After six games, halfway through the season, the following are my thoughts (no more enlightened than anyone else, just like to voice/vent mine) on LSU this year and our program going forward. The outcome of the game against FL was an obvious one. There was nothing that had transpired in the first five games that gave me confidence that we would win the game. Having said that I still held out hope we might pull something out with an inspired effort in Tiger stadium on a Saturday night. For that to have happened we would have needed the best effort of the year from our offensive line and from our QB. We got more of the same from both. Neither the OL or the QB seems to have progressed that much from game 1 to game 6.

Miles assertion before the season that this was his best OL of his tenure at LSU is laughable at this point. This is the worst OL he's had since he's been at LSU and it doesn't seem to be improving. Dworacyck is playing out of position at OG (he has a OT body) and is probably a year away from a physical standpoint to even deserving playing time. T-Bob is also about a year away from a physical standpoint to deserving playing time. On top of that you have Ciron Black having the worst year of his career at LSU. He has done damage to his draft stock this year. Unfortunately because we have not recruited well in the OL (proof of that is the on field performance as well as the number of DL we've moved to the OL over the last 3 years) next season we'll be replacing RG and LT and I’m not sure if we have the depth to do so. If the OL hasn't improved by the end of the year, we'll have as many questions about our OL next offseason as we had this offseason. From a program stability standpoint, that will not be a good thing.

I don't want to get too down on Jefferson at this point because he's the youngest starting QB in the SEC this year and only has 8 starts under his belt. We should start to see improvement in his decision making (reading defenses, not locking into his #1 read, and releasing the ball on check downs or getting rid of it more timely) as the year goes on, or we need to start worrying about the QB position long term. If Jefferson doesn't improve by the end of this year from where he is today, we will go into next offseason with as many questions about our QB position as we went into this last offseason. From a program stability standpoint, that will not be a good thing. I think it's too early to decide if he'll pan out or not. He's clearly not the most accurate QB and he does not have a very good feel for the game from the pocket. He is best suited to throwing the ball out of play action or rolling out of the pocket. He's being asked to drop back too much right now and he's just not ready for it. I think the coaches could do a little better job of running the offense to fit his strengths.

All of our offensive struggles start from the OL and move back to the QB. The rest of it is we are not adapting our play calling to our teams strengths and away from our weaknesses. We are not a power running team and we will not be this year. To continue to force that is stubborness and it's costing our team. 3rd and 2 from the goal line, and we run a power play when we haven't been successful all year in short yardage power plays. We had just had success running the ball out of the spread on the play before and we go back to a power play. We can't do it this year and we weren't going to do it against the best defense we've seen. It's time to acknowledge that and adapt our offense to our talent. If we want to have a running game we should watch tape of FL. The NFL is well known as a copy cat league. It's ok to copy what someone else does well. FL hasn't had a power running game since Meyer has been there. They haven't had a dominant TB since he's been there and yet they lead the country in rushing. How? Spread them out, get the defense going one way and they hit you with 4.3 speed on the cutback lanes. With Trindon and Sheppard we can do the same things FL does with Rainey and Demps. As much as I like Scott, we don't have the OL for his style and running him out of the spread and off the option (which we've been doing the last two games) is not using your best talent for that type of scheme. Sheppard is your best talent for running the ball out of the spread. Yet he never sees the field on Saturday. This is coaching and it goes back to Miles influence on the offense. I don't think he's calling the plays, but the power formations we are seeing are definitely there because of his influence. It's time for this staff to change.

Defensively we've seen improvement from week to week and they have been the biggest bright spot on this team as a unit. Chavis has had an impact on this unit. They play hard and fast. They aren't confused like we saw last year, and I believe he's getting the most out of what he has. Our LB's are playing better as a unit than I can remember. Our secondary is probably the most talented as a unit in the SEC. It's clear we have more speed on the field in the back 7 this year than we've had the last two years (at least). What is clear though is that our defensive line is not what you'd expect from a top 10 team. It's the worst group we've had since probably 2000. Danielson was right on Saturday when he said we don't have any difference makers on the DL. We don't. 4 straight games without a sack from the DL. That is not what we've been used to around here. And the difference between us and FL on defense was the D-line. It's hard to understand, because according to the rating services we've recruited well on the d-line the last 3 years. But that talent just has not developed on the field. They play hard, but they aren't that good against the run or the pass.

After watching last year and the first six games of this year it's very clear to me that our program has taken a step back. Whereas from 2003-2007 we were legitimately a top 5 program, we are clearly not anymore. What's hard to know is if it's a legit expectation for us to be so each and every year. While LA is a hotbed for recruiting, we traditionally have been known more for skill players than for linemen. LA has traditionally been light on quality OL and the last two years we've really been down on overall OL quality to recruit. Having said that, having had the success we've had, we should have been able to do a better job replacing OL and DL talent the last few years. To compound matters our QB situation was mishandled from a recruiting standpoint and we are still paying the price for it. Not having recruited QB's for a couple of years during Perilloux's time here is still hurting us. The jury is still out on Lee and Jefferson both. Sheppard is not ever going to be your starting QB. He's Percy Harvin, not Michael Vick. My opinion, and hopefully I'm wrong. Garrett? Who knows. Overall, we have as good of skill players in our program as we've ever had. We can beat most teams just with our skill players, though we will be in a dogfight to do so, because we aren't consistently winning the battles on the line of scrimmage. Until we improve our overall talent and depth on the OL and DL we will not challenge for the SEC or the NC on any consistent basis. Right now LSU and Georgia's programs are at about the same place. Not elite, but a step above the rest of the SEC; and yet not that much better than the rest of the SEC that we won't lose games to teams we've gotten used to dominating over the last decade. Right now and for the forseeable future I see LSU as a top 25 program from year to year. Can we get back to where we have a 5 year stretch of being a top 5 program with our current coaching staff? The further we get away from 2007 the more I question that. We'll know more by the end of this season. From my vantage point, we can lose and we can win all of the remaining SEC games on our schedule. Let's play it out and see where we shake out. 10-2 or 9-3 we feel good. 8-4 or 7-5 Miles should legitimately be on the hotseat in 2010.