Wow - what an ugly, ugly football game for LSU. A win is a win. And there were some bright spots. But it'll be tough to spend much time on positives this week as LSU prepares for Vandy. Here are my grades, and the points I took from the game. QB: B-. Too many mental mistakes and he still seems tentative when his initial receiver isn't clearly going to be open. RB: D-. Three fumbles override what would've probably been a good night for Ridley and maybe a great night for Shepard. WR/TE: C+. Randle and Joseph were money. Otherwise, we didn't get to see enough of them. OL: B. No sacks, plenty of nice runs for Ridley. They got stuffed a couple of times, but UNC has a great defensive program partly because of their depth and LB corps. In that light, LSU's OL did well. OVERALL OFFENSE: C (Turnovers, penalties) DL: B. Four sacks, some good pressure, but depth seems to be an issue as they weakened during the second half. LB: D. Sheppard is an All-American and played well, I thought. Lots of missed tackles and slant routes for 10-15 yards. DBs: F. Not sure what else to say other than 400+ yards of passing. OVERALL DEFENSE: D- (Pass defense) Punters: A+ Kicker: B- (missed FG, one kickoff OOB) PR/KR: A+ Points to Ponder LSU's Offense stopped itself. 3 fumbles and 1 interception. Two of those fumbles in UNC territory. 8 penalties for 65 yards, two drives stalled by penalties. LSU averaged about 7.5 yards per pass attempt and 4.3 yards per rush, which is pretty good I'd say. LSU only managed 51 offensive plays to UNC's 79. LSU time of possession was 25:39 to UNC's 34:21. Bottom line: penalties and turnovers kept LSU out of the endzone at least 2 more times, maybe 3. Jordan Jefferson is good enough to win championships, but the defense will have to step up to enable LSU to do it. Jefferson's stats seem consistent game in and game out - 60% completions, 2-1 TD/Int ratio, about 150 yards passing or so. That is good enough. Those stats, however, mean he's not going to save drives with his arm very often. So LSU will punt 4-6 times a game, and the defense is going to have to step up! LSU's Special Teams May be Special The Tigers had 301 return yards, and Pat Pete took a punt to the house. Brooks and Randle looked good, too. Great punting and kickoff coverage - UNC only had 71 return yards on 10 attempts (6 punts, 4 kickoffs) Missed a FG and gave up an onsides kick that we knew was coming. LSU's Youth at LB and DB will be Targetted Yates (UNC) threw for 412 yards and 3 TD on 46 passing attempts. No interceptions. Jheranie Boyd had 221 yards receiving on 6 receptions. LSU sacked Yates 4 times, but he often had time to throw and did a great job of hitting his mark on short routes most of the day. Other than Pat Pete, DBs did not seem to make many plays. And some of the tacklling in the second half was poor. I said in my pregame analysis that UNC would have to throw the football effectively to beat LSU. Well, to my great surprise (to everyone's great surprise, I think), UNC did manage to be very effective throwing the football, and they very nearly beat LSU. In fact, for those folks keeping track of moral victories, UNC did in fact win one of those tonight. But the W goes in LSU's column, guided largely by big plays from big athletes (Peterson, Shepard, Randle, Jefferson), luck (decimated UNC defense and 3 UNC fumbles), and special teams play. Am I concerned about Vandy - sure I am. Do I think this game fits the narrative that Miles and Crowton are idiots and should be fired? Not directly. But if Miles doesn't fix the mistakes and lack of focus (penalties, fumbles) by Vandy, and if Chavis doesn't find a defensive secondary and LB combination that can gel by West Virginia, then I will change my prediction of 3 losses to 5 or more, and Miles' job will rightly be a daily topic of discussion on ESPN and elsewhere. As it stands, I don't see this game as a catastrophe unless the opportunity to make some sorely needed changes is squandered. If it is squandered, then this season is going to be a long, long trudge through mediocrity on the field and negativity in the Tigersphere. And the coaching search will probably quietly begin.
We can't give an A+ to Jasper tonight, not with the missed FG and the KO out of bounds. But special teams was certainly the highlight of the team.
I would love to be optimistic about this, but there were no big improvements throughout the 2009 season. I'm not pointing my finger at just one thing here, but with the talent the LSU has, coaching has to do its job in order to win. I know several of the trainers that have been at LSU from the Saban era -present; they have always held the position, from day one, that Miles doesn't know what he is doing.
