quote:
Miles team last year appeared to be a legitimate contender until early November. There were some underlying things that might have made people question that, but for the most part it seemed reasonable to think that team was a contender.

I'm not talking about what they appeared to be. I mean what they actually were. Some might not have known it in October, but no way in hell was that LSU team going to have a snowball's chance of winning the national championship. Same has been true of most of our teams under Miles, and all of those teams that weren't legitimate contenders (regardless of whether people thought they were or not) struggled in openers away from home vs. P5 teams if they played in one. When we have actually had a true national contender (except in 2005) and opened away from home against a P5 opponent, we have won impressively and, conversely, when we have won impressively away from home vs. a P5 opponent, we have turned out to be a true contender. How these games go has, at least up to now, been an accurate barometer of whether LSU was a legitimate contender. If we struggle and barely win when favored to win big, it's more of the same LSU. If we win impressively, the sky's the limit. But, of course, that's no guarantee it'll be an accurate barometer this year.