Biggest Improvements, Week 1 until Week 2

LSU is lucky! Make no mistake about this. LSU survived a scare that may very well go down in LSU history as one of their all-time greatest comeback wins ever. The truth about college football is that teams make their biggest improvements after they get a game under their belts, between weeks 1 & 2. What improvements are needed? Here's a scorecard/commentary on the LSU play calling & positions!

Playcalling: Fisher performed fair at best, imo, and stubbornly chose to run on first down 75% of the time! Tennessee will eat LSU alive here if this does not change. LSU's passing occurred on 2nd & 3rd in long yardage situations, predictably. The "opening up" of LSU's passing game saw 34 passes in 77 plays. I expected more passing in this game, with at least 40 passes spread out among all eligible receivers. No TE ever saw the ball. Addai caught only 3 for some big yards, and he could have doubled that number of catches. Was LSU so sure of victory over ASU with this game plan that they never considered anything else? Was LSU "hiding their cards" and showing the SEC little of their passing attack? I doubt it, but we see against Tennessee. LSU will not have the success rushing against Tennessee that they did with ASU. QB stats aside, LSU rushed for 237 yards on 37 carries, at 6.5 YPA against ASU. Fisher's calls were predictable and conservative for the most part. LSU must pass more on first down against Tennessee early in the game, and focus on RB/TE passes more.

Head Coach: Miles led the crew to a victory in his first game as head coach. You can't ask for anything more from a coach, or can you? Miles hears the rumblings about the defense and will be hard pressed to ensure changes in the off week to give LSU a chance to beat Tennessee at home and keep its NC hopes alive and well.

Quarterback: Russell has earned the starting spot and cast aside any doubt that he is the man for this job. He has a 5-0 record as LSU's starting quarterback. He completed 16-of-29 passes or 55% for a career high 232 yards & 1 game winning TD to Early Doucet. The 16 completions were a career high. He led scoring two drives of 80 yards and one for 91 yards in the game. Most importantly, he threw zero picks. Russell must improve in three critical areas. 1. His completion percentage and stats? Sure, the WRs must learn to hold on to the FB, but Russell must improve his ability to spot open receivers, especially the RBs & TEs and improve his finesse on the short game. 2. Russell is not the most mobile QB & must learn to get rid of the ball and avoid horrific stats such as 7 rushes for negative 41 yards as most of these sacks will kill drives in upcoming SEC matchups. Lastly, he must hold on to the ball. That fumble in the red zone early in the game cost LSU points. All said and done, it's better to see him take the sack than throw a pick. He's growing up, and man what a finished product he'll be if he can stay healthy.

Runningbacks: Addai showed true senior leadership and cast aside any doubt that he is the man to lead LSU with Alley Broussard out. His 16 carry, 109 yard and two TDs performance against an ASU defense focused on run stopping was very good. Coaching did not overload any running back and spread the load of about 40 rushing plays among the three backs. Shyrone Carrie looked very solid in backup with 11 carries for 56 yards. Justin Vincent continued to underachieve & disappoint, logging only 31 yards on 9 carries. A bright point was Sky Green was great with that one long run of 40+ yards, hopefully a hint of things to come. Runningback play must continue to improve in Pass protection blocking, play action fakes, and fumbles as Addai lost 1.

O-line: Whitworth & Co. gave a solid opening game performance and were maulers on the left side in run blocking but pass support & protection could improve. Helms is young and it showed, costing LSU. Playing Arnold gives LSU an incredibly strong left side that would really beat the hell out of most defenses by quarter # 3. Johnson & Livings were sound on the right side, but I expected a little better play from them. Niswanger was a solid anchor at center and didn't screw up any snaps. Overall, a solid first game with decent chemistry among the starters. I expect to see Arnold starting against Tennessee.

WRs & TEs: gave a poor performance "early" by dropping several catchable passes that killed drives. Of the 13 incomplete passes, you could contribute most to the WRs & to youth, but even Buster dropped a couple. Overall, a rocky first game performance by the rookies showed much of LSU's inexperience yet they managed redemption in the end via a miraculous game-winning pass. The talent is there, along with big play ability. Everyone played and got their catches except Bowe & the TEs. Even Prude got into the act. When they did manage to catch the ball, they held on to it and didn't turn it over once, a good note. This WR corps must hold on to the FB in critical 3rd down situations. I expect that they will improve the most between the first and second weeks & we could see a higher percentage of completed passes against Tennessee including clutch 3rd down conversions & a better 3rd down conversion rate than 40%.

Special Teams: Chris Jackson & Pat Fisher with 60 yard punts & a 52 yard per punt average with 2 returns for 14 yards, David Colt 5 for 5 on extra points, two blocks with returns for TDs, zero costly turnovers, the true difference between victory and defeat. This is just a dream finally come true. It's amazing to KNOW our Special Teams are an asset, not a liability. Welcome to a new era of LSU FB, the biggest surprise.

Defensive Line: Claude Wroten, Kyle Williams, Melvin Oliver & Chase Pittman stopped the ASU rushing attack on 25 attempts for 99 yards. Wroten & Williams led the way and managed a few tackles for loss, pass breakups, and a game-winning blocked kick. Holding this passing team below 100 yards was solid, but I expected to see Karl Dunbar's squad stuff the run totally and provide a resemblance of pressure on Keller. It didn't happen. Neither did a single sack. While much credit is given to the performance of Keller for this stat, it was disappointing nonetheless. Backups Chaz Alexander, Tyson Jackson, Glenn Dorsey & even Pete Dyakowski saw action and logged tackles.

Linebackers: Cam Vaughn & Ali Highsmith led tacklers at LB, Spadoni had 2 & Hollis was hardly around. No sacks, no pressure, no tackles for loss, no picks, just a couple of QB hurries from the linebacking corps. The backups aside from Highsmith, he's really a starter, did not contribute in any way. Do you blame the coach for the new scheme or the execution of the players?

Defensive Secondary: Ronnie Prude was picked on & is perceived as a weakness in LSU's defense. He did lead the team in tackles, but was winded out there, having to defend on too many passing plays. ASU beat him on third downs too often. The rest Jessie Daniels, LaRon Landry & Chevis Jackson didn't fare much better in the new defensive scheme. Key easy picks early in the game were dropped. Fifty-six passes would test any secondary. ASU completed 35 of 56 or 63% for 461 yards. There were 4 TD passes, NO PICKS! LSU was toasted, pure & simple. Will other teams continue to pick on Prude? Yes. Will other teams throw up to 50 passes a game against LSU? Yes, likely!

Final Thoughts: Looking back, it's a notch in the "W" column. LSU learned a lot about itself as a team and showed a never quit toughness despite being toasted alive for a near school record of 560 yards. LSU will take the knowledge that they must improve dramatically on defense in the next 2 weeks to be prepared for Tennessee. LSU coaches & players know their weaknesses and know they must execute much better to remain on the field with the likes of Tennessee. The LSU offense takes its Lessons Learned & a week off to prepare for 1 of the toughest all-around defenses in America. Looking ahead to Tennessee, I expect Fulmer's game plan to include a defensive focus on shutting down Addai on first down. If LSU doesn't pass on first down & gets caught in 2 & 3rd with long yardage situations, it's going to be a long afternoon in Tiger Stadium. LSU drives can be kept alive by utilizing passes to RBs & TEs. LSU must execute on critical 3rd downs and continue to avoid interceptions. LSU cannot afford two fumbles against Tennessee, and that is especially in the red zone with a loss of scoring production. On offense, I expect Fulmer to run right at LSU first and then test the LSU secondary with short high % passes all day long & try to "OUT-DEFENSE" LSU for the victory. LSU LB corps must pick up the slack and provide pressure on an immobile Clausen and support the front four in rush dee. Clausen must be hit early, often, viciously and repeatedly about the face and head in this contest. The secondary must prevent Clausen from completing 3rd down passes all day long as Keller did. In the end, I expect LSU to win the game by virtue of its improved offensive pass attack and big play ability and the execution of special teams. LSU's Offense & Special Teams will likely have to carry the Defense until they begin to execute as a team, stop drives and gather in those easy turnovers.

:geauxtige

 

Too long, didn't read it. But I glanced at the part about running too much. wtf? We could have run the ball on every down until they stopped us. The game would have been shortened, and their O wouldn't have gotten the ball. I don't presume to tell the coaches what we should have done, they know more when they wake up than all of us will ever know...but we could have run for 400 yards and 40+ mins of possession if we had wanted to.

 

Exactly right. Don't stop running until the defense stops you. As long as you move the chains and put up points, keep running. (Although, I admit, the points weren't there, mostly due to dropped passes killing drives.)

 

One part about Ronnie Prude. I wish he would stop the trash talking and start showing it on the field. It really looks bad when you start shaking your head and acting like you are something with a Ray Lewis Deon Sanders clone and then get picked apart for the game and then in betweeen plays you start trash talking. That is one part I miss about our past defenses. Just get up and get to the huddle this aint Miami.

 

Very doubtful, and like you admit, you don't presume to tell the coaches what we should have done. LSU could not have beaten ASU simply by running the FB. They would have eventually put 8 or 9 down to stop the run and done so. The passing attack and threat of the pass and Jimbo's play selection kept ASU honest. In the end, that wasn't even enough. It was two special teams miracles that propelled LSU to the win. There's a valuable lesson to be learned in this game.

 

To be accurate about the TE situation, on the play JR fumbled the ball, he was looking in the direction of two players. The one furthest away and closest to the end zone was David Jones, and the closer one was Jacob Hester. I would tend to assume he was throwing to Jones because he had only one person around to tackle him. I too would love to see the TE used more with our talent at the position, but it was nice to see our FB Hester used too for at least one play.

 

Teams also are going to zero in on JRs "immobile" tendencies. I would even like to see Jimbo have MF & RP substitute in at QB for special plays and make defenses pay for attacking the pocket. They wouldn't know what hit 'em until the scoreboard lit up. RP is also a serious weapon and should be used at the RB position on pitchouts and halfback passes.

 

The game winning TD as well as several first down plays were made because JR rolled out successfully to evade the pressure. Especially since he dropped all that weight, he has quite enough ability to move around in the pocket.

 

Can RP walk on water to ? :dis:

JR is FAR from immobile. He is more of a pocket passer. He looks to hang in the pocket and pass first and only runs when he has to, or the play calls for it. I rather that than a QB who looks to run the second his 1st receiver isn't open.

 

Well, when JR can learn to hit a TE, back or third receiver before the pressure gets him, I guess he'll keep from getting sacked and posting Jason White type negative yardage like he did in the ASU game. What did Keller's numbers look like? It's obvious JRs 4.8 speed won't get him out of trouble, thus he earns the title of being immobile, or better yet, a "pocket" passer, if you prefer.