Preview Of The 2009-2010 LSU Fighting Tigers (Part 3 Of 3)

This is the final segment of my breakdown of the 2009-2010 LSU football team. This segment will cover anything not dealing with the offense and defense. It will include the coaching and schedule, plus the buzz around campus as the season approaches.

Coaches: Les Miles returns as the head coach, and has had to answer a lot of questions during this off season, from the quarterback situation to the soft defense, all eyes have been on the big changes happening for this upcoming season.

The biggest change on the coaching staff was obviously bringing in John Chavis as the defensive coordinator for the 2009-2010 season. Chavis has revamped and simplified a defense that was not very good in 2008.

Gary Crowton returns as the offensive coordinator for the Tigers, and has to help deal with the quarterback situation that was a mess in 2008. He does have some talent to work with, which was mentioned in the first part of this series.

Schedule: Every week, I will break down the team that LSU is playing that weekend, but for now I will just give a general overview of one of the toughest schedules in the country. The schedule starts off easy with a game against Washington in Seattle. They then open up the SEC schedule at home against Vandy, followed by the first in-state game of the year against ULL.

So far nothing special, but from here on the SEC schedule is brutal. The Tigers play back-to-back road games against Mississippi State and Georgia. Then LSU returns home for the biggest game of the college football year when the Florida Gators visit Death Valley on October 10.

LSU then has two more home games, the first is against Auburn (another tough game, that has been good over the last few years). This is the toughest stretch of the season for LSU. They then have a game against Tulane which is also in Tiger Stadium

LSU then travels to Tuscaloosa for the game that could very well decide the SEC West against Alabama. The final non-conference game brings Louisiana Tech to town, followed by a trip to Oxford and a game against the much improved Ole Miss Rebels.

LSU ends the season with the traditional game against Arkansas, but it has moved from its traditional Friday 2:30 slot, to a more standard Saturday game time.

This schedule is brutal for the Tigers, and they will be lucky to go 10-2 this season. Sorry Tiger Fans no National Championship this year.

Campus Buzz: The buzz on campus this year is incredible. Everyone is anxious for the season to begin and are looking forward to seeing a new and much improved LSU Tiger Football team. The Florida game is a hot topic, even now, tickets are gone, and you can expect another record crowd come October 10th.