A team that plays defense and does not rely on the other teams unforced mistakes to win. That is how I see the LSU game. LSU - great offense, average defense = good team.
I knew our defense was subpar so them moving the ball and scoring was not a surprise. Granted I did not expect 46 points. If you say LSU is a great team then you have to also say Bama is. Bama's 2nd half was basically a mirror of LSU's first half. To me Bama is good but not great only because of their elite offense but the Defense drags us down. Same way with LSU.
Except LSU has done it to opponents all year. LSU can't help errors on Alabama's side, but capitalizing on those errors is key. The only unforced error was the fumble by Tua. The punter mishandling the snap was not unforced, the interception was not unforced. The game environment caused those two. That's on us, LSU made the plays happen. And they held our offense to 13 points in the first half while giving their offense the ability to get up 20 points at Half. LSU has relied on turnovers to beat Auburn and Florida. Holding solid teams to 20 and 28 points these days is tough. The days of holding teams to 10 points per game in a season is gone.
I know I come across as some kind of fan of LSU, but I'm not. I can just admit a good team when I see them. I don't think there is a "great" team out there this year personally, but LSU has shown to be the best so far. I clearly see on this forum that people hate just to hate without any real logic. It happened last year when I said they were a good team and it's still happening after they quite frankly, kicked our ass for most of the game. They have stepped up to a difficult schedule and passed every test they have taken. You fault their defense, well their defense has made enough stops to keep them undefeated, and kept them far enough ahead of us so that our come back attempts fell short.
To answer your question, I think we are a good team as well. We have the top offense in the country in my opinion. The problem is our defense is behind LSU's. Only a fool would have us outside the Top 4. I think we drill Clemson, Georgia, Minnesota, Baylor, Utah, and Oregon. Oklahoma, Ohio State, and LSU are toss ups to whether I think we can beat them in the Natty. LSU earned their #1 ranking, and beat a team that you, me, and a lot of others thought couldn't be outscored. At some point you have to give LSU props for navigating their schedule to this point.
