When you mention Hill getting 100+ yards my first thought was "that's likely a given. Outside of '11 when has LSU not had a back run over 100?" Then I started thinking more about it. In the last five games having one back run over 100 has only happened once—last season. Hill. But, looking back, LSU has always had success running the ball. I guess 2008 is the highest point total but there wasn't a back over 100 in that game—two around 90 (Scott? and...?...Ridley?) I'm very curious about the safety. Manziel's improved this season throwing the ball. Having a safety playing up helped him in September.
(As a caveat, I realize I'm quoting a commentator here.) I can't recall who or what network. All I recall is the show was a post-weekend recap. One of the guys made the observation in the game against UGA he thought Mett was playing a lot like Miles coaches—"it's working out well but he's taking chances." That came back to mind when LSU played UF. To date that's likely the best secondary Mett has faced this season. We didn't see him throwing near as many passes against the Gators. What was the game plan based on then? The knowledge the Gator offense wasn't going to put up big numbers or was it a choice to avoid the UF secondary? Today I'm weighing all of that with seeing Mett throw into double coverage on occasion. It makes me wonder if Miles is going to make a decision to keep it on the ground and just let the best line win. (If the game ends with an LSU loss, and it's played that way I suspect,we'll be seeing a lot of "took offense out of Cam's hands" type references from now on.)
In your "good, bad, and ugly" threads you've mentioned passing decisions and throwing into less than ideal coverages. I didn't watch the Ole Miss game. Those INT's? What do you point to? Good coverage? Bad throw? A bad decision throwing into double coverage?
I think that we have to show a willingness to throw on first down early in the game. Especially if the gumps are loading the box. I feel like CCC will be able to frustrate the defense by staying unpredictable and that as stated earlier we will have to get production out of more than Hill, Landry and OBJ. Magee, Dural and even Copeland will have to be utilized more than they have all season. On defense we will need Johnson and Hunter to play to their potential and our young, inexperienced but athletic secondary to make plays when the opportunity presents itself. On special teams we need OBJ to not muff anything and hope that Colby is over his injury and that our punter doesn't have the shanks. I am positive that we have the tools to win this game and would love for my Tigers to put together a complete game. I personally can't wait for kickoff!
We cannot go too run heavy, even though we obviously want to keep our defense off the field as much as possible. If we are stubbornly forcing the run, that could go badly for us; Bama will stop that. I think mid-range 10-15 yard passes may be our bread and butter. Don't worry so much about the long ball, especially at first because Saban is going to take that away (at least early on.) If we start moving the chains in other ways, he'll have to adjust, and the long routes may become open. If we can pass effectively, our RBs should do well. Again, we're not going to shut them down offensively because our defense can't seem to do that. We must score early and often and hope that's enough.
Oh no doubt, you seem to have your finger on the pulse of LSU fans pretty well. I wanna see the let the best line win scenario. This is a game of heavy weights, let em pound each other. Honestly I never liked having a high flying offense, I like the ability to be high flying. But I prefer I formation ground and pound.
The problem is that I'm not sure either of our lines will win a "best line" battle. If any, the offensive line would be my pick, though. I do, however, think our offensive skill personnel can win a battle against their defense.
