THE GOOD 1. The defense stepped up its game considerably, especially the D-line. Credit to Chavis. 2. Play calling was excellent for the most part. 3. A pass rush emerged. 4 sacks, 5 hurries, and 3 passes broken up. 4. Barrow and Loston got 13 and 9 tackles respectively and apparently had something to prove. 5. The offensive line dominated a good defensive line for the first time this season. 6. These teams respected each other. They hit hard but after the game, I've never seen so many players meet and greet and shake hand and backslap. 7. Landry showed no effects of being injured. 8. A very balanced offense kept Florida from loading the line like they wanted to. THE BAD 1. Mettenberger was not entirely on his game. He scattered a few passes and dropped one for a fumble. 2. Three potential interceptions were dropped. 3. It was the hottest day game in 10 years with 80% humidity and no clouds until the 4th quarter. The Boy Scouts were kept busy carrying people out on stretchers from heat exhaustion. Thousands of people were lying on the cool concrete down in the ramps to escape the sun which was beating people like a hammer. The EMT stations were full. THE UGLY 1. Not a lot of ugly. That lateral to Mettenberger and pass to Jennings was damned ugly. 2. Everybody in the stadium was calling "Fake punt" but our special teams D didn't see it coming.
Great analysis Red! THE UGLY 1. Not a lot of ugly. That lateral to Mettenberger and pass to Jennings was damned ugly. Man, but it would have been a crusher on Florida's D if it had worked... 2. Everybody in the stadium was calling "Fake punt" but our special teams D didn't see it coming. Bet they do from now on...
It was also a little embarrassing too LOL. I wish we'd have saved that play for Bama, it was interesting and should have worked out better as I am sure they practiced the hell out of it. An excellent analysis as usual Red.
Re the fake punt, seemed like we caught on to it just a tad late... The D is improving, and I bet we get those picks going forward. Great analysis, Red!
The Good: Ego nearly putting some poor sap in the hospital with that vicious hit. The D-line overall really played with a lot of intensity. Good to see that again. Hunter is going to do great things.
Agree w/overall analysis. Coaches saw the fake and tried to signal to the players but they were not connecting it. Probably should have called a timeout.
Loved the aggressiveness of the DL, much better disruptive play at the point of attack. The pressure really helped the young DB's. The D also did a good job of containing a very mobile QB. A less athletic QB and LSU would have another 4 sacks. I also thought this was a big confidence builder for the OL. Run blocking hasn't been great, but they got good movement all day against a top defense and Hill was able to do his thing. For once I really didn't mind the conservative play calling. Sure I would have loved to score 50, but the plan fit the team we played and the D was up to the challenge. Better execution deep in Florida territory would have led to more points. I guess the one ugly is the lack of a third wr with all the talent at that position. We need a third wr or a TE to step up.
I love our passing game but it was great seeing an old fashioned SEC slug fest. The defenses and offenses were clashing like a couple of rutting buffaloes.
Overall good game... Tackling could've been better against the run... That kid Taylor was killing us and averaged over 5ypc...
Nice writeup. But you keep calling a run heavy offense "balanced". You really are old school. Balanced, from a technical standpoint, means you run the ball the same number or similiarly to the number of pass attempts. Like 32 runs, 31 pass attempts. That's an extremely balanced offense. As an alternate example, 40 runs for 218 yards, and 20 passes for 207 yards would not be considered balanced. That's still rush heavy. I thought Loston played another poor game. Looking up the stat sheet and seeing 9 tackles says nothing. And that's about what he did in the game. The ole' he pulled on Taylor trying to truck him was embarrassing for what has been an institution of hard hitting safeties at LSU over the past 8 years or so. Then he gets beat deep in the endzone on the last drive by Florida. It was his ONLY job to perform on that play, and he couldn't even do that. Luckily for him and LSU, it was a horrible pass by a QB who wasn't quite ready for SEC play. Barrow, Eugene, Hunter, Ego and Freak were the guys that really really came to play in the front 7. Even Welter performed satisfactory.
