I noticed the same thing. Our play calling the first half was the most diverse and best of the year. The jet sweep was a nice wrinkle, and takes a defender out of the box because the defense has to respect the play on the edge. Kudos to Cam for changing things up early on in the game. However, the second half we seem to fall into the same rut with regards to play calling we had in the rest of our games. Play calling got stale and A&M started to adjust. With over 500 yds of offense, we should have had more TDs and Jennings still can't consistently complete a pass when needed. To have such a huge difference in box score stats one would have thought we scored 40 or more points.
Jennings should run more than he throws it seems. Unless something drastic happens int he off-season, we need more zone reads from him.
Report Card: LSU - A&M Sonny Shipp 23 hours ago LSU closed out the regular season with the win over Texas A&M and it’s time to hand out some grades from the Thanksgiving win. LSU's defensive line stood tall (Photo: Troy Taormina , USA TODAY Sports) Quarterbacks The 12-of-21 passing for 107 yards with a touchdown and an interception is right on pace with what Anthony Jennings’ stat line has looked like most of the year. What really gave the Tigers a spark, though, were his 119 yards on 14 carries from running the zone read. He added another dimension to the Tiger run game and played his best game of the year. Grade: B- __________________________________________________ Running Backs Only 220 of LSU’s 384 rushing yards were courtesy of the running backs with Leonard Fournette (19-146-1) and Terrence Magee (12-74) accounting for all of those 220 yards. Fournette and Magee both hit the holes hard and looked a step faster than A&M’s defenders all night. One of our key matchups in this one was LSU’s fullbacks getting a hat on a defender at the second level and Connor Neighbors accomplished that mission, along with catching a couple of passes for 13 yards. Grade: A __________________________________________________ Receivers and Tight Ends John Diarse (3-29-1) was back in the mix after going five games where he caught only one ball. Malachi Dupre caught just one pass but it went for 41 yards on a beautiful throw from Jennings on 2nd and 10. Travin Dural never got going in the passing game after being outmuscled off the line on Jennings’ interception, but he was a big factor on jet sweeps with 49 yards on four carries. This receiving corps is inexperienced and it shows in several areas, including blocking and not being technically sound in other areas such as helping Jennings when things break down. Dillon Gordon had a solid game sealing the edge as usual. Grade: B- __________________________________________________ Offensive Line The big men up front dominated A&M’s front seven and it was not even a contest. La’el Collins was called for a hold and had the personal foul, but he took his man to the woodshed the entire game. For the first time all year, LSU went with some unbalanced lines with Jerald Hawkins lining up next to Collins and the line did not have any mishaps when going with that set. There were a few penalties up front, but it was a dominant performance overall. Grade: A __________________________________________________ Defensive Line Jermauria Rasco’s eight tackles tied for the team lead and he added a sack, a quarterback hurry and two tackles for loss. While Danielle Hunter was kept in check with only one tackle, Tashawn Bower gave Tiger fans a glimpse of what he will bring next year with a pair of tackles – one for loss. Davon Godchaux and Christian LaCouture each logged only one stop, but did a good job of taking on blocks so the Tiger linebackers could make a lot of plays. Sione Teuhema got bailed out with the no call on the controversial offside and that could have been a huge blow. Grade: B+ __________________________________________________ Linebackers Kendell Beckwith and Kwon Alexander teamed up for a sack and logged seven tackles each. They roamed the middle and bottled up A&M’s run game, minus the 41-yard touchdown run where Alexander did not maintain his gap responsibility. These two made some nice tackles in space and could form one of the best tandems in the country if Alexander returns for his senior season. Grade: B+ __________________________________________________ Secondary LSU’s secondary stood tall with the Aggie receiving corps, minus Speedy Noil’s 27-yard touchdown catch over Tre’Davious White. The other big pass play was a 42-yarder where Kendell Beckwith was matched up in man coverage. A key for LSU’s secondary was how well would the safeties fare in man coverage and they answered that bell with a strong performance led by Jamal Adams (eight tackles). LSU’s defensive backs made tackles in space and Jalen Collins had another strong performance with the interception that ended A&M’s hopes with 1:21 left, along with another pair of passes he broke up. Grade: A __________________________________________________ Special Teams Two missed field goals and a short kickoff by Cameron Gamble were the bad, while the forced fumble when Devin Voorhies stripped Speedy Noil that was recovered by Duke Riley at the end of the half was the good for this unit. Leonard Fournette also fumbled a return that could have been devastating, but Edward Paris alertly pounced on the ball to save the day. Some good, but more bad from Bradley Dale Peveto’s groups. Grade: D+ __________________________________________________ Coaching Once again, John Chavis got the better of Kevin Sumlin’s offense in the chess match and his unit was exceptional. Kudos to Cam Cameron for calling his best game of the year and throwing some wrinkles in there that caught A&M off guard. And Les Miles also deserves some kudos because the staff did what he said and looked at the Arkansas game and made some changes that they put into effect. The team was ready to play on a day that was filled with distractions. Grade: A-
Where the hell has John Diarse been since the Wisconsin game? I wasn't sure if he was even on the team.
