Sounds good to me Red. The duck forum I'm part of has a ton of trolls (Mostly Beavers), so there is a lot of sh- talking on there, instead of good discussions about football. Thanks for the welcome!
We try to keep a handle on the trolls and flamers, don't worry. But showing some pride for your team is natural and so is a little swagger, sometimes. We come here to have fun!
I agree to a point. Making a team one dimensional makes it easier for the defense, but the defense still needs to be good enough to stop them. When teams are sending out 3/4/5 pass routes every play, teams are going to get their yards. To rank 7th against the pass when everyone is throwing on Oregon (In a QB's league), that isn't to bad. As a whole, in 13 games Oregon defended 963 plays. LSU defended 822. Oregon's averaged pretty much the same yardage per play as LSU (UO-4.67, LSU- 4.85), but Oregon basically defended 2 more games worth of plays than LSU. TOP is the main issue there. Since Oregon scored so quickly last year, it left the D playing a ton of snaps (thus playing 22 guys on defense). I'm sure it will be the same this year. Allioti is already saying he'll play at least a 20 player rotation on defense. As far as the Auburn game, There were a few calls the went their way, that went a long way in giving them that championship. Chip Kelly choosing not to kick FG's inside the red-zone changed the complexity of the game as well. I for one don't complain about the no-call on Michael Dyer being down/not down as the reason Oregon lost. LMJ not being at 100% and Kelly's coaching decisions are what caused it IMO. Also the INT that wasn't was a HUGE play. Auburn scored on the next play. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6zOwAZfVww"]YouTube - Cliff Harris Interception Ruled Out -BCS Title Game 1-10-2011‏[/ame] But I don't want get into all that! Cheers!
Good to know! We're all proud of our teams, and LSU has always put a good product on the field. I was thinking you might take a step back when you took Gary Crowton off our hands, but you won despite him! LOL! Coach Miles must have kept him on a short leach! What do you guys think about your new OC Steve Kragthorpe? I haven't heard much about him except that he was the head coach at Louisville (Didn't do well from what I remember). Any insight as to any differences he might bring to your offense? Kinda have to play to the strength of the athletes you have I'd assume.
Some folks were wary of the hire, and I don't think anyone will be completely confident until we see the product on the field, but all in all Krags is a good offensive mind. He has a run to pass/play action philisophy, and from whats been said, he has done wonders with our QB's, whose mechanics and skills were horrible under the non-existent tutelage of Crowton. You actually made the best point in your question. If Kragthorpe can set up an offense with some consistency ( not running stupid, consistently ineffective ( i.e. short side option ) or totally random ( slant pass or unblocked dive play on 3rd and 12, ), still keep a few of the unique little tricksy plays here and there that we are known for, but most importantly, one that gets the ball into our MANY playmakers' hands, then we will be VERY successful.
We had the same issue with Crowton and our QB's. Dennis Dixon struggled for 2 years until Chip Kelly came in and turned him into a Heisman front runner. Kragthorpe has had pass happy teams in the past, so it'll be interesting to see if LSU goes to the pass more this year.
This is a very misleading stat. The reason that this game didn't consist of a basketball score is because Oregon and AU run very, very similar offenses, and both do it quite well. Therefore, their defenses have the benefit of seeing this type of offense day-in and day-out in practice. Most teams have to try and mimic this type of system with a scout team, and that can be very hard to do. I'm not trying to assert that Oregon's defense is bad, but they're probably not as good as the result of the NC game indicated. I watched Oregon play a good bit last year, and their defense is quite athletic. But they aren't anywhere nearly as physical as what we're used to seeing in The Conference.
In 2010, Oregon's total defense ranked #26 in the nation. From the SEC, only, Florida, LSU and Bama ranked higher. In 2010 Oregon's rushing defense ranked #15 in the nation. From the SEC only So Carolina and Auburn ranked higher. Now here's where Oregon stumbles, in 2010, the pass defense ranked #56 in the nation. From the SEC LSU, Bama, FL, Ark and GA all ranked higher. I've said this before and people just seem to never believe it, Oregon will throw everything at stopping the run and force teams to throw the ball. Jefferson will have to throw the ball successfully for LSU to win.
Everybody does so against LSU, hombre. Well . . . last year Jefferson threw 4 touchdown passes and LSU finished 11-2 against some serious competition. So I wouldn't be too adamant about that.
