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However, given the recent events at JSU, most fans and pundits understand that cutting Perrilloux...

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However, given the recent events at JSU, most fans and pundits understand that cutting Perrilloux loose was absolutely the right thing to do. It has been well documented that result of the dismissal led LSU into last year precariously inexperienced at quarterback. It can also be argued that the defensive collapse, particularly late in the season, was partially caused by the ineffective and sometimes catastrophic play at quarterback.

The Ryan Perrilloux Effect: Latest Suspension a Reminder to LSU Fans | Bleacher Report. I actually disagree with the above. Think back to how effective Chris Todd and Tyson Lee were against us, and how awful they were the rest of the season. The defense was in a constant state of collapse in 2008 from the beginning, so it can't be blamed on the quarterback play, which was actually pretty solid for the first half of the year. People forget those games because we won them, but both Auburn and MSU had utterly inept offenses that put up 21 and 24 points against us respectively. Everyone points to our quarterback problem, and we certainly had one, but other SEC teams managed to have good seasons with QB play that was not really any better. It was our defense that held us back all season. With Perrilloux at the helm, we would have won that Bama game, and maybe the Arkansas game as well, but Ole Miss would have smoked us no matter who we had at quarterback unless we could have done something to stop their QB. Georgia beat us despite Lee having a pretty good game. We would have needed both stellar QB play and better defensive play to beat Florida.