The stats of many teams in the first three weeks are inflated because they blew away cupcakes. LSU played some pretty good teams and our stats will rise this season. LSU is ranked #120 -- dead last nationally -- in kickoff returns because our opponents are kicking short instead of to Holiday. We got only 10 yards a return, but great field position.
I like looking at stats but the only one that counts is W's! So what if we havent looked like a fine tuned machine out of the gate. What team has? Even Florida had a hiccup against Tennessee. I believe unrealistic expectations are the source for grumbling and naysayers. There is a lot that goes into getting 85 players to gel as a team regardless of the talent level. If talent alone won the BCS Championship USC would be the perennial champion. Let them grow as a team and see how the season unfolds. Stats after 3 weeks are not all that telling IMHO.
This is the type of example that really shows how misleading statistics can be. another good example is in NFL last year. Saints offensive stats vs their win/loss record.
Actually, this showed that the Saints had a very good offense and a very bad defense. Hopefully, this year, the Saints will have a great offense and at least an OK defense.
Not everybody. http://www.tigerforums.com/tigers-den/86444-so-who-competition-sec-west-7.html#post945112 They've answered the only real question I had, which was the passing game.
These stats are crap when you factor teams like CSU that's 0-3. Really, look at UF's stats for the first 2 games then the game vs Tenn. LSU will be fine. Trust stats to much and you lose bets like the UW USC game.
This. Particularly the comments on the level of competition thus far. By the end of the season, we'll be in the top half of all categories...and that'll be enough if the scoring defense keeps it up!
Still early in the season. Who you've played factors into the stats this early in the season. Overall, we have much room for improvement though.
The stats start to mean a little usually after about the 5th week. Most of the cupcakes are gone and most teams have played one or two pretty good conference teams. Stats alone don't always say that much, but stats combined with other info. can give you a pretty accurate picture. I think our competition has been pretty good. Washington was a tough environment and obviously a pretty good team. Vandy is pretty good with a solid D, but they may have some real problems after losing two starters for the season against LSU (including their playmaking senior safety who did everything in their win against Ole Miss last year). The Cajuns were 2-0, but let's face it, they're still the Cajuns even if we are their Superbowl game. They played okay against us and the QB did a good job with his fakes, etc., but I think we should have done better against them on O. The total offense numbers are a little glaring when you look at all the talent we have. The biggest thing to me is our major lack of really big plays in the running and passing game. That is concerning. And the fact that we really couldn't blow open any big holes in the running game until the 4th quarter Saturday night is very strange. I thought our offense went back to being very boring again Saturday, so I'm sure that didn't help. At least against Vandy we were seeing many different looks and did pretty good considering that they don't give up many points to anyone. We'll see what happens against St. Hopefully, they will really make these defenses think about who will actually get the ball because that is where our strength lies with this team. Shep. appears to definitely be the big play guy, so they really need to start getting him in there a lot more. LaFell needs plenty more touches because he's awesome and if you give him one block on the outside he can take it to the house. We haven't used him near enough. I guess the good news of these stats would be Georgia. That's obviously a very big game for us and they are DEAD LAST in total defense and scoring defense. And it isn't even close. I saw some of their game against Arky and Arky's QB had about three hours to throw the ball. Also, the fact that they gave up 38 to South Carolina can't be too good because South Carolina has had close to no offense for a while. And Georgia has less sacks than us (Florida too). Not sure how that is, but it is. Our lack of pressure is our other biggest issue. I know we've played some different style offenses, but still... Our blitz package is going to have to get MUCH better as well. We're not getting there. Chad Jones had a great game though. That's big because he's key to our D being good and he was nowhere in the first two games. I'll take 3-0 though any day though.
