well, you just listed 5 different players, so that speaks more to coaching to me rather than individual player problems. now, is the coaching problem higher up than the O-line coach, dunno?
It happens all the time Charlie. If you have nobody better to put in you have to play the guy you've got, if he is underperforming or not. This ridiculous suggestion deserves no response. How long have you been watching this here game?
If we have nobody better? Our players were almost ALL recruited by MAJOR college programs. We barely lost to Florida and barely lost to Alabama. Don't you remember how close those games were? I guess you think Fl and Alabama's player were just "underperforming" too since both games were so close. Gimme a break. I'm 50 this month, so I'm guessing I've been watching this here game for about 42 years that I can remember. I was in front of the tv before that when the games were televised, I just don't remember them. I respect most of you comments on this board, but I think you're way off base in this thread. Our players didn't "give up", I think that's a ridiculous idea. These players didn't get to this level with that kind of attitude. I do believe players "give up" off the field in some situations, ie Ryan Perilloux, but even that situation is rare. I think it's a disrespectful statement in any event. These kids committed to LSU for a reason, we're a major player in college football and they know they have to play with heart to compete with the other players on the team. They're the cream of college football and quitting isn't an option. Most of them are looking to the NFL and LSU is as good as any school of placing that opportunity in their paths. Just my opinion, I could be wrong.
In other words, if it were one or two players at a position underachieving, then I think that would be more indicative of an individual player issue. But, when multiple players are not achieving at an expected level, particularly players with a history of prior good performance levels (CBlack, Hitt, Barksdale, and even Dworz), that seems to be more of a coaching issue or scheme problem, i.e. something beyond those individual players - at least to my way of thinking.
JJ did have around 62% completion rate, which I think is pretty good for his first year. I think it is about 50/50 on JJ and the WR's. I can count a lot of bad passes and a lot of DROPPED balls. In the end, it was a team effort. I think they just need to call plays around JJ's strengths and things could be so much different. Let JJ role out and move more.
You insult people for offering a "possible" contributor and then you make an asinine comments that ALL of LSU's problems come from coaching or bad calls. Did the coaches drop passes? Fumble? Throw an interception? Miss a FG? Jump offsides? Hold a player? Interfere with a pass? Throw at a receiver's feet? Take a sack instead of throwing the ball away? The coaches made mistakes but to blame them entirely is nuts. Although I hated it, Saban used the term "A Game" quite often. Well here's a guy who has won two BCS titles with different schools using the term "A Game". That would suggest to me he understands that players don't give 100% every play. If they did there would be no reason to have the term "A Game". I guess Saban needs to go back to coaching Elementary School according to your logic. Go back and read the message and you'll see I said I didn't believe they quit. If you believe every player gave 100% on every play...you're kidding yourself.
We have other threads on JJ which document everything. I hope he'll turn out to be great but I personally didn't see much progression from the Chick-fil-A Bowl to the Capitol One Bowl. I agree it was a team effort that caused many problems. LSU has proven you can win without an all star QB but you have to play smart. JJ isn't there yet. Hopefully he'll get there. I'm optimistic but getting tired of people saying he needs two more years to mature. He did play in a few games last season so he probably has 15 games or so of experience. That's not bad in college football. I agree he needs to roll out more but we can't win if he's one-dimensional. He has to learn to read defenses, make better decisions, learn clock management, and play from under center. Regardless of whether I'll be slammed or not, I don't believe we saw 100% effort after the Alabama loss. If we had, I believe we wouldn't have lost to Ole Miss. Did they quit?...NO. Did they play with the same intensity once the West was already lost?...NO.
