I am actually fairly impressed with our D. There is a great article this morning in the Advocate about the experimentation going on leading up to SEC play. It explains a lot about the lack of continuity at some stages of the game. I am excited to see how the "regular season" D plays. Here are a couple of quotes from the article with a link: "Against Alabama-Birmingham and Kent State, the sixth-ranked Tigers turned the second quarter into a laboratory, testing conditions for different personnel groupings at the second level. Roughly half of the total yardage and 27 points allowed in those victories were ceded over that same span, a time when up to eight linebacking combos were slapped together and saw reps." and "The Blazers’ first scoring drive, which came in a second quarter in which LSU allowed 182 yards, in a 56-13 loss is a microcosm of the Chavis’ approach. Out of his eight sets of linebackers, the trio of Alexander, Louis and Barrow saw the most snaps — and that was a total of five." http://theadvocate.com/sports/lsu/7083271-123/even-mistakes-help-lsu-develop
This is how I've been seeing it. If Chavis needed to, he probably could have shut both UAB and Kent St. down, but he treated them like the preseason games that they were. He tinkered. He experimented. He found out what different people can do in different situations. You have to know what you've got before you can use it effectively. He'll have the best 22 lined up in the right spots starting this weekend, and we'll see a rapid improvement in all phases of the defense. This is where he makes his millions.
I'm not so sure if I'm right or not after looking at the depth chart for this weekend. It looks like Collins and Welter are staying in their starting positions, and Hunter is in a backup role behind Allen. Shouldn't those two be on the field at the same time?
I'll risk my neck here. If we had to lose Chavis (and I don't want to at all), I'd want Kirby Smart as his replacement. I actually credit Bama's defense more to him than to Saban. The guy is pretty damn good.
I don't know if you're giving credit where it's due at Bama. It was widely rumored that Saban was our defensive coordinator at LSU, and Muschamp was really only DC in name. Is it any different with Smart?
I know that's what is said ... but is it any surprise that Muschamp coaches a pretty damn amazing defense and knows ... well fucking NOTHING about offense? Even negatigers would prefer Les Miles as the OC than Muschamp.
