Ahhh Sweet Lou, thank the lord he is somewhere else!!!!! Maybe he would accept the head coach position at bama..........
Saw the LSU v Auburn game from Lou's first year replayed the other night. Yes, we won but that damn drop linebacker was lost in space. Have to say this though, the pass rush we could get on that team was something. Booger, J Mitchell, J Green & others were balls to the wall going after the QB.....i think it was the guys not the scheme. Boy I miss Booger he was unblockable.
I'll tell you the one thing that if not stopped will kill LSU is Simms to R. Williams. If you don't have a cover corner or a double team that will stop this combo then it's going to be a long day for the LSU defense. IMO stopping this is more important than stopping our run. I think LSU can stop our run with 6 or 7 man fronts if they stop Simms and Williams' "playing catch" first. If you don't stop this 1st then we'll get you in a guessing game and you can ask the Aggies about how that turned out.
good point Hookem. We don't have a lock down cover corner. both play good at times but have given up the big play. Hoofkin is probably who they'll try to match up against RW.....he was Mr Toast last year but has really cut down on that this year. I'm sure they're gonna have to play some zone to help them out. Probably try to counter it with pressure to try to cut down on Simms' time to get him the ball.
HookEm is right. We'll try to throw downfield to Roy W. who is 6'4" and VERY fast. I think we'll have to spread the field with 3 or 4 recievers because we just can't run against good defenses(like yours) despite having 2 great RB's in Cedric Bensen and Selvin Young. WR's BJ Johnson and Sloan Thomas are very fast, and we may try to isolate them on one of your DB's if Roy draws double-coverage. If you zone, which seems likely, Simms will have to be patient and try to work the ball down the field. Our pass-protection has been average. If you can shut down the run, you will be able to pressure Simms at will. Do you guys blitz much? You might not need to. If we use the 5-wides (empty backfield), you will hear my primal scream all the way from San Antonio. Regarding Simms: He is not mobile like you say, but he is very accurate and runs the offense well. To win we must pass.
I'd keep an eye on Ivan Williams (our fullback) as well. For some unexplained reason our OC started getting the ball to him on this sprint pattern and it ate Nebraska up. Also caused problems for a couple of other teams as well. Ivan is BIG and was our starting TB last year until after the OU game. He needs to get a head of steam going to be effective, but if he gets any room he is a bitch to bring down. Oh, what might have been for ol' Ivan with the right coach and scheme... BTW, when the running game isn't working, we use Roy & Sloan and the 3-yard out pattern. Difficult to defend, but used ad nauseum to the dismay of many of the Longhorn faithful, as it seems like a waste of talent. If Roy gets behind his man or finds the seam, and Chris has 2.5 seconds to set up, you're toast - bank on that. I would probably spot us at least 2 TDs that way, and assume you'll need at least 21 to 24 points to win, unless you pull a 'Colorado' and grab 3 or 4 TOs in the 1st half. You CAN put pressure on Simms, but he may torch you anyway. He's gotten used to the inconsistency of the line and has become pretty adept at finding the mismatch and exploiting it. Makes far fewer mistakes than last year- a quick learner and a real leader. You guys actually may need more than 24 if your QB is as prone to error/inaccuracy as i've heard. If he has to pass often, our secondary will likely grab a pick or two, and they are all very quick. The D has been inconsistent, but has had a knack for coming up with big plays when it counted (except, of course vs. TTech. See Iowa St., KSU, Nebraska, Tulane, A&M games.) I think if LSU can keep it on the ground and hold onto the ball, & win the field position chess game, they have a pretty sporting chance. That Florida game impressed me an awful lot, but I understand things went a little south after that. Still a very dangerous team with a solid D & lots of talent, and as we all know, that plus a couple of breaks can beat just about anyone. See ya there.
good stuff horns...nice football talkin goin on i will say this about Randal...he sure has been playing excellent since the Ole Miss game. when the coaches dont put him in a position of 3rd 10-15 and let him run the offense...he has proven to be a quality QB. when it comes to 3rd and long i would give the advantage to Texas. Randal and the WRs seem to catch the ball 1-2 yards shy of the first down (you could do that with Josh Reed)...some times its kind of frustrating.... ill say this though...ill put Michal Clayton up against anybody in the country (and of course Skyler Green in the near future) have fun everybody
I am quite certain Texas will line up with seven or eight men in the box to stop the run. Why shouldn't they, we are 103rd in the country in passing offense. Randall has improved greatly in the last few games but is still a significant dropoff from Mauck. What really hurts is when we are stuffed on the run or get a penalty and he is facing 3rd down and 12+. You just can't do that to a redshirt freshman QB and expect to win. To win we will need to be aggressive in the run, throwing just enough to keep Texas off balance. On defense, we can't sell out on the run, we have to control Benson with seven men or less so we have enough DB's to contain Roy Williams. He will make some catches on us; how many and how big depends on how well our scheme can cover him. If Simms is hot and Williams is sure-handed it will be a long day. If we control the ball on offense and keep our defense rested and agile, plus win the field position battle and get a good turnover or two we win the game. Both teams will have enough practice time to know each other's strengths and weaknesses as well as their own. The team that is most able to play to it's strengths and the other's weaknesses will win.
I don't agree with the talk of Randall being a crutch compared to Mauck. I just don't think it's so. they have had mirror seasons. Started off horrible and progressively got better. Mauck at least had scrubs to warm up on Randall warmed up on the heart of the SEC school. I think they Randall is playing now about how Mauck was when he got hurt. So whether Randall or Mauck were playing the CB I think our chances are the same. I do think Randall is a better runner and Mauck probably the more accurate passser. When you say "sprint pattern" are you talking about the draw or a pass? If it's the draw that is something that has given us fits....but, that was with versatile QBs who would run. Our CBs play better in man-to-man and have good speed but still neither are lockdown corners.....Webster is working his way to being that but he is only in his first at CB....so he is probably in for a little toast. I wouldn't say we blitz a whole lot but when we do we bring the house. They have done a good job of disguising it as well. One thing that comes to mind that bothers me is we like to use the free safety in blitz packages......have a quick slant called when one of those safety blitzes is on and it will be 6. Hard to tell how we are going to do with getting pressure from our front 4. With so many versatile Qbs we've played the front 4 has had to think contain more than getting to the QB. Without the versatitlity at QB we'll get to see what kind of true pass rush we can get.
Ivan's sprint pattern is a pass play - some might call it a "flare", but he basically swings out and tears off down the sideline, where Simms hits him in full stride about 10-15 yards downfield and then the safety is faced with a speeding locomotive, unless the linebacker is still with him - they usually just shove him out of bounds unless his center of gravity is low enough to steamroll them. Very effective when the LBs are mugging or not paying attention to him.
