Less drama at LSU? by Joey Martin - posted Wednesday, September 19th, 2012 @ 11:29 am  E-mail Story |  Print Story  The bad news, there's more drama this year. The good news, there's more drama this year. It seems as if LSU's football team cannot thrive without drama. OK, OK, nothing like last year when the starting quarterback sat out the first part of the season and came back and accomplished about as much as he did when he was out, or the suspension of three top players for failing drug tests. But still, losing your best offensive lineman for most of the season with an injury (wait, that happened last year), or losing your Heisman Trophy candidate for repeated drug test failures. And then, inebacker Tahj Jonesis one of four players academically ineligible for the season. Linebacker D.J. Welter, tight end Tyler Edwards and offensive lineman Evavn Washington are the other players who are ineligible. Sophomore defensive end Jordan Allen is gone this year because of an injury against Washington. Les Miles must hate walking into his office and listening to his voice mail messages in the morning. Miles is one of the top recruiter in the nation. It's a good thing he is. Maybe Nick Saban knows what he is doing by signing more players than allowed. Miles may need to use that. "Hey' we'll grayshirt you, and you can be ready to go when the first person is kicked off the team. And you'll be able to play right away because of injuries." All the drama just makes it tougher to predict what the future holds for this LSU team. For most Tiger fans, the future means November 3 when Alabama comes to town. But with the thinning down of players, the road games at Auburn, Florida and Texas A&M are not the gimmees they appeared to be before the season. I know Auburn is down, but one only needs to take a lot at the crazy things that have happened in this series to know anything can, and usually does, happen. Playing in the Swamp can be difficult if the opposing team does not take the crowd out of the game early. Same can be said for Kyle Field. To me, one more serious injury to a top starter or some other drama puts a bigger kink in the armor. I hated the cupcake schedule in September before the season, but it just may be a blessing now. Zach Mettenberger definitely needed the fine-tuning and Stephen Rivers needed to see some action (actually needed to see more action than he has been allowed). LSU looked unbeatable at this time last year. I'm not getting that same feeling this year. LSU may not miss Mathieu the player, but I think they definitely miss Mathieu's contagious swag. Time will tell, especially the month of October. Maybe Miles can put his phone on vibrate until then. v