re: Lost in all the hoopla about rules & HUNH is LSU's Defensive Coordinator...

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2013- 21st
2012- 12th
2011- 2nd
2010- 11th
2009- 11th

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These number are all fair.

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Total D:
2013- 15th
2012- 8th
2011- 2nd
2010- 12th
2009- 26th

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These numbers are also great.
Keep in mind that Alabama ranked higher than LSU in both categories every year in this time span.

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Rushing D:
2013- 36th
2012- 9th
2011- 5th
2010- 42nd
2009- 46th

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The 2013, 2010, and 2009 ranking aren't great. Saban's defenses beat LSU every year here too.
I'd also like to point out that Alabama has several #1 rankings in the categories you listed while LSU has zero.

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2013- 13th
2012- 28th
2011- 8th
2010- 10th
2009- 29th

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The 2012 and 2009 numbers aren't great. Neither Alabama or LSU had a great secondary in the past season, and Alabama narrowly managed to be ranked higher than LSU.

Out of these 20 rankings, LSU only ranked higher than Alabama in 2010 passing defense.

There's plenty of talk regarding LSU and Alabama having similar levels of talent and coaching; however, the numbers don't exactly support that argument. One can blame schedules, but I don't believe that tells the whole story, and quite frankly I wouldn't want to discuss that here.