Is Pelini looking ahead to another coaching job? I mean c'mon, this defense does not look good at all. The front four cannot put pressure on the quarterback. I realize we were playing to contain the QB at times but damn, don't just stand there and let an average QB pick you apart. The corners were better last year. What has happened to Zenon and Jackson? It seems like everytime they make a play, they have to have an arm wrapped around the defenders back for intereference. And the Special Teams, well I'm not even gonna get into that. :angryfire
Pelini is what I call a " half year" coach. Year 1: LSU D totally sucks first half of the season, then nails the second half. Year 2 and 3: LSU D dominate the first half of the season, then total crap the second half. I can't explain it, but that's been Pelini in three years as our D coach. At least he won't be here next here, that's a relief.
I think the defense is just tired and worn down by the tough schedule we have played all year. We have a starting tackle out for the season and our All-American tackle hobbled by injury. A starting linebacker was out with injuries and a DE was hurt in the game. We have a lot of guys bruised up and limping. The short week for Arkansas will not help. But other teams are facing the same issues.
Total crap? Are you serious? LSU has one of the best defenses in the country! What? Pellini has been in charge of some of the best defenses that LSU has ever had. He will be extremely difficult to replace.
I don't know if it was Pelini's fault last night. His play calling is more aggressive now than it was when we had the stretch of UF, UK, AU. The AU and Bama game he started throwing more blitzes in which has helped. The D-line I think really hurt LSU last night. They got no pressure on the QB and when Schaffer came in they started doing that "containment" type rush they did with UF. They really didn't attack because they didn't want the QB to scramble, especially after he burned us a few times. This put big pressure on the LB's and secondary. Pelini's plan for a scrambling QB bothers me. I know it is hard to contain fast and mobile QB's but LSU seems to get gashed by them regularly. Consider the Vtech game when Taylor came in, Tebow, Schaffer (Miss.). I do like that he is blitzing more, but even the blitzing was completely ineffective. Ole Miss OL did a very good job, our DL didn't, and when the pressure came Ole Miss threw short passes or Schaffer would scramble. After the scrambles the DL became even more ineffective because they didn't attack as they did earlier because they wanted to contain the QB. You could watch Pittman in the 2nd half just standup with the offensive tackel and just play patty cake with him and he wasn't really trying to get around him. He wanted to keep the QB in front of him and not let him scramble around the edge or middle. I'm not bashing Pittman, I believe this is by design from Pelini. However, this put a lot of pressure on the secondary, plus you have to use a LB to cover the QB and spy on him. SO you even lose a coverage defender, which further puts more pressure on the Secondary. Pelini's defense struggles a lot with running QB's. Of course almost every defense does. Let me say this though, the defense is awesome and is among the top 3 in the country, especially when they are healthy. They are #1 when they are healthy. Pelini has taught them great pursuit and tackling fundamentals and with the speed they have it is a huge weapon. I like Pelini and hope he doesn't go to Nebraska. If Miles and Pelini stay, I think we have good chance to get to the BCS title game next year. That will depend much on Perrilloux. Pelini is great and I'm super glad we have him. This defense has been awesome, even though there have been some rough parts.
Excluding Overtime,LSU has outscored the opposition something in the neighborhood of 270 to 70 in the second half of games.. Where are you coming up with that?
They gave up over 400 yds to Ole Piss yesterday. That sounds like a great defense. Teams can pass on us at will now, something they couldn't do in the beginning of the year. The biggest reason why is because we no longer get pressure on the QB. If Ole Piss can get 400 yds on us, what do you think Arky and a red-hot UGA team will do to us. LSU will have to outscore their opponents from here on in. That's where they are right now.
Here you have hit the nail squarely on the head. It took defenses a decade to catch up with the wishbone and take it away as a primary offense. It's still taking defenses some time to deal with the spread offense. This new generation of Michael Vick-type mobile quarterbacks is confounding defenses, but in time they will respond.
Since the Florida game, LSU has given up 159 points (26.5 pt/gm). If not for the La Tech game, it would be over 30 pt/gm. So where do you get 70 from?
Nothing. Last time I checked we are 10 and 1, not 1 and 10. No one is perfect. They are going to have their ups and downs. The most important thing is we must always score at least one point more then our opponent. So far I think we have done pretty good. Hang in, keep the faith and be happy.
