Well, after listening to everyone in this thread there are lots of opinions, mostly very good & informative. I think most everyone will agree that LSU was lucky in a few games last year. I agree that we made our luck mostly but this is a new year & giving up the yardage & points we have is no way to win games.. That Defense is just plain bad. If the players are that great then its gotta be the coaches, right? I kinda feel its both. South Carolina is not gonna be a cakewalk, several posts on Tigerforums are calling them inferior. Hey, our defense is also inferior as of now.. If I remember right it was the South Carolina game last year where our defense started kinda crumbling. We blamed it on injuries causing us to play the players that are starting now. They are not getting any better, they better hurry up, Lots of very good teams left on this years schedule. Our status of being in the Elite is hanging in the balance.. :tigereye:
Without a doubt, DEFENSE was our BIGGEST problem last night. 51 POINTS?! Look, our offense did not have their best night. But we took that first drive in the second half for a nice, long drive down the field and then punched it in to cut it to 6. Our well-rested D responded by giving up an easy TD, followed by another easy TD and so on... Lee is a freshman. He was SEC Freshman of the week against Auburn and being hailed and threw some bad passes last night and being blamed by some. He is realistically somewhere in the midde. He went into an extremely tough environment with basically ZERO help from the running game and still managed to help get the team to 20 points. When you do that on the road, you should be IN THE GAME. He seems to do worse on the screens and shorter passes than the longer ones. Our receivers made some very good catches, but we also had some good throws that were dropped (Tolliver, Mitchell, etc.) The only real long pass I remember seemed to be pretty good because Florida had to interfere with our player (and it was called) so he didn't burn them for a TD. Yes, he needs to calm down and be more accurate on his passes (not throwing pick 6s), but he throws some very nice ones down the field. And let me say, they were getting nice pressure on him each time. It ain't easy. I think Hatch is a tough SOB and he runs the option very well. I think we should use him as well. But Florida gave what Urban Meyer was saying was possibly their best defensive performance since he's been there in Gainesville. He also said it was the finest crowd. That was a lot to work against along with Ricky Jean's Einstein comments. If our D was more aggressive, we could have kept it a game in the second half. We're wasting Chad Jones and not letting him be a playmaker. You almost NEVER hear his name. Our D-line has barely been getting pressure for this whole year and we just leave our linebackers in their little area. They've got to unleash these guys. On offense, the line didn't block much of anything and Scott couldn't build much momentum. That hurt us BAD. Also, Scott wasn't able to break many tackles last night. But Lee had us in the game at 20-14. I can't make a final judgement on him after his FIRST road start in the SEC. Our D is the part that had the total collapse. Demps ran for 129 yds. on 10 carries and he wasn't even our main focus. You're not gonna beat many teams with those numbers. We've got to follow Florida's example on offense and get the ball into our playmakers' hands. We have got to use Byrd and Holliday more (although I thought we used Holliday very well last night). But Byrd didn't even get a look in the first half. The dude is aweome...USE HIM! Next week is a new week though...Go Tigers!
The only thing is I have been saying this about Lee since the week after the Auburn game. Not just because of last night!
We'll have to beat one of either Alabama or Georgia to maintain our status among the nation's elite. I think we can drop ONE of those two and possibly even one to an Ole Miss or a South Carolina (narrowly) and still maintain some respect on the national stage. A three-loss season is not out of the question nor is it the end of the world. We would probably still go to a major bowl and go into the offseason (we can hope) with a new DC and tons of experience for our key guys. IF we drop three again next year, our status will be in trouble.
Just something to think about. I can remember when Matt Mauk or JR and previous other QBs had bad games. We were able to win because we have always had great defense that allowed for mistakes by our Qbs I promise you if our defense played the way the played last night we would have a whole lot more losses. Our teams have always depended upon our D to keep it close, get turnovers and even score every once in a while. THIS DEFENSE SUCKS and we have great players and talent so it does make me question the leadership and coaching.
The only thing is...his second-half play against Auburn bailed out our sorry defense and his 67% completions for over 260 yards is the only thing that took the attention away from the fact that we gave up 24 points to one of the worst offenses in the country against Mississippi State. He's a redshirt freshman. I, for one, will take his lumps with him as a fan and remain comfortable in the knowledge that they will pay dividends in the next two-three years. PS: your baby is beautiful, man. Congratulations!
I was impressed by some sick passes Lee made last night that very few qbs can. I was impressed by the kid overall especially considering the circumstances. you're wrong on this one, crip.
I wouldn't try to convince you that Lee had a good game, but he usually threw to the correct receiver. His accuracy left a lot to be desired last night, obviously. But he certainly wasn't a deer in the headlights. He was a freshman quarterback making just his second start, playing in one of the country's toughest venues. He needs experience; he won't get it if we bench him.
The kid has promise, but he's still green as grass. He threw into coverage a lot, he threw erratically, and he threw interceptions. There wil be more of this before he becomes a veteran. And he had better get past the rookie mistakes soon or we will be doing this again next year with Sheppard.
