The season opening loss looks like déjà vu all over again from 2020. All of the same issues reared their ugly heads: - Offensive line couldn't block (Johnson was running for his life all night) - No running game - Too many missed/dropped passes - Defense looked horrid due to lack of communication, particularly on crossing routes - Poor tackling (even Stingley whiffed on play resulting in a UCLA TD) - Coach O with the same "coach-speak" response following the loss I would like to believe the hurricane factored into the poor play, even though Boutte said it didn't. The team's entire prep for this game was disrupted, and perhaps they were overconfident. I certainly didn't expect a UCLA team to be that good. What now? Does this loss put Coach O on the hot seat? Can he fix these problems? LSU should win the next two games handily and I expect to see improvement before conference play starts. If the Tigers don't improve, I am having difficulty envisioning a successful season. Many of us thought this was a 9 or 10 win team. Right now I am hard-pressed to find 6 wins.
In short, nothing has improved from 2020. Yes Coach O is on the hot seat. We will see if he can fix it, but I’m not confident he will. He’s done nothing to show that he can. I think the team finishes 6-6 or 7-5 winning a game we’re not supposed to. Maybe we can sneak up on someone. It’s weird, going from the Hunted to the Hunter. We sit at the kid table in the SEC with Arkansas and Mississippi State now. Thanks Coach O!
I think y’all might be being generous with the win total. Based on what I saw last night, we might only beat Vandy in conference. Might. What an awful game, with the analysis above being correct. I also saw this team would be better, but there are clearly structural problems with line play. And how do we all of a sudden not have a running game after about what, 25 years?
There is a culture problem inside that football building. This program is in trouble. Woodward has work to do. 5-6 people. 5-6!
The lack of a running game is a serious concern, for sure. For years, we could barely complete a forward pass, and now, we can't run the ball. The defense also choked. Stingley was not great. Hadn't he been injured? He certainly didn't look 100% well.
For a Sr laden O line they looked horrible. Don’t give me the new coordinator bs either, these guys should be able to pick up blitzes and give RB a little room to get more than 1 damn yard in a half. The answer was right in front of them to slow down UCLA defense and it took them 3 qtr to make the adjustment. Not sure these new CO’s know what they are doing, it’s UCLA that pushed us around. Talent alone should have been the equalizer. I’m willing to bet this team that looked so good against us does not look that way from here on out against quality opponents and that’s concerning for us. On the other side our LB look lost back there which is why their qb looked like so good. I will admit that their rb tandem is good but we’ve faced better. Woodward needs to start now lining up O replacement.
Agreed - the lack of a running game is a serious concern. Looks like O misjudged Emery and Davis-Price. Hopefully the freshman RB's are better and can have success. Of course, having an OL that could block would be nice. I don't know what to say about the defense. New coordinator, same issues.
