A tiger top 10

Welcome to LSU-PJ—post-JaMarcus.

Welcome back to the SEC, Nick—that would be Saban, Alabama coach and Enemy No. 1.

And more importantly, welcome to a new era in LSU football.

By all accounts, the 2007 Tigers should be among the nation’s best. One pre-summer ranking listed LSU No. 2 in the nation, even though the Tigers lost a stunning four first-round NFL draft picks (Russell, LaRon Landry, Dwayne Bowe and Craig Davis).

They were the impact players who helped LSU go 11-2 in each of the past two seasons, the best start ever for a new coach. Now Les Miles enters his third season dealing with not only a new quarterback in Matt

Flynn, but having his remarkably successful predecessor—once loved on Bayou Lafourche—become his rival at Alabama, where he’s beloved on Bayou La Batre.

Nothing like a few delicious subplots to spice up a season.

Here are 10 more burning questions, controversies, mountains and molehills your average, diehard Tiger fan will be arguing about oh, say, until Christmas.

1. Can Matt Flynn handle the job?

At first glance, most definitely.

When Russell was injured at the end of the 2005 season, Flynn took over and directed the Tigers to an old-fashioned butt-kicking of Miami in the Peach Bowl. For his efforts he was named the game’s offensive MVP, and then given a seat on the bench.

That’s because Russell established himself last season as a great college quarterback, which is why he was taken first overall by the Oakland Raiders, and Flynn got to throw all of 20 passes in 2006 while playing in 10 games, mostly in mop-up time.

But Flynn, the 6-foot-3, 228-pound product of Tyler, Texas (remember Earl Campbell?), has never shown any reason to think he can’t handle the job. What has to be a concern is the loss of Bowe and Davis, who, between them, caught 121 passes for 1,826 yards and 16 touchdowns. But more on that later.

2. Is the schedule really that favorable compared to last year?

You bet your gator skins it is.

Last year, LSU went 11-2 and its only losses were at Auburn and Florida (the eventual national champion). You can also bet that those would have been victories had they been played in Tiger Stadium. Of course, every year is different. This fall the Tigers open the college season at Mississippi State on Aug. 30—a Thursday night—thanks to ESPN. Then they make their Tiger Stadium debut a little more than a week later against Virginia Tech, again on ESPN.

The good news about the schedule: The remaining road games are at Tulane, Kentucky, Alabama and Ole Miss. It will be shocking if LSU loses any of them. The better news: The remaining four toughest games on the schedule are at home, against South Carolina, Florida, Auburn and Arkansas. A bit of bad news to hard-partying LSU fans: Very few, if any, of those games will be at night.

3. Is Gary Crowton, the new offensive coordinator, a good replacement for Jimbo Fisher?

The thought here is yes—maybe even better. Fisher, now at Florida State, was a great offensive coordinator for LSU, and a tremendous teacher of quarterbacks. But Crowton, former head coach at Louisiana Tech and Brigham Young University and offensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears, is a think-outside-the-box football guy who loves a wide-open offense. He’ll put a product on the field that will score points and be exciting to watch (see sidebar, page 38).

4. Will all the off-the-field distractions hurt?

They can’t help. Miles seemed to play disciplinarian a little too often this off season with too many players running afoul of the law, most notably backup QB Ryan Perrilloux. More on him later.

It seemed as if the Baton Rouge-area media carried more stories about Saban and Alabama than LSU. And things were so out of kilter for LSU, even Mike the Tiger died. Championship football programs have good karma, but arrests are bad karma. LSU’s karma, at least since winning the Sugar Bowl, has been mixed.

Miles had another great recruiting year, and nothing is more important to your future than that. And Amanda Joseph, a Golden Girl who works in the Sports Information department, won Miss Louisiana. So things weren’t all bad.

5. OK, what about Perrilloux?

Yeah, what about him. He’s regarded as a super stud athlete, a high school phenom who broke his commitment to Texas to sign with LSU. Since then he’s pretty much said and done all the wrong things. But he’s got great talent, and LSU is an injured Matt Flynn from needing him. This isn’t intramurals and you don’t challenge for the national title without a really good backup QB. So Miles has laid down the law for the young man and now has to hope that he’s serious about his LSU career, that he uses better judgment and also stays out of casinos, which is what got him into the biggest trouble in the first place.

6. Does LSU really have such a great defense?

It should. It starts with Glenn Dorsey, a defensive tackle on everyone’s all-everything preseason lists. He’s one of eight starters back from a defense you could argue was the best in the nation last year, further validating Bo Pelini as one of the game’s best defensive coordinators. Among the players to watch for are linebackers Ali Highsmith and Darry Beckwith, and defensive back Jonathan Zenon.

7. Will the offense really score enough?

That may be the biggest unknown. You don’t lose Russell, Bowe, Davis and running back Justin Vincent without losing some ground.

But Flynn still has some good targets, not the least of which is Early Doucet, who caught 59 passes last year for eight TDs, all-purpose back Jacob Hester and potential big-time receiver Brandon LaFell. And the emergence of tiny but speedy Trindon Holliday, who may be 5 feet 5 inches but established himself during track season as one of the fastest men in the world, is no small thing. The biggest question on offense, however, is the line. Three starters return, led by the huge Herman Johnson (6 feet 7 inches, 351). How things go for the line may well determine how LSU goes this year.

8. What about special teams?

At first glance, you could be concerned that LSU lost Chris Jackson, who likely will punt in the NFL. But Patrick Fisher has been waiting a long time for this job, and he’s ready. Colt David returns as placekicker, and any team with Doucet and Holliday returning kicks and punts has a leg up on the opposition. Just as important is LSU’s effort on defense of punts and kickoffs, an area the Tigers have been very solid in the past few years.

9. Did Miles really drop an F-bomb on Alabama last February at the recruiting bash? Can Saban really turn things around at Alabama? What does his return really mean to LSU, the SEC and college football?

Yes, eventually, and a whole lot.

Even though you had to dig hard locally to find out about it, Miles didn’t hold back when talking about the Crimson Tide when he addressed the crowd at the bash. Saban’s presence obviously is no small thing to him. Nor at Alabama, where the Crimson Tide drew a remarkable 90,000-plus to their spring game, meaning the faithful are really fired up about Saban taking over—that, or there really isn’t anything to do in Tuscaloosa in the spring.

Either way, Saban’s departure from the Miami Dolphins and arrival at Alabama is good for Alabama, good for LSU (hey, you read this far), it’s good for the SEC and it’s good for college football. But don’t look for the man who coached LSU to its national title in 2003 to make that happen at Alabama. It’s a long way to the top of the SEC at this point and right now he’s second in his own state to Auburn, his top concern before worrying about Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina, Arkansas and LSU. Talk to me in five years to gauge his progress.

10. So, what will LSU’s record be?

Can LSU go unbeaten? Yes, but it’s not likely. There are simply too many ways to stumble in the toughest league in the land. The prediction here is 12-2. The Tigers will finish 11-1 in the regular season, lose to Florida in the SEC championship game, and then win a bowl game, making them an incredible 34-6 in three years, which will establish Miles as one of the top coaches in the game.

But it’s not a national title, so even such a lofty finish will leave his fans wanting.