We all remember how bad Tennessee’s 2008 season was, right? Well, think about this for a moment: the Vols had the same SEC record as LSU.

It was a pretty rough year for LSU, coming off the 2007 national championship. The Tigers lost a number of players from that team, the blow the Tigers felt the most was clearly at the quarterback spot. Ryan Perrilloux, a slightly smaller version of JaMarcus Russell, earned MVP honors in the 2007 SEC title game, and was finally slated to take over as the guy for the Tigers.

Then he got suspended and kicked off the team. LSU was left with Andrew Hatch, a transfer from Harvard and Jarrett Lee. Hatch started the first three games before leaving against Auburn with a concussion. Lee came in and led LSU to a win in that game, and things seemed well.

Lee struggled mightily, throwing 16 passes to other the team. Adding insult to injury, the other team obliged seven of those gifts and turned them into touchdowns. In addition to those issues, the LSU pass defense was the worst in the SEC in conference games. So LSU suffered some rather bad losses: by 30 points at Florida, home games to Georgia (52-38), Alabama in overtime and Ole Miss (31-13), and a blown 16-point halftime lead against Arkansas.

But as an underdog to Georgia Tech, true freshman QB Jordan Jefferson led the Tigers to a 38-3 rout, creating some confidence and momentum heading into this season, where the Tigers are poised to prove last year was simply a fluke.

Schedule Breakdown

Assumed wins:

• at Washington (normally I would be concerned about a cross-country trip to open the season, but the Huskies went 0-12 last year)
• Vanderbilt (the Gerry DiNardo Bowl)
• Louisiana-Lafayette
• at Mississippi State
• Tulane
• Louisiana Tech

Assumed losses:

• The odds aren’t great of LSU actually running the table, but I won’t go as far as to say there’s a game I can say they’ll lose for sure. In other words, they’re probably going to lose a game or two, but picking that now and being sure about it, I just can’t do that.

Toss-ups:

• at Georgia
• Florida
• Auburn
• at Alabama
• at Ole Miss
• Arkansas

Studs

HB Charles Scott (Sr.): Scott is a bowling ball of a running back who always seems to be bursting through the LSU offensive line on his way to a 50-plus yard touchdown. He ran for almost 1,200 yards and scored 18 touchdowns in 2008, despite LSU’s woes in the passing game. He might be the best back in the league.

Charles Scott is not an easy guy to tackle, as he has evidenced the last two seasons for the Bayou Bengals

And LSU always has depth at the running back spot. The kind of depth where you occasionally lose track of who all they actually have. Keiland Williams is still there, though it seems he’s been in Baton Rouge the last decade. Richard Murphy is also back there, giving LSU one of better backfields in the conference.

WR Brandon LaFell (Sr.): Despite LSU’s passing inefficiencies, LaFell still almost had a 1,000-yard season last year and led the conference in receptions. He loses his partner in crime Demetrius Byrd, but LSU still has a studly group of receivers as they always do. Helping LaFell are junior Terrance Toliver, senior Chris Mitchell, senior tight end Richard Dickson and true freshman Rueben Randle, rated as the nation’s top receiver last year.

OT Ciron Black (Sr.): Black is a future NFL draft pick at tackle, who’s been a second-team all-SEC player the last two years (I’m guessing he can thank former Alabama tackle Andre Smith for that). Black, along with guard Lyle Hitt and tackle Joseph Barksdale, will try to solidify an offensive line that’s lost Herman Johnson and Brett Helms, both of whom were three-year starters.

Can Jordan Jefferson bring stability to the LSU offense?

X-Factors

QB Jordan Jefferson (So.): Jefferson was the offensive MVP of the Chick-fil-a Bowl rout of Georgia Tech in just his second start. Now some of the road games he’ll face in the SEC aren’t the Chick-fil-a Bowl against an ACC team, but if Jefferson simply takes care of the ball and makes some plays here and there with his feet, LSU’s offense will be that much better than it was last year – heck, they still averaged 31 points per game despite the interceptions and Lee’s ineptitude.

Offensive line: As I discussed when talking about Ciron Black, LSU has three offensive line starters back, but lose two pretty important players. LSU ran the ball for only (yes, only) 167 yards per game last year, as opposed to 214 in their championship season.

Defense: From 2002 to 2007, the highest points per game average from the LSU defense was just under 20 in 2007. When LSU won eleven or more games in 2003, 2005 and 2006, they averages those years were 11, 14 and 12.6, respectively. Last year? 24 points per game.

In the previous three seasons before last year, LSU had given up 27 points or more 6 times combined (three a piece in 2005 and 2007), and two of those games were triple overtime games and another went to one overtime. Last year it happened six times: 51 to Florida, 52 to Georgia, 27 to Alabama in overtime, and 31 each to Troy, Ole Miss and Arkansas. I’m aware the 7 pick-sixes had something to do with that, but LSU’s defense was down a notch last year.

This year the Tigers return 7 starters and their top four and seven of their top nine tacklers. Most of the young secondary is back and the Tigers’ always have a stout defensive front, so I’m guessing improvement is likely.

What’s New, but Maybe Not Improved

Freshmen: LSU signed the nation’s top safety (Craig Loston), wide receiver (Rueben Randle) and dual-threat quarterback (Russell Shepherd). Loston and Shepherd were enrolled for spring camp and you have to think these three – and probably some other new faces – are going to make impacts for LSU this year. My guess is Randle, although if LSU’s pass defense continues to be in the bottom fourth of the SEC then it’ll be Loston.

John Chavis: As we all know Chavis spent 14 years in Knoxville leading the Vols’ defenses and is now at LSU. When LSU won the title in 2007, Bo Pelini was the coordinator. Last year, head coach Les Miles went with co-coordinators with Doug Mallory and Bradley Dale Peveto, who may have been responsible for the defensive problems. Chavis is certainly an upgrade over those two, and he always had great defenses when he had talented players, which he’ll have at LSU.

I gotta admit, seeing this guy in LSU apparel is a little unusual, and I wish him best of luck

Harry Coleman (Sr.): Coleman actually was LSU’s leading tackler last year at strong safety. He moves to linebacker this year, and along with Kelvin Sheppard, Jacob Cutrera and Perry Riley, giving LSU four experienced and talented linebackers.

HSH’s Bold Prediction

LSU had a bit of a rough year last year, but they still have some weapons at the skill positions and return most of a young defense that’s now going to be led by a coordinator who’s fielded solid SEC defenses consistently over the last 14 years. While I think Jefferson will be an upgrade at quarterback and freshman Russell Shepherd adds another dynamic to that position, it may be the line play.

I mentioned the offensive line, but the defensive line lost ends Tyson Jackson, Kirston Pittman and Tremaine Johnson and tackles Marlon Favorite and Ricky Jean-Francois. LSU only had 28 sacks last year, their lowest total since 2002. LSU is always good in the trenches, but there’s going to be some new players having to step up this year.

On top of all that, LSU’s schedule is one I absolutely do not envy. The Tigers have road games at both of their SEC West competitors in Alabama and Ole Miss, in addition to drawing both Florida and Georgia from the East. Those are four really tough games, and they temper my expectations as LSU’s chances in the West, as both the Tide and the Rebels have advantages in the scheduling department. Assuming they get one of those four and take care of business elsewhere, LSU winning 9 games seems like a solid choice.

– … to me.

Images Courtesy of: Tony Gutierrez / AP • Dale Zanine / US Presswire • Steve Franz / LSU

About the Author:  I'm from Memphis but I'm now entering my third year at the University of Tennessee here in Knoxville. I am majoring in Journalism/Electronic Media and hope to go into sports broadcasting/writing/something like that. I'm a huge Vol fan and have been going to games for as long as I can remember. I started my on blog called "The View From The Hill" but moved here to Gate 21 for bigger and better things. In addition to my passion for Tennessee football and basketball, I enjoy watching the NFL and the NBA as well. Basically, sports are a big part of my life. >> Read more from this author

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