Emulating 2019 LSU
No one wants to do it at the higher levels, but that could change in the future.
There have been MULTIPLE years since LSU won in 2019 in which the college football champions were immediately held up among the greatest modern or all-time champions. The 2020 Alabama Crimson Tide absolutely steamrolled everyone (except Florida) and got some attention as being perhaps an all-time great squad. This last Georgia run of repeats has also drawn comparisons to LSU’s achievement.
It’s all nonsense, for the record.
Georgia nearly had their goose cooked by Ohio State in 2022 and were virtually helpless against Alabama when the Tide were healthy at receiver in 2021. The 2019 Tigers would have obliterated them without too much effort.
None of those teams really emulated what made LSU so great, which was the Marine Corps “every man a rifleman receiver” versatility on offense which allowed them to overwhelm teams with the passing game.
It’s a very difficult thing to emulate for several reasons, not the least of which is “well, Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase were really freaking great.” They were, and are, really freaking great. But stacking elite talent at wide receiver has NEVER been easier in the college game. If you can’t find a great player in camps who’s been developed to hone his athleticism into finely-tuned route-running then you can always scout one later from the lower levels and poach them through the transfer portal.
We’ve seen other teams build great receiving corps. The 2020 and 2021 Alabama Tide had elite receivers and Ohio State has been on an unbelievable run there over multiple seasons. Basically since they fired that clown Urban Meyer was protecting.
What’s happened isn’t that teams have been too shy to prioritize receivers. It’s been that they’ve opted for easier paths to offense than the LSU method.
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