re: If LSU doesn’t win the national title, this season is a disappointment

Depends. If we win the SEC, Joe wins the Heisman, and we lose a good game in the playoff to Ohio State or something, it would be a bit of a bummer but I don’t see how you could say the season was a disappointment.

If we lost another Bama rematch that would be worse, but still would be a great year

Yes, it would clearly be a success.
1. We've played a difficult schedule and consistently played well all year.
2. The offense is finally of this century
3. We will likely have our best recruiting class ever.
4. Beating Alabama in Tuscaloosa finally gets that monkey off our back.
5. If we win out we are SEC West and SEC Champs.

I'm sure the optimists here believed we had a good shot at making the playoff this year, but there was a lot to prove. I think we've proved a lot of what needed to be proved to demonstrate that we as a program are on the right track. It would obviously be great to win the National Championship, but let's get real. The program has been through some shite in the last ten years. We're not at a place where we can turn our nose up at winning an SEC championship. That's always something to be proud of and if we do so this year, we should feel good about that.

Ok. This Tiger fan feels that there is still much to play for. Beating Alabama is a HUGE goal for us and can easily be the cherry on top of the pie. BUT, LSU has higher goals than just beating Alabama. I think the first goal, as always, is The SEC Championship. I believe that the SEC Championship, combined with beating Alabama, will be an effective heal to any wounds caused by not winning the National Championship. BUT...the ultimate goal is still the NC.