SB Nation - Kelvin Sheppard

The Film Room: Looking At LSU

outsidethesidelines — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:03:15 -0000

This week in the film room I want to do a bit of a blurb piece, looking specifically at several of the bigger plays in the Alabama v. LSU game. Unlike in past weeks in which we have focused specifically on individual players with a specific point of evaluation in mind, this week we're going to bounce around a bit and just take a bit more casual look at some of the biggest plays in the game this past Saturday, looking for anything we can find.

First off, let's look at the first snap that we took out of the Wildcat. You will recall that in the Initial Impressions piece I said that, with Earl Alexander (a former high school quarterback) going in motion, we were almost certainly looking to throw the football. Let's look at the play again:

Notice the LSU cover package here. They have clearly manned up the three receivers, with safety Chad Jones over the top. I still think that this play was intended to be a pass, but given LSU's defensive response, it's hard to see how we would have successfully thrown the football. The only way it could have been done is if Alexander had thrown the football to the left and hit either Ingram or tight end Michael Williams slipping out of the backfield in the opposite direction.To be sure, the fumble was certainly disappointing because even with the recovery we were still faced with a third and long, but it's hard to see this one being a success through the air. We may have called a pass option on this one, but I imagine that it would have likely ended up being a run had the fumble not occurred.

Next, let's actually go back a play to the snap immediately before that. It's a first and ten near midfield and we decide to take a shot downfield to Maze early in the game. You'll probably remember this play well, but nevertheless you can get the jist of what happens with the following .gif (note, you need to click the .gif to make it work):

Disappointing, eh? I don't know exactly what route Jai Eugene was looking for, but he was clearly expecting that route to be broken off at the intermediate level somehow. He certainly wasn't expecting Maze to try to beat him deep, and as a result he ended up getting turned around and Maze blew right by him. This one just makes you want to throw the remote through the TV, plain and simple. Even with a semi-decent throw this is a touchdown, and not only does McElroy overthrow him he throws it out of bounds to boot. Double negative. This one hurts.

I guess we'll go ahead and knock out all of the negative McElroy stuff now, so let's take a look at the second Wildcat snap that we ran, this one coming late in the third quarter with 'Bama trailing 15-10.

I loved this play design from the outset. When Julio Jones comes down on the jet sweet and McElroy steps back, you know that every single LSU defender is looking for something on the frontside to Julio Jones. So what we do? We slip Brad Smelley out on the backside and we get them with it. The LSU defense isn't expecting it at all, and Smelley gets behind the secondary. A good throw and this is a touchdown, and even with a decent throw we probably have a first and goal. Unfortunately, this one sails long too, incomplete pass. We eventually settle for the field goal to cut the lead to 15-13.

Do, however, pay close attention up front on this one, particularly with regard to LSU defensive tackle Drake Nevis. The junior from Marrero whips William Vlachos at the point of attack, and he hurries the throw. It's still clearly a throw that McElroy should make, mind you, but nevertheless Nevis does a great job of getting into the backfield and making it a more difficult throw. The more you watch of the film, you see that Nevis played a whale of a game. I bet he graded out really high when Miles and company reviewed the film.

At any rate, let's close up the negative McElroy stuff here by taking a closer look at the safety:

First off, notice how we come out here guns a blazing, to paraphrase Saban. Not only are we throwing the football out of our own end zone on a third and long with a narrow lead in a low scoring game, notice that we are doing so with only five men in to protect the quarterback. Both Mark Ingram and Colin Peek go out on pass routes, and we are left with only the five linemen to get the job done. This one is as gutsy as it gets.

Unfortunately, Mike Johnson whiffs on the block of... guess who? Drake Nevis. Once again Nevis gets into the backfield and forces the safety, a fine play on his part. Again, though, McElroy shoulders a lot of the blame here. Even with the whiff by Johnson, McElroy still has approximately three seconds to get rid of the football, but for some reason -- even though everyone is covered -- he keeps holding onto the football for dear life. Predictably, the pressure eventually gets to him and the safety is the end result. He should have just thrown this one away. Thankfully, we lucked out that it was only a safety.

Now in all fairness to McElroy, while he did make a lot of bad plays, he also made his fair share of good plays too, and that is what we'll look at next. The following is McElroy's touchdown pass to Darius Hanks:

For all of the criticism of the passing game the past few weeks (and rightly so), here is a textbook example of where everything is executed perfectly and the play is performed exactly like you draw it up on paper. And this is also a textbook example of the type of things that you must do when an opposing defense loads the box to stop the run. Notice that after Ingram's previous success on the ground that LSU practically commits eight defenders to stopping the run this time around. That forces man to man coverage on the outside against all three receivers.

For McElroy, this is a simple read. We roll the pocket to the right to avoid the pressure, and it's obvious that he has a man-to-man match-up of Hanks on a safety. For McElroy, he either throws it downfield to Hanks if he is open, or checks it down to Earl Alexander. Fortunately, Hanks runs a fine route and gets good separation on the defender, and McElroy delivers an absolute strike. Just how you draw it up... touchdown 'Bama.

Next, let's look at a couple of defensive plays, specifically focusing on the two big runs that LSU had after the safety in the end zone. First, let's take a look at Charles Scott final run where he rips off a big gain to put his Bayou Bengals deep in 'Bama territory:

Notice that we come out and defend this effectively in our base 3-4 set. Eryk Anders has his hand on the ground, but even so this is pretty typical base 3-4 stuff, and also notice that we've got Mark Barron creeping up into the box. We've effectively got the back-up defensive line in the game for this snap -- Marcel Dareus, Luther Davis, and Josh Chapman -- but even so we have eight men ready to stop the run.

And in all fairness both Scott and the LSU offensive line does a solid job, but what really kills us here is poor tackling. Mark Barron is really playing the outside here and isn't in position to stop an interior run, but the real disaster is in the middle with Cory Reamer and Justin Woodall. Those two may be seniors, but they looked like freshmen with this effort. Instead of crashing down hard and making the tackle, the best Reamer can muster is a weak arm tackle attempt, which of course the powerful Scott blows right through, and then after that Woodall completely whiffs in the open field on a tackle. With a good play by Reamer this is a two-yard gain, and with a good play by Woodall it's an eight-yard gain, but unfortunately those two whiff and Scott is off to the races.

With LSU driving, Stevan Ridley comes off the bench and gives the Tigers a lead with his touchdown run. Let's take a closer look, particularly keeping a very close eye on the match-up of LSU center T-Bob Hebert on Terrence Cody:

Well, now that is certainly one for those conspiracy nuts, now isn't it? This is a run right into the heart of the line on second and short, and we have it snuffed out pretty well. Cody is in position to make the tackle, and looks to do so with Ridley trying to cut it to the outside. He ultimately misses the tackle, of course, simply because Hebert flat out tackles Cody in the open field. This should have been a holding penalty setting up a 2nd and 13, but alas no such flag came about.

Of course I'm not going to complain too much about the officiating because you do also need to focus on your own effort, and that certainly falls short here. Keep your eye on Eryk Anders, he has outside contain to the offensive right, and he basically just blows it. He gets sucked too far inside, and Ridley beats him to the outside. Touchdown LSU.

Finally, let's wrap this piece up by taking a closer look at the gamechanging touchdown on the screen pass to Julio Jones:

Notice how odd it is that LSU is actually in really good position, before the snap, to stop this play. They've got a base 4-3 look, and the linebackers are playing a bit soft. A safety is manned up against Julio Jones, to be sure, but this is the short side of the field and there is also another safety over there for help, plus a linebacker. I don't care who you are covering, someone between Brandon Taylor, Danny McCray, and Kelvin Sheppard should stop this play.

At any rate, we feign something of a pass to the right, and then McElroy wheels back around to throw to Julio. The entire left side of the Alabama offensive line, plus the center, all move out to the second level to block. Now, Brandon Taylor, knowing that he is a safety in man coverage against Julio Jones, plays it very safe, and leaves a massive cushion between him and the 'Bama wideout. And that, in many ways, costs him here. He sees the screen and runs in very hard, right by James Carpenter, who was supposed to block him -- and for what it's worth, the Auburn fans complained of a block in the back on this play by Carpenter on Taylor because there is a photo showing him blocking the LSU defensive back from behind, but if you watch the film, naturally the Auburn fans are wrong as Carpenter whiffs so badly that he barely touches the back of Taylor so lightly that Taylor himself probably never even noticed.

Unfortunately for Taylor, with him racing in, he loses body control, and Julio makes a quick, nifty cut to the outside to sidestep the LSU safety. Kelvin Sheppard effectively takes himself out of the play by biting on the fake to the right, and when Danny McCray tries to come in to make the tackle, he takes a poor angle and there William Vlachos gets just enough of him to knock him out of the play. And with the LSU defense firmly in the review mirror, Julio is off to the races. Touchdown 'Bama.

Initial Impressions from the LSU Game

outsidethesidelines — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:03:58 -0000

Almost 24 hours removed, a few initial impressions from the LSU game:

First and foremost, it was obviously a huge win for the Tide yesterday. We came in absolutely needing to get the job done, and with LSU giving us their best shot we answered the bell. We played the best we've played since late September, and truth be told there was absolutely what was required. Credit goes to LSU for playing well in their own right, and they made us take our game to the next level to get the win.
Mark Ingram logged another unreal performance yesterday. LSU was highly physical on the defensive side of the ball, and Ingram racked up 177 total yards. He averaged 6.5 yards per run and the way he powered the opening drive of the second half really changed the game. As I mentioned in a fanshot earlier, the Heisman is an "award" for tools... it's based more on glamor than anything else, and it's given by a collection of idiots. Ingram will probably never win it, but I wouldn't trade him for any other player in the country, and we just need to enjoy him while we have him. He's a three-year player, and someone will be paying him big bucks to do this come 2011.
Julio Jones had his best performance of the year, and it was very interesting how things were discussed in the post-game. Based on what everyone is saying, it's clear that only in the past week or so has Julio gotten back to near 100%, and he looked very different yesterday than he had the rest of the year. His explosiveness was back, and he was a difference-maker in this game. Even aside from the long touchdown run off the screen, he had a huge first down on the final drive, had a couple of other nice grabs, and the pass interference on Peterson was yet another big play. And, of course, that's not counting the throw in the first half that should have been a touchdown. Nice to have you back, Julio.
Greg McElroy played the best game in at least a month, and was clearly improved over the course of the past few weeks. We needed every bit of what he did, and we could not have won had he played anything like he had the past three weeks. Unfortunately, McElroy still has a long ways to go, and he left a lot of points on the board today. He did some good things, but he did a lot of bad things too. He missed Julio on an easy touchdown throw, costing us four points, and the dumb interception before halftime cost us at least a field goal. He held onto the football too long on the safety, and he missed an open Smelley on the trick pass out of the Wildcat that could have been a touchdown, and of course that is to say nothing of the terrible decision to try to force the ball to Julio late on the controversial incompletion. Bottom line, McElroy played pretty well and he clearly showed some progress, but he still did some things to cost us a lot of points and he clearly still needs to play better.
Speaking of passes out of the Wildcat, remember the first Wildcat snap we had that resulted in a fumble? Did you happen to notice who was coming in motion at the time of the snap? It was none other than Earl Alexander, and that was one of the few snaps he saw in the game. And if you will recall correctly, Alexander was a quarterback in high school, and Ingram was very upset after the fumble. I'd about bet the farm that we had a trick play called in that situation with Alexander getting the ball looking to throw a pass.
The offensive line played an incredible game today. Both James Carpenter and Drew Davis were nothing short of outstanding protecting the edge in pass protection, and we beat up LSU in the trenches in the running game. It was a complete effort by the big uglies, and I don't have any doubt that we played better along the offensive line yesterday than we have at any point in the year. Joe Pendry deserves a lot of credit for what he has done with this group. We don't have any real dominant players out there, but we consistently play good, solid technique and just get the job done.

Bamagrad had it right in the fanpost... we're throwing the football to set up the run. That was clearly the plan offensively, and it worked very well.

All in all, it was certainly nice to see us moving the football again. McElroy's mistakes and the illegal substitution penalty kept some points off the board, so it wasn't exactly a perfect day, but again it was clearly an improvement over the past month. LSU has a good defense, and any time you average almost 6.5 yards per play against a defense of that caliber, you're certainly doing something right. Hopefully we can just continue to build off of this effort.

Marcel Dareus, for all intents and purposes, is unstoppable when we move him inside in pass rushing situations. He consistently takes the manhood of every guard they line up over him, and he did the same thing on Saturday with senior right guard Lyle Hitt. I can guarantee you this much... come April of 2011, that young man will be getting a lot of money from an NFL team. Enjoy him while we have him.

Defensively, we really had some struggles at time stopping the option. We had things set up defensively pretty well most of the time, but the execution looked ugly a good bit of the time. In particular, Jefferson made Justin Woodall look pretty bad on one option play. That's something we're going to have to fix before we leave for Atlanta.

Jordan Jefferson played a fine game yesterday, and that young man has a great upside. He has all the physical tools you would ever want, and he is a legitimate dual threat to boot. He clearly still needs to progress, but if he ever puts it all together then he is going to be a legitimate superstar.

And speaking of Jefferson, what in the world was the deal with him not going back in the game? The CBS broadcast reported that word had came from the LSU sideline that he could have gone back in, and he looked okay on the sideline. I have no clue what the deal was there, but Lee was clearly a drop-off. And here's the thing on Lee... he has great physical tools, and he can throw the football down the field with the best of them. But in terms of having to hit receivers over the middle on crossing routes, he cannot hit the broad side of a barn. If he could ever gain some accuracy on crossing patterns, he'd be one hell of a quarterback.

LSU really does have some unreal talent at the skill positions. For whatever criticism you can make of Miles, this is certainly not one of them. Even with Florida, there is probably not another team in the country that has the kind of athleticism at the skill positions like LSU does.

Colin Peek misses the game for 'Bama, and Richard Dickson didn't play either. Pretty much a balancing effect, really.

The more I watch of the LSU offense, the more I think that it is really just too complicated for its own good. It can certainly create some issues for defenses, mind you, but it certainly does create a lot issues for the offense, too, and that was the big catalyst behind all of the false starts, the illegal formations, and the wasted timeouts. With all of the talent that those guys have, I really just cannot help but think that they would be better served just by simplifying the offense and letting all of the raw talent just go to work for them.

Chad Jones didn't have much of an impact yesterday, and his mobility wasn't particularly impressive. On both the long pass to Maze out of the end zone, and the drop by Julio out of the end zone in the third quarter, Jones was tracking the ball the entire way and at first sight I was almost convinced that he was going to snag an easy pick. In both cases, though, he never really got close enough to make the play. I don't know if he was hurt or perhaps just a tad bit overrated, but either way he didn't exactly blow me away yesterday.

The LSU linebacker corps is a very underrated group. Those guys played a fine game, and Kelvin Sheppard in particular really looked good. I tell you, he's probably not quite in the same league yet as Rolando McClain and Brandon Spikes, but he's not far behind. Outside of those two and Hightower, he might be the best linebacker I've seen in the SEC this year.

Patrick Peterson is an incredible player, and he played a great game yesterday. Unfortunately, he really shot himself in the foot by never being properly hydrated in the first place, always a tell-tale sign when you're cramping up by halftime in a game where the temperature never rises above 70 degrees. I know he had some flu-like symptoms earlier in the week, but that had cleared up by mid-week and at that point you just have to make sure you get plenty of fluids. Once the game started, of course, it was entirely too late and you simply lose entirely too much fluids to get them back to where they need to be. Peterson played great when he was in the game, but really he was his own worst enemy.

Charles Scott deserves a lot of credit for playing a fine game. His drop on the busted pass play was a big one, but he ran the ball really well and played a physical game. It was a shame to see his collegiate career likely ended on such a fine run, but such is life sometimes. Best wishes on the recovery, Mr. Scott, and we'll see you on Sunday next year.

DeAngelo Peterson was huge on LSU's first touchdown drive, and their coaching staff really got us there defensively. He's a wide receiver, regardless of what you call him, but when they lined him up at tight end we covered him with a safety (Barron) and then a linebacker (Reamer), and he ate our lunch both times.

Are any of you guys familar with ROBO-PUNTER, the theoretical punter whose punts are downed at the opposing team's one-yard line every time? Well, that was pretty much LSU yesterday. I swear, those guys did an unbelievable job punting the football. If they weren't pinning it against our goal line, they were kicking it a mile and eliminating any chance of return for Arenas. Ill be perfectly honest, it was the most impressive display of punting that I've seen in many years.

Look at it this way... LSU punted the football eight times yesterday, and Javier Arenas ended up with 11 return yards. And that is not counting the penalty on Smelley, and when you take that into consideration we ended up getting a grand total of one return yard on eight punts. And if that's not getting the job done, I don't know what is.

And speaking of punt returns, why in the hell is Brad Smelley in the game? He has to lead the conference in penalties committed in the return game, and his penalty yesterday was one of the dumbest I've seen in a while.

The punt that LSU rolled inside the one-yard line was touched at around the four. Refs missed that one, I believe. And it had a big impact on playcalling, too, no doubt about that.

All of this hoopla over the interception is ridiculous, and it's mainly just a bunch of homer fans looking for an excuse for a guy that they otherwise got their asses beat. It was a close play that could have legitimately gone either way, to be sure, but the ruling on the field was an incomplete pass and there was no indisputable evidence on the replay that would command the play be overturned. And I'll be frank, even if you give him the interception, it doesn't matter. LSU would have been 61 yards away from the end zone, and those guys ended up with 17 total yards on three possessions in the fourth quarter. The end result would have been the same regardless. The only difference would have been that 'Bama might not have covered the spread had it been called an interception.

Two huge plays in the fourth quarter have been overlooked in the wake of all of the talk of the incomplete pass, and they were the stop by our defense on 3rd and short early in the fourth quarter, and the running into the punter penalty. We scored on the screen to Julio immediately after the defensive stop, and the running into the penalty not only gave us three points but also took another three minutes or so off the clock. The incompletion is getting all of the attention, but those two plays are really the ones that broke LSU's back.

And speaking of the running into the punter penalty, that was one gutsy call on the fourth down after that. We're literally three inches from a first down and we decide to motion McElroy out wide and snap it five yards behind the line of scrimmage to Ingram in the shotgun, when we fumbled a snap in the Wildcat earlier in the game? Hell, that might be more than gutsy, it might even be stupid, but fortunately it worked out for us in the end.

Leigh Tiffin is a fine young man, a wonderful kicker, and we should all feel fortunate to have such a valuable asset on our team. And, again, I'm just going to shut up about him.

The way we dominated this game physically was nothing short of amazing. We were much more physical than LSU, and their players were dropping like flies. Moreover, we absolutely dominated this game in the fourth quarter, and that was ultimately the difference. In many ways, we didn't so much win this game yesterday afternoon as much as we won it last summer in the S&C program. We were clearly the more physical team and better conditioned to boot. If there is an unsung hero of this team, it's strength and conditioning coach Scott Cochran. That man clearly deserves a raise.

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

More photos » by Dave Martin - AP

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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.

Behind the Numbers: LSU v Auburn

Poseur — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:20:05 -0000

Before we move forward to Tulane, one last look at the Auburn game with this week's Behind the Numbers.

21/4.5/2.0. Kelvin Sheppard and Harry Coleman's combined tackles/tackles for a loss/sack defensive lines. Over the past few years, the one consistent criticism of LSU's defense has been that of the linebacker play. Even the best LSU defenses seemed to lack a dominant linebacker. Harry Coleman had a spectacular game, forcing a fumble on both of his sacks and forcing an incompletion that was very close to a third fumble. But Kelvin Sheppard was everywhere. Coleman made the highlight reel plays, but Sheppard made what seemed like every other play. Both of these linebackers had simply outstanding games. If I would have told you that linebacker would be a team strength in the preseason, would you have believed me?

1/9. Auburn's third down conversions in the first three quarters. Auburn turned it around a bit in the fourth and finally got their fourth down act together against the second stringers, but LSU's defense dominated on third down. LSU's defense, unlike against Florida, stopped drives.

9-86-1. Terrance Toliver's receiving numbers. He has become Jordan Jefferson's go to receiver. Brandon LaFell had a few key drops in the game (and still had a nice game), but Toliver caught 9 of Jefferson's 22 completions. His longest catch was only 14 yards, so a lot of those catches were those security blanket type of catches. Short catches for positive gains.

11-26. Charles Scott and Keiland Williams combined rushing numbers. That is not good, especially when you consider Scott gained 8 yards on his first carry. From that point on, LSU's running backs gained 18 yards on 10 carries, 9 of them by Scott. Guh.

4 for 5. Red zone efficiency has been a problem all year, so getting four scores on five trips to the red zone is major progress. Three of the four scores were touchdowns, which is even more progress. Looking ahead, LSU will need this kind of efficiency to beat Bama.

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: Second Viewing

Richard Pittman — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 10:58:03 -0000

More photos » by Bill Haber - AP

Keiland Williams ices the game. (AP Photo/Bill Haber)

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Because of weekend traveling, I am a little behind the regular posting schedule this week. I would have liked to have had this post up yesterday in the late morning or early afternoon, but I couldn't because I did not re-watch the game until late last evening.

I continue to believe that LSU simply dominated that game. Sure, the offense stalled for two long stretches, one in the first quarter and the other in the third and spilling over into the 4th. Vandy could get nothing going on our defense, however, and while we are always "one play away from being in trouble" until Keiland scored his second touchdown there in the 4th quarter, Vandy never came anywhere near making that one play.

Because I am by nature a cautiously optimistic, and because "cautiously" is the first word of that phrase, let's start the detailed analysis with what went wrong: the offense. We continue to have problems on the offensive line, both in pass protection and when we try a power running game. I was keeping a close eye on the center-left guard combination of T-Bob Hebert and Josh Dworaczyk and I think I can diagnose the problem in pass protection. The pass rush seems to have the most success when coming from Dworaczyk's zone. He sometimes has trouble finding a man to block, has trouble keeping his man's arms down (Jefferson's arm was hit while throwing twice, and I think both came from Dworaczyk's man), and gets beat by inside rushers at times.

The coaches think Josh Dworaczyk is a very talented offensive lineman, but he is still inexperienced. I think the problems coming from his direction should slow down as the season progresses.

I still can't figure out why we can't get a consistent push when we run with Charles Scott. I do think that perhaps the problem has been overstated a bit, because Scott had more success running the ball than his statistics suggest. While he only averaged 3.8 yards per carry, he converted a number of important 3rd-and-short situations that probably did not help his average, but helped his team a lot. I don't want to gloss over the fact that we aren't getting the same kind of production from that area that we got last year, but I also don't want to condemn it without qualification, because qualification is needed.

The offensive line does a lot better when we run other schemes. When Keiland Williams is in the game, we tend to go with a zone blocking scheme that works a lot better than a power-them-off-the-ball scheme. It doesn't hurt that this is the best Keiland has run since he's gotten here. He's running with authority and without being tentative. He's getting the most out of plays. He hasn't yet tried to reverse field and get us a huge loss. I hate it for Charles Scott, who was clearly our best back last year, but I'm just afraid that Keiland is the runner who is best able to take advantage of what our offensive line is able to do well, and he should be getting the touches. I just think that as of right now our offense is going to do better with a cut-back runner in the game. It's too bad that we lost Richard Murphy, who really could have thrived with what we're doing.

In the passing game, people have rightly asked why we threw so many screen passes and short throws. I will agree that we went screen entirely too often, to the point where the screens resulted in way too many unsuccessful plays. Part of the problem on the screens was a lack of blocking by the wide receivers. This group of receivers is not as good at blocking on those screens as previous generations of wide receivers were, and the best blocker of the group is Brandon Lafell, who is also the best receiver and seems to get the ball the most on these types of plays.

That's why the screens weren't as successful as they could have been, but they were also overused. I think that is a result of Jordan Jefferson not being a particularly accurate thrower right now. He missed on a couple throws to wide open receivers on Saturday, including a sure touchdown to Chris Mitchell that he sailed over the receiver's head. Another example was the first snap of the game for us where it looked like Brandon Lafell made a great catch that was ultimately ruled incomplete. Lafell was wide open and the throw just wasn't on target, and made Lafell have to try to make a circus grab. I think Gary Crowton is reluctant to call the intermediate routes because he's afraid Jefferson just won't hit them consistently. Still, I think it was poor playcalling to try those screens again and again when they were having such limited results.

Speaking of poor playcalling, I also didn't particularly like seeing us run not one but two options in which Brandon Lafell was the pitch man.

On defense I paid particularly close attention to the left end spot, which in the absence of Pep Levingston was occupied by a rotation of Chancey Aghayere and Lavar Edwards. These two are drawing praise for their performance, but the starting Vandy right tackle handled them one-on-one the entire game until he got hurt. Those two redshirt freshmen have talent, but they were no match for him. After he left the game with a broken ankle, Aghayere and Edwards were able to get into the play a lot more.

I still cannot express enough how well the defense as a whole played. Everyone got into the act of making positive plays. Kelvin Sheppard seems to be the message board whipping boy so far this year, and he dropped what should have been an easy interception, but let's not lose sight of the fact that it was "easy" because he read the play. While he couldn't come up with the ball, he broke up the pass what might otherwise have been a positive play for Vandy. He also gets criticized for missing tackles, and yes he missed a couple, but he also made a couple big stops.

We still aren't getting to the passer enough, but we are at least creating a little pressure. I would like to do a little more of this and really get a good pass rush going. I just don't know if he have a pass-rushing defensive line, though.

I saw Morris Claiborne get into the game and make a tackle. That's a name you're going to hear a lot in coming years.

All in all, the Vandy game was a positive step forward for the team as a whole, but we are not where we want to be yet. We get a couple relatively easy games the next couple weeks, and hopefully we can iron out the wrinkles.

LSU 31 - Washington 23: My Final Thoughts Before Moving On to Vandy

Richard Pittman — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 12:47:52 -0000

by John Froschauer - AP

3 months ago: Washington's Chris Polk carries the ball as LSU's Lazarius Levingston (95) pursues the play during the first half of an NCAA college football game on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2009, in Seattle, 2009. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)

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I watched the game again, and because I was watching it on the ESPNU replay, they didn't cut away to Rece Davis in the studio, and instead I got to see Terrence Toliver's first touchdown, from the beginning of the play. It was great.

Anyway, on second viewing, some of the things we've talked about already came into somewhat sharper focus. Defensively, we just did not cover the other team well enough in the middle of the field. Usually, if the opponent was on the outside against Peterson, Eugene, or Hawkins, we had pretty solid coverage. Even when Riley had man coverage way on the outside and down the field, the coverage was there. Jake Locker's a really good quarterback, and sometimes he made a perfect throw, and there's nothing that can be done about that other than generate a better pass rush. If the receiver was in the middle of the field in a safety's or linebacker's zone though, he was usually wide open.

In the running game, Washington had a lot of success when they ran misdirection or counters. This tells me that our defensive front seven was playing very aggressively but without much discipline. This is also seen when we would rush the passer and leave big holes for Locker to run through.

You can't really point out any player who didn't perform. Every defender made a play or two, particularly in the linebacker corps. I think you can point to Rahim Alem and say that he should have gotten a better pass rush and you could say that Chad Jones and the three-man rotation at safety (Danny McCray, Brandon Taylor, Karnell Hatcher) was pretty much invisible. And you'd be right.

On second viewing, I saw Josh Downs out there a good bit, and while his play is drawing praise, I can't really say he made any more plays than Charles Alexander or Drake Nevis made (both of whom made plays). He looked like he belonged, but did not look like he stood out. I also say Chancey Aghayere and Lavar Edwards on the ends a fair bit. I never saw Chase Clement or any of members of the Class of 2009 other than Downs.

The linebackers were solid in the running game. Kelvin Sheppard was not a starter, but seemed to get as much time as the other starters other than Harry Coleman, who was in the game for virtually every play as far as I could tell. Other than Cutrera's interception and Riley's nice coverage on a wheel route, the linebackers were pretty much invisible in the passing game.

Offensively, I think I can diagnose the problem with the power running game. It was the offensive line. The holes just weren't there. Charles Scott ran as hard as ever, and when there was a hole he got through it. If the problem was on the center-left guard I would be very concerned, as these are new starters T-Bob Hebert and Josh Dworaczyk. However, it seemed to be the line as a whole, which tells me it may just be a game-specific thing. We get another chance against a defensive front seven we should be able to overmatch next week when we play Vandy. We'll see how that goes.

When we ran option or ran to the outside, we had a lot of success. Jordan Jefferson really runs the option well. He did not make one bad decision in the outside zone or the inside zone when deciding whether to keep the ball or give it up. That's not to say every decision was right. He certainly needs to avoid taking big hits.

The passing game could not have been more basic. At no time did we try to get the ball down the field to an outside receiver, except for Lafell's touchdown. We ran a lot of short passes, passes to running backs, and a couple of throws to the tight end. Early in the game, Jefferson was not particularly accurate, but he settled down and started hitting his targets.

One area I would like to see an athletic, mobile quarterback like Jefferson improve is in his ability to make a play when the protection breaks down. Sometimes, when the protection wasn't there, Jefferson would scramble around but he never made a play. He just bought himself time to get rid of the ball. Maybe the receivers couldn't break open or something else was going wrong, but probably the biggest difference between Locker and Jefferson was that when the play broke down, Locker was able to make something positive happen while Jefferson generally had to just unload the ball out of bounds.

Our special teams play, other than our punting was pretty solid, I thought. Our kickoff coverage was good, and at no time did Washington threaten to break a long one. The kickoff return game took advantage of pooch kicks to get really good field position. We didn't miss a field goal attempt or get a penalty on a return. If we can get better distance on punts, I think special teams will be good.

Poll

Who was the Player of the Game for LSU?

Patrick Peterson

112 votes

Jordan Jefferson

36 votes

Terrence Toliver

100 votes

Other

8 votes

256 votes | Poll has closed