I sure hope you're right Isl. USCe's Defense is no joke. #3 in the nation. I'm impressed with how our offense played against that. Our D-line got pressure however, more due to a lack of an O-line than them just blowing up people. And after that many sacks, Garcia was simply hurt and rattled. I'm still very concerned with our defensive backfield. Safeties are still out of position, corners are making really good plays and some not so good plays, and I still saw a few missed tackles that bug me. I'm glad we got a win on the road (anytime you can do that, it's a good thing) and I certainly hope we've found ourselves, but I'm worried about this D. On a side note, I'd like to give P. Peterson some credit because he made a couple of VERY GOOD heads up plays. GEAUX.
That's interesting about P. Petersen, I did not notice for some reason. I am glad to hear that. Another thought, I personally would have preferred that they gave the ball to CS on that last drive when they were protecting the lead, rather than to KW so much, b/c I think CS has surer hands. That made me nervous seeing KW getting the ball on consecutive plays on that last drive. It turned out fine, obviously, but he does fumble more. It's those kinds of decisions that still give me cause to worry about CGC's play calling.
A Freshman quarterback and a matador Offensive Line. Once LSU became aggressive in the second half, Garcia was running for his life on most plays. I liked the change in attitude by our defense. Now we can look toward next weekend with anticipation.
Only argument I can raise to that is that we don't want to get too predictable. We were struggling running Scott out of the I-form early on in the game, because we were always running on 1st and 2nd down. Once we got the downfield passing game working a bit more, then we hit them again with the power running and took control of the game. I also prefer to see us run CS up the middle, it's been our most effective offense all year, but against a stout D like that it wasn't going to work all game long. Sometimes I agree we get to cute with the shotgun (all those damn bubble screens) but overall it's a good idea to spread them out a bit more, thus giving our RBs more room inside. Gotta get those safeties out of the box.
Before the CS fumble last week, an LSU RB had not lost a fumble in 612 carries. Has KW ever lost a fumble? Plus, he's got pretty sure hands being out there on kick-offs. I thought KW was effective for the first time in a long while last night. In fact, it was he who opened up the offense for CS. Patrick Peterson had several very good plays, a preview to the stellar career he will have. I also really like Hawkins. Eugene had some lapses, but he is much improved from last year. The game-tying drive was excellent. I was confused as to which QB was out there for each snap. It was, as the annoucers said, seamless. That's the way it should be done. It was never even that smooth last year, as RP would always go out there and have to burn a timeout or get a delay of game penalty. Another improvement for us this year is far fewer penalties.
Agree, took big steps in the second half, I'm waiting for this team to put two halves together in the same game. To me, that will be a defining moment. Happy for the win and I don't discount it one bit but this team stresses me out to the max.
I think the CBs, Eugene, Hawkins, and Peterson do a pretty good job in coverage. Its the Ss and LBs that are giving up most of the bigger gain in passing. Id like to see Peterson in there a lot more and less of McCray and Jones who are more liabilities against the pass. Both Coleman and Taylor are more SS than they are FS, we need a legit FS to step up. Again, I really liked what we seen in the second half from the D, hopefully that can be put together for a full game and against a more well rounded foe.
We can all thank the new clock rules for the seamless QB rotation. Remember how poorly it went over last year? It seemed like every time RP would go in, we would need to take a time out. The new rules only give you about 5 seconds or so, but it is very useful for mass offensive substitutions this team likes to do.
I agree the D put it together in the second half last night. The DC's finally let em loose and we had six sacks giving us 15 for the year.
