The Good, The Bad, & the Ugly . . . Week 1

THE GOOD:

Allen at DE looked really good in the first quarter but then seemed to disappear.

Mett looked worlds better than last season making more accurate throws, quicker decisions and had much better pocket presence.

Landry is an absolute beast! If LSU can find another consistent WR to keep Landry from getting double teamed look out.

The OL looked pretty good keeping Mett clean on passing plays.

Magee has legit speed and can kill defenses with outside runs. Would love to see him used like Darren Sproles in the passing game.

The bad:

The DL disappeared for most of the game. Where was freak?

Clock management, what's new?

The OL run blocking was surprisingly weak.

The ugly:

Playcalling! This was the exact same offense from the last few years. Passes to the RB and the TE were shockingly absent. Without Mett and Landry improving greatly it would have been a carbon copy of last year.

Special teams. The kick off return by TCU was bad. The muffed punt was also very bad. #3 did have a good return. Short kick offs far too often.

Summary:
Overall still good to get a win over a top 20 team to begin the season, but definitely not the dominating performance we saw against Oregon a couple years back.

Defense overall has a long way to go and the OL needs to gel.

With Metts improvement this team should be able to roll against lesser competition if the play calling doesn't shackle them yet again.

 

Odell is that other WR, and Boone had his moments last year, can have them again this year.
Our OL had issues with pass protection last year and was heavy on run defense ... how did we flip?
While Magee was good, wait until we see Hill back.

As far as the bad ....
I'm pretty sure that those refs were taking a page out of the Bama handbook and not calling holding AT ALL. It was pretty ass.
Clock management, agreed WTF Not sure why.

The ugly:
Well our starting TE was out, so that's some of not going to the TE. I also was wondering why no passes to the RB's as we know they have good hands, and that seems to be a staple in the CC offense. Playcalling itself was not that bad, I liked the play actions, and the shoving it down their throat to eat time.

Special teams needs work ... and pronto.

I'm looking forward to a good season.

 

Mett was tons better. Great to see a lot of progress there from last season.

Special teams needs some work. So does run blocking. Some poor tackling out there today too.

Clock management - nah, I can't even do it. That dog will never hunt and as hard as it is to do, we will have to learn to live with it but we don't have to like it.

 

False, TCU sniffed these out. Please re-watch film and repeat thread. TE was not playing.

/thread

 

The play action is a definite improvement and if Cam has anything to do with Mett's improvement a big thanks is needed. However other than the early two end arounds the play calling was eerily reminiscent of last years O. The only difference was the play of Mett and Landry. I can't think of a single team in the nation that throws to the RB's and TE's less than LSU does and that includes NFL and High School teams.

The refs absolutely sucked in the first half. They must have received a phone call from someone very important at half time, because it seemed to even out in the second half.

Beckham is boom or bust. He makes a couple of great grabs and then drops a couple huge easy passes. Boone has shown no consistency at all and probably isn't even a consideration in the defensive game plan.

Good thing is there is tons of talented depth and there is time for some young guns to step up and push those that are underachieving.

 

The Good
1. Fuck yes, agreed agreed agreed.
2. Agreed Agreed
3. Definitely looked good, but can't wait to get Hill back.
4. Agreed
5. I know, I was begging for more play action all night?
6. Yep
7. Electric, explosive, exciting!
8. Bleh
9. Yes indeed

The Bad
1. Not that worried about it, would have liked the pick 6 BUT he was worried about stopping the play which was more important.
2. Not sure what the hell happened, but yeah
3. Not that worried about it, he's normally solid and he made a mistake
4. Again, not that worried about it he was big.
5. Not worried about it with Hill, Blue, and Magee
6. FUCK YOU BRAD WING, should have come back.
7. Our special teams needs some help.

The Ugly
1. Indeed
2. Indeed
3. With any luck it will be minor.
4. Agreed
5. Agreed
6. Didn't hear the radio
7. No flag on TCU for ripping off our players helmet?!?!?
8. lolBamaoffense

 

Totally agree. I though Cam would come in and install an entirely new offense, but it's the same ole same ole. We did have better balance and were less predictable, but we have very little offensive creativity. I not saying we should be a wide open attack like Oregon or Clemson, but show some imagination with the plays. We can still be creative while being a balanced, pro style team.

He's like Devery was with the Saints. He'll catch the tough ones and drop the easy ones.

Oh wow, did Hawthorne have to go at it alone tonight? Bet that was a tough listen.

 

I think we'll see more TE throws with our starter being back, and I'm hoping for some more rb throws. I will say it looked like TCU flushed out a decent number of our other things, and we went to bread and butter play action and pound it in moves.

 

Regarding the play calling, I certainly think it was improved. Clearly, the execution in the passing game was superior, and predictability of play calls was superior. I think the reason several of you feel it was the same ole play calling, is because there is certainly some of the same stuff mixed in. But overall, it was not a carbon copy. I think it was improved, and CCC has only been on board for 6 months or so. While CLM and CCC have off the field and on the field experience w/each other, they have never been in this exact situation before where CLM is the HC, and CCC is the OC. They have to still get used to each others styles in those roles, and build confidence over time who calls what in exact situations. It's only gonna improve, imho. For the first game, I am thrilled w/the passing game, execution, and even the play calling (not ideal, mind you, but improved).

Regarding the run blocking, predictably for LSU it got better as the game moved on, I thought. Also, the success in the passing game is going to help the run game in the future. That was a good defense we played, although we were clearly bigger than them.