LSU is a good team this year. There, I said it. And to me there are only two elements keeping them from greatness: (1) A QB the whole team believes in, who knows the offense well, and who has the confidence to make plays when the game is on the line. (2) A defense that can stuff the run consistently and make opposing QBs afraid. Right now there's just no fear factor. LSU has three great players on D (Peterson, Sheppard, Jones), and a bunch of okay players. They don't have the animals who swarm, pound, crunch, and smash the opponent into submission. (As Bama's and Florida's D's did to LSU this year.) As a side note, Gary Crowton, if you're listening, can you please teach your players how to run the speed option correctly, or else delete it from your playbook? Thanks, TC.
I'd say our biggest issue is our D-line. In both games that we lost, we couldn't stop the run in the 2nd half even when we knew it was coming. This is the first time in many years that we don't have a really good D-line. Alem has underperformed and the others haven't done much. It was very exciting though to see Nevis get that safety against Bama. Still, our pass rush has been bad and our run stopping up front has been inconsistent against good teams. If our D-line improves, the D could be great. I think our 2nd biggest issue is the OL/running game. The blocking has been bad at times and there have been way too many penalties. I thought they did real well against Bama though. The running game was good against Bama too. But it has been a big problem all year. I can't remember when we've had rushing numbers this low. And it hasn't always been the OL's fault. I'd put offensive playcalling 3rd on the list. We just have been very unimaginative at times and we haven't used our talent well at all. Shepard's touches are not increasing (which basically blows my mind) and you rarely see anything out of the ordinary from LSU. And when things haven't worked in a bad way, they continue to run the same damn stuff (the option). It worked almost by accident a few times against Bama, but it almost got Shepard killed and was almost a total disaster a few other times. I'm glad Crowton isn't a replay official because he likely wouldn't see what is very obvious to everyone else. I'd put QB issues 4th because although I had some questions earlier in the year and it was an issue, JJ was in the middle of having three really good games in a row before getting injured. We were moving the ball relatively well against Bama. If not for some dumb penalties and a shady spot, we would have moved it even more.
High praise from you. I think Jefferson is finally starting to mature.. his confidence isn't there yet, but it's coming. I just hope they tweak his mechanics in the off-season. He's got an ugly delivery. We're going to witness a very good QB battle provided Lee doesn't transfer. Lee may win it.
How can anyone deny that Jordan Jefferson has gotten better every week? With the exception of the Florida fiasco i think he has been one of the most solid quarterbacks in the SEC. Mallet is really inconsistent, as is McElroy, Snead has been crap this year, probably the haircut though, Lee from MS ST is not that good, Todd and Burns have been very inconsistent, Tebow hasn't had a great year, but he is Tebow and clearly the best in the conference, Crompton is worthless, Cox is really inconsistent, i don't know who the quarterback for Vandy is, Kentucky's guy is who, Cobb? South Carolina and Garcia, he has 4 300 yard games but really would you want Garcia over Jefferson?
Oh, we have another Lee on the team? What's his story? JJ does have a slow delivery...but I think his decision timing is the bigger issue. He's gotten better, but he still waits a little too long to pull the trigger.
LSU fans would have revolted if he won the starting job this season. He'll be a RS Junior next season, and more than capable.
Then Lee wasn't ready to lead this team. That doesn't mean he isn't now. To put it plainly, Jefferson sucked early in the season. He's finally maturing, or at least it seems that way. Why can Jefferson improve but Lee cannot? That's an awfully tight box you seem to have forced Lee into.
