I'm a critic too, as you know.. but you're 100% correct. We've arrived at mid-season form, and it was surely a bumpy ride.. but 10-2 is looking very realistic. Given our record in bowl games.. well.. 11 wins is something to be proud of, IMO. I thought Lee played well. Nobody should be asked to come in and be expected to win a game against one of the best defenses in the country without meaningful first string snaps.
You can look at that Troy game a couple of ways. The fact that we had to make a huge 4th quarter comeback against Troy said a lot. JL basically couldn't do anything for three quarters against Troy. And we didn't score a touchdown in the game until we put Jefferson in and he ran it for a score at the end of the 3rd quarter. After we scored the TD, we finally got a spark...and JL did much better. But I remember his passes being off in bad way for much of the game (he had a pick 6 in that one as well to make it 24-3 before half) . He also played real bad against Tulane. I wouldn't say he played well. I thought he played well when he first got in, but his passes on the last two possessions looked like a carbon copy of JL from last year. They were really bad passes. And blowing a timeout on 3rd and 25 when LSU just used one after 2nd down and 25 was not good awareness. He had trouble getting the play called a few times. No doubt, that was a tough spot to be in. But he's played in hostile environments before (Auburn/The Swamp) and he came in off of the bench at Auburn in a similar situation (they didn't have the D that Bama has though). Still, when you're on the roster at LSU as the backup QB, you're expected to do well regardless of the situation. That's just the way it is. It's not like he's never played in a big game before. Scott getting hurt was really tough to deal with because then we couldn't lean on him and the rushing game to help Lee out against a tough D. To me, he was a mixed bag as usual. I wasn't expecting a miracle and he did fine at first. But those passes on the last two drives left me really worried. If there's any chance that playing JJ on Saturday will prolong his injury, then I wouldn't play him. We need him for Ole Miss, etc. Lee will just have to play well. Hell, put Shepard in a bunch and run the Wildcat. That would probably do the trick. Why the hell not? We're not doing anything else creative on offense with out talent.
Those last two drives weren't really a good sample. Charles Scott was out, our line was banged up, morale crushed due to the screwjob involving Petersons INT and the game turning into a 2 possession game, etc. Give him 1st string reps and I think he's equally as capable as Jefferson. Not to mention that when he came in on 4th and 5, he converted. Called back to a bad-call on a false start.. I've got a feeling if it weren't for that crappy call, we'd be praising him.. calling him "General Lee" again.
Yeah, I do cut him some slack for that stuff. It wasn't an easy situation. And the 4th and 5 flag seemed to be pretty pathetic when they were not calling late spearing hits against the QB... It was just the bad inaccuracy of those passes that got to me. I don't think he's equally as capable as Jefferson. I think he would possibly get more yards because he takes a lot of chances. On the flip side though, I think we'd see many more turnovers, missed attempts and less confidence. Plus, he doesn't have JJ's feet and JJ has been doing a real good job as of late using his running skills.
Very true...F it, give me Lee! Then he'd probably sub JJ in the game for five option plays per game. You can't win.
Yeah, we did run a couple well. But those are more the exception than anything. But we had a few others that were as horrible as could be. I know we had -7 on one of them. Coaching is failing in this area. These things can be taught or the plays shouldn't be run much.
