Last year at this time I, along with a host of other college football analysts, picked the LSU Tigers to win the 2007 BCS National Championship.
While I was correct in selecting the Tigers to win the championship I could have never predicted how they would get to the big game after losing their final regular season game against Arkansas.
Sometimes in sports you create good situations and sometimes you take advantage of what the “Football Gods” deal you.
Last season the Tigers did both.
Now the Tigers are ready to defend their crown, but the circumstances leading up to the 2008 season are totally different from the one a year ago.
The Tigers are a very talented football team. LSU returns three talented running backs in Charles Scott, Richard Murphy and Keiland Williams, along with speedy all-purpose runner and return specialist Trindon Holliday.
The Tigers also return a potential All-SEC performer in Richard Dickson at tight end and a potential 2009 1st round NFL draft choice at wide receiver in Demetrius Byrd.
Along with Byrd and Dickson, the Tigers also have a talented group of ends that include Brandon LaFell, Jared Mitchell and a future 1st-round draft choice in sophomore Terrance Tolliver.
In my 24 years of covering LSU I have never seen a better offensive line than the one the Tigers will feature in 2008.
In left offensive tackle Ciron Black and left offensive guard Herman Johnson, the Tigers have the best side of a line in Baton Rouge since the 2003 season when guard Stephen Peterman, now with the Detroit Lions, and tackle Andrew Whitworth, now with the Cincinnati Bengals, manned the Tigers’ left side.
Also returning up-front for the Tigers are starting offensive center Brett Helms, starting right offensive guard Lyle Hitt, and a very promising young right tackle prospect in Joseph Barksdale.
On paper and on the football field that is a lot of talent returning, but at the most critical spot on offense, the quarterback slot, the Tigers have three players with virtually no college experience.
Former Harvard quarterback Andrew Hatch looks as though he has the inside track for the starting position, but he has only played in one game for the Tigers and that was in pop-up work late against Middle Tennessee.
Prior to playing in that one game last season against Middle Tennessee, Hatch had seen work last on the Harvard junior varsity team in 2005.
Red-shirt freshman Jarrett Lee has flashed some nice passing skills, but he has been bothered by back problems and true freshman Jordan Jefferson, from Destrehan High School, has seen quite a bit of action in practices.
Jefferson looks like a future star performer at the college level, but he will have to make the tough adjustment to SEC football.
I look for all three to play in 2008, but who will make that big play in a critical spot is still in question.
I hear a lot about caretaker-quarterbacks, but I still don’t get that term.
In football you want your quarterback to protect the ball and play within the system, but you also need someone when the game is on the line to make a play either via the pass or with his feet.
Last season Matt Flynn was criticized for his sometimes inconsistent play and he was a bit of a slow starter, but it was Flynn’s passing skills late in games against Auburn, Alabama, Florida and even the loss in triple overtime to Arkansas that had the Tigers in a position to win those contests.
Running back Jacob Hester was a terrific football player for the Tigers and one you could always count on to get those tough yards in critical spots, but it is Flynn’s ability to pull games out of the fire that the 2008 version of the Tigers will miss the most.
On defense the Tigers are a very talented team also, but they have a big question mark at both cornerback slots.
The Tigers will return the best defensive tackle in college football in Ricky Jean-Francois and arguably the best pass rush tandem at defensive end in college football in Tyson Jackson and Kirston Pittman.
They will also return an All-American and All-SEC performer in Darry Beckwith at middle linebacker.
The safety positions are in excellent shape with Curtis Taylor, Harry Coleman, Danny McCray returning, along with a future superstar performer in Chad Jones, but it is the two starting cornerback slots that are still in question.
Chevis Jackson, the best cover man I have seen in my years covering the Tigers, is gone to the NFL along with Jonathan Zenon, so there has been a major battle brewing between Chris Hawkins, former Destrehan standout Jai Eugene, redshirt freshmen Phelon Jones and Ron Brooks, and true freshman Patrick Peterson for the two starting spots.
In this defense the Tigers cornerbacks are left on an island quite a number of times and you can make 30 really good plays, but the two bad ones could end up being touchdowns for the opponents.
Last season the most talented team I have ever covered at LSU ended up with a 10-2 regular season mark, before defeating Tennessee in the SEC Championship game and Ohio State in the BCS National Championship game.
With major question marks at both quarterback and cornerback and tough away games against Auburn, Florida and South Carolina and an Oct. 25 battle against Georgia in Tiger Stadium, I think it would be a major accomplishment if the Tigers finished better than the 9-3 regular season record I have predicted for them in 2008.
Head Coach Les Miles has set the bar high for this football team and all Tiger fans.
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