welcome to The Sports Bank 77 in 77. We’re previewing one team a day everyday as the college football season approaches. And we’re doing it in rapid fire sequence. Today, the LSU Tigers
2011 was: a national title banner year-almost, they were the second to last team standing, only divisional rival Alabama was better
2012 will go smoothly if: the defense simply reloads and rebuilds as it returns just 4 starters. The D was among the best nationally in all the major categories, and quite a few are in the NFL now or will be soon. Also the OL returns pretty much in tact. The Tigers also have the best RB corps in the nation. There isn’t a one feature back All-American; just a solid committee.
2012 will be rough if: Had to move them down a couple spots because the honey badger Tyrann Mathieu will sit out the season after being kicked out of the program. The team’s best player is gone; which affects both the secondary and the special teams, especially the return game. new receivers, new starters all over the defense- plenty of question. But this is LSU, where the new guys stepping up are all top recruits
BMOC: all the dudes I mentioned plus the rest of the secondary, especially Thaold Simon and DE Sam Montgomery
All Name team: DE Barkevious Mingo, youll hear his name called on draft night
Bottom Line: 10-11 wins looks likely. They might be deserving of more, but it all depends on if they stay healthy at the positions where they have little depth. The loss of the Honey Badger hurts but another SEC title game could happen
All the 77s
#9 Florida
#19 Oklahoma State
#36 UCF
#40 Penn State
#45 Mississippi State
#47 Northwestern
#67 Southern Miss
#73 Kansas
#74 Maryland
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site generating millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Chicago Tribune.com, Fox Sports, Walter Football and Yardbarker
A Fulbright scholar and MBA, Banks has appeared on live radio all over the world; and he’s a member of the Football Writers Association of America, U.S. Basketball Writers Association, and Society of Professional Journalists. The President of the United States follows him on Twitter (@Paul_M_BanksTSB) You should too
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