What a time to be alive.
LSU rebounded from a lackluster 2014 season with its first win of the 2015 season coming on the road against a Southeastern Conference team led by senior quarterback Dak Prescott, who used the 2014 LSU defense as a whipping post.
But the Tigers took it to another level Saturday against Auburn with a 45-21 victory in a game where the outcome was never in doubt. If Saturday’s game taught me one thing, it’s that LSU is a legitimate championship contender.
After sharing that sophomore defensive tackle Davon Godchaux commented on how talented the Tigers are in the halftime locker room, LSU coach Les Miles danced around questions about his team. But he finally gave in, saying he thinks it is more well-rounded than the 2011 team that made it to the Bowl Championship Series National Championship Game and finished the season 13-1.
Minutes later, sophomore running back Leonard Fournette was giddy when speculating what the team can accomplish this year.
Speaking of Fournette, he did a “BUGA” thing. You know, he just ran for a career-high 228 yards, adding three touchdowns and flattening at least 10 Auburn defenders before being pulled with 20 minutes left in the game.
But everyone knew what Fournette was capable of. Just ask former Texas A&M defensive back Howard Matthews, who still wakes up in cold sweats after Fournette put him on his highlight reel last season.
What I’ve been most impressed with the past two weeks is sophomore quarterback Brandon Harris’ ability to manage the game. The numbers next to his name in the box score haven’t been sexy, but Miles appreciates more than anything the number of turnovers Harris has this season — zero.
For a young quarterback who lost all confidence last year, he looks exceptionally comfortable behind center. He is improving each week, and I think he is good enough to lead this team to the playoffs.
Granted, we haven’t seen Harris in a late-game, pressure situation yet. But wait — we have.
Remember when he replaced Anthony Jennings in the third quarter against Mississippi State, throwing for 140 yards and two touchdowns and almost completing the comeback? That Harris is still there and dying to come out as soon as Miles lets him sling the ball.
Harris will prove his abilities through the next five games, when LSU will trounce Syracuse and other vastly over matched teams.
The Tigers’ next conference game is against South Carolina, which will put up a fight and be a light test simply because it’s SEC vs. SEC, but the Tigers should have no problem putting the Gamecocks to bed.
LSU will beat Florida and Western Kentucky at home before facing a four-game SEC stand.
First, LSU will play Alabama on the road, followed by Arkansas at home, Ole Miss in Oxford, Mississippi, and Texas A&M at home.
Arkansas is lost with senior running back Jonathan Williams out for the season, and it showed the world by losing to a Lance Moore-less Toledo and Texas Tech at home.
Texas A&M is the only team that might cause trouble in Baton Rouge, but I’m not as high on sophomore quarterback Kyle Allen as some pundits. And let’s face it, there is no chance a game gets rained out and LSU loses a night game at Death Valley in the same season.
The only games I’m concerned about are in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Oxford, Mississippi. But I’m exponentially less scared of Alabama after watching it lose to Ole Miss, 43-37, on Saturday.
The Crimson Tide is in the same situation LSU was last year. Both senior quarterback Jake Coker and sophomore quarterback Cooper Bateman looked suspect against a Rebel defense that doesn’t quite measure up to LSU’s, and junior running back Derrick Henry is a Heisman Trophy candidate, but he can’t beat LSU by himself.
It doesn’t feel right saying Ole Miss is LSU’s biggest threat in the SEC West, but it’s true, and the Rebels proved it by beating Alabama in T-Town on Saturday. The Rebels certainly will want revenge for LSU fans rushing the field on them last season, and their mammoth receivers are the best chance they have. It will be DBU vs. three starting receivers who are at least 6 feet 2 inches tall.
But in his last three games dating back to last season, Fournette has run for more yards each game. If that holds true through the Nov. 21 meeting, Fournette will likely gouge the Rebel defense for more than 400 rushing yards.
If the Tigers can make it out of their SEC stand alive, they will have no problem beating whichever cupcake SEC East team they would face in the SEC Championship game, be it Georgia , Missouri or Tennessee.
After that, anything is possible in the playoffs.
I’m not saying LSU will finish the regular season undefeated, win the SEC Championship and go to the playoffs. But I am saying this team is good enough that it’s in the realm of possibility.
But if it turns out I’m dead wrong, season four of The Anthony Davis Show starts Oct. 27.
Jacob Hamilton is a 20-year-old political science junior from Slidell, Louisiana. You can reach him on Twitter @jhamilton_TDR.