QB = D+ Aside from Jefferson's effective read option plays, the QBs in this game suffered from a stifling Bama defense and secondary that blanketed our receivers all night long. Most games, those 2 interceptions would have been crippling. RB = B Ware struggled but Ford shined. Based on a defense that was giving up only 1.67 yards per carry coming in the game and 44.9 yards per game, Ware/Ford combined for 27 carries and 101 yards. Against this defense, that was as good as one could hope for. WR = C- Bama's secondary won the battle with the LSU receivers. I thought going into this game we had a shot to make some plays downfield, but that happened only once. TE = C- Chase Clement had the biggest catch of his career at LSU when he caught and ran for 14 yards from the LSU 5 yard line very late in the ball game. Another area I thought Peterson could be effective, but it wasn't to be. The one play that could have been a big gainer, Jefferson was pressured and could not get him the ball. O-line = C+ Based on who we played, I think the O-line held up well enough. They faced the best front 7 in all of college football, gave our QBs ample time to throw for the most part and were able to spring Ford outside on some nice runs. We've certainly played better previous to this game but again the opponent was nearly impossible to block effectively. Overall Offense = C- We were just effective enough running the ball to be able to stay in a close defensive struggle. We didn't punt out from our endzone except for once. We moved the chains and won the battle for field position for the most part. It was good enough to win the game. D-line = A- We heard talk all week about how this Alabama O-line was so great and physical, touted as the best in the nation possibly. The LSU defensive line more than held it's own. They bottled the great Trent Richardson to 4 yards or less on 18 of his 23 carries. The pass rush was just good enough to keep McCarron a little too uncomfortable back in the pocket. A 15 yard penalty on Logan really hurt us and allowed Alabama to get their first field goal. LB = D As great as LSU played last night, it was the continued poor play of this unit that caused the biggest headaches. Richardson leaking out of the backfield on 2 huge pass plays was unforgivable. Still getting sucked into blocks and not being a factor on plays is still the overriding theme for this unit. DB = A Bama was limited to only 8 catches for 99 yards on the night. The secondary was outstanding and the 2 interceptions helped save this game. Reid's interception will go down as maybe the best interception in LSU history based on the game situation and the effort he made to get back and make a play when all seemed lost. Athleticism the likes we never have seen from an LSU secondary. Unsung hero Taylor continues to shine. Overall Defense = B+ The defense allowed yards in between the Bama 20 and LSU 30, but then tightened up each and every time after that. The big gains to Richardson were a bad mark but other than that, this unit prevailed on the biggest stage in a hostile environment. Special Teams = B Brad Wing is the best punter in college football. His 73 yard net punt late in the game possibly saved our season. Tack on another couple of punts that were downed inside the 5 and an average starting position of the 18 yard line (and that includes the 22 yard punt that landed just past midfield, averaged out to just the 12 yard line if you exclude it) for Alabama when Wing punted, it was an outstanding night in an area of the game LSU felt they had a major advantage. And of course automatic Alleman going 3-3. The bad was the 22 yard punt and the holding call on Mathieu that kept us from possibly winning the game in regulation. Coaching = C+ This was hard to grade. On the one hand, one could say the LSU Tigers were much too conservative on offense. On the other hand, it probably saved the game that we were that conservative. Given the QB play, I don't think we could have afforded to put the ball in the air much more than the 17 times we did throw the ball. The one area we failed as a coaching staff on in game adjustments was not giving the ball to Ford more and limit Ware's exposure in this game. The middle of the Bama defense is one of the best of all time (NT, 2 MLBs) and there was no success there, and that's Ware's game. Lee should have not gotten put back into the game only to throw another interception. I thought he was shell shocked after the first one. The defense's mistakes was allowing Trent Richardson to get wide open in the flat not once but twice without a OLB/Safety responsible for covering him. Again, this was hard to grade, you could give these coaches a grade of as high as a B or as low as a C- depending on your viewpoint. Just think what the Bama coaches grading looks like.
Too many C's and D's when we won the biggest game of the year against a hell of a football team in their stadium.
218 total yards in regulation on offense. Hard to grade them any higher. Even against this great Bama defense.
If we would have just covered Richardson on those two passes their offensive numbers and ours would have just about been the same. The only time I yelled at the TV all night was on those two plays. We took Richardson out of the running game and it would have been easy to have taken him out of the passing game. Could maybe excuse once, but not twice especially considering Bama has been running that play all year.
I'll give the lb's a B. The dline an A. The lb's plugged a lot of holes on running plays and swarmed to the ball. And I'll give our coaches a B+. We are at our best with 5 db's though.
I totally agree!!! I biotched about that play ... and a few folks smarted off that they were sure Chavis had "film" ... well .. it didn't do much good. They ran it .. .and it was the momentum changer both times. Luckily, or D is so fricken stout that they were able to hold. I also agree with Issy ... I think this offense "could" have played better. If they had played better and still not produced, I'd be willing to throw up better grades .... but quite frankly ... they didn't ...and a lot of that was play calling IMO.
I saw a lot of safety and DB help on the run plays. I saw Francois and Hatcher get eaten up inside when the ball was being run outside. Hatcher with the big miss on an easy tackle on the WR that would have forced a punt. It was ugly. I am waiting on LSU to release the stats on the game so I can see how many tackles our OLBs made. I am sure it was less than 10 total by the 5 guys that were in there (Minter, Baker, Francois, Hatcher and Jones).
And that's why I have a hard time giving the coaches a better grade than C+. It was pretty good but not great. Lee going back into the game on a possession at our own 15 to throw a pick on the very first play? Wow. Bama saved us with a senseless penalty, otherwise I think the game would have been over with an easy Bama TD. That's a coaching decision we got lucky on. Really lucky. Then Richardson being left alone twice. We all knew how effective he was in the passing game coming into this contest. And the fact we kept running Ware into a brick wall instead of keeping what was working with JJ and Ford. I actually think Blue should have come into the game over Ware in the 2nd half. The absolute worst call of the night was 3rd and 3 at the end of regulation near midfield and we put Ware back in to run into, yet again, a brick wall. That should have been an option play to the long side of the field or a naked boot leg (the field was wide open, the edge defender bit inside on the play).
I understand your logic but think the grading is a little harsh. As for QB play, I though JJ made some very good decisions and took what the defense gave him. I don't know what more you could have asked from him against that defense. The option in OT was beautifully executed. There was absolutely room for improvement but once our passing threat was ineffective due to some poor decisions by JL, not sure how the coaches could have done much better in the game plan and the adjustments. Maybe there should be a bell curve for level of competition.....
We threw two really bad picks, one which almost gave the game away (thank you Bama for that senseless block in the back). We threw for barely 100 yards. JJ saved the grade from being an F. He completed 4 passes for 34 yards in the entire 2nd half. Had we not had the horrible interceptions, I would have graded this a C+ or even B-, based on the defense we played.
