Loaded question: What's missing for LSU to win?

Only three.

"One of them is on offense,'' Miles replied. "One of them is on defense and the other is special teams.''

Nice try. You won't find a college coach from Southern Cal to Miami offering any sympathy for Miles in his move from Oklahoma State to LSU.

The Tigers are loaded. For good reason they were the overwhelming pick to win the SEC West title in SEC media days voting.

"I don't think that there will be limitations based on talent,'' said Miles, who replaces Nick Saban. "It will be based on other variables.''

Such as a rugged schedule, for instance. However, Tennessee, Auburn and Florida all have to come to Baton Rouge, where the Tigers have won their past 10 games.

Speaking of 10, that's how many returning starters LSU has on offense. Even that doesn't tell the whole story.

The tailbacks are stacked four deep.

Alley Broussard rushed for 867 yards and 10 scores last year. Joseph Addai rushed for 680 yards and caught 26 passes.

Justin Vincent hopes to regain his 2003 form when he rushed for 1,001 yards and 10 touchdowns. Then there's scatback Shyrone Carey.

The receiving corps? Even better.

Craig Davis caught 43 balls last year and doesn't start. Dwayne Bowe, 2004's breakout receiver, is a strong 6-foot-3 target.

Speedster Skyler Green is the most dangerous of the bunch when healthy. Or maybe Amp Hill or Early Doucet would challenge that claim.

World-class sprinter Xavier Carter can stretch the defense if nothing else.

"There's a group of them that can get down the field,'' Miles said.

The line returns intact since All-SEC tackle Andrew Whitworth passed on the NFL draft and center Rudy Niswanger postponed medical school. There's one glaring fix to be made -- allowing an SEC-high 33 sacks last year.

Bottom line, all the ingredients are in place for a quarterback to have a gangbusters season.

No word yet on whom that quarterback will be.

If anything held LSU's offense back last year it was uneven play at quarterback, where freshman JaMarcus Russell started the season, lost out to Marcus Randall and then got the last word with a big finish in a bowl loss.

Randall's gone. It's Russell's job to lose but he hasn't locked anything up yet.

Sophomore Matt Flynn had some strong moments in the spring. Heralded recruit Ryan Perrilloux has designs on winning the job sooner rather than later.

"Any quarterback that's under center will get the job done,'' said the diplomatic Addai. "I don't feel like it's a situation.''

The situation Miles prefers is identify the best man and give him the ball.

"But we're going to let that competition take place and look at all three quarterbacks,'' he said.

On defense, there are plenty of guys back from a unit that ranked third in the nation. The tackle tandem of Kyle Williams and Claude Wroten is formidable.

Free safety LaRon Landry is a preseason All-SEC pick. Both corners are gone but Colorado transfer Sammy Joseph will lock down one side.

The past few years, the defense was Saban's turf. Miles, who has an offensive background, brought in as his defensive guru Bo Pelini, who spent nine years in the NFL, one at Nebraska and last year at Oklahoma.

"We're going to look for takeaways,'' Miles said, "and ball-hawk and create a culture in which that is a daily occurrence.''