after the game, or the stadium is ablaze again. I think we can beat the War Buzzards on the Plains.
Jimbo Fisher & A&M. He's only coached 2 years at A&M, like Mullen at UF. It. Seems much longer doesn't it? Well, it doe s to me for whatever reason. Unlike Mullen, his 17-9 record is pretty darn pedestrian, considering his 10 year/ $75 million dollar contract. We are 1-1 against Fisher so far. I have heard & read some things & perhaps it's just talk, but have heard Jimbo needs to have a good year this year, meaning 9-10 wins minimum. I absolutely do believe this: "Jimbo is just a bad fit at A&M". Something just seems to be going wrong over there. He did sell himself as the "QB Whisperer" via Jameis Winston. Anyway, if everyone plays this season, & Jimbo delivers 8 wins again, I wouldn't be that shocked to see the Aggies go after a Ron Franklin type coach from Penn State, (If he has a good year). That seems ridiculous to most, but then again Texas A&M is ridiculously rich. And I think Jimbo would more than likely take a reduced settlement or a timed payment plan if that happened. Regardless, the Ags are not impressed so far.
Oops, got off on a tangent. But my point is Jimbo might be coaching for his job. This puts tremendous pressure on QB Kellen Mond. Sometimes Mond has looked pretty good, other times, not so much. I don't know how good his Offensive Line might be. It appears at this point, to be a weakness, along with running backs. I think that will determine their season. We should be able to beat this team pretty easily, unless Mond absolutely catches fire.
Not going to mention Ole Miss, MooU or Arkansas as contenders.
BTW, speaking of Jimbo's situation, or potential situation, how about Tom Herman at Texas? Geez in 3 years he has a 25-15 record. I wasn't for either to come to LSU.