LSU football: 5 questions Coach O’s LSU Tigers must answer in 2020

2. Does offense-defense balance return more prominently?

It was just hinted around the notion that the LSU offense is going to be worse than it was a season ago. The most optimistic outcome, however, is that the Tigers find a balance between the breakneck pace they were scoring at last season and the snail’s pace they often operated at in previous years.

But as that happens, that also necessitates the other side of the ball stepping up and reaching their previous form. The LSU defense has been on the decline over the past two seasons as they became more offensive-minded over the past two years. In 2017, the Tigers gave up 18.9 points per game (14th in the country). That rose to 21.8 points per game in 2018 (26th) and 21.9 in 2019 (32nd).

In the midst of all of the talent that the Tigers lost, they also lost former defensive coordinator Dave Aranda to the Baylor head coaching job. With him gone, that paved the way for the return of Bo Pelini, who coached that side of the ball from 2005-07. And with that, perhaps the LSU defense can get back to their former glory.

What’s clear is that, for this program to stay in the mix atop the SEC West and try to return to the College Football Playoff, LSU needs to find a balance between the offense and defense. They need to be able to score better than they were prior to last season but also play better defense than they did last season as well.