You have a point, but, JR was known for putting the ball on the carpet. You are accurate with all the other stuff you said about that day. Early D did fumble a kick off, the D gave up a stupid jump pass touchdown, etc etc. However, i think if Flynn had been given the keys to the bus from the get go, he would have had a better career than JR. But once again it's pure speculation. Flynn did turn the ball over against Alabama alot, but i don't really remember him being a turnover machine. I do remember Russell turning the ball over alot, fumbling, throwing picks, and taking sacks 15 and 20 yards behind the line of scrimmage. I do remember him bailing LSU out of alot of crap, but most of it was crap he put us in, so its a wash to me. I can't sit here and say LSU would have been better if Flynn would have qb'd, i think LSU would have, but no one will know for sure. Russell had great numbers, you are correct, but in the 3 years that he started and came off the bench, LSU's offense shifted from a ground heavy game to a passing game, which consisted mostly of quick inside screens, and quick slants, and bubble screens, with the occasional deep ball. If Jamarcus was a GREAT college quarterback, he would have won a title, because the team around him in my opinion was GREAT.
Agreed, but OL deficiencies get exposed even more when you have a QB that holds onto the ball too long. When you have a QB that opposing D's don't fear to throw the long ball. As for how it has gotten to be such a big concern especially since that is Miles expertise, I don't think even the best OL players we have had over the years could compensate enough to overcome some of our QB problems. The QB problems we have had over the past 2 years have exposed a lot of issues that many stem from the QB position. Sooo many things become ineffective when the QB isn't what you need them to be. Had RP been here we may not have had these issues. We may not have found out what needs to be done to compensate for a QB that isn't all world. If Miles and the new coaching staff learn from the past 2 seasons, and they develop an offense that utilizes what strengths we have then we will be better in the long run from what we have learned.
11 INT's his one year as a starter. The only one that I can remember being really bad was when he forced a deep ball on a flea-flicker vs. South Carolina. We were cruising that point, and that kind of let the air out of the game. We went on to win of course, but it was still an ill-advised throw. Also we lost to Arkansas because he forced a slant to a double-covered Byrd on the 2-point conversion. At that point in the game, it's kind of a crap shoot and we never should've been in that situation to begin with, but still, it was a crappy throw to end the game. Agreed. He was at his best when forced to dig the team out of a hole, usually that he created. But still, no one was better in the 2-minute drill. Examples include: '04 Auburn game, when he moved the ball 50 yards in 3 completions, then hit Doucet in the hands for a first down (only to see Early tip it to an Auburn defender to end the game), '06 Ole Miss game (GW TD in the North EZ, awesome game), the '06 Bama game (GW TD to Bowe in OT), and the '06 Tennessee game (he had 3 INTs in this game but also had a great game passing and running, and led to a last-minute TD drive.) I really think he just needed to have his feet to the fire to actually give a crap and get a sense of urgency. Why he couldn't just turn it on from the opening whistle, I'll never know, but he was still an amazingly efficient QB in the no-huddle. This is true, but it's not like he came nowhere close. He posted an 11-1 regular season in '05, then the team as a whole got trounced by Georgia and he got hurt. He led the '06 team to a 12-2 record, identical to Flynn the following year. Also, let's not forget that the '07 championship is a bit of a historical anomaly. After all, the Tigers did benefit from of one of the most improbable scenarios to ever play out in CFB, allowing us to jump from 7th in the BCS to 2nd in one weekend. For comparison's sake, after the '06 regular season, LSU was around 5th in the BCS. Had the same sort of crazy scenario played out that season, it'd be Russell with the ring and not Flynn. No way we lose to Ohio State that season, either. We'll never know what Flynn could've done as the full-time starter, but I do know that what Russell did was far greater than he's given credit for.
You can "just say" all you want, but Rohan was an awesome QB at LSU. I think he just threw ANOTHER TD to Reed. That was the most fun team to watch I can remember. This, this, and this. Nowhere near the team that was assembled shortly thereafter...on either side of the ball.
JaMarcus has/had incredible talent, physically he was far superior to the average college QB, unfortunately that was one of the reasons LSU never made it to a NC in 2006. He felt superior and took untimely long yardage sacks in big games instead of throwing the ball away. To me the 2006 team was the most talent LSU football team I have ever seen but he played bad in both of the loses.... we didn't need 300 yards of passing.
And he still took us to the same record as Flynn and a higher regular season finish. As for playing bad in both losses, pretty sure the running game averaging 1 ypc contributed greatly to the Auburn loss, as did an egregious call by the officials.
