This should be a good game. LSU has the #5 Defense. Texas is ranked #12 and we're a mere 15 yards per game behind you. Texas offense vs. the LSU offense: Texas is number 50, while LSU is number 89. We don't ever really see SEC games so it would be helpful if you guys could break down your team too. Texas: Offensive Weakness: The only real weakness that we have is that our O-line isn't very good. We have lots of penalties this year and we've allowed many sacks. Also, even though Benson has rushed for more that 1200yds this year, he's had to do it on an unusually high number of attempts. The holes just aren't there for him to run through. On the other hand, our O-line does pass block really well. How's your pass rush? If it's not stellar, Simms is going to have a good day. I don't care how good your DBs are. Pressure is the key for you. Offensive Strengths: Fullback: Remember this name, Ivan Williams. Ivan is a 240lb back with soft hands. He was played tailback for us the last 2-3 years and was moved to FB because of an injury to our starter. Ivan adds a new dimension of offensive threat. Tailback: Cedric Benson. He actually has more yds at this point in his career than Ricky Williams albeit with more attempts. This guys isn't that big. I think he's like 205-210, but he sure is strong. He moves the pile forward to get yards. Receivers: We lost our starting TE before the season started. He was widely considered to be one of the best in college football. Our other TEs might get some catches, but will probably be used more as blockers than receivers. Slots and WRs: I don't care who you have covering Roy Williams. He's a stud and all you have to do is be a football fan to agree with me. He's a special player. Not far behind, you'll see Sloan Thomas, BJ Johnson, Tony Jeffrey, Robert Timmons, and a few others. BJ is a long ball receiver and Sloan is a super physical guy that can do it all. He has, however, been hampered by a hamstring injury. Quarterback: Chris Simms. Guy is having a stand-up year. He should be a red-shirt Jr. now, if Applewhite didn't hurt his knees Simms Frosh year. Simms is an amazingly accurate passer who has tempered his tendancy to rush things and force plays. You #2 ranked pass D may cause an interception, but he'll get yards and TDs and won't crumble. I think that you'll be surprised. Defense: The #5 Defense vs the #12 Defense, with a 15 yd per game difference. Passing Defense: LSU #2 vs. Texas #10 Rushing Defense: LSU #43 vs. Texas #39 Turnover Margin: Texas vs. LSU -8 for Texas Prior to the Texas Tech game, Texas was the #5 D in the nation and the #3 pass defense. Kingsbury torched us for 600 yards that game. I think they punted once. Ouch!! The Defense has saved a couple of games for us this year, but they lost 2...OU and Texas Tech. They couldn't stop Quentin Griffin from OU running and they couldn't stop Kingsbury passing. Q is simply an outstanding runner, while Kingsbury is the King of the dump pass. Unbelievable. Anyway, since your O is not the strength of your team, I'm not too worried about a Defense break-down. Defensive Position Analysis: D-Line: DE: Cory Redding. Lombardi Award Finalist. The guy is a monster. All you'll be able to do is hope to limit his plays, not stop him. He is literally everywhere on the field. DE: Kalen Thornton. Unfortunately, has had a few injuries but he is our best pass rusher. He's a big time player when healthy. DT: Marcus Tubbs: 300+ lb Jr. Big, strong, excellent penetration. Blocked several kicks this year and has made huge stops. DT: Rodrique Wright: 300+lb Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year. Had a bigger year this year than Tommie Harris of OU had his Frosh year. Together, Rod and Marcus are a monster team of tackles. LBs: WLB: Derrick Johnson - One of the best in the game. He's not all that big...220., but is super fast and can make plays. Nursing a hamstring injury. Hope he's healed. MLB: Reed Boyd - He's ok. We play him on the line alot for some reason. Makes most of his tackles in the defensive backfield or gets taken out of the play all together. SLB: Lee Jackson. Used to be a safety. He's fast and can make plays. He's good, but Johnson is in a league of his own. DBs: We basically have 4 corner backs in our back field. CBs: Rod Babers and Nathan Vasher. Both will go pro. Both are very strong and fast and have a hunger for the ball. Safteties: Griffin, Huff, and Pearson. Griffin and Huff are red shirt Freshman. Both are very good, but they are young and tend to play like it at times. Still, I would be weary. Pearson is a good FS, but sometimes he reacts late, even though he's probably had 9 INTs this year. Summary: I think that we match up very well to LSU. I look for Texas to respect LSU's pass defense, but still lead with the passing game. I believe that the pass will open up the run for Texas. My guess is that Texas will have around 350yds of total offense w/ +/- 100 of that being rushing. I think our D is going to have a big day. The month off will allow many of our players to get healthier. I expect our D to give us good field position and maybe even score some points. One thing that I forgot to cover was special teams. Vasher is one of the best punt returners in the Country. Kick off return is good, but not spectacular. Our coverage for punts and kicks is just not that good. You guys might end up with good field position on several occasions. Please give your comments and I look forward to a breakdown of your team as I, and I'm sure other Horn fans, am not familiar with it. Cheers!
Ok, i'll take the time and effort to answer this one. Offense Quarterback Marcus Randall. Very young athletic quarterback that has a very strong arm (see 75 yrd Bluegrass miracle), but has been inaccurate with anything over 20 yards. More of a running threat than anything else, but has shown signs of coming along with the passing game as of late. Running Back Domanick Davis. Davis has been awesome in his four years at LSU. He's the guy that just plays the game. They tell him his role, he accepts it, and with the exception of a short stint as a nickel back, has excelled. He is not a huge guy, but is very hard to tackle, and has some juke to him. LaBrandon Toefield. Broke his arm and missed a ton of pt this year. Since returning he has had fumbleitis because of a pad he has to wear over his recently healed forearm. When he is at his best, not many backs in the nation are as good. Joseph Addai. The Future! Power and speed wrapped up in a huge ball of potential. Addai runs very hard and has made the most of his playing time this season. averages around 5.5 ypc. Receiver. Michael Clayton. With a drop back passer, Clayton would be the premier receiver in this game, not Williams. Don't get me wrong, Williams is great, but Clayton is only a sophomore and is already NFL caliber. Devery Henderson. Out with Broken arm. Jerel Myers. Senior possession receiver with a little speed, but not a blazer. Reggie Robinson. Another senior. 6'3" 200+ and will knock your had off blocking downfield. He hasn't had many opportunities this year but is a solid player. Skylar Green. True freshman who stepped in against arkansas for Henderson. In his debut he caught 4 balls for 99 yrds and a score (70 yard screen pass). No one and I mean no one on Texas' team will catch him if he gets in the open field. Tight End Eric Edwards. Very good hands, very bad balance. Tigers rarely use their tight ends. O-line. Very good, athletic unit. They don't give up a lot of sacks, but have been responsible for some stupid penalties this year, especially late in the season. Defense. Ends Marcus Spears and Marquise Hill both true sophomores that are NFL bound. very fast very strong. Tackles Chad Lavalais is a bit undersized, but plays his ass off every game. Kendrick Allen is a former end that is 6'7" 300+ very good run stopper and hard to throw over. Linebackers Well everyone knows Bradie James. He is one of the best in the nation. Jeremy Lawrence is a senior strongside backer, but if Texas spreads the field you won't see him much. He comes out in nickel and dime situations. Lionel Turner is the weakside backer. He has had his moments this season, but is still young. Secondary Corners Randall Gay is a very talented player that IMO plays above his abilities. He is the type of kid that all coaches love. Corey Webster is the former receiver that came up with 7 picks for the Tigers this season in a back-up role and knabbed himself a spot on the all SEC team. the other corner, Demitrius Hookfin has kinda a bad wrap with some fans. But the guys that really know football seem to like him. He was an honorable mention on one All-america team, and has played four solid years for the tigers. Safeties SS- Norman Lejeune. Very good. Always around the ball. 2nd leading tackler on the team. FS- Jack Hunt. former receiver that was moved to safety in the spring. was a back-up until Damien James was kicked off the team. He obviously forgot how to catch because in the last two games alone Hunt should have had 5 int's. Kicker John Corbello. from 40 or less he is automatic, or has been this year. anything over that is guess work. he has missed 6 attempts all season. All were over 45 yrds, and one was over 50. Returner Domanick Davis. I may be biased, but there isn't anyone in the country I would rather have. Yeah from the looks of this it appears LSU should be playing in the Fiesta Bowl and not the Cotton. But our problems all come down to one thing, an absolute lack of a passing game. Randall has had some good games, but nothing great through the air. Defense is tough to crack when the o is moving the ball, but if they spend the entire game on the field they are vulnerable when tired. Who isn't though?
LSU analysis is dead on.... The bottom line is that there are a lot of athletes on defense who will make the plays if rested. Our pass rush has suffered over the last 3-4 games due to nagging injuries to almost everybody on the line and LBs. With the break, that shouldn't be a problem. There are 2 keys for LSU: 1 - contain the passing game of UT by getting good pressure out of base defense, allowing us to have good help from the DBs against Williams and the #2 receiver. Don't give Simms time to make a bunch of reads. 2 - move the ball on offense. We don't need a 500 yard game, but move the ball enough to score points, keep our D rested and minimize the amount of time that UT has the ball. That's been the MO for LSU all season. The problems we've had is youth/inexperience at the positions to execute that game plan. If we show up with our A game, it should be fun to watch.
All those are great points, thanks guys for posting all that. I feel that if LSU can control the ball, for long periods of time, then we have the best chance to win. If we have several 3 and outs, then Texas will eventually take and hold the lead. LSU plays better, in our current situation, when we have the lead and are able to run the clock with punishing drives. We have gotten in trouble this year leaving our D on the field and not controlling the ball. If LSU sets the tone early, comes off the ball hitting guys in the mouth . . . the odds favor LSU (but then again if Texas comes out like that, we will have a problem). Either way it should be a good game. I feel the overall talent edge goes to Texas, but LSU and Texas are pretty equal all the way around. The time off is going to help both teams, it will just rest on who can get their team better prepared and ready to play. And special teams will probably be the reason this game is won. I like our chances with Davis, but I haven't seen enough of Texas special teams to compare.
Thanks for the break down! Sounds like you guys have had a ton of injuries just like us. We played 7-8 freshmen at 1 time in the Texas Tech game due to injuries. I don't think that there has been a game all year where we've played all the starters at one time. I'm hopeful, like you guys, that the break will allow our players to heal. You kicking game sounds solid and could be a difference maker. Our kicker, Dusty Mangum, gets inconsistent around 40 yards. He hasn't missed a PAT in nearly 100 attempts. By the sound of it, you have the edge on the kicking game. I can hardly wait to see our pass vs. your pass D. Simms throws the ball to many receivers each game. Favorite routes are Hitches, Slants and an occasional Post. Our Offense Coordinator has opened the throttle a little since being so freakin' conservative against OU. IMO, if you guys can really put the screws on our receivers, it's going to be a long day for us. Benson just hasn't done enough this year to warrant stacking the line to stop him. Louisiana, Sportsman's Paradise!
It should be mentioned that LSU gets a lot of penalties. The worst is blocking in the back on kickoffs which has cost us at least two touchdowns. We get way too many illegal procedure penalties from the offensive linemen moving. We get too many delay of game penalties trying to get the play in to our green QB. We haven't gotten a lot of personal fouls or holding calls but when we do , it comes at the worst time possible. The same could be said about our pass interference penalties.
This could be a slow game then. I just looked up both teams penalties on our conference web sites. LSU: 88/712 Tex: 88/740 It seems that both of our teams could use a little help with dicipline.
