My thoughts on Crowton: That 2007 offense was diverse and beautiful. I would not want to be the defense coordinator trying to stop that. And as I heard others say, I don't think he got stupid overnight. This year he has great receivers, and proven top quality running backs. That leaves OL, QB, play calling and execution. I think it is a combination of those things. I think LSU would be better served to man up and run the ball behind the beef. It is simple and he has the horses to do it, but has too many option plays, which is not getting it done and is hurting momentum. When he gets the defense on it's hills then it's time for some option or pass plays. He is being too finesse for the talent he has. I readily admit I haven't watched all the LSU games. I'm sure Crowton knows his talent better than I. The underachievement is puzzling.
I don't think he did either, but keep this one thing in mind: he had a redshirt senior QB who had spent 4 years getting coached up by one of the best QB developers in the game - Jimbo Fisher. Flynn was also more adept at running the option. I don't know yet if Crowton is a good QB coach or not. Jefferson is just a true sophomore, and we have offensive line issues. I think it's too early to pass judgment just yet, personally, but I do think Jefferson is making progress.
if he had the right OL blocking Scott would rip holes. You can run up the middle in the SEC you just have to WIN the battle at the LOS. JJ isnt as bad as you make him sound he is just young. he can improve but its possible he may face some stiff competition from the bench next year IF Miles lets it happen. the thing is Miles will say the job is open but he usually doesnt mean that. Coach speak. Lee's gun is average, Lee's problem is he rattles easily. He doesnt move around well, with No O line this is disaster. Crowton is obviously NOT a QB coach and he will start affecting recruiting before long. It certainly isnt a lack of talent. Cutcliff would be better, much as i hate to say it.. Crowton will be somewhere else next year, I thnk Miles sees this. I hope. I predict. Ridley has heart, drive, he reminds me of hester. Id like to see more of him too.
I keep seeing you say this but I disagree. La Tech put nine in the box a couple times on 3rd and 2-3 yards to go. I have not seen any drastic changes when Lee has come in against the other Ds either. I notice we play call more 3 wide sets with Lee in the game which forces the D to play the pass. Former LSU assistant Dooley knew something because he did not respect the pass in those passing situations.
Well technically you are correct. If you have 5 Supermen up there then it wouldn't matter but us that actually live in this plane of existence I assure you nobody is going to run straight up the middle in the SEC constantly... didn't work last year, didn't work this year, probably isn't going to work as long as the SEC continues to get the players they get to play on D. I never said he was bad, but I might have said he was bad at running the option. I said he has limited throwing ability even if you correct everything else that can be corrected. He is good enough to get you 7-10 wins if you keep the talent around him as high as LSU's but it's going to be ugly most of the time. I can't blame either QB for getting rattled, the OC sucks and puts them in bad positions. I think the OL is playing fine since the 4th game of the year or so. Crowton isn't even worth talking about... he is that bad. I agree there, he needs more carries and there is time to do that. I guess I somewhat agree with what you have said. It's cool that we can talk and disagree, so thanks for that.
Most of the time LaTech was playing 5-7 in the box, yes many times the 5th wasn't even near the line. Sure there were times when they crowded the line on 3rd and short... you didn't see 8 and 9 in the box on 1st and 10 or 2nd.
Yes, I did. Dooley came after him most of the game with great success. 3rd and short was just the most telling.
Some teams play the obvious pass by covering, only putting 5 or 6 in the box and dropping the rest. Some teams play the pass by blitzing, putting 8 and sometimes 9 in the box, and praying they get their before the QB releases. This was Tech's strategy. JLee is a broken man and Dooley knew it and thrived on it. I rarely saw Tech load the box on 1st or 2nd down. Furthermore, 3rd and short is not an obvious passing down when you're talking LSU versus Tech. I'd argue the opposite actually. With a broken QB, I'd load the box for the run, and blitz everything if I see him drop back to pass. Our guys don't play enough zone reads to allow them to run to the spot the blitzer vacated because you'll be wide open...either that or the offensive coaches didn't bother to tell them to. But even if they did, JLee is too jittery to stand in and get the short pass off. I don't think you can put all the fault on JLee for this game. Broken he may be, but he was not set up for success at all, and I feel sorry for him. I understand they may have wanted to get him reps, but do it in the flow of the game. You don't abandon basic football principles just for the sake of letting the QB throw some extra passes. If Tech has 5 in the box, line up and smack them in the mouth until they put 8 in the box to stop the run...then PASS the ball because they cannot check our guys one on one. Keiland could've easily had 200 yards rushing in this game the way Tech played D. And I don't care who the opponent is, the D will get tired if they're on the field for too long. They weren't playing well as it was, then they got no protection from the offense. Poorly called game...but if there was a game to experiment, this was it...
I understand all of this but after watching the game last night again you could see them stacking the box at may different points in the game and showed Lee no respect in the passing game. Same can be said for the other times Lee was in during other games. We do however try to keep the pressure off of him by using 3 wide sets and spread formations and the reason we see the defenses backing off because they are forced to. This was a hot topic on the radio yesterday. Bottom line is that when Dooley thought it was going to be a pass, he brought the pressure 70% of the time. I am not bashing Lee but understand he was put in a bad situation from the start. Lee came to LSU wanting a redshirt year because he knew he had a lot to learn but he was forced in early because of RP and the depth at the QB spot. The general consensus from people I know who watch practices say Lee is a great practice player but when he gets into games it is the polar opposite and that comes from a confidence level that could never develop with his struggling year in 2008. Any team that does not follow the game plan that Dooley used and saw on film from previous LSU games is foolish. Lee hurled the ball without following through or even looking where he was throwing at least 5 times by my count. Bring the pressure and force him to make mistakes because he has yet to put any defense on the back of their heals with the passing threat and that is very obvious in the La Tech game. Lee does not impose a running threat either. You can bring a blitz and not have to worry about containment. You could see this in the La Tech game as well. They would fake a corner blitz and just hover in the passing lanes forcing Lee to make a perfect pass.
