Good post.We have not been very good for so long, some of us are having trouble excepting the fact we are much improved. While I wish our defense was elite, I have to admit it has improved over last year's defense. The key to winning is simple, score more points than the other team. Make no mistake about it. We have an elite Offense. Georgia won the NC last year because their Defense was elite. It made up for a lackluster offense. Our Offense can make up for some of the weakness in Defense. I don't think that any team in the country would jump at the chance to put everything on the line against us. They know they can score points against us, what scares them is, can they score enough to win? I think we have earned out place in the TOP 10. JMHO
In this era of CFB especially, I think it is better to have an elite O than an elite D. UGA was the anomaly. Even Saban recognized it a few years ago. LSU can beat UT. However IMO one of the things that strongly favors UT is that O is the strength of UT while D is the strength of LSU. A team dependent on D has to hope for turnovers like Auburn gave up late in order to make a come back. A team with a great O can fall behind and then come back like UT did vs UF and especially Pitt. Then all you need is the D to get stops or FG's.