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I really wish this^ were true. But I'm afraid that the next few years will prove just how important Burrow was to our success.I disagree. Not taking anything away from Joe Burrow because he's a really good QB and his combination of accuracy, leadership and drive will make him successful at the next level.
The difference between the offense of old and this year's offense has less to do with Burrow than most of us think. The offense we were running involved running the ball then play action off the run. This can be successful at every level of football but it was never going to be overly successful at LSU because it was simplified below the standard of High School football. I'm not kidding when I say that. The offense we ran in High School in the 90's was more complicated than the offense LSU was running under Les Miles. I understand Les' idea that you run the ball, use your superior level of talent and wear teams down. It worked against everyone except teams that could match your talent level which is why we couldn't beat Bama. The LSU offense ran the ball so much it struggled with pass protection, they just weren't experienced enough. The QB struggled to wait for his receiver/s to come open. LSU's offense literally ran 1-2 man routes consistently. This means you have 1-2 guys that run routes, 1-2 guys the defense has to cover. If they weren't open immediately then this leaves an inexperienced QB behind shaky pass protection 3 options. Take a sack, run or force the ball. Those are the 3 options every defensive coordinator in college football tries to put opposing QB's into and the LSU offense was doing it for them. They just had to stop the run.
So now that the QB's are being in the worst possible position to succeed they looked really bad. This makes the coaches trust them less and try to protect them more. To them, this meant run the ball more and simplify the offense by max protecting and only giving the QB 1-2 reads more often. It was literally a self fulfilling prophecy. LSU's biggest problem under Les Miles is they recruited too good with an incredible home field advantage. If you can run the ball and play good defense you will win a lot of games. In the NFL you can win a lot of games but it takes a rare generational type of defense to make Super Bowl runs without a passing game because the talent parity of all 32 teams. LSU could get away with it because they held a talent and depth advantage over every single team they played, except one. That one team exposed LSU over and over again.
By default, LSU was playing for second place every single season. One of the biggest travesties in college football history will forever be the 2011 LSU team not winning a National Championship. You could take that roster, put it in place as a expansion team in the NFL and with just the draft and free agency period they could be a winning team. That's how talented they were.
The new philosophy is quite simple. Spread the field and use that talent advantage to expose the opposition. We have the deepest WR group I've ever seen. I don't think anyone is going to realize just how talented we are at WR right now for a few more years but we'll look back on this group in 5-6 years and realize we have 7 WR's on the roster that will play on Sunday. Most teams hope for 1. We spread defenses out and give the QB a plethora of reads. While it's more complicated it allows him the chance to succeed instead of set him up for failure. You give him a quick read, you give him a deep read, you give him 2 safety valves and you give him options at ever level of the defense. Next, you give him experience by throwing the ball, a lot. Repetition and practice allows the offensive line to play better, the QB to get more confidence, understand what defenses are trying to do and gives him options when things go bad. If they go bad, then make some lemonade by getting the ball to your RB or TE and get ready for the next play instead of take a sack or force the ball into coverage. It doesn't take a Brees or Brady to do this when your WR's are as talented as LSU's group. It doesn't take the #1 QB recruit in the country, it doesn't take someone that can throw the ball through the uprights from midfield while on his knees. It takes a QB that has some brains and an is accurate passer. There are dozens of those guys that come out of High School every year that aren't even highly recruited because every other school is busy looking for a guy that can run a 4.3 and throw the ball over those mountains.
If LSU can build a defensive line over the next couple years we could put together quite a run after Burrow.
I'm really hoping that you are right and I am dead wrong. I want more of what we've seen this year. A LOT more!
