That defense was pretty awesome backups or not. Especially in crunch time. Dismissing their play is disingenuous.
This game should have never been this close. The FB up the middle was called too many times, you have a stud back, give it to Guice. Then you botch the final play. I love Oeaux, but that was unacceptable. On the other hand, as fans who do we really want as HC that's available? It's a scary time for LSU fans, especially knowing Alleva is at the head of the decision making.
So the FB up the middle was our problem? Wasnt the 3 muffs and a blown coverage? Maybe you were watching another game but the "old FB up the middle" worked very well today. The "old Fournette and Guice up the middle" was mostly not as successful.
True, but a coach isn't only held accountable for his decisions. The dropped snap cannot reasonably be linked to the coach, but I'll put the two fumbles in part on him. He needed to light a fire under them after he saw them mailing it in, which includes telling your players to focus on fundamentals like ball control (and not running into your own players in the case of Donte Jackson).
That is what is sad about this. Eaux has made a tremendous difference but ultimately he is losing any chance at the job for the very reason we got rid of Miles. Although had he fired Peveto the day he took over, LSU would have won this game today.
The fumbles were obviously a HUGE factor. LSU has done a great job of protecting the ball until today. At the end of the day the game was on the line. Everyone knew they were going FB up the middle. It reeked of Miles. Then the botched final play. Fournette and Guice had solid number, but not spectacular. UF is a great D, they fought hard. While LSU didn't appear as emotional. At the end of the day the OL just isn't physical enough.
Its not just the defense. Our defensive line was manhandled. So was our offensive line. If we lost 9 starters we would have lost to a healthy Florida team by 20. Their secondary was good. Their front played really well. Our personnel calls and the play calling for LSU was absolute shit. A good coaching staff would have worked to exploit their weaknessss. I don't get why we kept Fournette in the game so long. I get giving him some touches, but for 3 quarters you could tell he wasn't even 50 percent. You are at the goal line on the first drive and you call a play action to the fullback, great play. But that's a play that isn't going to work again, and it was called again and Etling was sacked. You call a fullback dive on 2nd down from inside the 1, when you have used that play 3 times already on short yardage, they knew it was coming. Bad call. There were so many questionable calls. 5 times on the goal line and LSU gets 10 points. On the defense they are running it up the gut with ease. Make a change. Take out Gilmore. Their center was starting his first game and he ate up Greg Gilmore on every run play. Here's the question I've been asking and 1 moron, mr picture page seems to think he knows the answer to. If you keep Orgeron what do you get with him? Do you get a little more of the same? A team that can't really throw the ball when the run isn't working? A team that seems to think the only way to get creative on offense is the end around? I don't know what this team would look like with O as the permanent head coach. That would not be a risk I would be willing to take.
Biggest problem I have with going another direction the eaux is losing him. If we could convince him to stay on as d line coach or recruiting coordinator or something keep aranda and then if we got another coach I would be happy as can be. I think losing eaux would be losing a recruiting force of nature and a hell of a motivator. It feels like we are playing coaching musical chairs and I hope we don't get stuck with a shitty "chair"
