I am taking a Nick Saban approach to this, yeah it's great we won but what do we need to work on for the upcoming game with the Leathernecks of Western Illinois? I think we need to do a better job of picking up the blitz. I saw Wildcats in he backfield rushing the QB a few times. We also need to force more turnovers. We will need a good turnover ratio to beat the top teams. I think Western Illinois is totally overmatched but we still need to take it seriously and remember UAB. If we can work on the blitz and force turnovers we will be more than ready for Georgia in a couple weeks.
I agree!! When Arizona sent in the blitz they were able to put pressure on Mauck and Randall. So your right there, we need to get better at protecting the QB! Also, we turned the ball over 4 times. Got to protect the ball better. Just my .02
It appears the Center/Right Guard area was the hole. I wonder if Nate Livings' newness to the line is the problem.
here's my take: 1) Improve on picking up the blitzes --- in my eyes, against better more agressive defenses this will be a huge problem unless improvements are made. 2) Protect the football --- not much to say here. hold on to the football!! 3) Get better pressure on the QB --- they have done a decent job of making the QB hurry, but they don't actually get to him and put him on the ground enough in my opinion. 4) Better tackling-- I think there have been too many missed/broken tackles. Again, against better teams this will be a problem unless improvement is made. 5) More consistancy in the run defense --- overall I think the Run D has been good, however I think there have been too many big gains on the ground. (though most of those were late in the games with the bench players) I realize some of what I stated, would be different if the starters were in the whole game. I think most of the mistakes have been due to the inexperience of the subs. Also, I think all of these "problems" are easily correctable. The level of competition is going to take a huge jump up come Sept 20. However I don't doubt that Saban and Crew will have ironed out the wrinkles by then. (thats what Western Illinois is for) With all that said, I still think the WR's have been outstanding. The QB's have been good and so have the RB's. Besides the blitz protection, I have been happy with the O-Line. I also think the secondary has played well up to this point. The D-Line has been decent and I don't really have any thing negative to say about the LB's. All in all, I think LSU is headed in the right direction. I am looking forward to the rest of the season. Is it Saturday yet??
One thing I noticed is the team looked focused the whole game. They were not over hyped but very business like, they did not loose their edge even with a big lead........they seem very mature and can handle succes. This will be very important down the road in my opinion.
Very true. The UGA game will also be a test to see how well the guys hold up under pressure in a close game or even if they are trailing. A close game with UGA will reveal the true character of this team.
