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

The only one I don't agree with is the offense looking the same as last year. We threw more times last night then all games last year except two. Mett had 51 more yards than he averaged last year even though he only had 16 completions. I have to believe this is due to us taking far more deep shots than last year.

We only had two 3-and-outs the entire game. We went 13-19 on 3rd down. We had 26 first downs. We threw the ball on first down multiple times. We ran more plays last night (80) than every game last year except against Bama (we really should have won that one we killed them with T.O.P). The defense got an extra quarter of rest compared to TCU because of all the long drives we mbehad.

And remember, this is the first game of the season with a brand new OC. We put up numbers that destroyed last season and its only the first game. I can't wait to see the offense come game 5/6.

 

The difference in the passing game was Metts accuracy and decision making. He didn't even look like the same QB last night. Last year he had zero pocket presence and held the ball much too long. Last night he looked confident and quick getting the ball out. The only things that need improvement was leading the WR better on the deep pass and spreading the ball around to more than just Landry and Beckham. The passing game should be fun to watch if a couple more WRs step up and if they call a few passes to the RBs and TEs to keep the defense honest.

 

Solid analysis here.

 

Exactly. Hence in that regard our offense looks nothing like last year's. I think it's clear CCC has had a major impact not only on Mett's development but also pass blocking. None of this should be a surprise however, Cam has developed multiple NFL quarterbacks - dude knows what he's doing.

Also, fundamentally there was nothing "wrong" with the plays that we called last year. Ofcourse our offense will look the same because a sweep will always look like a sweep, a run left the same, a fade. Wat didn't look the same was the gameplan, you could see CCC's influence with how many deep balls were throw. I'm positive as LSU's offense establishes itself Miles will loosen the reigns on Cam and allow him to implement more and more of his offense. Remember its just game one. You can't revamp and entire playbook in one offseason. This year will be about slowly phasing out what didn't work in our old offense while adding new wrinkles.

Expect the next couple games to be working on cleaning up all phases of the game.

 

Good:
-Mett looks a lot better. Great game and could've been a huge game if not for some dropped passes and a pass interference no call in the endzone in the 1st half. He still has that tendency to hang on to the ball too long and waits a little late on the long ball. He was deadly accurate on post routes.
-Play calling wasn't that predictable. I was glad to see after the middle screen was busted up in twice in the 1st half that they didn't go back to it.
-Landry is awesome, Magee is awesome, glad Les disciplined Hill for this game
-Pass protection was pretty good. I was pleased with that.

Bad:
-Run blocking was not very good. There were a couple good draw plays up the middle, but usually the between the tackle runs were pretty fruitless. I'm concerned about this if we are a run first team.
-I was more impressed with the TCU secondary than ours to be honest. TCU was lock step with our guys and it took Metts being extremely accurate. TCU seemed to be able to find holes in the secondary. Now how much of this was the 4-2-5? I don't know but LSU can definitely be thrown on.
-Boykin diced the D up pretty good. I'm concerned about that. The running QB will give us fits it seems
-The DL didn't get much heat on the QB on passing plays

Ugly:
-How in the heck do you get delay of game coming out of time out. Miles drives me crazy with this kind of stuff.
-How in the heck do you not get a play in at the end of the game when you are running out the clock and it is 1st down. Just run it!!!! Its 1st down, you are trying to run out the clock, run play is in order. This kind of crap will lose us a game this year. It is inexcusable. This is either CC's fault or CLM's fault. Pathetic.
-Penalties on offense. Some of it I blame on poor decision making by the coaches when we were down at the goal line and coaches screw up. Then the OL gets flustered and anxious and jump off sides.

 

???
What's new? Nothing is new. Pessimistic mantras still sink into the minds of some to the point that they believe shit happened because they believed it is supposed to happen the way they have been programed to believe.

WTF did you see that I failed to. To score on the final play of the half, albeit a field goal in no way should be construed as bad. If you would have labeled it as ugly I would have bought into that assessment. The final possession of the half started at the LSU 25 and used the entire 3:06 remaining on the clock and the field goal was on 4th/goal, not 2nd/5yd from the 8. They ran out of plays, not time to play them. LSU took an unconventional approach on 2nd/goal by running the ball and using their final timeout, hence setting up 3rd down as an obvious passing situation. Putting it poker terms, since it is a strategic management game also; LSU put up a lot of their chips on 2nd down and lost, but they didn't go all in. They kept enough chips to ante up on 3rd with only a moderate risk of not being able to play again on 4th, an option you don't always have in poker.

The 2nd down run may have worked if LSU would have made the play look more like a pass before the snap and ran a delay draw with someone other than Hilliard. He scouts out as a power inside back not a pass protection back. TCU read it like a book. LSU choked on that RS opportunity but not because of clock management. Clock management is second only to the three points salvaged at the end as a positive from that drive.

Now to the clock management at the end of the game. Hmmm let's see, LSU MANAGED to maintain possession, moved the chains and consumed the final 5:15. Again WTF did you see that I didn't?

 

Another lousy opener to start another lousy season for Mississippi State.

I'd be shocked if this team won 5 games this year. Back to drowning myself in alcohol.

 

See Texas A&M

 

I think we really missed Tahj Jones last night.

 

Just beat Ole Miss and all will be well !!!!!