Did you see the stats for the first 3 games of the season?

Yea I see what you are saying. Arkansas did turn the ball over quite a few times in their own territory. I was impressed with how good A.J. McCarron looked though and Alabama is always going to have a good defense.

 

McCarron looked good, but the defense had some problems, and in fact, seemed to compensate by laying some dirty hits on Arkansas players (some were called, a couple were not.)

 

That's cool if you disagree, but before you do, let me make sure you know what I said. THEN decide if you disagree.

Notice you quoted one paragraph, plus a sentence from the NEXT paragraph. The reason the "we were a QB away" was in a separate paragraph is because it unrelated to the first paragraph.

You go on to make my point for me. We didn't have the QB we needed to beat Alabama. The only reason we did it the first time is because they didn't gameplan for JJ running the option. Lee could throw some, and that's what they gameplanned for. Thus the pitiful performance by Lee. In the second game, they gameplanned for JJ. Thus the pitiful performance by JJ. The gameplan was too predictable.

That and other reasons we failed in the NCG.

Don't combine those two paragraphs. The first paragraph is simply a question. IMO, had we beaten Alabama in that game, we wouldn't be worried about the OC. Especially since this season, the offense looks a lot different, especially in the passing game. We wouldn't be worried about Mett, because it would be easier to see he is an upgrade. Some fans have completely forgotten 13-0. They've completely forgotten beating Alabama multiple times. They are failing to see the forest because of ONE TREE. Now, nothing less than perfection is good enough.

 

Even though the beating LSU took in the NCG was ONE BIG TREE --- Very few LSU fans and the football world in general are failing to see the 13-0 forest. LSU's "13-0 forest" is why among all of the early undefeated teams and despite graduating some great talent and the current players lost via injuries and dismissals, LSU is ranked #2.

With regards to the talk about replacing the OC. He was promoted in time of crisis to preserve continuity and I think most fans would say that he has worked out better than most feared. The interesting question with regards to OC will be what happens when Coach Kragthorpe retires which I hope is many years down the road.

 

The LSU fans don't vote. What you described is that the (supposedly) unbiased voters have looked beyond the players lost. And to your point, I'd like to think there's a small minority of LSU fans that look at it the way I portrayed. But that small contigency is vocal, and seemingly getting bigger. I didn't say though that "LSU fans" or "ALL LSU fans"...I said SOME.

Those same "some" are the ones that seemingly don't even realize we have a game between now and November 3rd. On another board, I started a topic asking what impressed you in the most recent game. I start it weekly. I also start one asking what concerned you, but to generate discussion on both. But in the one this past week about what impressed you, a poster replied to another who was impressed with something or another like this. "Show me they can do it against Alabama and I'll be impressed".

That's ridiculous. We didn't play Alabama. We played Idaho. Was there nothing impressive about the Idaho victory? Is it only impressive if we can dominate Alabama? What about @UF, @TAMU, hosting USCe and MSU? @ Arkansas? Is the 'Bama game the only one that matters? IMO, no. It's not. It's a very important game, but only if we get to that game undefeated. I just hate to think folks are missing the season because of what happened 1/9, and can't get into it until 11/3.

 

While there are multiple perspectives .... and everyone has an opinion .. I think you have to take all into account. ... and admit a little reality.

1) I'm not of the mind that we "beat Alabama" last year. LSU's offense, JJ included looked pathetic against bama in the first game. The only score that JJ contributed to in regulation was pure luck on a hail mary pass w broken coverage ... and we still couldn't punch it in for a TD. Also .. we were just one missed fieldgoal away from loosing that game. Had Shelly connected on just one of the many FGs that he has proven over and over since that day he is capable of making ... we would have lost. Think about all the times Bama got within FG range ... compared to LSU.

2) I agree on your QB opinion from one perspective ... in that CLM designed the offense to run under JJ, who had limited abilities. Mett being a major improvement over JJ, gives the latitude to be less conservative on play development. I'll repeat my other opinion regarding this ... Lee had a different skill set than JJ, but the offense was not designed for his skill set .. thus we had no plays to exploit his skill set. Lee was running JJ's offense ... which put him at a disadvantage from the beginning. I think it is pretty telling that he did as well as he did. Lee could have performed much better in the first Bama game with plays designed for his skills. ... but we didn't have them. That was CLM's fault, not Lee's.

Kinda makes leaving Lee out of the picture in the NCG more sensibile when you consider that Lee would not have performed any better than JJ, as the offense itself would have been the same plays .. and Bama had seen them all, and was prepared for it. It was more of the "offense" itself that was a failure. ... and CLM didn't have anywhere else to go. He didn't have the short pass game. He didn't have running back relief. ... he just didn't have the varied pass game needed to back the Bama D off a bit to open up a more successful run game. In contrast ... Bama did.

 

Well put onceanlusfan.

 

Agree on your entire post, except the above. In fact, Bama got in FG range exactly twice. They got in our red zone twice, and clearly don't have the kickers to make FGs from outside of that range. Miles outcoached Saban, or better yet, Saban just screwed up by refusing to punt and pin LSU deep. But that doesn't mean LSU didn't 'win' the game. LSU did beat Alabama, by smarter coaching decisions, by better special teams, and by refusing to quit. LSU outgained Bama in the second half, and tightened up in overtime, and in my opinion, it's because they wore Bama down. LSU did "beat Alabama".

 

You gotta be kidding me. We actually defeated them, yet you just choose not to believe that we did? Ok...whatever makes you feel better.

We went into their piece of shit house, out-rushed them, and made great plays on defense and special teams. But we didn't execute perfectly on offense against probably the best NCAA defense in our lifetime, so you choose to believe that "we didn't beat them". I'm glad I don't share your perspective.

 

Agreed. If we HADN'T beaten them, it would've reflected as such on the scoreboard. Can't help if we didn't have a passing threat in the game. Just sayin.