One thing I'll probably have to adjust to is eyeing the QB position more. In 11.5 seasons with Miles, it didn't matter what you had at QB, good or bad, as long as the other pieces were in place, you could reasonably expect 10-11 wins. Disaster years were 4-4 and that only happened once. It was his style of dragging everything into the dirt and turning everything into an ugly mud-wrestling match. Well, not so much in the Jamarcus/Flynn days, but after that. Orgeron doesn't really coach like that. QB is probably more critical than it used to be, but I'm slow adjusting that thinking.
It probably means more that Max Johnson has only started a couple of games under this staff than previous staffs. He did look capable in those games, though his throwing motion left something to be desired imo. He's not the only QB, fwiw. The snakebit Brennan should be available later this season, though I'm skeptical he'll retake the job from Johnson since by that point Johnson will probably have started more games than him. Brennan sure was off to a killer start last year in his 3 games though. Record breakers for a 3 game stretch, beating Burrow's 2019 pace--though I'm not sure what that means since defenses across the board were complete trash last year. Nussmeier is also available, obviously with no experience. He's definitely the QB of the future, though hopefully not this year. Best looking freshman camp we've ever had, though. If he has to play, we'll have had worse at QB (though as I said, with another staff where that didn't matter as much).
O-line returns 4/5 starters with a lot of experience. The 5th has played, but will need to gel. I expect them to do well since experience is the main correlating factor to OL success. They weren't that good at run blocking last year, but in the off years that happens to us, LSU's OLs tend not to have that problem more than once in a row. Not much in the way of depth there, so OL injuries will be a big deal. But overall, LSU's offense by virtue of passing game alone--with Finley at QB--was more than fine last year. Moderate running game improvement, and there's reason to be bullish on the offense. One of these 5-star backs need to step up, though. Emery and Price and haven't come close to living up to their recruiting stars.
The defense was the main culprit, specifically the safeties. They were hopelessly and hilariously lost last year and Pelini didn't know how to fix it. I said when O hired him the game had moved on from Pelini's heyday and I didn't expect his second stint at LSU to look like the first. Well....yeah....though I didn't think it would be THAT bad. Ultimately it wasn't so much his scheme as I suspected, though that was a little stale, he just didn't have the ability to get the secondary on the same page. I don't know much about the new DC, Daronte Jones, but he's got to be better than that. Position coaches Corey Raymond and Bill Busch are still amongst the best in the business. Jones' scheme for this year is said to be "simple" with the purpose of making sure last year's communication issues don't repeat. So, easier for the players, but does that mean easier for offenses to diagnose? I don't know. In the end though, at this point you've got the much tougher argument to make if you think LSU--typically a very strong pass defense team--should be judged off of last year and not the last 10-12 years overall, especially with this level of talent.
The front 7 was already good, you just didn't realize it since every other play was a 50 yard bomb to an area the safeties forgot about. Linebackers will probably take a step back, the line, on paper, should be the best and deepest DL LSU has had in a several years. And a few of them already did great as pass rushers last year.
All in all, this team probably "should" hit 6-2 with 5-3 being equally as likely. 4-4 would be underachieving and a disappointment. The QB and the new coordinators probably tell the tale. The rest of the pieces are mostly known quantities. Both 2019 and 2020 are obviously outliers. Orgeron's "typical" team imo is more likely to look like 2018. Though it's possible he has a rare knack for staying at the outliers, great seasons mixed in with horrible ones.
Right now I just hope we get past UCLA. As a rule I don't like these seasons starting out with team with a pulse, though LSU is in love with them. I especially don't like it when said team has already played a game. UCLA did really well last week, though Hawaii might also be pretty bad, I don't know.
