I thought the defense was really lights out in the first half, Their longest drive was 33 yards and we completely stuffed the run. We made Ainge look like garbage also, or he did it to himself.. but atleast he didnt throw for jack on us in the first half. Thats a pretty huge improvement after watching the first game. Right? So atleast we know this coaching staff can get great play in all three phases of the game. Now can they put it all together for a complete game? I think so. Man anyone taking LSU +14.5 over Miss St.? I think LSU puts up a ton this week.
Tough to call imo, an emotional drain from the circumstances..plus an emotional and physical drain from a hard fought OT SEC game, on a short week...could signal a close game against a much improved MSU team (who has a solid NFL experienced coach with good foundations, and a familiarity with Pelini - GB). or... The team could let out all the frustration they feel after losing a big lead and hearing all week how 'sorry' they are from classless fans. They could come out and make a 'statement'. I think they respond like champs, too many seniors with their head screwed on straight to let them fail this week. I think they play inspired and cover. We may even seen Flynn or Perrilloux in mop up duty.
Not to be a party-pooper but the reason we looked so good in the first half is because Ainge wansn't able to rip through our defense with seemingly endless 5 yard passes.... Clausen was. There were other factors at play, but had he been in the entire game, the beating would have been much worse... That's my humble opinion anyway. As far as Ms. State... well, I think LSU intends on putting up a ton on them... I just hope they can do it over the course of 60 min rather than just for the first half, but yes... I'd take that spread.
When QBs looked like crap, over threw passes, fumbled the ball, called time outs etc under Saban...it was great defense. When the same things happened to Ainge on Monday...it's the QB making us look good. That's BS and we can't have it both ways. Simple fact is our D contributed to him looking like crap, and we played hard and caused the fumbles and interceptions.
yep this is your prototypical sandwich game. an unranked, bad team in between 2 powerhouses of UT and UF. this will be a letdown game for LSU since there's no way they have near the emotion they played with monday. We'll have to win this one on talent in a low-scoring game im afraid. i dont see MSU as much improved though.
Why? Because he didn't know how to handle them. Clausen was much more composed, calm, collected, and got rid of the ball as if it were a reflex... he knew exactly how to pick that defense apart. I'm not saying they were playing as hard in the second half, because they werent. But I stand by what I said.... Clausen playing the whole game against us would have resulted in a totally different game (to our dismay). I hate to see that as much as anyone, but I call em like I see em, and that's what I see.
Nobody is mentioning special teams. Our special teams is terrific this year. Skyler Green is looking stud.
I call BS on this. The reason Ainge was so bad in the first half is because we manned up and our team was better than there's all the way across the line. Zone killed us. we are not a zone team. Man on Man we will beat 99% of teams in the country.
