Surprised no one has mentioned the lack of ability in our WRs to hold on to the ball. If I were Mett, Id never throw another pass Shepards way. Beckem and Landry have also dropped their share of passes. Hell, Wright even missed one that hit his numbers Saturday night. Mett would be at about 80% w/o the drops. Reason we didnt see more passes vs Barner....Barner is last in the SEC (maybe country?) in rush defense. We are 1st in the SEC is rush offense. In a dog fight, play to your strengths and run the ball. Barner's DL just decided to finally show up Saturday for the first time this season.
I guess I don't understand the sky is falling perspectives with our Offense. I think it's important to step back and differentiate between what we would like to see and what is really happening. What we'd like to see is better production on offense, more diversity in play calling, more throws down the field, better control of the offensive line, better protection of the Quarterback, and good balance. We expected better numbers against a struggling Auburn team which lost two games and had to go into overtime against UL Monroe. So we didn't quite get the statistics we expected, except for the most important stat, a WIN. Now let's cast out the comparisons that don't fit and the things that cannot be controlled. We cannot put anyone on the field who is no longer here. It's not really good to start all the what if scenarios that involve prior quarterbacks. Lee and Jefferson had far more experience than Mett does at this point. They did not have the talent or potential that Mett possesses. It makes little sense to compare back to last year's team. We can only play the players that we have available today. Now let's look at the facts. This team has a lot of youth and a new starter at one of the most important positions on the field. They have not lived up to their full potential yet ... This weekend was a great experience for them and their development. They will grow from this. You also have to look at the fact that for a QB to be effective (especially a rookie), they need protection. Our offensive line has gone through some significant shifting of personnel due to injury. Enough changes that would have likely wrecked many other teams yet we are still undefeated. The OL must continue to develop and continue to get better for this team to be successful. Mett's performance depends on that line. Auburn was a team with their backs against the wall and they played lights out on Defense. Mett's fumble in the red zone, going in for a score was a huge difference in this game. This was caused by an injury to the center which affected the exchange. This is the kind of stuff that can happen in these situations. It's just the way the ball bounces sometimes. To me, worry is expecting the worst. I don't subscribe to that line of thinking. I prefer to look at the fact that this team gained valuable experience in a very hostile environment. The team faced some adversity, made some mistakes and still made the plays it needed to in order to secure a win. Yes, the offense is conservative and it should be at this time. You cannot open up the entire playbook when your OL is being shifted around and you have a QB with only 4 starts under his belt. You cannot just plug new players into positions and expect them to play like 4 year veterans. It just doesn't happen. To enable your team to succeed you have to control how much you do with the experience that you have in order to allow them to develop. It's a process. And lets not forget that there are going to be bad games in this process. When that happens, someone steps up to take care of their teammates. This Saturday, our defense played lights out. One of the best performances I have seen this year by our guys. They may have given up a couple of big plays but oh did they create havoc. Montgomery and Johnson lived in the AU backfield Saturday. This unit stepped up and said, ok, give us a two points, we can still win the game. So my advice is to take a breath and realize that everything is happening for a reason and that if this team can continue to grow and gel they will continue to have success. You also have to be grateful that our schedule is set up the way it is right now. We received a great gift in the form of the schedule. The team had some fairly easy opponents early on with which to gain playing time and experience. A great number of freshman have seen good amounts of playing time and we now have almost two weeks to implement what we learned in preparation for Florida. I still firmly believe we have a better team this year than we did last year and I'd take this one over any other out there. Geaux Tigers!!
I thought LSU played pretty well, except for third downs. They basically telegraphed exactly what they were going to do (run up the middle) and the defense was ready for it. I'd like to see some creativity in those third-and-short situations.
The Auburn game was definitely a good old fashioned LSU stress fest, no doubt! I went into it expecting a win, but expected it to be less a spread than the 3 previous wins. But the spread was a lot less than I and many other sweaty-palmed folks anticipated. Let's face it, Auburn were FIRED UP for this game, they needed and wanted this win BAD and it showed in their defense. The LSU OL absolutely still needs tweaking, but I am much happier with the current situation than I have been in the past few seasons with JJ and JL. The problem is, like someone else said, the hype. If LSU loses a game, people are going to go apeshit (excuse my language, I don't usually do that! LOL). There's a lot of newer guys out there and I think with that considered, LSU are doing a great job. They got a win away in the SEC and that is awesome. Was it a 30+ blowout? No. And no one should have expected a blowout against Auburn, no matter their current record. Someone else here said they needed this close call and I 100% agree with that sentiment. Now they go back and watch the replays and teach the new guys a thing or 2. We're watching a good OL being built guys, have some faith. Geaux Tigers!
The first thing is, last year was not an indication of how the LSU-Auburn series always is. Even when LSU is really good and Auburn isn't as good, it's a dog fight, so anybody expecting another 45-10 beatdown were drinking something a little stronger than Kool Aid. Having said that, the passing game is terrible. IMO, Mettenberger is a much better QB that the two we've had over the past 4 years, yet the passing game looks the same. When we run the ball, it looks like we know what we're doing. When we throw the ball, it looks like the plays are being drawn up in the dirt in the huddle. Really, really bad. With this passing game, everybody knows Bama will be tough, but I will be happy to go out on a limb and say that if our passing game doesn't improve, there is no way in hell we escape the Swamp with a win. If you go back over the past couple of decades, Florida is a team that always has great athletes, so IMO, we aren't going to just be able to roll out superior athletes and think that's going to be good enough. South Carolina also has an excellent defense and IMO, we aren't going to be able to just pound our head against the wall in that one, either. Our passing game needs to improve. We ran Crowton out of town and the passing game still looks terrible. IMO Miles doesn't care about the passing game and they don't spend much time on it. How else do you explain different coordinators with the same results? I don't want to hear about passing stats against North Texas or any of the other rent a wins. It's not relevant. The other problem is expectations are ridiculous. If LSU does lose to Florida and Alabama, people are going to be jumping off of bridges at a 2 loss season. Just absolutely crazy.
I guess my disappointment is from Coach Stud's in late August THIS year and I quote, "First of all, 68 percent and 32 percent, you don't want to be there," said Studrawa, who enters his second season as LSU's coordinator. "That's way out of balance in my mind. All right, we've got to get that more balanced. And I think that comes with Zach and his abilities to make some of those down the field throws and be accurate on them. And when you complete two or three of them, 'Oh, I'll throw it again.' So now more throws come. We want to be closer to 50-50. I think Zach will get us there." The only way to get there is throw down the field more often than once or twice. After watching the game twice, I understand that Mett needs more TIME! Yikes... Appears from Miles' statements today that no personnel change in the OL will occur. This means less targets running routes to compensate for our inability to base pass block over a 5-count. However, if we can chip with the running backs and dump it to them over the rush it will slow a defense down and open things up down the field. You can forget ever being even 60/40 run/pass. Miles will never get that comfortable in any passing game. AND, the receivers need to catch the freaking ball. Just keep throwing it when you DON'T have too.
I feel like we're wasting our receivers talents by making them run slants, sideline routs and WR screens all day. The fact is, we can run on any team in the country...except Bama. If we want to go 12-1, we can keep the same offense but the difference between 13-0 and 12-1 is that wrinkle in the offense where we have some passing variety. Guys like Matt Flynn could make something happen if the run game wasn't working. Maybe Les just doesn't have that same confidence in Mett just yet. We'll see though.
hell when they go deep they can't catch the ball. Miles has no confidence in anyone except his running backs and offensive line. Which is crazy considering the beating the left side took last week. Notice we couldn't really run left either? The right side has been great, left side..not so much. Miles doesn't have confidence in his quarterbacks, or his offensive coaches. He has a stranglehold on the offense that Ted Nugent would be proud of. If it were me, I would use Boone, Wright, and Landry as my deep route guys, OBJ and Shepard underneath or in the slot. By the way, Hell of a back shoulder throw by Mett in the 2nd half against Auburn downfield. The guy is going to be a really good QB we just have to get him help, with receivers catching the ball, and the Oline protecting him.
