First, I just dont get all you LSU fans that think the sky is falling on our heads. We won the game. At least be constructive in your criticism. Anyway, the soft zone was actually successful in preventing the really long play. If our DB's spent the entire game playing tight coverage, we would have been burned with a lot of long TD plays. Although I agree we didnt look all that sharp, at least we kept them in front of us for most of the night. Also, our DB's got their hands on the ball a few times, and should have has at least 2 picks. This is the most pleasing aspect of the soft zone. What I would like to see more is the DL keeping their hands up for some tipped balls. I also think that Pelini was anticipating a little more penetration from our DE's (even when they are going up against 5-6). We also kept them to less than 100yds rushing. Anyway, bottom line is that we went to their house and won. It was our first game of the season, and some of you guys are expecting mid season form. We went up against one of the best offenses in college football, and a WR and TE that most expect to play on Sundays. Their QB didnt look all that bad either, although probably not NFL material IMO. Give our players and coaches a break for having played a tough game in tough circumstances and winning. Also give ASU credit for playing a good game. Just MO.
500 yards passing and 31 points is a good thing as long as we keep them in front of us. you ought rethink your philosophy.
Check the numbers at the top of the box score. I think they say that LSU won. You might want to recheck your philosophy.
The plan/schemeing wasn't necessarily flawed, but there should have been changes made to adjust when it became apparent that our defense wasn't stopping them. Looking at it from your perspective, it basically puts all the responsability on the players & I don't think that's completely right. They are more responsible than alot of people on here think, but the coaches are responsible for coaching them to be able to perform & using schemes that work with the personnel we have. Big, big dissapointments that we didn't get those interceptions. Did they end up scoring on those drives? I don't remember, but either way - that's two or three more times our offense gets the ball for a chance to increase our score & we get their offense off the field to minimize theirs.
LSU may have won, but giving up nearly 600 of offense isnt going to win championships. I hate this adage, but its true, Offense wins games (AZST) Defense wins Championships(2003). That D needs to step up big time. With Tenn coming in, no time to rest.
That was my biggest concern/gripe. It's one thing to run a scheme and find out it's not as successful as you thought it would be. No biggie. After trailing by only 3 at halftime, I just think that Pelini should have made adjustments and if he did, it definately wasn't obvious.
I also was definitely not happy with the play of the D, and I definitely hope that we get improvement between now and Tenn. But let me lend this perspective that I thought about this morning: the skewing of the stats is at least partially due to the fact that ASU had 3 drives in a row without the LSU offense touching it. Not only did that fact skew the yardage stats, it also meant that the D was out there for a long stretch. So just keep that in mind a bit when fretting about the amount of yardage given up.
I don't like this defense scheme that Pelini tried. I was willing to let him get away with it in the 1st half, but not for the 2nd half. Adjustments and new plans should have been made. It was pitiful performance by Bo. First of all, you have a QB in ASU that has 3 starts and has never seen the speed and agility of an SEC defense. GO AFTER HIM!! Shake him up in the 1st. Make him nervous, throw some blitzes at him. Finally late in the 4th BP saw the light and they couldn't continue their drive. It was utterly ridiculous play calling on Bo's part. ASU knew what the defense play was every time. Rush 4 guys and have 3 line backers stay back and cover the short stuff, while the corners played 10yards off the ball. The soft zone is BS. Our athletes are good enough to stay with these guys, bump the WR's at the line and blitz the QB. Mess up their timing. You know the team lives on passing and you the QB is good enough to pass in the pocket so get the QB moving in the pocket and disrupt him. Now I can understand Bo trying the soft zone BS initially but when you see this Keller picking your defense apart you better do something different. I wouldn't call that soft zone, it looked like a prevent defense to me and I was pissed the whole game for him not adjusting the D to disupt the QB. We are very fortunate to have won with the kicking screw ups of ASU to let us in the game. Thank God our guys are conditioned as good as they were and well done D for being so strong for the 2nd half. I don't blame the players for the bad D, this was Bo's fault and for him to continue on the same scheme the entire game and having his boys on the field that long was just stupid. On the other hand, the offense was great and Jamarcus was superb. He was unbelieveable and even though I wouldn't have advised JR's winning pass from the 45 yd line instead of just getting the 1st down, that was one heck of a throw on the run. Amazing actually. Kudos to Early for redeeming himself also. Great catch. Well enough of my b!tch session but I had to get the Pelini D off my chest. I was shocked at his lack of judgement and his zone Defense and his lack of adjustments. Les Miles needs to address this.
