SB Nation - Terrance Toliver

If College Football Had a Playoff: #13 LSU Tigers @ #4 TCU Horned Frogs

Jeremy Mauss — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:07:10 -0000

Before we get to game four the previous matchup of #12 Penn State @ #5 Florida came down to the very end with Penn State completing the first upset, and becomes the second lower seed, but first true upset in the "If College Football had a playoff." The vote was very close 93-87.

This matchup features TCU who is the top non-BCS seed and has dominated nearly every game and has played three teams that are currently ranked or were ranked in the top 25 during the season. This TCU team is top 10 in offense and defense, so LSU will have a difficult time trying to stop them or to moving the ball.

The LSU running game is balanced but nothing dynamic and unless LSU can have moderate success they will eventually become one-dimensional throwing the ball. However, LSU is 13th in total defense which would be the best defense to date that the Horned Frogs would face, and the fastest defense as well surpassing the Utes in that category.

To give some help to those who are not sure who would win I turned to What if Sports to simulate this game. The winner would be TCU in a minor blowout 2 6-3; LSU did have the game tied at 3-3 but then TCU ran off 23 straight points. The Horned Frogs rolled up 320 yards and had the edge in time of possession 38 minutes to 21 minutes.

What if Sports is not the decider in this game, you yes you! The readers of this site decide who moves onto the next round.

So gather your friends to stuff the ballot and check back daily at 12 PM eastern time to vote for the next matchup, and voting is only open for 24 hours. As they say in Chicago vote early and vote often.

TCU Stats

Passing

		Passing									Rushing					Sacks
	G	Rating	Comp	Att	Pct	Yds	Y/G	Y/A	TD	INT	Rush	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD	Sack	YdsL
Andy Dalton	12	93.0	174	279	62.4	2484	207	8.9	22	5	107	522	43.5	4.9	3	-	-
Marcus Jackson	7	265.0	2	2	100	23	3.3	11.5	1	0	17	48	6.9	2.8	0	-	-

Rushing

		Rushing					Receiving
	G	Rush	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD	Rec	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD
Ryan Christian	11	14	66	6	4.7	0	19	244	22.2	12.8	3
Andy Dalton	12	107	522	43.5	4.9	3	0	0	0	0	0
Skye Dawson	7	13	111	15.9	8.5	0	0	0	0	0	0
Yogi Gallegos	1	1	4	4	4	0	0	0	0	0	0
Antoine Hicks	12	9	20	1.7	2.2	4	14	309	25.8	22.1	4
Marcus Jackson	7	17	48	6.9	2.8	0	0	0	0	0	0
Jeremy Kerley	12	14	50	4.2	3.6	3	37	457	38.1	12.4	2
Ed Wesley	11	93	605	55	6.5	4	7	142	12.9	20.3	2

Receiving

		Receiving
	G	Rec	Yds	Y/G	AVG	TD
Logan Brock	5	5	67	13.4	13.4	0
Ryan Christian	11	19	244	22.2	12.8	3
Curtis Clay	11	14	188	17.1	13.4	2
Evan Frosch	3	3	33	11	11	0
Antoine Hicks	12	14	309	25.8	22.1	4
Bart Johnson	12	26	350	29.2	13.5	0
Jonathan Jones	3	3	30	10	10	0
Jeremy Kerley	12	37	457	38.1	12.4	2
Billy Pizor	1	1	10	10	10	1
Ed Wesley	11	7	142	12.9	20.3	2
Jimmy Young	11	27	430	39.1	15.9	3

Kicking

		Field Goals								PAT
	G	0-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50+	FGM	FGA	PCT	XPM	XPA	PCT	pts
Ross Evans	12	-	-	-	-	-	14	17	80.0%	60	62	100.0%	102

LSU Stats

Passing

		Passing									Rushing					Sacks
	G	Rating	Comp	Att	Pct	Yds	Y/G	Y/A	TD	INT	Rush	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD	Sack	YdsL
Jordan Jefferson	11	93.0	169	272	62.1	1964	178.5	7.2	16	6	104	160	14.5	1.5	1	-	-
Jarrett Lee	6	73.0	16	40	40	197	32.8	4.9	2	1	3	-23	-3.8	-7.7	0	-	-
Russell Shepard	10	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	45	277	27.7	6.2	2	-	-

Rushing

		Rushing					Receiving
	G	Rush	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD	Rec	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD
Trindon Holliday	12	23	116	9.7	5	1	3	36	3	12	0
Jordan Jefferson	11	104	160	14.5	1.5	1	0	0	0	0	0
Brandon LaFell	12	4	6	.500	1.5	0	52	705	58.8	13.6	10
Jarrett Lee	6	3	-23	-3.8	-7.7	0	0	0	0	0	0
Richard Murphy	2	2	10	5	5	0	1	4	2	4	0
Charles Scott	9	116	542	60.2	4.7	4	8	54	6	6.8	1
Russell Shepard	10	45	277	27.7	6.2	2	5	34	3.4	6.8	0
Keiland Williams	10	70	368	36.8	5.3	4	4	22	2.2	5.5	0

Receiving

		Receiving
	G	Rec	Yds	Y/G	AVG	TD
Richard Dickson	9	20	150	16.7	7.5	0
Trindon Holliday	12	3	36	3	12	0
R.J. Jackson	4	11	141	35.3	12.8	0
Mitch Joseph	2	2	18	9	9	0
Brandon LaFell	12	52	705	58.8	13.6	10
Chris Mitchell	7	10	65	9.3	6.5	0
Richard Murphy	2	1	4	2	4	0
Deangelo Peterson	4	5	82	20.5	16.4	2
Reuben Randle	7	10	146	20.9	14.6	2
Charles Scott	9	8	54	6	6.8	1
Terrance Toliver	10	47	654	65.4	13.9	3
John Williams	1	1	17	17	17	0
Keiland Williams	10	4	22	2.2	5.5	0

Kicking

		Field Goals								PAT
	G	0-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50+	FGM	FGA	PCT	XPM	XPA	PCT	pts
Josh Jasper	12	-	-	-	-	-	16	19	80.0%	34	34	100.0%	82

Poll

Who wins?

LSU In Review - Week 1 vs. Washington

BSD — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:04:59 -0000

More photos » by John Froschauer - AP

3 months ago: LSU's Drake Nevis hits Washington quarterback Jake Locker who was called for intentional grounding during the second half of an NCAA college football game on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2009, in Seattle. LSU won 31-23. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)

Browse more photos »

With Bowl Season starting up Saturday and the Capital One Bowl coming up fast, I figured I would take us on a magical mystery tour through the LSU Tigers' season to give us some perspective on how they got where they are. So in this exercise I'll recap each of their games to give you some insight into the Tigers. So with that, let's recap week 1.

Final - 9.5.2009	1	2	3	4	Total
LSU Tigers	10	7	7	7	31
Washington Huskies	7	6	0	10	23

Complete Coverage >

Week one was probably more of a challenge than the Tigers expected against Washington who failed to win a game in 2008. The Huskies jumped out to a 7-0 lead with the help of a 51 yard catch and run by Johri Forgerson. James Johnson finished off the drive when he caught a pass from Jake Locker, shook off a tackle by Chad Jones and walked the final five yards into the endzone.

LSU responded by gaining 40 yards on three running plays. But the drive eventually stalled at the three yard line and LSU had to kick a 24 yard field goal to cut the lead to 7-3.

On Washington's ensuing drive, LSU linebacker Jacob Cutrera intercepted Locker on the first play and ran it back 29 yards for a touchdown giving LSU a 10-7 lead.

Washington took the ball back and marched 69 yards down the field and looked like they were about to score. But Chris Polk fumbled the ball on the LSU 6 yard line where Patrick Peterson recovered it. But the LSU offense couldn't do anything and Derek Helton was forced to punt the ball from his own endzone.

Washington got the ball in excellent field position thanks to an 18 yard punt return by Fogerson. The punter, Helton, saved a touchdown with a tackle. But the Washington offense couldn't capitalize, and they were forced to take the 34 yard field goal to tie the game at 10.

The deadlock continued until about a minute to go in the first half when LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson hit Terrance Toliver over the middle. Toliver juked the safety and ran 45 yards for the score and a 17-10 lead.

Washington responded when Locker hit Devon Aguilar for a 46 yard gain to the LSU 20 yard line. But three incomplete passes killed the drive, and Washington kicked the field goal as time expired in the first half with the score 17-13. Though LSU led on the scoreboard, the Huskies rolled up 296 total yards with 183 coming in the air against LSU's supposedly superb secondary.

LSU tried to break the game open in the third quarter with an 86 yard scoring drive. Toliver capped off the drive when he caught a short pass from Jefferson, evaded two tacklers, and scampered 39 yards for the touchdown to give LSU a 24-13 lead. Toliver finished with 4 catches for 117 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Washington tried to respond, but placekicker Erik Folk hooked a field goal wide. But the LSU offense went into pucker mode and stalled giving the Huskies another scoring chance. This time Folk hit a 32 yard field goal to cut the lead to eight with just under six minutes to play.

But this time LSU responded with a 25 yard pass to Toliver that set up a six yard touchdown pass from Jefferson to Brandon LaFell. The game was sealed, but Washington added on a last second touchdown as time expired to close the gap to the final 31-23 score.

Quotes From The Game

"We sputtered in the first half at times on offense. There were opportunities to take advantage of our opponent, and we didn't attack them the way we should have." - Les Miles

"I think our new defensive coaches did a good job. The team was in position to make tackles and do things. We missed some tackles early on. At times I saw that Tiger defense that I want it to be." - Les Miles

"LSU's team speed negated Jake (Locker''s) ability to create a big play with his feet." - UW Dawg Pound

"Defensively, (LSU) 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, (LSU) 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." - And The Valley Shook

Thoughts On the Title Games

Poseur — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:42:58 -0000

On the one hand, it was a great weekend of football. Starting with Oregon-Oregon St on Thursday, college football finally gave us a terrific weekend of games. As a football fan, I should be happy. As an LSU fan, I'm disappointed by the result of the two marquee games.

I've always been sort of agnostic to Alabama. I enjoy Tuscaloosa and it's always been one of my favorite road trips. I admire Alabama's program and let's face it, they are one of the most successful programs in history. Sure, they may have a strong whiff of arrogance and not a little bit of corruption, but they have a pretty full trophy case. I've always wanted to beat Alabama, but more as a measuring stick than a matter of hatred.

Then, the Bama game happened and ever since, our little corner of the blogosphere has been overrun by Alabama trolls. I'm not talking about longtime commentators like Gerry Dorsey, who may be a bit of a stick in the mud, but he's always up for honest debate. I'm talking about the nonstop parade of trolls with nothing more intelligent to say then some variant of "BAMA RULZ! LSU SUX!"* And my hatred towards Bama sort of came to a head this season. We had more Bama trolls on here than Ole Miss fans after the Ole Miss game, which sort of speaks to the sheer level of trolling. Alabama is the first fanbase that has ever prompted this site to post a general warning to an entire team's fanbase.

*ED NOTE - If you are a troll and you have been banned from this site over the past month, I did it. That's right. Me. My email is at the bottom of the page, send me your hate mail. You suck, and I don't regret for a second banning any of you.

Which means I hate 2009 Alabama more than any team in the nation. More than Tennessee and Lane Kiffin's big mouth. More than the infuriating Rebels, who were overrated like I said in the preseason, but still beat us so I can't really talk smack about. More than Auburn, who just suck because they are Auburn.

But Alabama went out there and beat the snot out of Florida. They deserved the title, no ifs ands or buts. That was a thorough ass-kicking. Congratulations, Bama fan fans. You are champions, but it doesn't mean you still aren't douchebags.

But the game that really got my goat was Texas-Nebraska. I root for Nebraska in the sense that Husker fans have always been cool to LSU in Omaha and they have former LSU Defensive Co-ordinator Bo Pelini as their coach. I would've rooted for Nebraska against almost anyone in the Big 12.

I have my problems with Texas this year. Their OOC schedule is absolutely terrible, and they play in a conference that, through no fault of Texas, is probably the worst of the BCS conferences this season. Yet they get to go to the BCS conference game despite the fact TCU and Cincinnati both have looked better against schedules that may have been tougher. (Texas advantage in SOS over TCU is entirely because the dregs of their schedule are better than the dregs of TCU's schedule, which is no way to gauge a schedule). The BCS is grossly unfair and it's excluding teams on simply a guess.

The officiating in the game wasn't terrible, but it did seem every close call went to Texas. It wasn't simply missing calls, it was just giving the benefit of the doubt to Texas. The problem here is the idea of conference affiliated refs, raising the appearance of a vested interest of the conference to have one team win. I don't think they called a bad game, but things like the pass interference call were borderline calls that went Texas' way.

Here's where my LSU fandom comes in. The officials reviewed the last play of the Texas game, and put a second back on the clock. Hell, you KNEW they were gonna put a second back on the clock by the way the officials were reacting to the Huskers celebrating. I figure it takes a second for a scoreboard operator to stop the clock, and the ball went out of bounds at :01, which means that it was a perfectly reasonable for the clock to run out.

But my question is, where was the review in the LSU-Ole Miss game? Terrance Toliver was down with 3 seconds left, yet the clock ran to :01. I remember a little bit of kvetching from the Tiger faithful, but not a huge outcry (and certainly not like the Alabama game). Hey, the clock runs an extra second or two on almost every play. We're not going to review every one. It would kill the game.

Here's the rub, the officials absolutely screwed up in one of these two games. They cannot be right in both cases. Either the officials in LSU-OM screwed up in not reviewing the play and putting those 2 seconds back on the clock or the officials in the Big 12 title game screwed up by putting the second back. It's the same exact situation with completely opposite outcomes. One set of officials was wrong because they both can't be right. They have diametrically opposed outcomes from the same situation. They cannot both be right. All I will say, in one game, the conference had a vested interest in one team winning.

It's not impropriety, sometimes it's just the appearance of impropriety. Because I know a conference would never favor one team over another if it were in the conference's best interests. We know they are all paragons of virtue. I trust them completely, don't you?

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 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.

The Offensive Offense

Poseur — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:36:11 -0000

Let's not mince words: the offense sucks. The offense sucked on the west coast, it has sucked in the rain, it has sucked when we're the host, and it has sucked on a train. I do not like it, Poseur senses. I do not like our terrible offense.*

* Deepest apologies to Dr. Seuss. I mean, deep, deep apologies.

We won't even cherry pick stats, choose your preferred measurement. Here are LSU's national ranks in each category (out of 120 teams):

Total Offense: 109
Scoring Offense: 89
Rushing Offense: 88
Passing Offense: 103
Passing Efficiency: 46

Hey, at least the offense passes the ball efficiently. There are almost no positives out of those stats. LSU only has one player who ranks in the top 100 of yardage leaders at his position (Terrance Toliver - 86^th). And this isn't an instance of the numbers lying to us, the offense even looks bad. Billy insists this offense lacks an identity. He is wrong. This offense has an identity: one of ineptitude and timidity. This offense is a total and complete disaster.

So, what to do? Can this be fixed?

The message boards are demanding for Gary Crowton's head on a platter. I hate to call for a guy to be fired since these are real people with families and all that, but college co-ordinators are hired to be fired. It's a brutal and often unfair profession, but it is the profession Crowton chose for himself. You cannot helm an offense with as many highly rated recruits as LSU, turn out a product this bad, and expect to keep your job. Crowton's on borrowed time. I'm working off the assumption he is getting canned in the offseason, which still leaves the question: what can be done this year?

Let's take each issue one at a time:

PLAY CALLING

Let's admit that Jordan Jefferson cannot run the option. Please, scrap this from the playbook except when Russell Shepard comes in the game.

However, that's not the real issue. The real issue is that Crowton and Miles are still calling the game as if they are shell shocked from last season. They have done everything in their power to avoid interceptions, which has resulted, predictably, in lots of sacks and an offense that can't move the ball down the field. The LSU offense has completely abandoned the middle of the field, and teams are packing the box daring LSU to throw.

Yes, the offensive line has been bad, but it's even harder to run the ball when you only run in obvious run formations on obvious run downs. Has Crowton even heard of the play action? LSU has about 5000 formations and only 10 plays. There is all of this complexity, but ultimately, it is a painfully predictable offense.

One last note on play calling to every person who speculates over whether Miles is "interfering" with the offense: shut up. OF COURSE Miles is involved in play calling. He's the head coach. That's not interfering, that's doing his job. The head coach doesn't make every play call, but to pretend that our head coach should be off getting an orange slushee when the offense is on the field is just stupid. The head coach is not, nor should he be, an innocent bystander.

THE QUARTERBACK

Jefferson has not played terribly. He hasn't played great, but he also has not been bad. Most of his problems are also correctable: he doesn't make his man commit on the option, he has no sense of the pocket, he locks on to his primary receiver, and he does not progress through his reads. These are things which can be fixed, but here's the rub: Jefferson has made no progress in any of these areas. It's also a lot easier to fix one problem, Jefferson has to improve several. He needs lots of instruction and improvement.

Which begs the question, what is Jefferson's ceiling? He doesn't have a great arm and he will never be a classic drop back passer. However, his inability to run the option holds him back as a running quarterback. Honestly, his ceiling might be Herb Tyler. I loved Herb Tyler, but that's not a title level quarterback. Even Matt Mauck had some touch, and he was a more explosive runner. I think Mauck's production might be beyond Jefferson's ability.

I dismissed out of hand in the comments the idea of playing Jarrett Lee, but the more I think about it, the more I think Lee needs to get some snaps. That will mean a crowded backfield as that is advocating a three-QB system, which might be a first in modern football. Simply put, Lee has more upside than Jefferson. Jefferson is a solid backup and a guy who will not hurt you when you need him to play, but he is not a guy who can carry the offense. Yes, he's only 19, but what signs has he given us that he will improve. What are his raw tools that make you believe he will become Mauck or Flynn, two title winning QB's who started as little more than a running option?

Lee completely imploded last year. By the end of the season, he was a beaten man, and it seemed he just needed a hug. He expected bad things to happen, and more often than not, they did. Lee, however, still possesses the raw tools to be a good quarterback. It's up to the coaches to harness those tools and turn them into skills. Lee has the higher upside of the two quarterbacks, and it makes sense to play him.

THE FRESHMEN

Everyone loves the freshmen because all they have are recruiting videos and the burden of expectations. Shepard is an exciting player, but he is not a panacea to cure all ills. Shepard has demonstrated no ability to throw the ball and the offense is way too predictable with him under center. Shepard also looks like he weighs about 50 pounds soaking wet. I'm not convinced he can take the pounding of too many snaps.

Randle's also going to be a great player, but he is on the field, people. Stop asking for him to play. He just hasn't been Jerry Rice immediately. And for the love of God, stop with the "Les Miles doesn't play freshmen" thing. Miles is playing just about the same number of freshmen as any coach of a major program.

THE OFFENSIVE LINE

Well, it's been bad, but the unit it improving. A lot of the problems right now stem from the coaches telegraphing the play-call and Jefferson's ridiculous 10 step drops. A lot of those sacks were coverage sacks caused by Jefferson have little concept of how to step up in the pocket.

They have been a favorite whipping boy, but we have been breaking in three new starters and almost all of the backups are underclassmen. The only thing that is going to help this unit is time. We can't expect dramatic improvement, just incremental improvement. They are doing that.

LAST THOUGHTS

There is talent everywhere, especially at wide receiver. The coaching staff needs to do a better job of utilizing their assets. Instead of coming to the line and reacting to the defense, the offense needs to try and dictate the game and make defenses react to it. A little misidirection wouldn't hurt.

But this offense is like a fool in the shower, grossly overreacting to every problem. Jefferson takes too many open field hits? Great, now he won't take the hit on the option. Threw too many interceptions? Great, now we have an offense that won't throw over the middle of the field. Want to run the fashionable spread but have a power running back? Fine, let's do both and therefore do neither.

Take some risks. Yes, bad things will happen, but so will good things. Also, accentuate what we do well. Jefferson is bad in the pocket? Help him out and run some designed rollouts. He's good on the run. Run some play action to help out the running game. When you run those deep routes, perhaps it would be a good idea to have some underneath routes.

I hate to break this to you, Gary, but you should probably already be updating the resume. Might as well take some risks. What do you have to lose?

LSU 20 - Georgia 13: Second Thoughts

Richard Pittman — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 00:39:38 -0000

More photos » by John Bazemore - AP

2 months ago: LSU running back Charles Scott scores the game-winning touchdown on a 33-yard run in the last minute of the fourth quarter in an NCAA college football game against Georgia in Athens, Ga., on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2009. LSU won 20-13. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

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Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Offensive Line.

Love may be too strong of a word, but on my second viewing I could not help but notice that the offensive line, which has come under a LOT of criticism at this and other publications, had a very nice game. Not perfect. Certainly not without a few hiccups (or retches) along the way. But very nice. It was certainly a huge improvement for the unit over how they performed in previous games. Even the sacks, all 5 of them, were mostly not the offensive line's fault. Sure, they did not put Jordan Jefferson in a safe deposit box, but they gave him time to throw. Sometimes, Jefferson just failed to throw it, and a sack resulted.

Don't get me wrong here. I don't think you can come out of this game thinking we had or have a dominant offensive line, but "competent" is a big improvement over the first four games of the season, and one is hopeful for even more improvement in the coming weeks. For the first time in a couple weeks, I legitimately feel excited for our chances of having success the rest of the season, and the offensive line is a big part of my change of perspective.

The offensive line really opened up holes for the running game this week. Not every time, but much more frequently than we'd seen in previous weeks. Charles Scott's big run to win the game came in part because of good blocking on the interior, in particular T-Bob Hebert's block on Rennie Curran, which took Georgia's best tackler out of the play. Scott broke one tackle and was untouched the rest of the way.

It really is hard to overstate the value of this win for Les Miles. For the first time in his career, he has really been the subject of job-security-related innuendo in the last couple weeks, despite being 4-0. A win over Georgia not only gives Miles at least one win over every team in the conference, but it gives him at least three more weeks before he really has to worry about that kind of talk again. I think that Miles and the team get a pass even if we lose to Florida, though a win there would be enormous for us. Then we get a bye week, and then we get Auburn. That's the next real test for this team.

Just to put it out there, I really don't have a problem with Miles' job being on the line this season. I know he won a national championship two season ago, but this is a very competitive league and we cannot ignore any sign of backsliding as a program. Last year was a failure, and this year was looking not particularly promising despite the fact that we actually won the games. We won the games in ways that made us fear for the future. The weak performances of the early part of the year were supposed to mean we could not be competitive with the Georgias of the conference, and that we had slipped not only to 2nd tier, but possibly even to 3rd tier. The win over Georgia alleviates those concerns, at least for now.

Anyway, back to the game itself. It was not only a win, but really a good performances in all respects except for a) the inability to get in the end zone in the 1st half, b) Jordan Jefferson's play in the 3rd quarter, and c) a breakdown in defense to allow Tavares King to break free in the secondary on Georgia's last touchdown drive.

Part of me is tempted to say that Jordan Jefferson had a weak game. He certainly made some critical mistakes, and continues to struggle running the option. He just does not run it authoritatively. He gets too far into the backfield, and too close to the pitch man, making it easy for one defender to cover both him and the pitch, which defeats the whole purpose of the option. In the passing game, he would hold the ball too long, and would end up getting sacked when he could have thrown the ball to an open receiver or at least thrown the ball away to avoid a big loss.

But then, he also made some great throws. The throw to Brandon Lafell on the 2-point conversion was a terrific throw over traffic. The 1st quarter throw to Lafell for 34 yards was another good throw. A big throw to Terrance Toliver to set us up in 1st and goal in the 1st quarter was a strike to just about the only spot where Toliver could catch the ball without the defensive back getting a play on it. His second throw to Rueben Randle was another terrific pass. He had a couple nice throws dropped by Lafell and Richard Dickson.

I think Jordan Jefferson is a very good talent. He has a pretty high ceiling. He's just a little raw still. I think he is just missing polish, which will come with time. You have to realize that his is a kid who lost most of his junior year of high school, and his talent level probably would not have allowed him to play his true freshman year in most circumstances. Our circumstances in 2008 required Jordan Jefferson to use up his redshirt. In ideal circumstances, Jordan Jefferson at this stage of his career would be a redshirt freshman backup quarterback. Instead, he is thrust into a starting job before he is really ready for it. It shows in little things like holding the ball too long, getting baited into interceptions, and being sloppy in running the option. He will get better in time, the question is, "How much time?"

Which brings us to his receivers, who are emerging as a really good group. Terrance Toliver had a great game. For the first time, Toliver made the kind of tough catches that make me think he can really be a #1 receiver in this league when Brandon Lafell leaves. He caught passes in traffic, then made tough yards after the catch. Toliver has emerged as not only a capable #2 receiver opposite Brandon Lafell, but a real weapon in his own right.

Last night also saw the emergence of true freshman Rueben Randle as a legitimate target for the offense. He caught 2 passes, including one that was a legitimately tough catch. Randle has a brilliant career ahead of him, and I think he's going to be a key contributor for the rest of the season.

Defensively, I have already touched on how well the linebackers played, and the linemen were excellent against the run, but we saw regression in the pass rush. Only once the entire game did we put real pressure on Joe Cox in a play that counted. On that play, we almost got a safety, as Cox unloaded the ball from the end zone to no one in particular, but was deemed to be outside the tackle box. The play typified the difference between Joe Cox, a 5th year senior, and Jordan Jefferson, a true sophomore. When Jefferson came under pressure, he tucked the ball down and ended up getting sacked. When Cox felt pressure, he got rid of it. One other time, we got a "sack" but the play had been blown dead.

Part of the problem with the pass rush was the absence of Chancey Aghayere, who had started in place of Pep Levingston the last 3 games, but was out this week with an injury. Aghayere is not a great passer rusher yet, but he is better off the edge than Levingston. It's not the difference between a good pass rush and a bad pass rush, but it's the difference between a bad pass rush and a somewhat less bad pass rush.

The secondary was good all night, until Patrick Peterson got confused about coverage and let Tavares King go deep on him, setting up the beautiful touchdown by A.J. Green. It seems to me that if you don't know the coverage call, you had better play it conservatively, which means playing deep. Peterson played short, hoping to have safety help, which he did not have. Other than that, the secondary was outstanding. A.J. Green got his yards, mostly when not matched up with Patrick Peterson, and we gave up some passes down the middle of the field on Georgia's other touchdown drive, but for the most part it was a unit that performed well. Chris Hawkins played a nice game, and it's too bad that he was beaten on that Green touchdown because he really played it perfectly. A.J. Green just made a great play to snatch the ball out of the air. Great players will occasionally make great plays.

It was overall a good performance, and I am very hopeful for the future of this team. Every year, some team looks mediocre at the start of the season, only to improve as time goes on and become a force at the end. Last year, it was Ole Miss. This year, it could well be us. We just need our offensive line to keep improving and for Jordan Jefferson to mature into the quarterback he can be.

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.

Miles On Miss State

Poseur — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:50:36 -0000

Once again, to serve you, the ATVS reader, I try and cut through the BS and translate Les Miles' weekly lunch from Coachspeak to English.

WHAT HE SAID: "Certainly our football team met this morning and reviewed the fact that we've played four games, and we have four victories. That's certainly where we want to be. Certainly we want to improve and play better along the way. I thought that there were some really good things there at the game. First of all, we had a four-hour delay in leaving town, and the weather certainly didn't cooperate to start the game. I felt like our guys did what they had to do to get a victory."

WHAT HE MEANT: "We needed a frickin' goal line stand to beat Moo State. The only good thing about the trip was the four hour delay because that was four hours I didn't have to spend in Starkville. The offensive line has been running gassers since we got back home."

WHAT HE SAID: "I think defensively we played a very good game. I still think that there were three plays or so in that game where we can play smarter. We missed a tackle on one that led to a big gain, a broken play and one that should well have been tackled in the backfield that nets out again in another big play and a mistimed interception that personally could've been a big turnaround and gone the other way. Yet, our defense is playing with great effort, and in my opinion, if it continues to play with that style of effort and corrects those mistakes, it can be a very strong defense as we go forward."

WHAT HE MEANT: "The defense played well if you don't count the first three and half quarters."

WHAT HE SAID: "Chad Jones was recognized not only for his play on defense but that great 93-yard punt return as the National Defensive Player of the Week. Certainly he was recognized by his teammates this morning as he was the MVP (of the game)"

WHAT HE MEANT: Chad saved my job. Is there a booster here who can buy him a car or something? CHAD JONES! WOOOOO!!!"

WHAT HE SAID: "We still want to run the football. It's too fundamental to me not to be important, and I want that. I want it for Charles Scott and that offensive line and Keiland Williams, and I want to be able to come off the football. But again, the defense can choose to play everybody inside, and that makes it a much more difficult position to run the football, and I wanted them to throw it. I wanted our guys to throw the football against that gaming front of Mississippi State's."

WHAT HE MEANT: "Wow, does our run game suck or what? Screw it. I'm out of ideas. Let's just throw it to LaFell on every play."

WHATE HE SAID: "If you look at special teams, the return that Chad Jones puts on is a great decision on a bouncing ball that he picks up and cleaning fields and then returns with great personal effort. We looked at that again several times this morning, and you look at Charles Alexander at about the midfield stripe at about 50 yards, driving a defender away from Chad Jones who's returning the punt. You see Patrick Peterson directing traffic, and it was truly a great effort. There were guys who had great blocks like Brandon Taylor, who really had the first block that sprung the return, and Perry Riley got one on about the midfield stripe. Again, it was a great personal effort by Chad Jones, and certainly it was timely."

WHAT HE MEANT: "See? See? Team effort! I can get these individuals to play as a team. Stick that in your piehole. Well, uh... yeah, it still was a pretty great individual effort. CHAD JONES! WOOOO!!!!"

WHAT HE SAID: "We had 11 points given to our opponent on special teams miscues, and virtually all three were snaps. What has to happen is we have to execute the snap extremely well, and we cannot go into a big game with the opportunity to make big plays and have something so fundamental to us break down. We feel like we can address that, and it's a very correctable mistake, so if you go forward from there, improve that offensive running game, enjoy the fact that someone puts a lot of guys in the box so we can throw it, take away the special teams miscues and play smarter on defense, that's where we need to be.

WHAT HE MEANT: "We left Alex Russian on the side of the highway in Mississippi."

WHAT HE SAID: "At this point, the focus has to turn to the very next game. We're fortunate to be 4-0; we'd like to be 5-0, and only the next opponent stands between us and that goal. Everybody talks about rankings. Rankings have never made any difference to me and not to our football team. We understand we earn where we finish. The No. 4 ranking is certainly a spot, and that's it. It's close enough to be where you want to be in the end, but there's no position except for the final ballot. When we get to the end of the season, that's where we want to be ranked highly."

WHAT HE MEANT: "Rankings mean everything to me. Are you kidding? People in this town flip out even when we're in the top five. I have "For Sale" signs in my front lawn. And we're 4-0! What does it take? You people are insane. Seriously. If I beat Georgia, will you then believe I can coach? They're the only SEC school I haven't beaten. Is that what y'all are waiting for?"

WHAT HE SAID: "I think we're developing that position (fullback). It's not come along fast enough necessarily, but I don't know that we can make it come along any faster. I don't know that we've given it enough snaps in games to develop it, and it's not something that we can enforce. It has to come naturally, and I think those guys are doing a good job. Frankly, we're opting for other personnel groups at times over our normal two-back set."

WHAT HE MEANT: "We have no fullback. Deal."

WHAT HE SAID: "They are the best players, and I can tell you that I'm critical. There are certainly ways that we can improve on the offensive line, but I think their play has probably been with the exception of pass protection in several instances pretty good. When we throw it, we have to throw it efficiently. We have to catch it and move the chains. We have to make big plays, so those teams that choose to load the box and allow us to throw it will have to pay a terrible price. I think Brandon LaFell is in that position. I think Terrance Toliver is in that position just for those days, and we have to continue there. I think that our line is performing. Are they performing at the level they want? No. Are they performing at the level I want? No, but I think that they are giving us an opportunity to win and should continue to develop along those lines."

WHAT HE MEANT: "The offensive line? What do you want to know about the line? HEY! What's that thing over there?! ... How about those receivers?"

WHAT HE SAID: "Jacob Cutrera was nicked, and Baker came in. On his first two plays, you could tell that he just did not exactly feel comfortable with where he was at. On the fourth-down play, he makes an instinctive hit down low, and Chad Jones follows it up. I can only tell you that it was a big play. It was one that he'll remember for a long time."

WHAT HE MEANT: "CHAD JONES! WOOOO!!!!!"

WHAT HE SAID: "Depending on the down and distance, third and long is where your defense has to get off the field, and you have to have an advantage when you're in third and long. If you're third and five or greater, you'd like 35 to 45 percent to be their offense's success. On third down and short, you'd like it to be 50/50."

WHAT HE MEANT: "Third and Chavis. I get it. Shut up. The Washington game was a month ago. Get a new cliché."

WHAT HE SAID (on running to the short side): "One of the things that their defense did was that they overloaded, in my opinion, and played some of their best personnel to the field, so the opportunity to go and take advantage of some guys that we felt we had some mismatches against were to the boundary. Some of our calls were put just that way."

WHAT HE MEANT: "Whoops. My bad."

WHAT HE SAID: "Baker would work in. We don't anticipate Cutrera will have an issue with going. We think that he'll be fine. There are a number of guys there like Ace Foyil that will work in there."

WHAT HE MEANT: "Cutrera will be healthy, right? Right?"

WHAT HE SAID: "They are a very talented team. Their quarterback has stepped in. He has a strong arm. He makes great decisions with the ball. Of course, A.J. Green is making big plays for them on the perimeters, and the tailbacks can all run the football, so I don't know if I'm surprised. They are certainly a very capable offense."

WHAT HE MEANT: "You're asking me if I'm surprised Georgia is good? Are you an idiot?"