SB Nation - Trindon Holliday

Come On, Get Hatty: A Quick Look At LSU

Run Up The Score — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:20:53 -0000

It was a day of swirling rumors with visions of Arizona and Miami, but Sunday ended with Penn State dropping from the pack of BCS-eligible teams to where they belong -- the Capital One (Citrus) Bowl against LSU. The 2009 season was a bit of a dud for the Nittany Lions, considering they lost at home to their only two strong opponents, but the CapOne matchup against a traditional SEC power gives Penn State a chance to end the season with an exclamation point. So we're at the kids' table, so what? At least Les Miles is here to keep things interesting.

via bustersports.com

What do we really know about LSU? Read on.

Their offense is teh suxors. Ranked 84th nationally in rushing and 99th in passing, which combines to make them 108th in total offense. Other, familiar teams in this neighborhood include Akron (#111), Minnesota (#113), Syracuse (#94), and Iowa (#93). These offensive numbers put LSU at 11th in the SEC. Not good. Complicating the issue is Iowa's Angry Running Back Hating God taking time to punish the Bayou Bengals -- LSU's top three running backs are all out with season-ending injuries.

Their special teams are dangerous and weird. #1 in punt returns (18.64 ypr), #110 in kickoff returns (18.66 ypr). I don't think I've ever seen those stats be so similar. And it's really strange, because Trindon Holliday returns both punts and kickoffs and SWEET JESUS DO NOT KICK THE BALL TO TRINDON HOLLIDAY EVER EVER EVER.

Their coaches are...suspect. LSU's got problems. Most notable is an assistant coach allegedly paying a defensive linemen to transfer to LSU, but also, they recently lost their running backs coach (Larry Porter, who took the head coaching job at Memphis). Oh, and Les Miles roams the sidelines, which is always good for Louisiana cardiologists. You can count on Miles to do something brilliantly stupid at some point in a close game. Results may vary.

Their quarterback is, perhaps, not as sucky as we'd like. Jordan Jefferson's numbers aren't that terrible for a guy piloting the second worst offense in the SEC. He's completed 62% of his passes with 16 TD's and 6 INT's. He can scramble a bit, although Penn State's defense should have many chances for negative plays (the Tigers are 107th nationally in sacks allowed). LSU's receivers are rather good, so they'll have a chance to move the ball through the air. The key will be making them one-dimensional, then forcing Jefferson to make bad decisions with the ball.

If they were a Big Ten team, they'd be... Iowa, but with Trindon Holliday and a much worse defensive line. Lots of injuries at RB, meh quarterback, a few playmakers at wide receiver, and a stout pass defense.

Maybe we can be awesome? Maybe. Pretty even matchup, and I suspect Vegas will confirm that shortly. Should be a very fun game.

LSU 33 - Arkansas 30: Snap Judgments

Richard Pittman — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 04:19:36 -0000

More photos » by Bill Haber - AP

16 days ago: LSU running back Trindon Holliday (8) runs past Arkansas cornerback Ramon Broadway (26) in the first half of an NCAA college football game in Baton Rouge, La., Saturday, Nov. 28, 2009. (AP Photo/Bill Haber)

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A win's a win. I guess we've said that a few times this year. For a team that was predicted before the season to be 9-3 at the end, this has been a very tumultuous 9-3 team. It's a team that could well have been 6-6 (near losses to Washington, MSU, and Arkansas). It could have beaten Ole Miss, and wasn't THAT far away from beating Alabama. This is a team that, based on its play on the field, could have gone anywhere from 6-6 to 11-1. 9-3 is, I suppose, not that bad under those circumstances. There will be some thoughts on that later; probably a lot of thoughts from a lot of different writers. Anyway, a few snap judgments:

First, the final drive of regular time. After taking a terrible sack, Jefferson came back and made some nice plays, but the final drive belonged to Stevan Ridley, Josh Jasper, and Derek Helton. Derek Helton? The snap on the field goal was terrible, but Helton snagged the high-and-outside pitch and got it down for Jasper to get a clean hit on it. Tie game.
Jefferson was maddeningly inconsistent throughout the game, vacillating from stretches of brilliance (our touchdown drives) and strange decision-making/inaccuracy (most of the rest of the game). This is a kid with the potential to be an excellent quarterback. He just needs to accentuate the positive while eliminating the negative. There's a lot of positive to work with there.
The overtime was a snoozer. We went 3-and-out kind of pitifully, but got a medium-range field goal. Arkansas nearly had to try a 45-yarder until they got a nice 8 yard gain on 3rd and 12 to set up a medium-range field goal, but missed it. Drake Nevis and Lavar Edwards made great plays to set up the 3rd and long that ultimately decided the game.
Trindon Holliday was the MVP of the first half until he muffed that punt, scoring a special teams touchdown, putting us in good field position multiple times, and running effectively from scrimmage. Then, after the muff, he completely disappeared.
Russell Shepard also disappeared after a little early activity. This is one of the lesser-discussed but most maddening aspects of our suspect offense. In the second half, we tend to tighten up and not put in the homerun hitters.
I did not like the helmet-to-helmet call on Chad Jones. I'm not saying it was technically wrong, but it's been called so infrequently this year that it is surprising to me that it was called on a play where it appeared that Jones at least attempted to lead with his shoulder, and appeared to hit head-to-head only with a glancing blow. We've seen much worse head-to-head hits go uncalled this year.
The defensive line got after it in the first half, then disappeared for long stretches in the second. I don't think it's a coincidence that we did not get a single stop in the second half. When we stopped getting pressure, Ryan Mallett started hitting receivers. The decision to constantly go with a 3-man rush in the second half contributed to the problems, even though the 3-man rush had success in the first half.
The coverage teams were great tonight. I can't wait to see more of Ryan Baker next year.
It was good to see Brandon Lafell walk off. It would have been awful to see such a great Tiger blow a knee in overtime of Game 12 of his senior season.
The offensive line played pretty well this week. Losing Ciron Black will hurt, but I think this could be a good unit next year.
Except for the helmet-to-helmet, I thought the officiating was pretty good tonight.
The corner opposite Peterson continues to get picked on in every game. I sure hope that Jai Eugene makes a big leap in his play next year, or that Morris Claiborne is ready to take over.
With Ole Miss losing, I think we are going to the Cap One, but nothing is official. Who else would they take at this point? Ole Miss? South Carolina? Tennessee? Georgia? We're not exactly a thrilling choice, but those others aren't either. Actually, it will be really interesting to see how the bowls shake out. As of press time, Georgia was still playing Georgia Tech. If they win that one, there will be six, SIX!, teams with 7 wins in the SEC. Ole Miss, at 8 wins, is the clear choice for Cotton, but the Outback and every bowl on down could go in literally any direction after that.

Q&A With Garnet and Black Attack

FIGUREFOUR — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 05:31:08 -0000

We have worked together this week with Garnet and Black Attack to show the other side of the coin going into Saturday's game in Columbia. We tried to keep it civil and get Cockfan's perspective on the SC football team and strategies going into the final regular season game for both teams. Our responses to their questions can be seen here.

How do you guys see Garcia's progression at QB? How is it that Alshon Jeffery has made such an advance at WR ahead of others?

Garcia has progressed nicely this season. The biggest goals for Garcia after last season were to gain a better grasp of the offense, to learn to protect the ball better, and to learn that he can't rely on his feet to make plays in the college game. He's succeeded in each case. He understands the playbook, has thrown few interceptions (a welcome change after four years of Blake Mitchell and Chris Smelley), and gets happy feet less than he used to. He's really come a long way, and I believe he's in position to break our single-season yardage record if he puts up big numbers against the Tigers and our bowl opponent.

As far as Alshon goes, I think his emergence is partially due to the fact that he's just a great talent. He wasn't very present early on in the year because he didn't know the offense very well, but once he had learned his position, he was ready to go out and contribute. Spurrier always said he was a talent, a guy who could make big catches whenever he's in position to do so. That turned out to be true. The only other guy that might rival him in talent and athletic ability is Tori Gurley, but Gurley is a converted defensive back and still needs some work on fundamentals, I think. Moe Brown is also a talented receiver but is more of a speed threat and clearly not the all-around monster Alshon is.

What is the problem with the offensive line? Why has there been so little progress in the running game considering the attention to it in the offseason?

As far as the running game goes, I think there's been more progress than you might see. We actually have a moderately competent running game now. Kenny Miles and Jarvis Giles both average over 5 ypc, and Brian Maddox played well against Florida after a slow start to his season. So, we have solid but not great numbers, which is certainly better than what we had a year ago. The problem is that we fail to commit to the run at times, especially in the second half of games. We at times seem to totally abandon it. I'm putting that on the coaching staff rather than player execution.

The offensive line, in general, is better than in years past. Again, it's not great, but it's improved. Frankly, I think the biggest improvement is in run blocking, and that's the one we're taking least advantage of. Pass protection might be a little better than last year, but it's still quite suspect, as the sacks numbers suggest. The line is also penalty prone, which has killed just as many drives this year as the sacks.

The continued problems, hopefully, will be addressed in the offseason. I think we all had great expectations that Eric Wolford could come in and completely change the character of our line, but we're seeing now that perhaps it takes time for a line to learn a new scheme. Wolford promised that we'd see more zone blocking, but we really haven't seen much of that at all until recently, so perhaps Wolford just needs time to institute these and other changes that he hopes to use to get us to the next level.

Teams have had success over the past few years running the ball against SC, particularly between the tackles. Is this just a depth problem, scheme issue, or a defensive technique issue? Would the Gamecocks consider utilizing Norwood more inside or dropping a safety into the box if Clemson begins running the ball effectively?

I think it's a combination of all the factors you mention. Depth at tackle has been an issue for us in years past and continues to be this year. We came into the year with a good two-deep at tackle, but a season-ending injury to Travian Robertson and a nagging injury to Nathan Pepper have cut into our depth. We're still OK at the position, as Pepper, Ladi Ajiboye, and Melvin Ingram are all solid players, but we clearly begin to tire out at the end of games against teams that pound us; see our game against Alabama.

Scheme is also an issue. We typically run a 4-2-5 that places extra speed on the field in the form of the Spur position, which is basically a roving safety. This scheme is designed to defend the pass and particularly the spread option, as the greater speed on the field makes us less vulnerable to fast runners in space. On the other hand, the lack of a third linebacker in most of our schemes means that we're a little softer inside, as teams like Alabama and Tennessee have been able to expose.

Finally, I think technique is an issue this year. This wasn't a problem last year, but this year's team doesn't tackle very well.

As far as how to solve this problem, we haven't seen the coaches move Norwood to the middle, which has been a fairly constant topic for discussion among fans. I'm not sure if I think this is a good idea or not; Norwood would be a better run stopper than the diminutive Shaq Wilson, but he's also a monster on the outside, often taking two blockers and still getting his share of sacks. It would change our defensive dynamic significantly to move him. At any rate, the coaches don't seem to be into the idea.

One idea that I'd like to see the coaches explore in the offseason is varying the schemes. The 4-2-5 is great against Florida's spread and, to a lesser degree, offenses like Petrino's air attack and Ole Miss's idiosyncratic offense, which relies on a mix of passing the ball and getting Dexter McCluster on the edge. On the other hand, it doesn't work so well against Alabama, Tennessee, or the downhill running attack Florida has adopted at times this year. I would like to see us explore moving to a 4-3 more often against those teams, at least if we can find the personnel to do so.

SC has had a few big name defensive coordinators over the past few years. What are your thoughts about Ellis Johnson compared to Charley Strong?

I think both are great coordinators, clearly. Both have had great defenses at Carolina despite not having the benefits of the kind of talent an LSU or a Florida can have. I will say that in some ways what Strong did is more impressive, in that Johnson has had the benefit of more talent to work with. One of the amazing things about those Lou Holtz Outback Bowl teams is that they really weren't as talented as our teams now are. That staff really got the most out of those guys. Johnson, though, is still doing a great job.

You can also count me as part of the group that would love to see us explore Strong as a possible head coach when Spurrier hits the road.

SC utilizes three RB's extensively. Can you describe each back's style and rank them based on your perception of play this season?

That's right; we run with three backs--actually four if you include Bryce Sherman--and each have different styles. Kenny Miles has gotten most of the playing time this year. He's a good all-around back that runs hard downfield and combines moderate speed with the ability to break tackles. Jarvis Giles is more of a speedster, a guy who I'd like to see us get the ball to in space more often. Sherman is a dimunitive burner in the mold of LSU's Trindon Holliday; you'll only see us use him in gadget plays and packages that are specially designed to get him the ball in space. Brian Maddox is more of a power back and is the likely starter this weekend. He's also a good blocker and receiver, which is one reason that Spurrier continues to play him despite the fact that he doesn't seem to run the ball as well as the other two.

I don't like to rank the backs because each is different. I do, though, think we could utilize them better. I think we should, for the most part, use Maddox and Miles, Maddox in short-yardage and obvious passing situations and Miles in all other situations. Giles I think we should use as a utility player at this point, as is already the case for Sherman. Basically, I think we should rotate the group more often rather than trying to settle on one or the other, which is what we've been doing.

SC had a good deal of success early but has struggled late. What positives from early on do the Gamecocks need to get back to? What mistakes does this team need to shore up? Can these issues be corrected?

I think, first of all, that we need to get back to not turning the ball over. We were a very low-turnover team early in the season, and while Garcia certainly isn't reincarnating Blake Mitchell now, he isn't protecting the ball quite as well as he did early in the year. That hurt us against Tennessee, Arkansas, and Florida. If we can get back to not turning the ball over against Clemson, our defense will be able to keep us in the game until the end. I do think we can succeed here, but it won't be easy against Clemson's pass rush.

I'd also like to see us do some of the things I've alluded to in the above answers. This offense has had trouble scoring touchdowns all year, and I think getting back to the running game and short passing game might help us do better there. Our basic MO at this point is to move the ball well on our side of the field by running our basic offense and then to go straight for the jugular as soon as we get to the opponents 35 or so. Predictably, this tends to result in incomplete passes, interceptions, and sacks that take us out of field goal range. Now, I'm not averse to throwing deep for the score. However, when you do it all the time, opponents know it's coming, and they have a safety play smart on the deep throw and blitz all their big fellas. The results are predictable. I'd like to see us get back to just trying to move the ball into the redzone and go for more high-percentage scores.

I have always been intrigued by the magic trick before the Gamecocks enter the field. Does anyone other than Cocky know how this is executed? Trap door? Magic dust?

Sorry, but there are some things about the Gamecocks that we just don't like to share with Clemson people. This is one of them.

The LSU Preview

outsidethesidelines — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:16:56 -0000

No smoke and mirrors needed this week. No clever turn of phrase needed to build drama and intrigue with this game. Nope. To paraphrase what they say in the sales business, this is simply a game that sells itself. It's 'Bama v. LSU. Saban Bowl III. National championship implications clearly on the line. The entire country turning its eyes towards Tuscaloosa to play close attention at this contest. Again, this one sells itself. Let's look closer at the match-ups:

Alabama Offense v. LSU Defense

After putting up points and yards by the bushel in the first month of the season, the once prolific Alabama offense has slowly ground to a virtual halt over the course of the past five weeks. The vertical element of the passing game went into the Witness Protection Program in early October, and we still haven't seen any signs of it returning as of this writing. Mark Ingram has been nothing short of phenomenal -- sans the fumble against Tennessee -- but the lack of a vertical element to the passing game, combined with untimely penalties, questionable playcalling, and struggles in the red zone have kept the Tide offensive attack at bay and off the scoreboard.

Admittedly, the level of competition has been high the past several weeks. Kentucky has a good defense, and Ole Miss, South Carolina, and Tennessee rank in the top 25 nationally of more statistical categories than not. But such is life in the SEC... it's a brutal gauntlet of quality opponent after quality opponent, and there will be no rest for the weary this weekend when the Bayou Bengals come to town. Alas, when LSU arrives in Tuscaloosa, they will bring with them a defense that is as good as those we saw in October, if not better.

And unfortunately, injuries continue to take a toll on the Tide. Colin Peek looks to either miss this game or play nowhere near 100%, and that's a very big loss for the Tide. Michael Williams will likely play better than he did two weeks ago against Tennessee because he will be more prepared, but Peek is a critical element of our offense, and unfortunately Williams is an imperfect substitute.

Defensively, the weakness for LSU starts up front at the line of scrimmage. Shocking as though that may be -- I imagine I need remind no one that LSU's defensive line ate us for dinner from 2003-2007 -- it is nevertheless true. To be sure, it's certainly not a bad group, but it isn't a dominating one and it is not up to the level that we have come to expect the past several years out of LSU. Inside, seniors Al Woods and Charles Alexander are good players that any team would love to have, but they probably aren't to the level that we saw the past several years out of LSU with Kyle Williams and Glenn Dorsey. Likewise, the rotation isn't what it has been in previous years in terms of quality depth.

The real weakness for LSU on the defensive line largely comes outside at end. Senior Rahim Alem has been a bit of a disappointment this year. He was always a liability against the run -- which is why, despite leading the SEC in sacks in 2008, he wasn't a starter -- but he hasn't rushed the passer as well this year, generating only three sacks in the first eight games (only one of which came in conference play, and that was against Vandy). Opposite Alem, Lazarius Levingston hasn't exactly played poorly, but he hasn't really made an impact either. He has yet to generate a sack, and only has ten tackles on the year. Making matters worse, they are somewhat undersized, and mixed with their lack of a consistent pass rush, that generally explains why LSU's run defense has been somewhat middling, and also explains why they are at the bottom of the SEC in sacks.

Unfortunately, the rest of the LSU defense is significantly better. The linebacker corps struggled greatly in 2008, but they have made tremendous strides in 2009 under new defensive coordinator John Chavis. There is not one standout at linebacker like Alabama has with someone like Rolando McClain -- or had with Dont'a Hightower -- but it's a good group that gets the job done. Perry Riley, Kelvin Sheppard, Harry Coleman, and Jacob Cutrera are all good football players, and they are in many ways unique players that give Chavis a lot of options. Riley is a big, physical player who excels against against the run, and Coleman's past as a former safety makes him a very versatile player, particularly in passing situations. Kelvin Sheppard is probably the best all-around player of the bunch, and while Cutrera isn't a standout, he's a senior who can really play whatever position they need off the bench. Again, it's not a group that has the one rockstar standout like you find with a guy like Rolando McClain or Brandon Spikes, but it's a good group of players that have produced at a high level for John Chavis.

The real strength of the LSU defense, however, comes in the defensive backfield, where the Bayou Bengals have an absolutely ridiculous collection of talent. Just look at the names and their recruiting hype... Chad Jones, #1 safety prospect in the country in 2007. Jai Eugene, #1 cornerback prospect in the country in 2006. Patrick Peterson, #1 cornerback prospect in the country in 2007. And guys like Chris Hawkins, Brandon Taylor, Karnell Hatcher, Ron Brooks, and Danny McCray? Yeah, they were generally "only" four-star recruits who could have had pretty much their pick of any school in the country.

Not surprising given that collection of talent, LSU's defensive backfield has led the way. Patrick Peterson is the best cornerback in the conference now that Kentucky's Trevard Lindley is slowed by an ankle injury, and Chad Jones is every bit as good of a safety as Eric Berry. And, obviously, the rest aren't too shabby. These guys have been the key for the LSU defense this year. The defensive line has struggled and frankly been very bad in terms of rushing the passer, but the back end has covered so well that LSU still fields one of the best pass defenses in the country.

Coach Saban and company have talked about stretching the field vertically this weekend, and that is almost certainly something that we will have to do in order to breathe life back into our deceased offense. LSU does not have the great run defense that they have sported in years past, but it's far from a bad unit, and you can rest assured that they will be able to limit Alabama's running game well enough to force the Tide to do something in the passing game in order to score a lot of points. Keep in mind that, as I mentioned in the Radio Hour, if you are unable to throw the football, then defensively you don't need to stop the run, you only need to somewhat limit the run. In other words, you just have to make sure that the opposing offense doesn't run it down your throats to the tune of 250+ rushing yards. Rest assured, LSU is likely more than good enough to do that up front.

Offensively, Alabama faces the same dilemma that it largely faced against Tennessee. Greg McElroy and the passing attack have struggled to move the football, and the opposing defense will look to limit Ingram and company and force McElroy and the wide receiver corps to beat them. Unless we can be more consistent and explosive in the passing game, the end result looks to be very similar to what it was against Tennessee.

Alabama Defense v. LSU Offense

For all of the strength of the LSU defense, the LSU offense hasn't been anywhere near as good, and if you look closely this is a group that ranks near the bottom of the country in most statistical categories.

At the skill positions, at least, this is an extremely dangerous offense. Without doubt the LSU wide receiver corps is easily the most talented that the Tide will face all season, and literally every single LSU wide receiver that will touch the football this Saturday will be a truly elite athlete in every sense of the phrase. Brandon LaFell will be a first-day draft pick next April, and both Terrance Toliver and Reuben Randle are physically impressive players who were the #1 wide receiver prospects in the country when they came out of high school. Richard Dickson is a good tight end in his own right, and he too will probably play on Sunday. Furthermore, Charles Scott is also a future NFL player, and while Keiland Williams never really lived up to his five-star status when he signed with the Tigers in 2006, he's still a fine player in his own right. And finally, while Russell Shepard and Trindon Holliday are somewhat of one-trick ponies, both have such ungodly speed and athleticism that they can present major challenges to a defense once they get the ball in their hands. Bottom line, struggles or not, if you look at the quality at talent at the skill positions for LSU, you would swear this is an elite offense.

The real problem with LSU offensively has been in the trenches and, perhaps not surprisingly, at the quarterback position. Struggles in those two areas have largely grounded the LSU offensive attack, and have turned an offense that should be high-powered based solely on its skill position talent into a unit that has greatly struggled to move the football and score points.

Ciron Black at left tackle for the Bayou Bengals is a four-year starter who will likely be a first round NFL draft choice next April, and at right tackle Joseph Barksdale -- a five-star recruit in 2007 -- is one of the best right tackles in the SEC. Unfortunately for the Tigers, however, the performance of the centers and guards has dipped significantly. The loss of starting left guard Herman Johnson and starting center Brett Helms have been felt all season, and the replacements just aren't in the same league right now. Josh Dworaczyk took over for Johnson, and the replacement starter for the gargantuan comes in at barely 280 pounds. Likewise, sophomore T-Bob Hebert hasn't necessarily been bad, but again he's just not in the same league as Helms right now. Right guard Lyle Hitt looked solid enough when sandwiched between Helms and Barksdale, but he too has seen his performance dip by having to take on greater responsibilities with Hebert alongside him. As a whole, the performance of the center and the guards just hasn't been anywhere what it was a year ago.

The struggles on the interior offensive line have effectively proven fatal to the LSU rushing attack. I've long said that the biggest impact on your rushing attack comes from the play of your center and your guards, and 2009 Tigers would prove to be a fine case study in that regard. The tackles are there, as are the backs, but LSU has struggled on the interior in the running game, and that has largely killed their rushing attack. The once potent Scott and Williams are averaging only about 4.8 yards per carry now, and prior to facing Tulane and their god awful run defense they were barely averaging 4.0 yards per carry.

The other problem for LSU offensively is quarterback Jordan Jefferson. While clearly an intriguing prospect with a great upside -- Jefferson has a good frame, a big arm, and is a legitimate dual-threat -- Jefferson is really playing out of necessity right now, and it shows. Truth be told, if the LSU coaching staff really had their druthers, Jefferson would probably be riding the pine this year while watching fifth-year senior Ryan Perrilloux run the Tiger offense, but alas the Football Gods would not cooperate. As a result, Jefferson has been forced to make the best of a bad situation, and he has clearly had his growing pains. He holds onto the ball entirely too long which creates a lot of sacks -- which explains why LSU is near the bottom of the conference in sacks allowed despite having the best tackle combo in the league -- often struggles to work through his progression, and does struggle at times to get the ball to his talented wide receivers. Combined, this has largely grounded what should otherwise be an explosive passing attack.

In all fairness, though, what Jefferson has done is manage the game and not get his Tigers beat. For all of the criticisms that you can make regarding his performance to date, he has protected the football, which is clearly priority number one for the LSU coaching staff. Jefferson has thrown a mere four interceptions this year on roughly 200 passing attempts, and has allowed the LSU defense to lead them to victory in close games. If nothing else, that is far more than could ever be said for the man that Jefferson replaced.

Defensively, Alabama brings the attack that you all know so well, and there will probably be little changes this week. Charles Scott and Keiland Williams had great success running the football against us a year ago, but with a healthy Terrence Cody this time around, plus Herman Johnson and Brett Helms playing on Sunday, the Tide ought to shut down the LSU rushing attack. If Charles Scott and company have a good deal of success come Saturday, it will legitimately come as a bit of a surprise.

The real key for the Alabama defense will be containing big plays in the passing game. For lack of a better way of putting it, the skill position players for LSU are unreal good, and they will stretch us to the absolute maximum this weekend. Our defensive backfield, collectively, will have to play the game of their lives this weekend, and to make matters even more worrisome we will also have to make sure that Russell Shepard or Trindon Holliday also don't beat us with a long run out of the backfield. Given the way we have struggled offensively the past several weeks, even giving up only one or two really long plays can easily be the difference between victory and defeat, and unless the offense improve, our defense has effectively zero margin of error.

Going a long way towards preventing those big plays to the skill position players will be effectively rushing the passer. Jefferson isn't a world-beater at quarterback, but his receivers sure as hell are, and he has the arm to make all of the throws. If Jefferson consistently has time to throw the football, we're in big trouble defensively. The LSU skill position players are simply too good to expect any defensive backfield to keep covered for any real length of time.

Putting It All Together

All in all, these two teams match up closely. If the Alabama offense were producing like it did earlier in the year, the Tide could be reasonably expected to win this game with relative ease, but with our offensive struggles of the past month and no definite sign of improvement, this game figures to be a close one that goes right down to the wire. Unless we can significantly improve offensively, the LSU defense is good enough to keep our offensive attack at bay, and while the LSU offense probably won't score a lot of points against our defense, they clearly have another skill position talent on the outside to make a few big plays to squeak out a close victory in a low-scoring game

And do look for this game to be a close, low-scoring game, no two ways about that. Neither team looks to score that many points, and expect the coaching staffs of the respective teams to play accordingly. LSU almost lost to the Tide in 2007 when they chose to kick to Javier Arenas late, and their loss last year was fueled by a slew of costly turnovers. Expect Les Miles and company to avoid both this weekend with a struggling Alabama offense. LSU will kick the football away from Arenas, and play safe on offense so that -- even if they don't score a lot of points in their own right -- they won't take the risks that could result in several costly turnovers. We're struggling greatly on the offensive side of the ball, and when facing a team of that nature you make sure that you do not allow cheap points. Expect LSU to force the Tide's offense to consistently move the ball 60+ yards to get points.

For Alabama, the path to victory is clearly in the trenches. We hold a fairly significant advantage in both match-ups at the line of scrimmage, and there is where we must win this football game. We must stop the run defensively and rush Jefferson, and offensively establish the running game and make like easy for McElroy and the Alabama passing attack. If we can do that, we win this football game. On the other hand, if LSU can fight us to an effective draw in the trenches, then this game will be decided by the skill position players, and that's a losing proposition for us. That's not to say we absolutely cannot win a game of that nature, but LSU does have more raw talent at the skill positions than we do, and that is a game that will clearly favor the Bayou Bengals. Again, our path to victory lies in the trenches. We have to dominate this game at the line of scrimmage. Period.

One way or the other, look for this to be an absolutely brutal game. The stakes are extremely high for both LSU and Alabama, and their respective players will perform accordingly. Les Miles, regardless of whether or not it is fair, will forever be judged relative to Nick Saban, something that is clearly not lost on Miles or his team. This is their biggest game of the year, and clearly the biggest game of the year for their fan base as well. Truth be told, they have been preparing for this game for two weeks now. Making matters more interesting, this game determines the SEC West, LSU is still technically alive in the national championship race, and they are clearly looking to make a definitive showing that they are still at their 2003-2007 form. On the other sideline, Alabama has been staring this one down for two weeks. We control our own destiny in the national championship race, and we know full well that this is now effectively a one-game season. If we want to get to where we want to go, we all realize that we must directly go through LSU. And, also, don't think for one second that it is lost on our team that they need to win this game in the trenches. Expect these two teams to line up and wage absolute war. There will be blood.

Hope for the best.

Alabama Preview

Richard Pittman — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:38:12 -0000

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Is it my imagination, or has the look of ATVS changed?

Anyway, a preview of the Alabama Crimson Tide would look awfully funny if it didn't start with Mark Ingram. I was surprised to find out that he is only 2nd in the conference in total rushing yards, behind Ben Tate of Auburn, but Tate has carried the ball 40 more times and has had an extra game to accumulate those yards. Ingram is running hard, getting 6.6 yards per attempt. Only Michael Smith of Arkansas (6.4 yards per carry) is getting close that average per carry among backs with lots of carries. Not only does he run the ball, but he has also caught 19 passes for 186 yards. That puts him in a tie for 2nd on the team in receptions and 4th in yards.

Ingram is a legitimate Heisman contender right now. He has scored 11 of Alabama's 26 offensive touchdowns, with 8 rushing touchdowns and 3 receiving. He is also the "quarterback" of Alabama's Wildcat and Bobcat offenses (Wildcat means that Greg McElroy is lined up as a receiver; Bobcat means McElroy is not in the game). He may yet throw the ball, though they have not tried to sell that yet. He's Bama's most dangerous player.

After him, things get a little more dicey for the Crimson Tide.

Quarterback Greg McElroy started out the season strong, but he hasn't thrown a touchdown pass in 3 games, throwing 2 interceptions in that time. His ATVSQBPI in those three games has been 3.6, 1.5, and 4.4. That 4.4 sitting by itself is not awful, but when that's your best game in 3, there are problems. Despite this, Bama has won those three games, though they were somewhat fortunate to escape the Tennessee game with a win, as Ingram was contained. They hit a couple of long field goals and blocked a couple of long field goals to preserve a 12-10 win in that one, as we all remember.

McElroy is a typical college quarterback. He has decent arm strength and decent mobility, willing to take a few hits to help his team if need be, but more effective throwing the ball. He has struggled with accuracy and decision-making lately despite not being victimized by a lot of sacks.

If we want to discuss things like chickens and eggs and their relative temporal proximity, we can also talk about the struggles of Julio Jones, who through 8 games has only 20 receptions for only 229 yards and a touchdown. Julio Jones was supposed to be an All-American candidate, but you won't find him on any of the leaderboards in receptions or yardage in the conference. The leading receiver in the SEC is A.J. Green, who has over twice as many catches and over 3 times as many receiving yards. In Bama's last game against Tennessee, they made a conscious effort to get him more involved, giving him a lot of short and safe throws. He ended up with 7 catches for 54 yards.

In the Bama passing game, the receiver who scares me the most is Colin Peek, who has been deadly as a tight end over the middle of the field. He has been hurt though, or he would very likely be Bama's leading receiver both in catches and in yards. As it is, Julio Jones leads in catches, thanks to his 7 against Tennessee, and Marquis Maze, who is a deep ball specialist, leads in yards. Mark Ingram leads in touchdown receptions.

Other offensive weapons for Alabama include the true freshman Trent Richardson, who we really recruited hard and hoped to come to us. He has had a fine freshman campaign, with 377 yards on 74 carries. He has broken off a couple of very long runs, but he is not as consistently productive as Ingram.

Alabama's biggest advantage over us when they have the ball is the middle of their offensive line against the middle of our defense. They have been deadly running the ball between the tackles and Florida ran the ball up the middle on us constantly and we couldn't stop it. I would fully expect, given that LSU's secondary is more than a match for the Bama receivers, that Bama will run the ball and run the ball and run the ball until we show we can stop it. We may not be able to, and why should Bama get all fancy on us if they can run it effectively whenever they want? Our linebacker corps has been very good, but is not really built to take on a straight-ahead rushing attack, as our middle linebacker Kelvin Sheppard (who has been outstanding this year) is a little undersized to be taking on straight-ahead blockers and rushers. He's more of an angler.

On defense, it's the same story. LSU has an advantage when our receivers go against their secondary, but the middle of the defense has a big advantage over the middle of our offense. The combination of nose tackle Terrance Cody and linebacker Rolando McClain is outstanding, better than any we've faced this year. I truly do not expect us to get very far running Charles Scott up the middle. The middle of our offensive line just has not been that good this year and this is the biggest mismatch they will face.

If we're going to have success, it will be to the outside of the hashes, using Russell Shepard, or Keiland Williams, or Trindon Holliday. This is not to say that the outside of Bama's defense is weak. It's just not as strong as the inside of Bama's defense, which is extraordinary.

Our real advantage is with our receiver corps, where Terrance Toliver and Brandon Lafell make up the best 1-2 receiver combination in the conference. Toliver's 38 catches puts him tied for 2nd in the league with Shay Hodge of Ole Miss behind A.J. Green. Lafell's 37 puts him 4th. No combination of receivers in the conference has those kinds of numbers. Aaron Hernandez and Riley Cooper of Florida combine for 68 receptions, and they are the closest. Bama's secondary is beatable, and these are just the two receivers to beat it.

The problem is that our offensive line will have to give the receivers time to beat that secondary. Bama is tied for the conference lead in sacks with 23. They get a lot of pressure, and protecting against pressure has not been a strong suit of our offensive line, nor has handling pressure been a strength of Jordan Jefferson's game. This is probably the one area where LSU will have to overperform its history in order for us to have a fighting chance. We will have to protect Jefferson better than we have before, and Jefferson will have to work quicker than he has in the past.

And lastly, special teams are huge for Alabama. They've won their last two games on field goals, as they haven't scored a touchdown since the first half of the South Carolina game. Leigh Tiffin has been the best kicker in the conference. Then there is that Javier Arenas guy, who is arguably the most dangerous punt returner in the conference. He will have to be held in check if we are going to win.

It is a tall order beating this Bama team, but we're getting them at our peak and we're as ready as we're ever going to be. I think we'll give them a tough game.

Behind the Numbers: LSU v Tulane

Poseur — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 23:20:41 -0000

We beat Tulane. Big whoop. I'm doing the Behind the Numbers early just to get it over with. Honestly, trying to glean meaning from a win over Tulane is a fool's errand. Do not read too much into anything that happened.

267. LSU's rushing yards. The running game has been, at times, downright brutal this season. Getting 267 yards against anyone is a feat for this team. Charles Scott rushed for 112 yards, his first 100 yard game of the season. I'm happy for Scott, but let's not call it a breakout game until he does it against a defense with a pulse.

2. Keiland Williams' total touches. He didn't catch a ball and he had all of two carriers. Meanwhile, Stevan Ridley looked great in his 8 garbage time carries and Russell Shepard looked explosive in his five carriers. Shep seems to have taken over the "shifty back" role in the offense, relegating Williams to a few change of pace carries and waving his towel on the sideline. I feel really bad for the kid, who came in as a five star recruit with all of the hype in the world. His LSU career is not what he, or anyone, imagined for him. He's been a good player and, to his credit, he's never publicly complained about his role, but it is probably time to admit he is a bust. Russell Shepard's expanded role will probably come at Keiland Williams' expense.

50. Trindon Holliday had not one, but two 50 yard punt returns. Man, he is an explosive player. He never quite has been a star, but he always has these flashes of brilliance.

2-51. In case you didn't notice, Drew Alleman got the start as the punter. He punted twice in the first half, and shanked them both. Josh Jasper, our do everything special teams guy, came out in the third and punted it 41 yards. I'd rather Alleman shank it against Tulane because it's likely he won't get the chance to do it against Bama. With Derek Helton out, Jasper is now going to have to take every kick. No pressure.

1. LSU's three and outs. In every game, the offense has gone into the tank for an extended period. That didn't happen against Tulane, which was another positive sign. The only three and out was actually the first possession. LSU probably won't go 7/10 on third downs against the Tide, but it was nice to see the offense stay on the field.

38. Tackles by LSU's top linebackers: Kelvin Sheppard (13), Perry Riley (8), Jacob Cutrera (6), Ryan Baker (6), and Harry Coleman (5). The five linebackers also combined for 5 TFL's. It's been a long time since our linebackers were the most productive unit on defense. That is a positive sign going into Alabama. Our linebackers must make tackles.

LSU 42 - Tulane 0: Snap Judgments

Richard Pittman — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 13:47:09 -0000

More photos » by Bill Haber - AP

about 1 month ago: LSU running back Stevan Ridley (34) backs into the endzone over Tulane defensive back Jordan Garrett as linebacker Darryl Farley comes from the left in the second half of an NCAA college football game in Baton Rouge, La., Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009. LSU defeated Tulane 42-0. (AP Photo/Bill Haber)

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I just isn't the same when the game is not on regular television. ESPN360 just doesn't give you the options that television gives you, and the picture is not as clear. That's not even getting into the whole problem of the connection to ESPN360 crashing and not being able to get a picture, missing several plays throughout the game, including Russell Shepard's touchdown run.

Anyway, here are some snap judgments:

I would like to take us back to what Poseur said in the Roundtable discussion:

Billy:

What would you like to see this Saturday versus Tulane?

Poseur:

A win. That's it.

I don't need to see fireworks and I don't need to see new wrinkles. I just want a quiet and uneventful win that serves as a nice appetizer for Bama.

Well, that's exactly what you got. The game was uncompetitive, uneventful, lacking in fireworks, and generally quite dull. Not that there's anything wrong with that. We came out and scored early and Tulane, though they put up a couple nice drives, never did anything that even resembled getting into the game.

I can't say we didn't see any new wrinkles though. After LSU had struggled to get good support from the fullback position from James Stampley and Richard Dugas early in the season, and inserting freshman Dominique Allen into the rotation last week met with mised results, Les Miles and Gary Crowton took a different approach and moved reserve scholarship offensive lineman Thomas Parsons to the fullback position. This experiment seemed to work well, as Parsons was effective getting to the defenders and blocking them.
We also had our most effective power running game yet. It's hard to know if that's because Parsons was added to the I-formation roster or if it's just because we were playing overmatched competition. However, I think it's worth pointing out that we rushed more than 100 yards more against Tulane than we did against UL-Lafayette, with a higher yard per attempt average as well.
By the numbers, LSU had 267 yards rushing, though Stevan Ridley's 73 rushing yards on the final drive of the game perhaps skews that number a little. Then again, Charles Scott had his most effective game of the season, rushing for 112 yards and 2 touchdowns. All together, LSU had 455 total yards, plus a ton of punt return yards.
Jordan Jefferson also had a pretty nice game, averaging over 9 yards per attempt and throwing two nice touchdown passes to Brandon Lafell, who had 85 yards receiving on 4 catches. Things didn't look good for him early, as he took a quick sack and then threw an interception, but he rebounded to have a very productive day.
And what to say about the defense? It was LSU's first shutout since beating Middle Tennessee State 44-0 on September 15, 2007.
At first blush, it was not exactly a dominating performance. Tulane had 216 total yards, including two substantially long drives, one of which ended in a missed field goal and the other of which ended in an interception. Tulane got nothing going on the ground, however, getting credit for only 26 rushing yards on 20 attempts, helped along by 3 sacks of Ryan Griffin for -22 yards.
Tulane's passing game was a little better, averaging just over 5 yards per attempt. It's not surprising that senior wide receiver Jeremy Williams was Tulane's most effective offensive player, with 78 yards receiving and 21 yards rushing. He probably has an NFL future. Andre Anderson led Tulane in rushing with 27 yards, but averaged only 2.5 yards per attempt.
Tulane was able to have some of its most successful plays when they exploited our aggressiveness with screens or dump-offs. LSU will sometimes have problems chasing down a running back, particularly when they flare out to the left side of our defensive line. The left-side defensive end triumvirate of Pep Levingston, Lavar Edwards, and Chancey Aghayere just don't seem to be quick enough to keep up with a running back who gets a release to the outside, and those plays sometimes get big yards. It's been going on since the Washington game.
Kelvin Sheppard had another outstanding game. It's hard to say that there's a "great" linebacker out there for us, but Kelvin Sheppard, Harry Coleman, and Perry Riley sure seem to work very well together as a group, and they are productive as all get out. We may not have one Rolando McClain or Brandon Spikes out there, but we have 3 very good linebackers who do a lot of good for us.
Special teams did not get much action against Tulane, but we did get a nice blocked punt by Daniel Graff and a couple nice returns on punts from Trindon Holliday. Trindon sometimes struggles to be productive in the SEC, but when we face a weaker team, Holliday usually gashes them. He has been a useful and productive player for us over the years, but he could have become a legend in the Sun Belt or another conference.
It was great to see the second team get some time in the game. I think this was the first time all season the 2nd team offensive line got a chance. They got in the game with the ball on the 2 yard line and they opened rushing lanes for Stevan Ridley all the way down the field, for one of the most impressive touchdown drives in recent LSU history. Jarrett Lee completed 2 passes along the way on that drive, one to Reuben Randle and the other to John Williams, who I think was seeing his first game action of his career. Another pass was in the direction of Chris Tolliver, who was well-covered.
Defensively, we saw a lot of 2nd team cornerback Morris Claiborne, who is definitely the most surprising member of the freshman class. He got into the game in place of Patrick Peterson long before other starters were subbed out. They are clearly grooming him for important playing time next year, perhaps as Chris Hawkins' replacement on the other side of Peterson.
Richard Dickson went down with a scary-looking injury in the first half, but returned later in the game. As far as I can tell, we escaped the with no significant injury to any player. That satisfies me.
Obviously, things ramp up a bit this week.

Saturday Lessons: October 3

Year2 — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:00:52 -0000

More photos » by Ed Reinke - AP

The Wildcats are giving souls, really.

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This year, it's never a bad week to have a bye.

Four more previously undefeated teams went down this weekend, some in spectacular fashion. Houston lost to UTEP by three scores despite gaining 664 yards and getting 42 first downs. Texas A&M lost by nearly 30 to Arkansas despite outgaining the Hogs and running 17 more plays. Michigan went down to a Michigan State team that had failed to beat anyone of note until then. UCLA went down to Stanford, but that wasn't that big a shock.

Other unbeaten teams got pushed hard by their opponents, like Iowa, LSU, and Wisconsin. Meanwhile, undefeated Florida, Texas, TCU, Missouri, and Kansas all were idle. You really can't complain about getting a week off this season.

Kentucky might be really good if it wasn't so charitable.

The Wildcats football team once again performed a comedy of errors, showering Alabama with personal foul penalties and turnovers. A fumble return for a touchdown was the first of three consecutive scores off of turnovers that allowed Alabama to break the game open in the second and third quarters, but before that, UK was more than up to the task of staring down one of the nation's elite. A pair of 10+ play drives for field goals in the first quarter left the Cats down just one heading into that fateful second quarter.

Kentucky looked much more comfortable against Alabama's conventional offensive attack than it did against Florida's option, and they were able to get some late game scores on the Tide's defense that they weren't able to get on the Gators. Greg McElroy had a modest day, but with UK shooting itself in the foot and Mark Ingram rushing to a career day, more wasn't necessary. This year is all about survive and advance now, and that's exactly what Bama did.

Speaking of "survive and advance..."

That's all you can really say LSU did against Georgia. The Tigers couldn't turn a dominant first half into anything more than a 6-0 lead, and they came out after halftime and promptly lost 11 yards for the entire third quarter. The word I had for most of this game in the game thread was "forgettable," and it seems prescient now that no one much cares about what happened before the final three minutes. The twin unsportsmanlike conduct penalties benefited LSU more, as they have the far better return man in Trindon Holliday, but LSU probably should have won the game anyway.

Bizarre penalties aside, I came away feeling like these teams weren't that far apart, even if LSU dominated the game statistically. Georgia at least did itself the favor of not wasting many yards, as a quick check of the drive chart shows 100 yards gained on nine non-scoring drives and 139 gained on the two drives that yielded points. Clearly the UGA's problem was being too disciplined. When the Bulldogs commit seven or fewer penalties this year, they are 1-2 and average 14.3 points per game; when the commit more than that, they are 2-0 and average 46.5 points per game.

There might be something to this Auburn team.

Auburn and Tennessee didn't stage another Punt Bowl, thankfully. At least, Auburn didn't as the Tigers punted six times to Tennessee's eight. Auburn was held under 500 total yards for just the second time this season, but that was to be expected against the good but banged up Tennessee defense. However they still gave up 459 yards, a mark last year's Vol unit surrendered just once. In UT's favor, they gained 410 yards on a pretty good defense, but the moral victories for this team are quickly outpacing actual victories.

The Tigers meanwhile got a solid win that would have looked better if not for a UT touchdown on the final play of the game. Without it, the final is a 26-16 road win, a number not that far off from what Florida did to the Vols at home. The Tigers are fifth in the nation in both total offense and scoring offense despite the modest point total. They now have two SEC wins under their belt to go with a non-conference win over a Big East team. I don't think anyone could have predicted that Gene Chizik's tenure would start so nicely.

BCS busting is now down to two.

It's not just that Boise State and TCU are the only good non-AQ conference programs left without a loss. They're the only non-AQ conference teams without a loss. There's no one out there like last year's Ball State to improbably go 12-0 before going down in flames in a conference title game. This is actually a comforting fact to me since BSU and TCU being the main BCS busting candidates is one of the few preseason predictions of mine that are actually holding up (along with Oregon and not Cal being the primary contender for USC's Pac-10 crown).

That is, of course, unless you consider a Big East team going undefeated and making it into the BCS championship game a "BCS Buster," because Cincinnati and USF could still do just that. And don't lie, because now that I've mentioned it, you kind of do.

All is not well at Ole Miss.

The initial reaction for I think a lot of folks to Ole Miss's 23-7 win over Vandy was, "all right, the Rebels are back on track after beating a team they should have beaten." While the sentiment is nice, and the final score is remarkably close to LSU's 23-9 win over the same Commodore team, things aren't yet fixed in Oxford. Specifically, Jevan Snead is not playing like the second team all-SEC player he was expected to be, chucking up three interceptions and managing just seven yards a toss in the win. That'll do against another hapless Vandy team, but it'll get the team pounded into dust this week against Bama.

Arkansas is the most predictable team in the conference.

All offense, no defense. It continues, despite the oddly scored 47-19 win over Texas A&M. The Razorbacks took advantage of three turnovers on downs and two interceptions to run up such a score, but the Aggies outgained the Hogs 458-434. The Arkansas defense was good on a situational basis for sure, hence those five turnovers, but it wasn't great on a down-by-down basis. It was enough for Arkansas to overcome three turnovers of their own and pick up their first win over a I-A opponent.

LSU 20 - Georgia 13: Snap Judgments

Richard Pittman — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 23:52:34 -0000

More photos » by John Bazemore - AP

2 months ago: LSU receiver Terrance Toliver (80) is stopped by Georgia's Bacarri Rambo during the second quarter of an NCAA college football game in Athens, Ga., Saturday, Oct. 3, 2009. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

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Well well well. That was about the strangest game I've ever seen. We completely dominated the 1st half but didn't have a big lead to show for it because we kept stalling out when we got close to the end zone. We developed a power running game, spotty as it was, but the offense still struggled. Here are my snap judgments:

You just can't say enough about how good A.J. Green is. We did a good job of holding him down, and he still had 5 catches for 99 yards and 1 spectacular touchdown catch that could have been a game-winner. He is obviously the best wide receiver in the conference. It's not even close. I think the world of Brandon Lafell, and Julio Jones is outstanding as well, but A.J. Green is the best of them all. He is probably the best offensive player in the conference right now. Tim Tebow is bigger because he touches the ball every play, but I don't think Tebow is a better quarterback than Green is a wide receiver.
On Green's touchdown, Hawkins had perfect coverage. To do any better, he would have needed to be bigger and stronger. I just can't fault a guy who does everything right and gets victimized by someone who is just too good of an athlete.
Jordan Jefferson is still not quite there as a quarterback. He got baited into his interception, and he went through one of his big lulls in the second half. Georgia got a lot of sacks that half, but it really wasn't entirely the line's fault. Jefferson just would not get rid of the ball. He'd hold it too long and the rush would get to him.
The defense really played well all night. Sure, it wasn't nearly as dominant in the second half, and we gave up that big 18 play drive, but other than that drive and the 2-minute drill that ended with Green's great catch, they were fantastic.
So LSU showed a power running game and Georgia only had one turnover. Who could have predicted that? Peterson was close to one or two interceptions but had the ball batted away at the last moment.
Patrick Peterson did a really good job on A.J. Green. He got beat a couple times, but also made a big play a couple times to beat Green. And on one of the occasions when Green got the best of Peterson, Cox failed to make an accurate throw and so it went for nothing.
Overall, I thought the playcalling was better in this game than in previous games. We changed them up a little by running Scott on options, which was effective except when Jefferson failed to properly execute them.
Speaking of, Jordan Jefferson is still uncomfortable running the option. He is just not a natural at it, and appears to not want to set himself up for the hit from the contain man, but he HAS to make that man commit to tackling him or the play cannot have success. That means taking a hit. The strange thing is that Jefferson has been so averse to sliding and is willing to take hits in other situations, situations in which he should not take the hits.
Our receiver corps had a drop or two tonight, but they are really good. Terrance Toliver has emerged as a real playmaker, and he made a good football move at one point to turn a 3rd down catch into a first down, despite making the catch and getting hit short of the first down yardage.
I liked the decision to go for it on 4th and inches at the 9 yard line. I know it didn't work, but it was a good gamble. Our power running game had generally been working up to that point, and you had to anticipate we could get one foot. It was a good calculated risk, and when Les Miles is at his best, he makes good calculated risks. The thing is, sometimes when you make a calculated risk, you come out on the wrong end of it. It's hard to criticize the play choice of going with a QB sneak. Those usually get you a yard reliably.
Then again, the sequence showed why it is good to go for it on 4th down and short near the goal line. We ended up giving the ball to Georgia, but they were in bad field position, couldn't do anything with it, and gave it back to us with an opportunity to get more points.
Which brings us to the last possession of the 1st half. Things were going well. We ended up with 3rd and 1 around the 40 with the clock around 30 seconds. I liked calling a running play, but I would have went with a draw from the spread instead of a power run at that point. I think it would have worked, but we'll never know. The big problem was that the coaches had NO PLAN for if it didn't work. They could not stop the clock, and they took entirely too long to decide to bring the FG unit out, which was futile anyway. The only choice at that point was to snap the ball with a second or 2 on the clock and heave it to the end zone on 4th down. Rushing the FG unit on the field after talking about it for a while revealed a complete lack of plan on that play. It was a coaching error that was on display for all to see, and I don't like it.
The offense was on the field for 6 plays in the 3rd quarter. 4 of those 6 plays went for a loss or for no gain. We had -11 yards of offense that quarter.
The celebration penalty on A.J. Green was completely bogus. The celebration penalty on Charles Scott was within the parameters of what we know they call. The thing is, Green's penalty had a much bigger impact on the game. It gave us the ball in such good field position that we did not have to pass, which would not have been the case if we had been 15 yards further back. The 5 yards we got for the illegal procedure penalty also helped.
Speaking of field position on that last drive, that was a very nice return by Trindon Holliday, who had a couple of those on the night.
The defensive line was really quiet all night, and did not get much pressure on Joe Cox for most of the game, but the linebackers were everywhere. I have to single out Kelvin Sheppard for having a very nice game. In general, our tackling was much better tonight than it had been previously.
I said before that any win here is a good win, and I mean that. This was a huge win for us. It makes the Florida game virtually a no-lose situation. No matter what happens against Florida, we control our destiny. A win lifts us, and a loss doesn't really hurt us. Of course, there will be more on that game in the coming week.
That's all for now. I'll watch the game again tomorrow morning.

LSU 23 - Vandy 9: Snap Judgments

Richard Pittman — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 02:49:17 -0000

More photos » by Bill Haber - AP

3 months ago: Vanderbilt cornerback Myron Lewis (5) up ends LSU quarterback Russell Shepard (10) in the first half of an NCAA college football game in Baton Rouge, La., Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009. (AP Photo/Bill Haber)

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Big win tonight. I am reasonably pleased. My quick thoughts:

Great job defense. Just outstanding. I can't say enough about how well this defense responded to a lot of criticism. They gave up really only one good drive, and then came up big again and again when the offense put them in bad spots in the second half.
I'm upset that the announcers stole my thunder towards the end of the game by pointing out how quiet Patrick Peterson was. The announcers were right that "quiet" for Peterson means "great". He was locked one-on-one with a Vandy receiver on his side of the field all night and Vandy QB Larry Smith just didn't even challenge him. They seemed content just to run him out of the play.
The whole defensive line played well. I know some naysayers will point to some nice plays Vandy made, but it's inevitable that a competent offense will make the occasional nice play. We stuffed them for no gain or short gains time and again, and we did a good job of getting off the field on 3rd down, as Vandy was 4 of 15 on 3rd down, and 1 of 2 on 4th down. On first viewing I can't single out any one defensive lineman, as Woods, Nevis, Alem, Lavar Edwards, Charles Alexander, and others made plays at one time or another.
One of the new faces on the defense, Brandon Taylor, had a very good game, picking up an interception, making a couple nice tackles, and generally being competent.
The defense saved the offense's bacon tonight. We had too many 3-and-outs, and more than one negative possession in the second half. Vandy had great field position for most of the 2nd half thanks to three consecutive possessions in which we ran a total of nine plays with two punts and a bad-snap safety.
Speaking of the bad snap safety, the long snapper on punts is actually a scholarship player whose only role on the team, as a sophomore, is to be the punt snapper. It is doubtful that this is a wise use of a scholarship in any event, and he better be flawless the rest of the season.
Jordan Jefferson's ATVSQBPI was 4.0. A big part of the problem was way too many completed passes that went for very short or negative yardage. Another problem was the offensive line play, which again was not up to snuff for long stretches. Jefferson was running for his life every time he dropped back to pass in those 3 bad possessions.
Keiland Williams had a really great game, averaging 7.2 yards per carry with the game-clinching touchdown. Charles Scott is still trying to get it going, as he averaged only 3.8 yards per carry. He had some nice runs, but the blocking just wasn't there consistently.
Great to see R.J. Jackson get so many touches, including one that led directly to a score that could have ended up being very important.
We finally saw Russell Shepard, and while he was productive, hopefully his fumble will be a learning experience for him. I'm still waiting to see Reuben Randle touch the ball.
Except for Trindon Holliday's fumble, the return game was really quite good tonight.
I caught sight of Morris Claiborne in the game and making a tackle.