LSU and other sec programs
Guys, it's relatively simple. Look at our all time records against the top 4-5 programs in the SEC or just start at 1990 if that is more relevant to most of y'all.
The two correlations between those that consistently win or are competing for sec championships regularly are fan base size and support and $$$$/donations from boosters.
Until we realize this most here will continue to be disappointed on Saturdays against the upper echelon of the SEC.
We are LAST in just about every important athletic financial category. Why do we have success in baseball... we have a rabid college baseball fan base and we throw a ton of money at compared to what we do for football and basketball at scale.
Reason we are a top 10 college baseball program is facilities/fan base which allows us to attract solid coaches and even then we still saw big names pass on us.
Football we are either dead last or close to it in recruiting budget and our facilities are nice but they are still towards the bottom of the SEC. We struggle to pack out a 60k seat stadium for big games much less games that don't matter. We either don't have a large enough fanbase to draw a ton of booster money or our fans choose to spend their extra income elsewhere(which is fine, just don't be pissed when we get beat by a team that outspends us on the recruiting trail and in facility upgrades).
It seems as though most of our fans expect champagne results on a natty lite budget(no offense to those that drink natty, I like one every now and then) but we flat out don't have the money to consistently land legit difference makers on the field. Yes we field a solid team but we lack the 3-5 guys you need to push you over the top every year.
We don't have an elite pash rusher this year on the DL. We have a couple of solid WRs but none that will be 1st or 2nd round picks like a Crabtree. Will is a solid QB but not elite. Mark's and johnson are solid but not elite.
LSU still has several NFL guys on that roster and consistently bring in top 5-10 classes year over year.
We generally fall somewhere in the 25-35 range in recruiting and that's usually about where we end up every season. Honestly compared to the money we spend we overachieve in the SEC just about every year.
We are behind KY in recruiting spending. Let that sink in. We are 13th in what we spend on recruiting behind mizzou and KY. Ole miss outspends us and out fundraises us by a relatively wide margin.
Point blank, either donate more or quit expecting us to finish in the top 4-5 in the SEC. Until that happens we will continue to be a 5-7 to 8-4 team with the occasional 9 win season regardless of who is coaching us or what system they run.
Those that say Leach was a dumb hire, please tell me who has made a better hire that has the resources and fan support equivalent to us in the SEC. Florida--blue blood, LSU--blue blood, Auburn made what I would call a worse hire despite being a much better program, Texas a and m spent a pile on a guy that has been a bust so far. All of those schools far surpass our financial support some by over double. A and M pays their head coach alone more than we spend on a large majority of our entire football coaching staff.
I'm not being a Leach apologist, I don't know what I think about the hire at this point but I'm not dumb enough to think leach is the only thing keeping us from being a consistent SEC west champ or even consistently competing for an SEC west championship.
