Tigers on the Rebound

Let's start this post with a belated National Championship prediction. As of now, there is 9:47 left in the first half with Florida leading 21-14. My pre-game prediction made about a month ago for the bowl pool I'm in had Ohio State winning this game 35-24. Not looking so hot right now, and we all know Florida's kicking game bleauxs, so it looks like my score will be wrong.

And now an apology about not getting started on that Sugar Bowl post soon enough, I just figured I'd let it go. But we all enjoyed watching Brady Quinn run for his life, at least I did.

My subject today is how LSU will rebound from two major losses it has suffered in the past two days, with starting QB JaMarcus Russell choosing to enter the NFL draft and forgoing his senior season, and today's announcement of offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher taking the same position at Florida State.

Let's talk about Russell first, since it's a pretty simple situation. There was little doubt that Russell would declare for the draft after his tremendous performance against Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl, especially with Russell providing little doubt with his postgame comments. And it's a good time for him to go. While I don't doubt that LSU would be highly considered to contend for a championship--and Russell for the Heisman Trophy--if he stayed another year, but consider what would happen to his draft status should he have an off-year or should his O-line or receiving corps have an off-year. Dwayne Bowe and Craig Davis both used up their eligibility, so Russell would have to nurture an unfamiliar receiving corps lead by Early Doucet. We saw what happened to Matt Leinart, a Heisman winner, who dropped to 10th overall in the draft even after playing in an all-time classic National Championship game against Texas.

It's a better situation for Russell to go ahead and get in the draft, especially with so many high-pick teams needing quarterbacks. Do I think he's ready to be a starting QB in the NFL? Not particularly. But I'll reserve comments on JaMarcus' draft status for my next football post.

Ryan Perilloux has to be thrilled that JaMarcus left. As you recall, he was redshirted his freshman year and didn't get into action, so he'll be a sophomore heading into next season. You have to give senior-to-be Matt Flynn the edge in the battle for the starter position. Perriloux's scant in-game experience hasn't allowed him to pass much at all, and Flynn's proven he can win at the college level with that blowout of Miami in last year's Peach Bowl. Look for Flynn to get the nod, but also for Perilloux to be thrown into the mix with some trick plays and formations, and possibly given the helm in certain situations.

Let's get to the coordinator position. Jimbo Fisher has been with LSU since 2000 and headed the tutelage of several great college QBs, including Russell, Matt Mauck, Rohan Davey and Marcus Randall, been a big help to recruiting and helped lead LSU to a BCS National Championship in 2003. Known more for his passing offenses, he's no shab with the run either: LSU led the SEC in rushing yards in 2004, averaging just under 200 rushing yards per game with three standout backs in Alley Broussard, Justin Vincent and Joseph Addai (LSUsports.net).

I'm not sure why Fisher would leave the LSU program at this stage, since we're having great recruiting and we've got a good enough home schedule next season to contend for the national championship (which I'll talk about in yet another post). Perhaps its a combination of Russell leaving and the opportunity to coach under Bobby Bowden presenting itself. Fisher directly stated the latter as a reason for leaving LSU in the news.

Les Miles has stated he'll immediately begin searching for a replacement, so I figured I'd help him out. I'll toss a few candidates out there and see how they fit.

Let's start with Louisville's Paul Petrino, brother of the recently departed Bobby Petrino. The latter just left Louisville for the Atlanta Falcons one year into a ten-year contract extension (yet another thing I'll talk about in a later post, and that's honoring contracts). There's little reason to expect the Cardinals to give Paul their head coaching position. Unless the Falcons let Bobby bring Paul in to be a coordinator, which I don't see happening, then let's take a look at Paul. Good balanced offense at Louisville, can work with quarterbacks AND running backs and won't be too expensive. His Louisville offense was the best in the nation in 2004. Paul Petrino has drawn interest from Alabama, so getting him would also block a conference rival from getting their main.

While we're at Louisville, let's take a look at QB coach Jeff Brohm. A former NFL player who helped tutor his youngest brother Brian Brohm into a great QB at Louisville. If Brohm declares for the draft, it will be easier to pry Jeff Brohm away. He'd be a good person to mentor Matt Flynn, Ryan Perriloux and any upcoming recruits for LSU.


Another guy to look at out there in the college realm is Wisconsin coordinator Paul Chryst. Rumors have him being linked to the Minnesota Golden Gophers head coaching position, with close ties to their AD. There's no reason to believe he wants to come down south, but he's had two stints as Oregon State's offensive coordinator in addition to his two years at Wisconsin and three years as the San Diego Chargers' tight ends coach. "The 2005 Badgers set school records for points scored in a season and for season scoring average. UW scored at least 40 points six times in 2005 (Wisconsin athletic site). He was also important to the emergence of QB John Stocco, who set school records for passing yards, TDs and completions in Chryst's first year.

Looking internally, you have to consider Offensive Line coach Stacey Searels, who is a Nick Saban staff holdover. 2006 was his fourth season with LSU. He knows how to operate a run offense as well as provide blocking, excellent blocking, for a quarterback. His 2002 Cincinnati O-Line helped the Bearcats produce nearly 400 offensive yards per game, leading Conference USA, and has produced several All-American linemen here at LSU, including Stephen Peterman and Andrew Whitworth (second team All-American). He'll be relatively inexpensive and knows the Les Miles system.

Additionally, RB and assistant head coach Larry Porter is a big consideration, coming over from Oklahoma State. He obviously is a Les Miles man and knows the system, and has had obvious success with Joseph Addai and Alley Broussard before he was injured. In terms of momentum, however, I'd feel that Searels has more than Porter, since the run game never clearly emerged this season. This was also Porter's first season as assistant head coach.

And finally I'll throw a dark-horse candidate out there without any legitimacy whatsoever: Tennessee Titans' Offensive Coord. Norm Chow. Why not?

My pick for the position at this point in time is Paul Petrino of Louisville. I think the offensive force he put together at Louisville was very impressive. He's a balanced guy and at this stage in the game, with a new quarterback emerging, he'd be a key asset to grooming him into what we expect out of a QB.

In closing I'd like to applaud Ohio State University's marching band for making a mockery of the Titanic disaster. All of the disasters' survivors are dead, but I'm sure countless adolescent Leonardo DiCaprio fans everywhere and Celene Dion are now in tears.