8 to 1: No. 7 LSU

No one, in my opinion, does it better than Paul Myerberg does at his extensively thorough college football blog, PreSnapRead.com. I can only dream of having that much college football knowledge to rank the entire BCS, 120-1.

I’m not that good, nor do I claim to be. So I’m going to stick to the SEC and not be nearly as thorough. And this year, I’m only going to do the top eight teams because, well, there was that many days until practice started when I decided to start this thing.

With that ringing endorsement out of the way, let’s get to cracking with LSU, a team that you always have to consider as a threat to win the SEC West. This series will run daily for the next six days.

Also, while you’re here, check out my other eight-themed series, which is running on our main sports page. I’m profiling eight Auburn players who fly under the radar, but still deliver major contributions. Today’s story focuses on H-back Eric Smith.

OPENING STATEMENT:
“I can tell you this. It will only be a championship season, and that’s the only point and direction of this program. That’s where we’re headed.“—LSU coach Les Miles

LAST YEAR’S PREDICTION:
“LSU is good but not great in 2009. Its talent, alone, is good for seven wins and it adds a couple more. No, the Tigers won’t be beating Florida, Alabama or Ole Miss, but they’ll win the rest. LSU goes 9-3 (5-3 SEC).“

Read the full 2009 preview here.

WHAT HAPPENED:
I hate to toot my own horn, but, “toot toot.“ The Bengal Tigers certainly weren’t great, but were good enough to win nine of its 12 games and finish second in the SEC West. They just weren’t good enough to beat—look at that—Florida, Alabama or Ole Miss. The end result was still disappointing for LSU fans, who now consider any season that doesn’t end in the BCS a disappointment. I’m guessing not many of those fans cared to watch LSU slop it up with Penn State in a 19-17 Capital One Bowl loss.

THE COACH:
Les Miles (79-36 overall, 51-15 LSU)—sixth year at LSU
- An extremely strong career record and a national championship ring on his finger isn’t enough for some who think Miles has the hottest seat in the SEC. The common belief among one sector of fans is that Miles won his national championship with Nick Saban’s players and really isn’t that good of a coach. When they make this point, they often include some of his recent, in-game shortcomings, most likely focusing on last year’s late-game meltdown at Ole Miss. Others, though, let the body of work and strong recruiting class rankings stand for themselves as reasons for why Miles should be the LSU coach until further notice. This might be Miles’ most important year at LSU. He’s made bold predictions about a team that, on paper, doesn’t look like it has enough to get it done. If he goes down after this season, he’ll be going down swinging.

THE PLAYERS:
QB Jordan Jefferson (junior)—Jefferson exemplified what LSU was last year; good, but not great enough. He completed more than 61 percent of his passes for 2,186 yards and 17 touchdowns. He was intercepted just seven times and was able to make some plays on his feet, too. He didn’t have much of a running game watching his back and his wide receivers were also good, not great. It’s just tough to find games where fans could say “Jefferson won us that game.“ That’s outside of LSU’s rout of Auburn, of course, where fans could say everyone including the long-snapper had a part in that debacle. Jefferson made improvements during LSU’s spring practice, Miles said, but fans saw a quarterback that labored through the Tigers’ spring game with an interception and just 84 yards of passing. If Jefferson falters early, Jarrett Lee could be forced into action.

WR Terrence Toliver (senior)—Toliver has bided his time at LSU and now is when Miles hopes he can emerge as a top playmaker in the SEC. Flanked as the second option behind Brandon LaFell, Tolliver hauled in 53 passes for 753 yards and three touchdowns last season. Even though he’s the No. 1 guy on LSU, what you’d think is the epitome of “under the spotlight,“ Toliver will head into this season under the radar. He’s arrived in a golden age of sorts for SEC wide receivers, as Julio Jones, A.J. Green, Randall Cobb, Alshon Jeffery, Darvin Adams and Greg Childs will likely receive more preseason hype.

CB Patrick Peterson (junior)—How do I know Peterson is one of the best cornerbacks in the nation? Well, outside the fact that he was named preseason, first-team All-SEC by both the coaches and media in a conference that typically has some of the best defensive backs in college football, Peterson has his own Wikipedia page. Peterson truly is a lockdown corner and is an all-but-certainty to go pro after the season. ESPN’s Bruce Feldman considers Peterson, who had 13 pass breakups in 2009, one of his “freaks” in college football because of his size, strength and speed. So, yeah, he’s good and he’s the heart of this LSU defense.

LB Kelvin Sheppard (senior)—Sheppard is pretty good, too, and could probably be considered the co-leader of LSU’s defense, which was one of the better units in the SEC last season. Sheppard is LSU’s most experienced defensive players, appearing in 40 games over the past three seasons with 17 starts. Sheppard ranked fourth in the SEC with 110 tackles and added 8.5 tackles for loss in 2009.

RETURNING STARTERS:
10 (six offense, four defense)

THE SCHEDULE:
Sept. 4 – North Carolina (Atlanta)
Sept. 11 – Vanderbilt
Sept. 18 – MISSISSIPPI STATE
Sept. 25 – WEST VIRGINIA
Oct. 2 – TENNESSEE
Oct. 9 – Florida
Oct. 16 – MCNEESE STATE
Oct. 23 – Auburn
Nov. 6 – ALABAMA
Nov. 13 – LOUISIANA MONROE
Nov. 20 – OLE MISS
Nov. 27 – Arkansas
(Home games in CAPS)

THE BIG GAME:
Well, Miles said that LSU is playing for championships, so the Tigers’ biggest game of the season has to be when it faces Alabama in November. Last year, LSU gave the eventual national champions one of its toughest games of the season, but ultimately lost, 24-15. The year before in Baton Rouge, Alabama overcame a missed potential game-winning field goal by scoring a touchdown in overtime to win 27-21. These SEC West teams have become rivals by default, with some definite intrigue added with Saban’s connections between the two schools.

WHO’S ON THE MEDIA GUIDE?:
LSU gives us an ultra close-up of Sheppard’s face, focusing on the “Number 1 Defense” scrawled across his face on some black tape. At the bottom, you’ve got Sheppard and Toliver. On the back are six Tigers: Jefferson, RB Richard Murphy, P Derek Helton, K Josh Jasper, OL Joseph Barksdale and DL Drake Nevis.

LAST TIME LSU WON THE SEC:
2007—Beat Tennessee, 21-14, in the SEC Championship and then beat Ohio State, 38-24, in the BCS National Championship Game.

THREE FACTS RIPPED FROM WIKIPEDIA:
- LSU is notorious for wearing white jerseys. Here’s why: the tradition started in 1958, when coach Paul Dietzel decided that LSU would wear white jerseys for the home games. LSU went on to win the national championship that year. The Tigers weren’t allowed to wear whites at home from 1983-94 because of NCAA rules.
- Auburn was the first team to lose to LSU after it was allowed to wear its white jerseys at home again. That was a painful one. Auburn was sixth in the nation; LSU was unranked.
- LSU’s Tiger Stadium still sports “H” style goal posts, as opposed to the more modern “Y” style used by most other schools today. This “H” style allows the team to run through the goal post in the north end zone when entering the field.

WHO DO I FOLLOW?:
Randy Rosetta of the Baton-Rouge Advocate does a great job covering LSU right from the heart of it all. The New Orleans Times-Picyune has multiple writers covering the Tigers, so that’s got to generate some good stuff, right? Glenn Guilbeau of the Shreveport Times is also a veteran of the beat.

BEST-CASE SCENARIO:
Jefferson proves his doubters wrong and has a banner season, which includes winning games where he puts the team on his shoulders. The defense, buoyed by great seasons from Sheppard and Peterson, become a lockdown unit, and make Miles look like a prophet. The Tigers beat Alabama and lose just once in conference play to advance to the SEC Championship game.

WORST-CASE SCENARIO:
Jefferson regresses, the running game still stinks and the defense misses the seven starters it lost from last season. Miles has a couple more mental breakdowns during late-game situations and LSU’s season is lost from the start after falling to North Carolina, Mississippi State and West Virginia before October. The Tigers end the season hoping to sneak into a lower-tier bowl and Miles is hoping Rich Rodriguez is having similar troubles at Michigan.

MEDIA’S PREDICTION:
Fourth in the West.

THE PREDICTION:
LSU fans don’t like what they see once again. Sure, the Tigers will be in contention to sneak into the Chik-fil-A Bowl or even the Gator Bowl, but their 2010 season will by no means match Miles’ big, bold predictions. The Tigers lose one of their two early non-conference games and only win one of their meaningful SEC games. 7-5 (4-4 SEC)

TOMORROW’S HINT:
This team, despite winning its rivalry game in lopsided fashion, did not make a bowl for a second consecutive season in 2009. That could probably be attributed to playing the hardest schedule in the nation.

Tags: auburn BCS College LSU preview SEC Tigers Western Divison