Les Miles always seems to make things interesting. His teams have been consistently exciting to look from week to week in college football. From his time at Oklahoma State and now with the Tigers in Baton Rouge, he just does things in his own unique style and way. It may not be the simplest, it may not be the most precise, but it will certainly be entertaining and make for some great football. It feels like he has had Zach Mettenberger as his quarterback for a long time, but Mettenberger has now graduated and onto the Tennessee Titans. Let's see how the Tigers did in 2013.
2013 LSU Tigers Season
LSU expects to compete for the title every season, so a 9-3 regular season really does go down as a disappointment. They did get the only win over Auburn in the SEC and they did so by two touchdowns. Losing to both Georgia and Ole Miss by field goals does not make anything feel any better. In addition, the Tigers had 3 road losses and an Outback Bowl victory over Iowa. However, the Tigers lost a great deal of players to the NFL this past season, so it will be interesting to see exactly who is returning to wear the purple and gold and if the Tigers have a chance to return to Championship status in 2014.
Offense
As previously stated, 3-year starter Zach Mettenberger is no longer on the team, but we did get a sneak preview of the starter to come in the Outback Bowl because Zach tore his ACL in the season finale against Arkansas. Sophomore Anthony Jennings from Marietta, Georgia started the Outback Bowl and went 7-19 passing for 82 yards and 0 touchdowns and 1 interception. He did rush for a touchdown though, which is something that Mettenberger never did all year. There are other quarterbacks ready to play though, so Jennings will have to elevate his game in order to keep throwing the ball for the purple and gold.
Another player that has made his way to the NFL is running back Jeremy Hill. He ran for over 1,400 yards and 16 touchdowns last season and was drafted in the second round by the Cincinnati Bengals. Filling his position will be the man who was second in the rotation last year, senior Terrence Magee. Magee ran for 626 yards and 8 touchdowns last year, but at 5' 9" 214 lbs, it is difficult to imagine that Magee will be the main one to carry the rock in the backfield. It would seem that senior Kenny Hilliard could easily be called in as a third down back and on goal line opportunities, since he is 6' 0" and 233 lbs. They should make for an excellent change of pace to one another and Hilliard recorded 310 yards and 7 touchdowns last season. Expect both of these men to do big things as they are not certain if the quarterback production will be as quality as it was last year.
Receiving duties take a major hit as Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry both went to the NFL. Beckham was selected in the first round by the New York Giants and Landry was selected in the second round by the Miami Dolphins. It is a pretty dire situation as they mainly used two wide sets last year. Sophomore Travin Dural had 7 catches for 145 yards and 2 touchdowns last year and he is the leading returning receiver. The only other returning player to catch a touchdown last year is fullback Melvin Jones. Junior Dillon Gordon could be a bigger weapon in the passing game as well, catching only 6 passes last year, but at 6' 5" 286 lbs at tight end, he could easily be the big red zone target that the new quarterback falls in love with. It will be tough to miss a target that big.
Defense
Senior Jermauria Rasco and junior Danielle Hunter are two men that are returning on the defensive line that should continue to have an impact this season. Rasco led the team in sacks last season with 4 and also led the team with 8 quarterback hurries. Hunter had one additional tackle to Rasco (57 tackles for Hunter) and had 8 for loss which was more than Rasco. They will continue to compete statistically as they will need to raise the bar defensively to make up for the absence of a large amount of the offensive talent that is no longer there.
Senior linebacker D.J. Welter is the best returning linebacker, as last year's leading tackler and middle linebacker Lamin Barrow was selected in the fifth round by the Denver Broncos. Welter did an excellent job last year getting 80 total tackles and 2 sacks. Welter is the main linebacker to return as they did not have a lot of quality behind him at the position last year, and it will be interesting to see who can rise up to help fill the shoes left open by Barrow.
Junior safety Jalen Mills is one of the most exciting players to return to the defense. Last year he had 45 solo tackles, highest on the team, and he also had 3 sacks and 3 interceptions. At 6' 1" and 189 pounds, he definitely could be someone to look to go to the next level in future years. However, he did have legal issues over the summer that may affect his playing time early in the season. He will joined by sophomore Tre'Davious White, who recorded 55 tackles at defensive back last year and also intercepted two of his own. In addition, he was also credited with 7 passes broken up and 9 more passes defended. He is 5' 11" and 177 pounds, so he is a speedy guy on the outside, which is just the type that gets coaches excited.
Special Teams
Some people just love seeing a long name on the back of a jersey, and all of those people love sophomore LSU placekicker Colby Delahoussaye. He went 13-14 on field goals and 56-57 on extra point attempts and will look to extend his long of 49 yards this coming season.
The junior from down under Jamie Keehn is back to handle the punting duties again for the Tigers. He punted 18 times inside the opponent's 20 yards line while only getting 4 touchbacks all season. The main thing to remember is he is not Brad Wing, who was the first player to have a touchdown called back because of celebration before he got into the end zone back in 2011. Keehn is also an Aussie, but they are definitely two different men.
2014 Season Outlook
There are just so many question marks about this team offensively where they are replacing every skill position player, and their returning quarterback has completed 7 passes, and leading returning receiver has caught 7 passes. Things could go well if they get everything together, or it could be rather rocky, but their 2014 schedule is below.
Circle the first game on the calendar folks. Playing a typically disciplined Wisconsin team at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, is definitely not opening your schedule very easily. If they can win that game, expect them to be 5-0 heading into October. From there, it is really just too early to tell exactly how well the Tigers will produce. Auburn wants revenge on them for last year and so does Florida. They do play Ole Miss and Alabama, they only two teams on their schedule who beat them last year, at home. That is a huge edge for the Tigers, but at College Station on Thanksgiving Day is another difficult game. Right now, it is best to project them at 8-4 this season, which could easily put Les Miles onto the hot seat in Baton Rouge.