LSU_4_LIFE
I'm just sayin....
Maybe I’m too excited, maybe my expectations were too high after the Texas game, but I was angry in that first half last night and at other points in the game. I Poured my drink a little stronger at halftime. I know it sounds crazy after a 65-14 win, but since it’s championships we’re after we have to always talk about getting better. Our coaches and players agree.
Concerns
Reasons (excuses)
Freak Out Meter
Positive
Concern: Lack of a pass rush. Only 1 sack against NWST and it came in garbage time against their backup QB.
Reason/Excuse: we were missing 3 starters up front and didn’t really bring many creative blitz packages that I can remember seeing. We came out a little flat which was to be expected after last weeks monumental win and didn’t take our opponent seriously.
Freak Out Meter: Not super high right now because of the missing players up front and the fact we sacked Sam Ehlinger 5 times in a tough game against a good o-line while Texas was getting away with blatant holds (fun fact, Texas only had 1 penalty going into the 4th quarter of that game). Also keep in mind we pretty much lost our DL coach prior to the start of the season. It’s possible these players could be getting over-coached on pass rush technique with the multiple coaches/opinions on staff. But to me, just push off the ball alone looks to be a real problem.
Positive: Our Run Defense looks suffocating. Which could be an irrelevant stat line because teams will be passing more against us due to knowing they have to keep up with our offense, playing from behind and trying to stay in a shootout. But none the less, it appears to be very difficult to move the ball on the ground against this LSU defense.
Concern: Pass Defense. Our zone coverage has been eaten alive. To be expected against an elite QB and great playcaller at Texas. But against NWST, it was alarming. Zero interceptions throughout the 1st 3 games and our all American safety has been pretty quiet. Not to mention, Missed tackles....
Reason/Excuse: Again, impossible to match last weeks emotion and intensity so we looked flat. The missed tackles last week by Delpit were not fun to watch and makes you question if he is looking ahead. I think our pass defense concern is a 5 part reason. 1) I think Aranda came into this season trying to get cute or as he called it “creative” with his defense. Trying to confuse offenses has in turn just confused our athletes with some of his coverages, or so it appears. 2) We’ve changed our entire style. We are not a ground and pound eat up the clock football team any more. Which means teams are being less conservative and more aggressive attacking us through the air and it’s going to take some getting used to. 3) A lot like #2, our defense is playing more snaps and getting more balls thrown at them. Obviously more passes means more opportunities for the offense to hit big plays and more snaps means more fatigue. 4) I think we are lacking a true captain out there. With Devin White gone and his replacement suspended 2 of our 1st 3 games we have yet to get in sync with a true leader at MLB. I’m ok passing the keys to Clark as he progresses. He is showing some real potential. 5) Back to concern #1, poor pass rush. This is what makes Clemson and Bama so dangerous. Their ability to get after the QB. I don’t care if it’s Texas or NWST. You give these QB’s and WR’s enough time, and someone somewhere on the field will get open.
Freak Out Meter: Again, not yet that concerned because of the missing players and lack of time we’ve had our starters on the field together. I think we have too much talent and too good a DC to not get this corrected.
Positive: We have 2 of the best CB’s in the country and an all American safety. If anybody can switch to man coverage and risk the big play, it’s LSU. It looked like Aranda made the switch back to man last night and it looked like it worked. Will staying in man beat us from time to time, yes, but it’s pick your poison so far with this secondary and poor pass rush.
Concern: Running Game / Push from the o-line. We haven’t busted a big run yet, and at time a have looked bad at getting a push off the line. Yards per game is not great nor is yards per carry.
Reason/Excuse: Missing some guys up front certainly doesn’t help (Charles, Ingram, Thomas). Also breaking in some young RB’s who know they’re splitting carries and are all looking for the homerun every time they get their limited chance at a carry has led to some bad decisions by our RB’s. Think back to old LSU. Unless it was Guice or Fournette we didn’t start gashing teams until late in games after we had been leaning and smashing on their front seven all night. We are no longer doing that. A lot of draws and delayed handoffs makes for either big gainers or no gainers really. Also, if you have noticed, defenses are still playing 7 sometimes 8 guys up close to the line of scrimmage like they always have against us, which is one reason our passing attack is shredding them up. At some point they have to back up and thats when we can run down hill. I’ll admit though, that dancing around looking for a hole shit won’t work come SEC play. Maybe, there has just been so much emphasis on throwing the ball, we haven’t put in the effort to design better run plays? Last reason it could be, is our line is trying to adjust from either a standard pass or run block technique to an RPO block technique knowing they can’t go too far off the line of scrimmage (like they did twice on TD passes against GaSo.). That will take some time to adjust and get used to. I’m not real sure on this one. Maybe I’m just spoiled as an LSU fan and used to smashing the run. Don’t confuse this as me bitching about us now passing the ball all over the yard. I’m thoroughly enjoying that.
Freak Out Meter: More worried about this than I am the defense improving and getting fixed.
Positive: I like the CEH/TDP 1-2 punch. I think Davis-Price showed last night he deserves more touches. But I hope we get to a point where we run the ball better and start hitting the holes faster. Stop the dancing around shit. We have only played 1 true test with our entire o-line on the field and it was a shootout type game. Also, we have the #1 RB recruit in the country parked in the garage. Lastly, we have rushed for 9 touchdowns this year, so all is not all lost.
If you read this far, I’m sorry. And you’ve discovered I’m a clueless hopeful fanatic.
Geaux Tigers
Concerns
Reasons (excuses)
Freak Out Meter
Positive
Concern: Lack of a pass rush. Only 1 sack against NWST and it came in garbage time against their backup QB.
Reason/Excuse: we were missing 3 starters up front and didn’t really bring many creative blitz packages that I can remember seeing. We came out a little flat which was to be expected after last weeks monumental win and didn’t take our opponent seriously.
Freak Out Meter: Not super high right now because of the missing players up front and the fact we sacked Sam Ehlinger 5 times in a tough game against a good o-line while Texas was getting away with blatant holds (fun fact, Texas only had 1 penalty going into the 4th quarter of that game). Also keep in mind we pretty much lost our DL coach prior to the start of the season. It’s possible these players could be getting over-coached on pass rush technique with the multiple coaches/opinions on staff. But to me, just push off the ball alone looks to be a real problem.
Positive: Our Run Defense looks suffocating. Which could be an irrelevant stat line because teams will be passing more against us due to knowing they have to keep up with our offense, playing from behind and trying to stay in a shootout. But none the less, it appears to be very difficult to move the ball on the ground against this LSU defense.
Concern: Pass Defense. Our zone coverage has been eaten alive. To be expected against an elite QB and great playcaller at Texas. But against NWST, it was alarming. Zero interceptions throughout the 1st 3 games and our all American safety has been pretty quiet. Not to mention, Missed tackles....
Reason/Excuse: Again, impossible to match last weeks emotion and intensity so we looked flat. The missed tackles last week by Delpit were not fun to watch and makes you question if he is looking ahead. I think our pass defense concern is a 5 part reason. 1) I think Aranda came into this season trying to get cute or as he called it “creative” with his defense. Trying to confuse offenses has in turn just confused our athletes with some of his coverages, or so it appears. 2) We’ve changed our entire style. We are not a ground and pound eat up the clock football team any more. Which means teams are being less conservative and more aggressive attacking us through the air and it’s going to take some getting used to. 3) A lot like #2, our defense is playing more snaps and getting more balls thrown at them. Obviously more passes means more opportunities for the offense to hit big plays and more snaps means more fatigue. 4) I think we are lacking a true captain out there. With Devin White gone and his replacement suspended 2 of our 1st 3 games we have yet to get in sync with a true leader at MLB. I’m ok passing the keys to Clark as he progresses. He is showing some real potential. 5) Back to concern #1, poor pass rush. This is what makes Clemson and Bama so dangerous. Their ability to get after the QB. I don’t care if it’s Texas or NWST. You give these QB’s and WR’s enough time, and someone somewhere on the field will get open.
Freak Out Meter: Again, not yet that concerned because of the missing players and lack of time we’ve had our starters on the field together. I think we have too much talent and too good a DC to not get this corrected.
Positive: We have 2 of the best CB’s in the country and an all American safety. If anybody can switch to man coverage and risk the big play, it’s LSU. It looked like Aranda made the switch back to man last night and it looked like it worked. Will staying in man beat us from time to time, yes, but it’s pick your poison so far with this secondary and poor pass rush.
Concern: Running Game / Push from the o-line. We haven’t busted a big run yet, and at time a have looked bad at getting a push off the line. Yards per game is not great nor is yards per carry.
Reason/Excuse: Missing some guys up front certainly doesn’t help (Charles, Ingram, Thomas). Also breaking in some young RB’s who know they’re splitting carries and are all looking for the homerun every time they get their limited chance at a carry has led to some bad decisions by our RB’s. Think back to old LSU. Unless it was Guice or Fournette we didn’t start gashing teams until late in games after we had been leaning and smashing on their front seven all night. We are no longer doing that. A lot of draws and delayed handoffs makes for either big gainers or no gainers really. Also, if you have noticed, defenses are still playing 7 sometimes 8 guys up close to the line of scrimmage like they always have against us, which is one reason our passing attack is shredding them up. At some point they have to back up and thats when we can run down hill. I’ll admit though, that dancing around looking for a hole shit won’t work come SEC play. Maybe, there has just been so much emphasis on throwing the ball, we haven’t put in the effort to design better run plays? Last reason it could be, is our line is trying to adjust from either a standard pass or run block technique to an RPO block technique knowing they can’t go too far off the line of scrimmage (like they did twice on TD passes against GaSo.). That will take some time to adjust and get used to. I’m not real sure on this one. Maybe I’m just spoiled as an LSU fan and used to smashing the run. Don’t confuse this as me bitching about us now passing the ball all over the yard. I’m thoroughly enjoying that.
Freak Out Meter: More worried about this than I am the defense improving and getting fixed.
Positive: I like the CEH/TDP 1-2 punch. I think Davis-Price showed last night he deserves more touches. But I hope we get to a point where we run the ball better and start hitting the holes faster. Stop the dancing around shit. We have only played 1 true test with our entire o-line on the field and it was a shootout type game. Also, we have the #1 RB recruit in the country parked in the garage. Lastly, we have rushed for 9 touchdowns this year, so all is not all lost.
If you read this far, I’m sorry. And you’ve discovered I’m a clueless hopeful fanatic.
Geaux Tigers
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