Gotta disagree with you here. I was HOPING that LSU would win the NC game but not surprised at all...really played out similar to the 1st Alabama game where Alabama dominated in stats but couldn't kick FGs. Even in the NC game they missed some FGs, but LSU couldn't move the ball at all. To be honest, I think the post-game dramatics by the media and some fans was way overblown. Did anyone preseason think LSU was going to win the west? Alabama was supposed to which meant no SEC CG title. And if you looked at the QB situation which quite frankly has been a disaster since Flynn left, you had 2 QBs IMO who should have been competing for the starting QB at North Dakota State, not Louisiana State. Anyway, enough about the past but I don't think a ton of people were surprised about the NC game. After all, the Vegas boys had Alabama the favorite. Completely agree here. Peveto and Mallory simply didn't have the credentials to be DC (co or not) at one of the best programs in the country. But to Miles' credit, that failed experiment lasted a grand total of 1 year and as you correctly stated, Miles was smart & lucky that Fulmer was fired and Chevis not offered a DC position when Lanie took over since his poppa came with him. Also to Miles credit though, if you remember, Chavis was offered the Clemson DC job before the LSU DC position. That was probably mostly respect for what Miles was doing at LSU that Chavis turned down Clemson waiting for the LSU offer which he knew was coming because I doubt the money would have been that much different. I don't think playing Mettenberger in the NC game was a mistake BUT I said during the season that I thought the only way that LSU could win the NC was with Mettenberger at QB. All you had to do was to watch Jefferson and Lee. When they went back, I was hoping that the pass wouldn't be INTed or the QB sack. Seriously, a completion was like a pipe dream. But after watching ZM in the JUCO NC game a year earlier that was streamed on the internet, when that guy goes back, you expect a successful play. LSU won the 1st Alabama game with better special teams and some luck. LSU simply couldn't win another game with the offense contributing little.
Forgot to comment on the OC situation last year (Crowton as the unnamed one of course). First, Crowton probably isn't a very good OC either, BUT the main criticisms I read from Oregon and BYU fans when Crowton was hired was about him as a QB coach. They stated that Crowton NEVER has developed a QB on his own. And you look at the one good one we have had lately...it was Jimbo Fisher's developed guy....Matt Flynn. GC did NOTHING to make Lee or Jefferson better. In fact, Jefferson seemed to regress and the ONLY reason that Lee appeared better this season with his INT issue was they took away the middle of the field. My appraisal of Lee is this. Lee threw the ball exactly where he wanted to throw the ball but he wasn't good enough football wise to read coverages. What LSU did to solve the problem this season was to pass as little as possible AND to also give him a "safe zone" to throw his passes. What I mean by this is lay a U (a huge letter U) on the field from the LOS and flip is over so that is an upside down U. That was the area he could throw passes...sidelines OK....flat OK...long passes period OK...BUT he was not allowed to throw many down the middle in intermediate length routes. If you all remember those two INTs in the first Alabama game were in that area. Anyway, either Lee couldn't be improved or Crowton wasn't good enough to do it. To be fair, Kragthorpe came in and all he did was apparently come up with the upside down U safe zone. And Jefferson of course never improved either and in fact a case could be made his best year was his SO season. LSU probably wins the NC last season if Zach Lee doesn't sign with the Dodgers. That guy had everything and was incredibly underrated. My brother and I saw him play multiple games and WOW!! Comparing him to Jefferson and J Lee. Zach Lee has by far the best arm....much smarter....looked off receivers...threw very accurate passes...could run the option very well if you wanted that...made quick decisions...etc, etc. etc. That guy was a 5* QB despite the services having him rated high 3* to 4*. LSU didn't win the NC in 2011 because Zach Lee signed with the Dodgers a couple of years ago and Zach Mettenberger wasn't ready to take the QB job from Jefferson and Lee. To go 13-0 before the NC game with those QBs...and really no games being that close except the Alabama game....a miracle.
You're just saying that because you and I agreed on almost everything in your post...excluding the surprise/non-surprise of the NC game. But asst coaching hirings, Mettenberger, Crowton, etc. I agree with you. In general, I think Miles has done a magnificent job in assistant hirings...Chavis, Ron Cooper, Brick Haley, Frank Wilson, Corey Raymond, Adam Henry, making sure Moffitt stays, keeping Pellini until he got his HC job at Nebr, etc. The mistakes were IMO Peveto/Mallory as co-DC, McCarthy (WR coach), Billy Gonzales (WR coach), and Earl Lane (DL coach). But right now, since we are talking recruiting and I guess overall coaching, the ONLY coach I MAY have a problem with is Studrawa...not so much as an OL coach but as an OC. To be fair to him, he needs a competent QB which hopefully he has now, but let's keep in mind. Studrawa applied for the OC job and Kragthorpe was hired over him to begin with. Only due to Kragthorpe's early onset Parkinson's is Studrawa the OC. I think this should be a make or break year for Coach Stud as OC. If LSU can't finish a lot higher in the nation in offensive stats with the talent they seem to have, I don't think Studrawa should stay OC. I cut him some slack this past season for the QB situation, but LSU was just too darn bad much of the time on offense, and their high scores were skewed by defensive TDs, special teams TDs, and a turnover ratio at the very top (2nd place maybe) in the entire nation and that set up many FGs and TDs with a short field.
I wasn't surprised that we lost the nc game, but I was shocked at how poorly our offense played. I never had expectations of our QBs doing much, but I sure thought that we would be able to generate at least some offense to give the defense some breathers. As I think about it, I still can not believe that we did not give Lee one last chance late in the third quarter. I actually have some bitterness towards CLM for not putting Lee in. Don't get me wrong, I doubt if he would have pulled it out, he might even have thrown a pair of "pick 6s", but we'll never know and --- after what Lee went through at LSU and how well he performed last year --- he was owed a last chance. Anyway --- so much for old wounds --- Geaux Tigers --- Let's make up for it this year!
I didn't expect very good play at QB and I'm sure you didn't either...we didn't have it in the 1st game against UA either. But the OL simply didn't play as well as they did in the first game. LSU couldn't run the ball either in the NC game and I honestly don't remember Alabama stacking the LOS of scrimmage that much. LSU played at least even on the LOS when UA had the ball but rarely can you win a game when the other team pushes your OL around like Alabama did. LSU crossed midfield what 1 time in the game? I disagree with you on Lee...that seems to be a hot topic. All I can do is to revisit the 1st game against the same team. Lee looked horrible and there is no way LSU wins that game if Lee wasn't pulled. NOT that Jefferson played well because he didn't in that 1st game, but at least he didn't make huge mistakes like Lee did. I think you and I agree 100% on one thing. IF Mettenberger could have been brought along during the regular season more, he would have been to one to bring in. But he throws like 15 passes all season with 0 starts, that wasn't an option. That is why Zach Lee probably would have made the difference. That guy could have "Manning"ed Alabama to death. Great reader of pressure, quick release, big strong kid, think he was valedictorian at his HS so I don't think we need to talk intelligence, etc. That would have been his 2nd year and IMO would have started the entire 2011 season, probably taken over during the 2010 one. You have to have an extraordinary QB to beat a team dominating the LOS....I think he could have been that guy. The good news in a sadistic type of way is that LSU is getting so close a look now by QBs because all these guys are saying "I have seen what they have had the last few years. They have a great team overall and I'm better than the guys that have been starting. I'm going to LSU and start me some games at QB!"
To me, you've hit the real question... As there was no way to red-shirt Mettenberger last year --- Why didn't he see the field a lot more than he did? I've read that some football publications speculated that he just couldn't beat out either Jefferson or Lee and I sure hope that was not the case. Anybody what to speculate if CLM was 100% candid with us, what he would say to the question of why Mettenberger did not get more snaps last year?
Obviously, I was as confused as you were. The answer of course by the Lee supporters particularly since he started most of the games due to Jefferson's suspension was "well, he {Jarrett Lee} is winning the games so there is no use in chancing things". Of course, anyone who watched the games saw who really won the games whether Lee or Jefferson started....defense, special teams, non-offensive TDs, rushing game, etc. The last factor that won the games last year was the passing game which is why LSU finished so low in their passing yards, yards per completion, etc. I don't know how much of this can be taken to the bank but AFTER the NC game, there might have been a hint about the Mettenberger situation. Blackwell, Hebert, and others seem to insinuate that Mettenberger was "a goofy guy" which I think translates to "not mature enough." That is not a horrible indictment of Mettenberger and I don't want to hear that coming from Coach Miles since it does no good to leak that info to anyone. But that sounds logical because it is hard to believe ZM doesn't have much better tools than Lee or Jefferson and also the guy wasn't exactly a youngster. He went to the NC JUCO game the previous football season. If you find a better theory, please pass it along to me. I agree with everything you say, but let's look at how many people agreed with the decision...Miles, Kragthorpe, Studrawa, and Gonzales the passing game coordinator. I have heard 0 about any disagreement among the 4 coaches. You know what that may mean....you are I are simply smarter than they are.
If there was disagreement between Miles, Kragthorpe, Studrawa, and Gonzales --- we would never hear about it.
Maybe Mett was in the doghouse last year for getting in a fist fight with a teammate. I read somewhere that he knocked somebody down in the locker room...I forgot who.
