Talking about the first game in November, I "distilled" the above from your post and it sure points out what proved to be a very close game with LSU winning in OT. You also correctly pointed out that most of LSU's yardage came from the outside. The biggest surprises (disappointments !) in the NC game was that we could not do make anything work offensively (inside or outside) and that our special teams were not special and last but not least, our QB play was worse than bad. I only watched the NC game live on TV and don't want to see it again, but would appreciate a more schooled opinion on my view that our QB committed way too soon to running and missed a number of wide open receivers in the middle.
A LOS at the 30 means you're punting from about the 40-45 yard line. If you KNOW your kicker has a low chance of making that kick AND you know you're not likely to get a first down by going for it, you most certainly punt. It's called a pooch. Or you direct punt it out of bounds. Or even better, you snap it to the QB who immediately kicks the ball as hard as he can because more than likely it's not going very far because QB's don't know how to punt. You do your best to pin your opponent inside the 10 yard line and play field position. So do you go for it and give your opponent the ball on the 30, or pooch it and hope to get it inside the 10, but at the worst, they start at the 20. Either way, it's a positive gain in field position for the defense. Miles, you make sense on several points, but not on that one. Why give up field position when you don't have to? Saban knows he made mistakes in that game. And LSU did what great teams are supposed to do. They capitalized on them. The only two of those long kicks Bama should've tried were the first one (44) and the one in OT (52) because hell, why not? It is not realistic to expect a college kicker to consistently make kicks above 45 yards. That is long in college. If it were routine, a lot more of those guys would make the pros. But in actuality, only the great ones make the pros. There are only a few great ones year in and year out. The rest keep warming up while the punter pooches.
Agree w/this fully. Don't know what game MTB was watching. His comments sound like the perspective of a Bammer, as opposed to a Tiger, or the rest of the objective world. I heard many outside of LSU circles, beyond the announcers for the game, pointing out how the long FG attempts were poor coaching decisions to begin with. The announcers got caught up in the moment and focused on the missed FGs, as if 45-55 yarders are gimmes. Doesn't mean they were right. I, too, am tired of reading those looooonnngggg posts. Some, I don't, but these I did b/c of the nature of the comments. I just did not have the patience or time to break it down like you did Tigermark. Kuddos! Thanks for clarifying the true, accurate facts. Job well done.
ROTFLMAO!! Yeah, it is much easier to post short posts that don't support your propositions, just assign the poster as an Alabama fan, claiming the TV analysts are incompetence or have some conspiracy against LSU, etc. I was watching the game that the analysts were watching including Jesse Palmer, Pollack, Mark May, and every single other ESPN guy. Once again, if Palmer is so clueless, why did he pick LSU to win the NC when no one else was doing it...I bet you weren't! Then, he picked LSU to win the first Alabama game but after reviewing the game several times before the rematch, he said "I simply can't pick LSU to win this NC game because Alabama outplayed them". Anyway, you can live in your Polyanna bubble and say LSU's team was the greatest in college football history or whatever. The bottom line is in BOTH Alabama games, Alabama had MORE first downs, MORE yardage, MORE time of possession, MORE yards per play, and punted MUCH LESS than LSU. But hey, I guess according to the rose-colored glasses crowd that just confirms LSU won in the trenches...at least in the first game, huh?
Everyone wants to jump on Jarrett Lee (1st game) and Jordan Jefferson (2nd game) and rightfully blame belongs there. But Alabama was NOT stacking the LOS and they STILL stopped LSU's running game. The bottom line is the LSU OL got exposed in that game just like they got exposed in the Georgia game until GA fell apart late (mostly special teams that started the rout). Remember what LSU's total yardage was in the 1st half of the Georgia game? It was 11 yards and either 0 or 1 first downs. And LSU tried to run in that game a lot. LSU's rushing game worked very well against poor and mediocre defenses or when the LSU RBs run over people. But how many holes did the OL ever open against Alabama or Georgia? Answer, very few! When people who claim Miles made a huge mistake that Jarrett Lee wasn't inserted in the 2nd game, I respond with....OK, does he play OT or OG. Jefferson did nothing to win that game but neither did the OL...they got dominated, pure and simple. Oh, and another little indicator about how good the LSU line really was. Blackwell was universally thought of as the best or 2nd best OL starting for LSU. The NFL draft was held and where did Blackwell go? Undrafted!! He was invited to a camp and I can't remember what his status is now. So LSU had an OL with one of their very best players not even being a pro prospect. Jefferson and Lee are simply not division 1-A caliber QBs. Jefferson is a run first guy as you suggested although Alabama was caving in the LSU OL. Jefferson also has a funky windup delivery that makes his release point inconsistent which hurts his accuracy. Lee was a 5th year SR who never learned how to find safeties and LBers in coverage. Lee rarely threw an inaccurate pass. Problem was he shouldn't have thrown the ball where he did. Pick your poison!
I am NOT a little Nicky fan which of course you should know by how I refer to the guy. BUT, he made the right decisions. As I remember, the kicks other than the OT one (and blocked one of course) had the distance. IMO, they were not stupid plays on little Nicky's part. And let's face it, they didn't have to have a great kicker to win in regulation...just an average one. If Alabama makes 1 more FG in regulation, they win the game. BTW, I think you put together "college kickers" in one big bucket which is wrong. I have no idea who the Florida State kicker is. But who do you think has a better chance of making a longer kick...a kicker from FSU or one from Western Kentucky. It is not luck that the better college teams usually have better kickers. LSU probably spends more scholarships on kickers than any other team in the nation. Remember when they signed 2 PKs the same year...Josh Jasper and Andrew Krutchfield. I watch a lot of college football games, and I remember very, very few instances where someone punted from their opponent's 30 yard line. They either try a FG or go for it on 4th down.
And I think you put all games into one bucket, which is even more wrong. And all of those kicks did not have the distance. You have the two best defenses in the country. You also have an inept offense on the other side. You know your opponents defense is great enough to stonewall you if you go for it. You know your kickers limitations. You, or someone on your staff, sees him in practice every day. You know he can't make those field goals. But you DO have a good punter who can pooch. Play field position instead of giving up the field. So what if you're on your own 30. You're not getting points here. Pin them deep. Here's the thing. Even if you give the opponent the ball at their own 30 and they only move the ball 2 yards, they have a punter who can get the ball inside your 20 from there. Why not pin them deep and make him punt from his end zone? I would think with the #1 defense your odds are better there than giving up field position because you repeatedly test a kicker who you KNOW is fried and can't make those kicks. Truth be told, nobody gives a shit about the kicker until you need him. And if you're on scholarship to do nothing but kick the ball, you'd better be ready when I need you. I hate kickers...until my team needs em. LOL
That is nonsense that little Nicky sent a kicker out there he didn't think could make the kick...other than the OT one which of course he had no choice...probably hoping for roughing the kicker. Are you saying that little Nicky had a bet on the game against his own team? This is NOT a debatable issue. There is 0 chance that little Nicky sent a kicker out there that he KNEW would miss the kick. And BTW, the kicks were off to the side except the long OT try and of course the blocked one...that is what I said and you misquoted me. There is 0 guarantee that a pooch punt would work either. Your main assumption is flawed...that first the kicker was not capable of making any of those missed one OTHER THAN the OT kick (NO ONE thought that could be made) and like I said, little Nicky loses NOTHING by trying UNLESS the kick is blocked and run back for a TD. Second, you said little Nicky knew the kicker would miss the kick...don't buy that for 1 second. I won't go through the LONG disseration about Lou Holtz again, but suffice it to say, Holtz didn't give scholarships to kickers and then was the first to blame the a bad kicking game for losses at USC, etc. You probably also remember on ESPN after the LSU win over Alabama he said "I don't think it is right for a football game to be decided by a kick." For those who underestimate Les Miles as a GREAT, GREAT coach, I respond with 3 items: 1) he hires probably the best assistants in college football (yes, he misses occasionally but others miss more) 2) he actually walks the talk on special teams being an important part of the game (almost no other college coach does...see Nick Saban spending 15 minutes per practice on special teams per day, Miles spends 45 minutes...my source has been direct interviews with LSU players who played for both....see the info above on Lou Holtz) 3) why do about 90% of his trick plays work when about 33% of everybody elses' trick plays work
I am about to head out on a 12 hour drive to Destin, and really don't have time to respond to you point on p0int at this moment, but will later. And, for the record, I did pick them to win the NC, just look at my profile- my moniker still refers to 2011 NC. In the end, I was hopeful, but wrong about that, just like your reflection of the Nov. ALA/LSU game is frankly wrong. Whats even more irritating is how arrogantly you post your opinions as if they are fact while degrading others opinions when they respond to your 73 sentence long posts.
