THE GOOD 1. LSU posted 500 yards for the first time in years 2. The running backs are as strong as advertised, even the fullbacks 3. Beckham and Landry will catch a lot of balls this year 4. Keene seems to have the right stuff at punter 5. The unsung linebackers appeared to be strong 6. Amazing acrobatic catches by Landry and interception by Reid 7. Beckham can return the ball. Tyrann Who? THE BAD 1. The Tiger played hard for a quarter and a half and then slacked off 2. Mettenberger showed flashes of excellence but was a very average quarterback last night 3. Shepard dropped another easy pass. 4. Way too many missed blocks 5. The defensive line did not get to the QB very often and got run on late in the game 6. Defense got burned on the blitz several times THE UGLY 1. Reid, our best DB, got beaten twice in man coverage giving up touchdowns. 2. The offensive line did not protect the QB nor did they dominate the NT defensive line 3. The bubble screen did not work all night, but we kept going back to it.
I agree with this, but I feel like they are setting up the fake screen pass a la Tebow against us in 2007. Mett through a number of slants before that slant-n-go at the end of the 3rd quarter, and it worked well. I wasn't thrilled with the passing game either, and certainly the bubble screens were not going well except for the first one to Shep. As for the Reid blown coverages, they are his fault, but he shouldn't really be in too much man coverage as a S. He needs to get his man coverage skills in order because he'll be using them when we blitz, but I don't think we'll be relying on them too much. The running game was awesome, and we barely scratched the surface of backs. Love seeing Copeland rumble. Agree about the OLine: Run blocking was awesome, Pass blocking not so much. Only thing I see missing is Mingo. With the exception of one reverse, he was sick and is shutting down the run as well as he is pass rushing, which I really didn't expect. Also thought Bennie Logan was very quick off the ball, which is a great trait for a DT.
Good summary! I hope we simply "played to the competition" (something we have done before) and did not use all the tools in the drawer because it was UNT--and not an SEC team or other power house--because I don't think that we could get away with that repetitive playbook with a top level team. I am now praying that we were only using 70% or so of our power, that this "scrimmage" was just a way to hone our skills. Compare our output last night against that of 'Bama's, for instance, and 'Bama would have taken us out. I watched throughout the game for the vaunted "arm" of Mettenberger. He appeared to not have a vertical passing game--or, at least, was not allowed to explore that part of the playbook--the chapter named "Long Ball" and the other one named "Deep Threat." I need to believe that this team is just feeling it's way--because, given the mismatch we saw last night, we should have dominated every aspect of the game and North Texas should have been shut out--not because we were there to humiliate, but because our talent should have made it near-impossible to score. Don't tell me 'a win is a win'--this is the SEC, 'Bama dominated last night, inevitable comparisons will be made. CLM needs to unleash our talent early, lavishly and with style.
Overall, I think we were fine for an opening game against sub-par competition, and on the heels of a hurricane. Mett showed some great flashes, and I think Les was Les in that the offensive game plan was very vanilla for an early-season game. Obviously, as others have noted, a number of areas have to be corrected, and I'm sure they will by the next game. Our running is game is awesome, and I think we have to be pleased that even though the offense seemed lackluster, we still racked up 500+ yards for what seemed like the first time in forever.
Pretty good summary Red. I do think Mett showed some key talents. He was accurate, hitting people in stride all over including both long balls. He was quick and deciscive and showed leadership. I hope and think he was constrained by the game plan and OL weakness. As you said WAY too many missed blocks by the OL. That needs the most improvement fast. I think Reid isn't our best cover DB, Simon is and Tharld was all Mo or PP& were. Reid should have done better but he was not correctly matched in coverage at least on the 80 yd TD. He should have played more conservativly. There is much room for improvement all across the team. I think and HOPE we have that in our tool box. I hope the coaches use this to improve both THEIR and the team's performance over the rest of the season. Reason for hope.
Anyone buy into the notion the abundance of bubble screens was due to being fairly generic on offense heading into the important Washington game? All it is really is an extended handoff and you instead should be ideally building confidence in Mett with easy completions. He seemed to have a really elongated and late delivery on many of those screens though. The QB got hit far too often. The defensive line generated very little pressure. Those were my big concerns on the night. That Chancellor kid reminded me very much of Lance Moore when he was at Toledo. Nifty player for them.
I agree with gynojunkie our playbook is to repetitive. It is also way to conservative. At least 95% of the passes are little underneath dump off's. Some will say that Mett needs time to adjust. I say if Miles would let backups come in during the season against cream puff's like North Texas and actually "throw" the ball fifty percent of the time they would be better prepared. Let's take Rivers for instance he came in and threw "NO" passes. Does Miles really believe Rivers got real game time experience? Not sure if it was the DT's are the entire Dline last night, but North Texas was knocking them backwards when running the ball towards the latter part of the game. May need to sub for Mingo and Montgomery later in the game to get some fresh big bodies to help out against the run. I would not want to play bama right now after what I saw of both teams last night.
