Does no one want to talk CFB??? I mean there are 51 days until kickoff and it seems all everyone wants to do is word association. Is is that there isn't that many people on here?? This is a SEC board right?? I'm new so please elighten me.

First off, welcome aboard TC! Glad to have ya! And yes, there are plenty of people here, but we'd always take more. I'll gladly talk football with you. What do you wanna talk about?

Talk away Cajun....

Just to start...your thoughts on LSU's team this season.

WPS

Ok I'll do you one better. I give each game a quick run down.

8/30-- Louisiana-Monroe--win-another state enforced game with a state team, but hey the money stay in the state.

9/06 @Arizona--win---AZ is not that good of a team and this should be another early season blowout

9/13--Western Illinois--win--late season addition after Marshall pussied out of it's deal. they lose this game i divide my stocks, trust, and wages among everyone here.

9/20--UGA--win--it's at home, first SEC game, the only downisde is CBS picked it up for a double header so it's an 11am(cst) kickoff and day games suck. could go either way though.

9/27@Miss. St.--win---only team in the SEC worse than them is Vandy

10/11--UF--win--three words explain why "zook" & "home game"

10/18 @ S. Carolina--win-lou holtz coached team so it will be tough. looking foward to see if i can actually sneek aboard the Cabose(sp?)

10/25-Auburn--i honestly do not know---this will be the game to watch in the SEC this year. the winner of this game wins the west and maybe the SECCG. it's home and it's at night so that is in LSU's favor. very tough game, plus there is a payback factor involved.

11/01--La. Tech--win--HOMECOMING

11/15@ Alabama--win--bama has talent but they also have alot of baggage.

11/22@Ole Miss--win--Eli Who???

11/28--Arkansas--win---no way their QB goes 2-18 the whole game only to go 3-3 on a winning drive as time expirese this year.

LSU SHOULD do no worse that 10-2, but paper is paper and games aren't played on them. at worse i see them going 9-3 and at best they could go 11-1 maybe even 12-0 but need alot of help and lucky breaks to get there.


I think this year you also start to see the talent that Saban has been stocking up on. A healthy Mauck also is very much needed. Granted Randall gained alot of expierence the later half of last year but I still do not see him leading this team to much. I wouldn't be surprised if he transfers soon , especially with the two QBs coming in.

Another thing that has me pinning for the season to start--If you look at the top 25's the magazines have compiled. It seems everyone in there actually has a legit shot at the MNC. True most need some breaks and bounces, but this is a very even keel field this year. I know it would take damn near miracles for the likes of TCU and Fresno State, but given their schedules and conferences....who knows???

My picks for the MNC---One of the picks I'll take a popular pick and go with OU. They just have to get past OSU and keep their QB healthy. My other pick is my darkhorse. The eventual ACC champ--NcState. Amato has done a good job in the short time he has been there. Great recruiting and good coaching. Hey I bet I come closer that Corso.

If NC State pulls the upset of Ohio State...you might have a shot there with them.

No way am I jumping on the Sooner ship though. Where's their offensive punch? Quentin Griffin was basically their main threat all last year...and now he's toast. If White gets hurt...which is likely cause it's happened the last 2 yrs in a row...OU will have an inexperienced QB and no solid running game. Defense can't win em all for you.

As for the conference slate...I'm interested right off in the OOC games the SEC West teams have. Auburn-Southern Cal, Alabama-Oklahoma, and Arkansas-Texas will right away put some slight perspective on where these teams stand....and Florida-Miami is gonna be interesting too out east.

As for us... the passing game has been entirely re-worked. David Lee, our QBs coach, left to join Bill Parcells in Dallas, so the HOGS got Roy Wittke now as the new QB coach and creator of the UA playbook. Wittke came from 1-AA Eastern Illinois and coached 4 all-conference QBs, including last year's 1-AA player of the year in Tony Romo. Jones and Ryan Sorahan have totally changed on the QB level from pocket stance and techniques...except for the scrambling ablilities of Jones, which no one wants him to give up. We've got 18 starters back..so all the pre-season talk having us down in 4th and 5th is being treated as laughable here...just another year to show everyone we're underrated.

WPS

Well having Ark. ranked 5th i can see how you would disagree with that, but 4th isn't out of reach. even though Bama can't go anywhere they still have alot of talent and only time will tell if all that crap has an effect on them. Plus if Shula runs the O like he did in Tampa, he'll be run out of there in a heartbeat. All in all I would place them 3rd or 4th. Although I wouldn't mind seeing them put up another 300+ yds of rushing on Auburn this year.

One OCC game that interests me, especially living in Tampa, is the USF/Bama game. I wouldn't be surprised if USF pulls off an upset here.

OU's offensive is coming from a pretty good group of WR's(Clyaton, Peoples, & Jones). The replacements for Griffen(Jones & Works) have already made some impact with the team. Plus there is a third year sophmore(i believe) named Donta Hickson who impressed alot of people during the Rose Bowl preps last year. As far as Qb goes: Yeah White has been injured the last 2 years but there are quality backups(Rawls & Thompson) there that have had good springs.

OU will lose to A&M again, and prolly OK State again... OSU destroyed them last year.

Wouldn't be surprised if Alabama shocked em either

WPS

Ok then. Who do you see playing in NOLA?

Miami will return for a 3rd straight year... like you I think there's a big unexpected team waiting in the lurches... for me it's Kansas State..who's finally set to take the Big XII title with Colorado and Nebraska going down in the North, and OU and Texas being overrated in the South

WPS

Well aside from going to Austin and Lincoln their schedule is, surprise surprise, WEAK. I really have no respect for this team. Snyder is like the biggest puss in the world. He won't play anyone worth a damn and then complains when is BCS points aren't high enough. Play somebody worth a crap and maybe, just maybe the SOS goes up.

True..but gotta give em props for beating Southern Cal last year....Palmer would've been in a different bowl game had that not happened.

WPS

I was actually surprised they actually played USC last year. I personally don't think Snyder figured they would have been that tough to beat. I remember watching that game thinking, "Lord, USC is really gonna suck this year." Hah Hah showed me.

I think it'll be interesting. I just know never to go with the media flow. Every year we've won or tied as SEC West champs, we were picked last by most in the media.

WPS

I don;t understand how you can be picked last when MSU is in the West. that just doesn't make any sense and shows what most in the media know.

10/18 @ S. Carolina--win-lou holtz coached team so it will be tough. looking foward to see if i can actually sneek aboard the Cabose(sp?)
You must be talking about our Cockabooses. They are great for tailgating IF one can afford it. I think they sale for around 30-40K.. Anyway, I hope you enjoy tailgating, etc. while at Williams Brice. Everything except the game.

My reasoning is this..the majority of SEC beat writers are in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, etc. Arkansas, being situated more in the Midwest (Fayetteville is 30-35 mins from both the OK and MO state lines) doesn't get as much ink by the typical SEC media. It even shows in the Arkansas media guides, as the only papers that cover the Razorbacks frequently are in-state papers, the Tulsa World, and the Memphis Commercial Appeal...if you call that a newspaper. As for TV stations, only Tulsa's cover the HOGS frequently from out-of-state.

The following happens.... Arkansas, unless they're overwhemingly the favorite to win, gets picked down low. Alabama, who's at the center of the SEC media, never gets picked too low.

garnet...i actually know a friend that owns one. looking foward to it if i get to go. it is really up to my brothers as well. we usually vote to go to one road game a year and seeing how we have never been to Columbia i am hoping to persude them.

Woah. I love LSU but saying that 10-2 at worse is a bit of stretch and many LSU fans would agree.

8/30-- Louisiana-Monroe--Win

9/06 @Arizona--Win

9/13--Western Illinois--Win

9/20--UGA--Tossup, LSU has always played poor in day games ever since I was a kid. Night game would be LSU but day game I take UGA.

9/27@Miss. St.--Win

10/11--UF--Win but possible loss. UF is never easy no matter what they ranked.

10/18 @ S. Carolina--Win

10/25-Auburn--L - This depends on how AU is doing coming into this game. If they have already lost 1-2 games, I should give LSU the nod. if undefeated, I give it to AU. I went to the last few AU/LSU games in DV, loved all of them.

11/01--La. Tech--Win

11/15@ Alabama--Win

11/22@Ole Miss--Win

11/28--Arkansas--Win but possible loss. Talk all you all want about Ark but they return a hell of a lot of starters...

I can see LSU going 8-4 to 11-1. Depends on whether Mauck can prove his downfield ability.

Actually if you read on you would have seen where i said 9-3 at worse. Just worded the 10-2 part wrong, but no 10-2 is not a stretch and alot of fans I have talked to seem to agree. How is that a stretch?? The have a very legit shot at going 10-2 this year.