I almost wish we were playing the real Miami this week! There is no shame or loss of respect from taking a beating from a team that after this weekend is clearly the elite of the elite of college football. The "other Miami" gets no respect nationally but they have a long tradition of upsetting teams from major conferences (Ohio State, Purdue, and even LsU during the Arnsparger years) If you need to schedule rent a win teams a few notches above the North Texas States and the Northeastsouthwest North Dakota College of Bartending, Flyfishing and Chiropractys of the world then why not schedule bad teams from the major conferences (Duke, Baylor, California, Wake Forest, ect) After 2 games a few things are obvious: 1. Dropped passes notwithstanding, the Tigers have receivers with enough speed and talent to be among the best in college football. Clayton, with his size and speed and the instinct for the big play that he showed last year reminds me of Randy Moss without the head case problems Jerel Myers can be a go to guy and Eric Edwards is good enough to catch 25-40 balls this year. 2. It wouldn't matter if we had 10 Jerry Rice's in their prime if the quarterback can't get them the ball. Booty, Davey and Nall all sucked in their first start yet all 3 are on the rosters of NFL teams at this time. While Mauck is a good athlete and appears to have good arm strength he has yet to show that he is an SEC caliber quarterback. He was an option quarter- back in high school and played baseball for a few years so he has no experience as a drop back passer. While I hope he can quickly learn the skills to read the defensive situations as they are developing after the snap, pick out the open receiver without telegraphing his intentions by focusing in the primary receiver and deliver the ball in traffic with pinpoint accuracy I am not really optimistic about that happening anytime soon. Randall dosen't look like the answer. I don't know much about Clausen but since he wasn't given the opportunity to compete for the starting job during spring or the preseason it is likely the coachs don't think he is ready. I say lets take a real good look at Lester Ricard. He was heavily recruited by the elite teams of college football. Miami quarterback Ken Dorsey even called Lester from his cell phone from the locker room of the Rose Bowl after winning the national champion- ship to try to get Lester to change his mind about committing to LSU and to sign with Miami. I'm sure that Coach Saban would like to keep the redshirt on Ricard but if Mauck and Randall don't show light years of inprovement after the Miami O game then Saban should take a serious look at giving Ricard the necessary practice reps and intensive coaching to get him ready to be the starting quarterback. It is not unheard of for a true freshman to assume that role for a major college team (Rex Grossman was the starting QB as a freshman and Florida won the SEC that year) Even with the eratic play, inconsistant performance and lack of intensity that the Tigers have displayed so far it is still highly possible and even probable that LSU can beat Miami O, Mississippi State and UL Lafayette and go into the Florida game 4-1 Starting with a visit to the Swamp LSU goes from the frying pan to a very hot fire. Look at the teams we were predicted to beat in the preseason Alabama was almost as good as Oklahoma. Auburn looked pretty tough in the LA Coloseum. Ole Miss can light up the scoreboard with Eli Even Kentucky has beaten a top 25 ranked Louisville and scored 77 points against a team who is probably no worse than The Citadel WE ABSOLUTELY MUST DEVELOPE THE ABILITY TO THROW THE BALL DOWNFIELD EFFECTIVELY. BUBBLE SCREENS JUST WON'T GET IT DONE IN THE SEC! I was going to get into the Running Back - Offensive Line situation but I don't type very fast, it is real late and I have to get up early for a trip out of town so more later. GEAUX TIGERS!
roygu I just finished watching the replay of the VT game last night and came to the conclusion tha Mauck really did not play that badly. If one could make a chart for what went wrong in that game, there is enough blame in every area to cost us a ball game against a good football team. Mauck in general, if he had time to throw the ball usually threw a catachable pass if there was a receiver open. Here are some things I saw that contributed to the loss. 1.The coaches repeatedly called pass plays to the side of the field so the receiver was looking directly into the sun when he tried to catch the ball. I think this contributed to a couple of dropped balls and a bobble on another one by Addai. 2. The running backs, in key situations, did not run to daylight but instead ran right into the pile of linemen, when veering to the right or left they could have picked up a first down. That was a bad habit Davis had last year early in the season yet he seemed to correct it for the Auburn, Tennessee, and Sugar Bowl. Maybe he is just rusty from the layoff. 3. Mauck, when scrambling, seemed to run into the pass rush rather than stepping instinctively and continue to look for the open man. Maybe that is a product of his coming from a non passing HS style of play. Hopefully he can overcome this but this seems to be an instinct that the good quarterbacks have. Rohan Davey was one of the best at avoiding the rush of any college quarterback that I have seen. 4. The receivers, in addition to dropping the ball, several times seemed to run the wrong route. Maybe this is a carryover from Rohan who seemed to have good instincts as to where the receiver was gong and made adjustments. That won't work with a new QB until he gets comfortable with the receivers. Most of these are just mental mistakes and lack of concentration. I have confidence that we will correct enought of them to stay competitive for the rest of the season. In comparing LSU to the rest of the West. I think it is too early to make a fair comparison. Eli looked very mediocre in the first half of the Memphis St game. Memphis is just a bad team although they seem to always play Ole Miss tough. Auburn still has no quarterback. Cadillac is a stud but he takes some viscious licks. I doubt he will last the season again. Without Williams, Auburn is and average team. Alabama played a good second half vs Oklahoma but how many games has Alabama lost in the fourth quarter since Francionne has been the HC. Oklahoma is another team that doesn't have a Quarterback so their ranking is hard to evaluate.
1. Receivers: I think we are fine here. We have Clayton, Myers, and Robinson with experience. Carey, Brazell, and Henderson are fast, but young. If I remeber correctly they were responsible for most of the drops against VT this will hopefully fade away now that they have their first game out of the way (I didn't see Citadel so if they were still dropping them I guess I may be wrong). However, with a passing game built on timing and quick routes to gain the crucial YAC the ball needs to reach the receivers in stride, not behind, low or high. If the timing isn't worked out Mauck's line will read 20-24 for 100 yards. 2 QB: I love the idea of buring Ricard's RS for a couple of reasons. First we have only one QB on the roster with game experience (Randal's one series don't count), if Clausen or Harrison don't rate time against the Citadel we have a problem if Mauck is hurt. Second we have Flynn and Lane (if he doesn't go into baseball) coming in next year, don't RS Ricard this year and RS one or both of those guys and we suddenly have depth that is spread out over three years. This is risky if Flynn or Lane go elswhere, but it may be worth it if for no other reason that to light a fire under Mauck (He may be a little too comfortable with his status, who knows). Having said all this, I think the passing game will work itself out and Mauck will be fine. 3. RB's: My only issue's with this group are we don't use a true FB and the play calling (we run up the middle too much and in a predictable pattern). 4. OL: I like the interior (hopefully Big Ben is back this week), am concerned with the Tackles. Reed seemed to have problems with the quick VT DE's (maybe he will need TE help) and Whitworth is a RS Freshman starting at Left Tackle (either he is going to be great or we are hurting), Comeaux's absence may really hurt us here. I still think we take the West and can compete with anyone from the East.
