How LSU football can prove they’re not a one year wonder

LSU football will have to prove in 2020 that their dominant 2019 season wasn’t a fluke.

Let me go ahead and get this out of the way — I don’t think LSU football’s incredible 2019 season was a fluke.

Do I think it’s likely the Tigers will dominate in that same fashion again in 2020?

No, I definitely don’t. They simply lost too much firepower from their 2019 squad.

But moving forward, I think LSU is a championship caliber program that will be a near-fixture in the College Football playoff for the foreseeable future.

I’m aware, however, that there are some folks around who don’t agree. Plenty of people think LSU’s magical 2019 season was the result of Joe Brady and Joe Burrow coming together to create the perfect storm.

And look, I get it. I understand why folks feel that way. LSU is only a few years removed from firing Les Miles. Ed Orgeron was mostly unproven as a head coach before the last couple of seasons. I understand why there are people who are skeptical that LSU is for real.

Just because I understand it, however, doesn’t mean I agree.

LSU has to prove to the masses in 2020 that they weren’t a one hit wonder in 2019.

But what does that look like?

The Tigers probably aren’t going 15-0 again in 2020. But I don’t think they need to go 15-0 to prove 2019 wasn’t a fluke.

I think the answer is somewhere around a 10 or 11 win season.

And that’s based mostly on looking at 2009 Alabama and 2010 Auburn.

Both of those teams were championship winning teams for the first time under their respective head coaches.

In 2010, a year after winning the championship, Alabama went a respectable 10-3. The Tide haven’t won fewer than 11 games in a season since 2010. I think it was obvious after 2009/10 that Alabama was going to be a force in the SEC for a long time to come.

Auburn, however, went the opposite way. They won a national championship in 2010 by going 14-0. Quarterback Cam Newton essentially carried that team (no one else on the offensive side of the ball for Auburn had much success in the NFL aside from Newton). In 2011, without Newton under center, Auburn went 8-5. Not a good sign for the future of the program. In 2012, Auburn went 3-9 (0-8 in the SEC) and Gene Chizik was out the door just two years after winning a ring.

It was apparent in 2011 that Auburn’s 2010 season was a fluke that was facilitated by the presence of Newton.

For LSU to prove they aren’t going down the same path, they need to win at least 10 games with Myles Brennan under center in 2020. If they win fewer than 10 games, the skepticism surrounding Coach O and the Tigers will only grow.

Of course, I don’t think LSU is winning fewer than 10 games in 2020. In fact, I already made some predictions for next season and I have the Tigers winning more than 10 games.

Ultimately, I think everyone in the country will realize that LSU’s 2019 run wasn’t a fluke.

But that has to be proved on the field first.