SB Nation - Drake Nevis

The Enemy of My Enemy, Part II: The Capital One Bowl

Bama Hawkeye — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 11:15:09 -0000

As we begin preparing for the year in which the Big Ten shocks the college football world by winning five of its seven bowls, let's learn about the opponents. Oh sure, we could turn to the fans of our opponents and ask them questions about their beloved cats, birds, and bees. But this site was founded upon the idea of rivals. That's why we're talking with our opponents' rivals. After all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

As we look at the Capital One Bowl, Juco All-American (with an assist from The Ghost of Jay Cutler) of the outstanding Ole Miss blog Red Cup Rebellion was kind enough to answer these five questions about the hated LSU Tigers.

1. LSU gets plaudits and constant media love for having the best defensive linemen year in, year out. How did the Ole Miss offense attack the front four of LSU?

Honestly, this question may not be reasonable this season. Sure, LSU still has good defensive limen. DE Rahim Alem and DT Drake Nevis are both very talented. However, when the AP voted for the SEC first and second team defensive lines, neither of them appeared on the list. What that means is that, in the eyes of the SEC media, LSU doesn't have a single defensive lineman who ranks in the top 11 in the conference. That's unheard of in Baton Rouge.

Still, as I mentioned above, Rahim Alem and Drake Nevis are quite good at what they do. Alem is a pass rusher who hasn't had a great year but is still ferocious off the line. Nevis is a quick defensive tackle who can collapse the pocket or disrupt the run. What Ole Miss did to defeat them was to run misdirections right at Alem, who struggles against the run, and run as far away from Drake Nevis as we could. It helped to have Dexter McCluster running the ball. Perhaps Penn State could find a quarkback of their own before the bowl game.

2. How in the world do you stop LSU's big wide receivers?

LSU's receivers are significantly limited by the ineptitude of Jordan Jefferson. Jefferson is alright at managing the game, but that's not the purpose of receivers who have a height advantage on every defensive back against whom they line up. They should be throwing bombs to Tolliver and Lafell, but instead they're trying to get the ball to those receivers in space. That's not the way to utilize players with their physical abilities.

So the answer, in short, is to stack the box, blitz heavily, and get to Jordan Jefferson before he can even think about throwing deep to them. Do that a few times, and they won't try it anymore.

3. Beating LSU in the "Les Miles 2 Minute Drill From Hell" game must have been satisfying. What makes a victory over LSU better than a victory over another SEC squad?

The reason is simple. LSU is the luckiest team to ever play in any sport. They consistently find themselves in situations in which they must convert on fourth down, make a field goal from 50+ yards out, make a big turnover, etc, and they do it... nearly every time. It just works for them. Any other team would have struggled much earlier under Les Miles and his ridiculous playcalls, but not LSU. They just go out and, because for some reason the sports gods love Cajuns (perhaps it's the jambalaya), they get fluke wins. There are too many to go into. If you want to know more, ask Kentucky fans about the Hail Mary. Ask Ole Miss fans about the punt return. Ask Florida fans about fourth down conversions. You know what? Let's not talk about this anymore. My blood is boiling.

Les Miles: idiot and liar.

4. LSU fans are traditionally heckled for "smelling like corn dogs" and generally being crazy/unstable. How much of this is urban legend, and how much of this is truth?

No one really knows where the legend of LSU fans smelling corn dogs originated. I speculate that LSU fans smell like corn dogs because they're members of the circus, thus all articles of clothing they own have been satiated with the smell of mustard and battered sausage. Don't you dare point out that corn dogs are delicious. While that's obvious, that doesn't deter from the fact that smelling like them is less than desirable.

As for their lunacy/instability, that's dead on. Those people are nuts. When the same is said for Alabama fans, a point is generally made to exclude fans who actually attended the school from said group of lunatics. The same cannot be done for LSU. Even those who went there often belong in a sanitarium.

5. [ed. note: Juco All-American is a happily married man. So am I. This question comes from the single Graham Filler to the single Ghost of Jay Cutler. As an aside, you can also tell from his question that Graham has not yet had the joy of setting foot on the campus in Oxford]

You're at a party in Oxford and a 7.5 level-of-hotness girl approaches you wearing a LSU t-shirt, one of those purple ones with giant yellow letters. After a little conversation, three things become clear: 1) She goes to LSU, 2) she loves LSU football, and 3) she's definitely into you. Do you take the night any further?

Seven point five? Seven point five?! Is this an LSU seven point five or an Ole Miss seven point five? Because, if this were baseball, we're talking about comparing a starter for a Pittsburgh minor league affiliate to a starter for the New York Yankees.

Alright, that's a bit unfair and mostly untrue. There is some excelent talent at LSU. Hell, one of the absolute hottest girls from my high school is a proud LSU Tiger, but I cannot say that Ole Miss girls haven't horribly skewed my expectations and perspectives on women. Local rapper Krazy J pegged it when he beautifully elucidated that "All da Fine Girls go to Ole Miss."

But, for the sake of your question, I'll assume she's a 7.5 by Ole Miss standards being as how, in this hypothetical situation, we're at a party in Oxford. So she goes to LSU, loves her Tigers, and is definitely into me, and the question is would take the night any further? You bet. But I likely wouldn't take it much further than just that--a night. Unless there is something incredibly appealing to this woman outside of her being a 7.5 and "into me", I have no real desire to take it beyond that.

Regrettably, I've done worse than a 7.5 (anyone who knows me personally can attest to that), but I've also done way better. The difference between the two is that, with the 7.5 and below, I quit answering phone calls and returning text messages within a few days, at most. With those above that (I would give the most serious girlfriend I had at Ole Miss a nine--yes, I'm biased towards myself and the women I associate with, but trust me on this one), I tried to make them my ladyfriends.

I doubt I would let something like school allegiances get in the way of a good time, especially if it's just for one night. I do love Ole Miss and I hate LSU football and everything it has represented for we Rebels but, unless she starts moaning to the tune of "Chinese Bandits" when the gettin's good, I wouldn't any of that get in the way of an "eventful" night.

Thank you again to both Juco and Ghost of Red Cup Rebellion. We wish Ole Miss the best of luck in beating the hell out of Oklahoma State in the Cotton Bowl.

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.

The Week is Closing Out

Richard Pittman — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:23:06 -0000

More photos » by Bill Haber - AP

about 1 month ago: LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson (9) throws a pass against Tulane 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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The week is entering its close, and the big game is quickly coming upon us. I feel like everything that needs to be said may already have been said. Last night, I did a long interview with the guys from Roll Bama Roll. The link to the podcast can be found here. They seemed to be a little taken aback that I was less than effusive in my praise of all aspects of the LSU football team and their matchup with Bama. I was just doing what I do here all the time: give the team credit where it's due without denying whatever problems might exist.

Here are some recaps of the things we talked about and some other observations:

LSU's big advantage in the game is with our receivers versus their secondary. We have the best receiver corps in the conference and Bama's secondary is the weakest part of its defense.
That will mean nothing if our offensive line does not give Jordan Jefferson time to pass. Bama has made some good quarterbacks (Ryan Mallett, Jevan Snead) look very bad by pressuring them relentlessly and not letting them throw. The offensive line will have to play its best game in pass protection to allow our receivers to finish their routes.
Jordan Jefferson has played very well the last few weeks and that will have to continue.
Our defense is a lot better than its numbers. Our defensive numbers are deceptive because of the Washington game, which is more and more ancient history. Also, we've had some games where yardage numbers were inflated because the defense had to stay on the field the whole game due to a poorly working offense. Our defense, especially our back 7, is really good.
The front 4, however, is a little disappointing. We aren't getting enough playmaking from any position or any player, except Drake Nevis. Rahim Alem is not getting the pass rush we expected out of him, probably because no one else on the line is effective at rushing the passer and opposing blocking schemes can give Alem a lot of attention.
I expect us to use a lot of play-action pass, some roll-outs, and other means of slowing down the pass rush. We have been very effective in using play action all year, and I expect us to lean heavily on it this week. We'll also need to employ our power running game, to keep the defense honest on the play action, but I do not expect to have a lot of success running with Charles Scott in this game. We've been simply too ineffective with it all year to expect it to suddenly start working against the best defensive front we'll see the entire season.
If I was Nick Saban or Jim McElwain, I would run the ball right at us with Mark Ingram until we show we can stop it. If I was John Chavis, I would plan for Mark Ingram to run the ball a lot and I would sell out to stop it. I think I would plan that 2/3 of every 1st or 2nd down would be a run. Florida was able to kill us with a thousand tiny cuts by running the ball up the middle. Why shouldn't Bama try to do the same, at least until we show we can stop it?
It looks like Bama TE Colin Peek is going to either be out for the game or will be playing at limited effectiveness. This is very important, as Peek has arguably been Bama's 2nd most effective offensive player behind Mark Ingram. Had he played in the game against Tennessee, he would probably lead the team in receptions and be 2nd in yards receiving. As it is, he's tied for 2nd in receptions and 3rd in yards receiving. He has been their go-to possession receiver, as opposing defenses are effectively shutting down Julio Jones, at least down the field.
"A House Divided" license plates are tacky, and their ubiquity has gotten out of hand.
Toddlers say really funny things sometimes.

LSU 31 - Auburn 10: Second Thoughts

Richard Pittman — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:23:05 -0000

More photos » by Bill Haber - AP

Auburn safety Zac Etheridge (4) picks up a big personal foul for hitting a defenseless receiver, keeping LSU's first drive alive, which ultimately resulted in a touchdown. For what it's worth, I think it was a bad call. (AP Photo/Bill Haber)

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I meant to post this yesterday, but never quite got around to it. I watched the game yesterday morning, through the magic of Tivo. The whole thing takes about 1 1/2 hours when you fast forward through the commercials, halftime, and the time between plays. Anyway, as usual, I was looking for specific things.

In particular, when LSU had the ball, I was looking for true freshman fullback Dominique Allen. He got the start, and it was his first playing time of the year. He was in the game as the fullback whenever LSU was in the I-formation. He was in on running plays and on play action passes, and was always a blocker.

Back when Dominique Allen signed, he was expected to contribute immediately at the fullback spot vacated by the graduated Quinn Johnson, but he reported a bit out of shape and proved not to be ready to handle the rigors of the college game yet. The job has been manned by walk-on converted offensive linemen James Stampley and Richard Dugas. They struggled to keep up with the speed of the position, as they are converted linemen and not the kinds of athletes you typically want in the backfield.

Allen slowly worked his way back into the good graces of the coaches and following the bye week word got out that he would see playing time. He got the start and was our primary fullback. To be honest, he struggled. He did not always find someone to block and did not always get an effective block on the person he found.

It will be a process with him, I'm sure. A lot of young men, seeing their first action, do not perform as well as they would like. He will get another chance to improve his game against Tulane before we get to what Poseur has described as "Graduation Day", our November 7 matchup against Bama here in Tuscaloosa.

When Dominique Allen was not in the game, I watched the offensive line. They performed better than they had previously, though they are still not getting much actual push. I'll leave it there.

Interestingly, on Russell Shepard's big run, the left side of the line was operating with a strange lineup. Instead ofCiron Black at left tackle and Josh Dworaczyk at left guard, Dworaczyk was at left tackle and Will Blackwell was at guard. Black was out of the game temporarily (he would return later, so if it was because of injury it was only minor). Will Blackwell got the key block that sprung Shepard.

There was an interesting discussion on one message board about whether that was really a great run by Shepard, or whether he just ran through a hole provided by his linemen and did what any reasonably fast runner would have done? After watching it on replay, I am of the school of thought that (even though the blocking was good) Shepard was the engine that made that play go.

While Blackwell and T-Bob Hebert gave him a little crease to go through, it was definitely not a huge hole. I think it was the kind of blocking job where Charles Scott would have been able to hit the hole but not fit through it. He probably would have pushed it forward for a nice 8-10 yard gain. Maybe he would have been able to break it bigger, but then he would have been caught before getting to the end zone. Without naming names, some other of our running backs may not have ever seen that hole or may not have gone to it aggressively enough to get through it before it closed.

So give Shep credit for that run. He saw the hole, got through it quickly, and then was GONE. Give the left side of the offensive line credit for doing a nice job, but Russell Shepard made that a big play.

Defensively, I watched our line again. I will say they played the Auburn offensive line to a tie, but I can't say much more than that. Drake Nevis had a big play getting a sack and forcing a fumble, but for the most part we were only able to get to Chris Todd when we blitzed. Al Woods made a really nice play early in the game, and Josh Downslooks like he is going to be a star in a year or so.

Other than that, I don't have much to say about our defense. They played very well, particularly the back 7.

Les Miles Diagnoses, Attempts to Fix, the Problems

Richard Pittman — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:34:31 -0000

More photos » by Bill Haber - AP

We aren't really sure what Joseph Barksdale (78) and Lyle Hitt (65) are supposed to be celebrating. (AP Photo/Bill Haber)

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If there are three problems on this LSU team right now, I think we could categorize them as, in order from most concerning to least: a) problems on the offensive line, b) problems at quarterback, and c) problems at defensive line.

I really think the problems at quarterback will work themselves out as Jefferson gets more experienced and comfortable. The question is whether that process will culminate this year or next. Furthermore, I think there is little that Les Miles and the rest of the coaches can do to help that situation along other than help Jordan Jefferson by putting him in positions to succeed. I.e., by not telegraphing a ton of screen passes all the time. We'll see how that goes.

The problems we really need to talk about, though, are the problems on the offensive line and on the defensive line. My personal opinion is that the defensive line has played reasonably well in the last two games, which is why this is not one of the two biggest problems. We have had numerous injuries, however, and that's why it's on the list.

The story of LSU's depth problems on the defensive line, and at defensive tackle in particular, starts with recruiting and subsequent position changes or attrition. LSU has recruiting literally tons of defensive linemen in the last 5 years, starting with Lyle Hitt in 2002 and continuing to the 2009 class when we signed a very large number of defensive linemen. Here is a list of those defensive linemen who are no playing defensive line for LSU: Lyle Hitt (position change), Ricky Jean-Francois (declared for NFL), Joseph Barksdale (position change), Kentravis Aubrey (injuries), Sidell Corley (transfer), Will Blackwell (position change), Cordian Hagans (position change).

What all the moves from defensive line over to offensive line have done to our offensive line is a story for another day.

The second part of the story of why we are having depth problems at defensive line is the story of redshirting. Redshirting is, of course, the practice of not putting a player in the game for an entire season and keeping his year of eligibility. On the whole, the practice is down in college football as more and more coaches rely heavily on freshmen. Les Miles has been somewhat old school on this topic, redshirting as many new players as possible.

So far this year, the following true freshmen have played: Defensive tackle Josh Downs, cornerback Morris Claiborne, wide receiver Reuben Randle, and quarterback Russell Shepard. If there have been more, I did not see them. Some very heralded recruits appear to be headed to a redshirt, including 5-star recruits Chris Davenport and Michael Ford as well as other players who were expected to contribute immediately, like fullback Dominique Allen, defensive linemen Michael Brockers and Sam Montgomery, linebacker Barkevious Mingo, offensive tackle Chris Faulk, and safety Craig Loston (whose rumored injury may be the culprit here).

The football program can only have 85 scholarship players at a time. If we are committed to steadfastly refusing to play 20 or more of them, you can see where this can wreak havoc on your depth. Having about 1/4 of your scholarship players voluntarily unavailable leaves you vulnerable.

In particular, it leaves you vulnerable to injuries, and this is what is delivering the killing blow to our defensive line depth. Starting defensive end Lazarius Levingston ("Pep", to you) continues to be out with a leg injury. JUCO transfer Akiem Hicks has yet to play this season due to a variety of ailments, and the rumor is this problem may persist. And then last Saturday towards the end of a blowout win, true freshman Josh Downs left the game with a leg injury, the severity of which is a closely guarded secret

Les Miles was trying to get through the season using only 4 scholarship defensive tackles: veterans Charles Alexander, Al Woods, and Drake Nevis, plus true freshman Downs. If Hicks can come back, he would have been the 5th. I'm not sure this was ever a smart plan, especially considering Charles Alexander's extensive history of being unable to stay healthy. Alexander's been excellent so far this year, and has stayed healthy as far as we know, but you just can't count on that to last. Asking those 4 to take all the snaps seems like it's inviting injuries, as those players wear down.

Anyway, Les Miles has decided to move true freshman defensive end Michael Brockers, who at 6'6" 285# certainly has the size to play inside, over to defensive tackle and is prepared to pull the redshirt off of him. This has been reported at the premium sites, but I don't feel bad about repeating it here because it was pasted right on the freely available front page of Tigerbait.com yesterday.

He is bound and determined, I guess, to keep the redshirt on Chris Davenport, who is a natural defensive tackle. I don't have a problem with moving Brockers inside. The man is a giant and got rave reviews all through pre-season, and was expected to contribute this year as a result. If the need is on the inside rather than on the outside, so be it.

The most serious concern remains the offensive line, which simply has not played well. The good news is that it appears everyone is aware of that. Numerous stories have come out recently where players are acknowledging that the offense is sputtering. Here is Les Miles' take:

"Offensively, here I am: I’ve come off the game and I’m mad," Miles said. "I didn’t think we rushed the football well enough. I always like to rush the football. We rushed for 175 yards. I’m sitting there going, ‘Wow, when did we do that? Was I there? ’"

There’s something unsettled, uncertain, about the team that isn’t reflected on the stat sheet or the scoreboard. The problem is one of maximizing production. A problem of execution, not scheme or imagination. It’s as if a chef has every ingredient on hand but hasn’t yet struck the proper mix, Miles said.

"I think we’re looking for the best recipe, but I don’t know that we’ve found it just yet," he said. "I don’t think change is necessary, I think it’s more efficient and better."

I think we've all come to accept that Les Miles is not the smoothest guy in the room, and these quotes won't change that perception, but at least he agrees with us that there is a problem and is willing to acknowledge it publicly. This is a sharp change from last year's issues with the defensive schemes, which Les Miles to this day has refused to criticize, even after letting both defensive coordinators responsible go.

There are also rumors that Miles attended the offensive line unit meeting early in the week and let the group have it. It's a start. At least he is not blind to the problem. Let's see if we can fix it now.

Around the SEC West - Week 1

Juco All-American — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:30:26 -0000

by John Froschauer - AP

Overrated... clap clap clap clap clap. /memphisfan

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Whiskey Wednesday and I have decided to start a new segment with a totally original and unique name called "Around the SEC." In this segment, as you may have guessed, we will be discussing one player at each other SEC team who played excellent football the previous weekend and helped his team.

We figured this would be a great way to keep you faithful Cup fans informed as to the league's goings on, rising stars, and intriguing storylines. It will also be a great way for us to keep tabs on our opponents outside of their respective hate weeks.

Whiskey may or may not be doing an SEC East post today. If he doesn't, next time I see him, I will punch him in the face.

SEC West teams follow after the jump.

ALABAMA

I never thought that Mark Ingram could step in so well to Glen Coffee's shoes. If his game against the stingy defense of Virginia Tech is any indicator, Ingram will be a force in the SEC this year. Marky Mark racked up 195 yards of total offense and two touchdowns. Ingram was Alabama's offense. Sure, Greg McElroy was able to pass it well when needed, but Saban is relying on Ingram, and rightfully so.

ARKANSAS

Some of you may not be aware that Arkansas ran a two-headed monster at QB in their first game. It wasn't just Ryan Mallet for the first half and Tyler Wilson for the second. Wilson actually threw a touchdown before Mallet. Both were very efficient, and Arkansas has a lot to be excited about at quarterback. Broderick Green was not impressive, carrying the ball nine times for 21 yards and once for ten. Still, the razorbacks were obviously spreading the ball around since they realized that the opposition had no chance whatsoever.

AUBURN

So apparently Kodi Burns is Gus Malzahn's next wildcat specialist. I haven't seen the game or even clips from it, but judging by the box score, where Burns threw the ball once and had eight rushes, I'm guessing that's the case. Burns' numbers aren't very impressive, especially against a team like Louisiana Tech. I assume that Burns is just a stop-gap until Chizik and Co. are able to bring in an athlete capable of making explosive plays. In other news, true freshman and former Hargrave sensation Onterio McCaleb was nuts in the game, ruishing for 148 yards. I want to see what the Rebels could do if they gave Bolden the ball 22 times.

LSU

Drake Nevis had a standout game for the Tigers, clogging the line, recording a ten yard sack, and batting down a pass. The one-time Ole Miss commitment has been playing well for the Tigers since his arrival, and he looks to anchor a solid LSU defensive line. On the other hand, Washington proved that the same schemes that helped five SEC teams beat the Tigers last year are still useful this year. By stacking the box, they held Charles Scott to 52 yards and dared LSU to beat them through the air. Jefferson didn't surpass the 200 yards mark even with two plays from Terrence Tolliver in which Tolliver caugh the ball 5 yards past the LOS and went 40+ yards for the score.

MISSISSIPPI STATE

Mississippi State beat Jackson State, largely with the help of Chris Relf, who really showed out in the game. The quarterback carried the ball twelve times for 82 yards and was a competent paser, completing 7/10 of his passes for seventy five yards and three touchdowns. It appears that Relf is the redzone weapon at quarterback, but I think that Tyson Lee will still be called upon in several situations.

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)

View full size photo »

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

A Young Defensive Line Tries to Find Its Way

Richard Pittman — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 11:42:33 -0000

Rahim Alem is giving the opposition that weird hand shimmy that is supposed to give people bad luck.

If you could name two positions on the LSU football team where a lack of experience will be a factor going into the season, you would name quarterback and defensive line. We have discussed the quarterback situation until we were blue in the face, but have heretofore not discussed the defensive line situation all that much.

Our starting defensive line on opening night will likely consist of two seniors (Alem and Al Woods) and two juniors (Drake Nevis and Pep Levingston), so it's strange to call them a young defensive line. None of these guys have been full-time starters at any time in their careers, and really only Alem and Woods have played big roles in the past.

We have a good idea of what the starters, especially Rahim Alem, Al Woods, and Drake Nevis will bring us. Alem is quick as can be and will get into the backfield. Nevis is a force if he's healthy. Woods has the size but is still trying to develop good technique. We don't know how any of them will be affected by getting starters' reps, but we know what these guys are capable of bringing to any given play. Pep is not as well-known a commodity, but we'll see him soon enough.

In addition to inexperience at the starters' positions, we have extreme youth when you get past the starters. Charles Alexander is our third tackle behind Woods and Nevis, and he is a 6th-year senior with significant starting experience, but other than him every other member of the two-deep and even the 3-deep will be freshmen. All five of the defensive linemen signed in the Class of 2009 are still in competition to reach that 2-deep. The result is that when LSU starts rotating defensive linemen in and out of the game, you the viewer will be utterly lost. We take a look at those freshmen and the redshirt freshmen and where they stand, after the jump.

Lavar Edwards, #89, DT. When Lavar Edwards signed with LSU in 2008, he was known as a good athlete who did not go full speed every play, and his position was something of a mystery. He could have been on the offensive line. He could have been a tight end (quite respectable pass-catching skills), a fullback, a defensive end, or he could have bulked up to be a quick defensive tackle. He has settled in at defensive tackle, and is looking pretty solid at this point after his redshirt year. It is quite natural for the press to focus on the incoming freshmen and/or the new starters during Fall Camp, and to ignore redshirt freshman backups like Edwards, but everything I've heard about him has been encouraging, though he is definitely being pushed by Josh Downs and Chris Davenport.

Chancey Aghayere, #87, DE. There are rumors that Aghayere has taken some snaps at defensive tackle, but for now he is listed as a defensive end. Chancey Aghayere's recruiting film from his junior year of high school is about as good as any I've ever seen from a defensive end. He was well on his way to being a 5-star headliner recruit, but injuries have slowed his development considerably. He has the talent to be a great one, but hasn't been on the field long enough in any one stretch to fully develop. The young man, unfortunately, seems to have just been bitten by the bad luck bug when it comes to injuries. He missed most of his senior year of high school with an injury and then couldn't get healthy in 2008. Here in 2009, he has continued to miss practices or be in the green jersey for substantial periods of time.

Chase Clement, #88, DE. To this point, Clement is still known more for his bloodlines than for his performance on the field, after his true freshman year in which he redshirted behind a highly veteran corps of defensive linemen. Clement is the nephew of former All-American offensive guard Eric Andolsek and linebacker Ruffin Rodrigue. He's got good size for a defensive end at 6'5" and 260#. He has been listed as the #2 defensive end behind Pep Levingston since camp started, and should see plenty of time this year.

Michael Brockers, #90, DE. Of all the freshmen defensive linemen from the class of 2009, Michael Brockers is reportedly making the biggest push for playing time. He already has great size at 6'6" and 285#. Heck, he might have to move inside at that size.

Sam Montgomery, #99, DE. Sam is probably still not ready to be an every-down sort of defensive end due to his smaller size at around 250#, but hopes to be able to contribute immediately as a pass rusher. He is pushing to be the guy who spells (or lines up opposite) Rahim Alem in that role.

Bennie Logan, #93, DE. I was a huge fan of Bennie Logan coming into camp, but it appears he's the one who is getting the least attention at this point. Les Miles is well known for sandbagging and talking up one kid while really thinking another is the real deal. I don't think Logan has done anything wrong; I just think Brockers has been a big surprise and Montgomery fits a niche that Logan can't fit into. With 5 freshman defensive ends between the true freshmen and redshirts, it is no crime to let one of the true freshmen have a year to redshirt and get some separation

Chris Davenport, #50, DT. Chris Davenport may have the highest upside of any player in this guide (with the possible exception of a healthy Chancey Aghayere). He's a monster at 6'4" 323#. He's a bit raw, and has not played against the same level of competition as even the other true freshmen have. Still, I don't see him redshirting. He's just too talented.

Josh Downs, #77, DT. He's known as the "high motor" guy, and he's not even white. His motor must be through the roof. Downs may not have the upside of Chris Davenport, but he's a really good prospect in his own right, and has the polish to perhaps give him the early edge in playing time.

Be on the lookout for these guys, and we'll start sorting them out when the games start getting played.

Is LSU Planning To Move To A 3-4 Defense?

Richard Pittman — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 13:00:13 -0000

Our Tigers have run a 4-3 defense for quite a long time, meaning they line up with 4 defensive linemen and 3 linebackers. In this kind of scheme, your defensive linemen have to be quick and athletic to make up for the speed lost by taking out a linebacker and adding a defensive tackle. You need depth at tackle in order to do this, as you will need probably 5 or 6 tackles to get through a season, and that's only if you don't have a rash of injuries.

Take a look at LSU's roster. There are only 3 experienced defensive tackles listed: Charles Alexander, Drake Nevis, and Al Woods. Two of those guys are seniors. If you look at the Class of 2009, which we have been doing, you see two more defensive tackles, Chris Davenport and Josh Downs, with JUCO transfer Akiem Hicks being a hybrid DE/DT. If you look at the commitment list for the Class of 2010, which currently has 21 commitments, you will see we have zero defensive tackles committed to the 2010 class. If you do the math factoring in the guys we KNOW we want like Trovon Reed and Lache Seastrunk, you wonder if there is going to be any defensive tackle signed.

This makes for a situation that appears, at least at first blush, to give us a very thin depth chart at defensive tackle for 2009, and an even thinner depth chart in 2010. This has been caused by attrition (Sidell Corley transferring, Ricky Jean-Francois going to the NFL early), position switches (Cordian Hagans switching to offensive guard) and graduation (Marlon Favorite).

At the same time, you can look at how we've recruited linebackers and see that we are stocking up. Barkevious Mingo, Kevin Minter, Tahj Jones, and Lamin Barrow were all a part of the Class of 2009, while Rockey Duplessis greyshirted from the Class of 2008. Josh Johns could also end up at linebacker. In the Class of 2010, we have added Luke Muncie, DJ Welter, and Justin Maclin, while either Sam Gibson or Houston Bates could eventually end up there as well. That is a huge linebacker haul in terms of numbers in a short period of time, while at the same time our defensive tackle recruiting has slowed down a lot.

All of this comes while the 4-3 defense is being phased out at some other places. The NFL, which not that long ago was composed mostly of 4-3 defenses (popularized by Buddy Ryan in the 1980s), appears to be returning to the pre-Buddy Ryan days of more 3-4 defenses. At Bama, Nick Saban (who ran an unabashed 4-3 system just a few years ago at LSU) quickly converted Bama from a 4-3 to a 3-4. This trend appears to be the defenses' counter to the fact that offenses are moving more towards a wide open, field-spreading attack (even teams that aren't in the "spread" are still trying to stretch the defense more by passing more often than they did a few years ago). Teams are responding by getting more linebackers on the field at the expense of hulking defensive tackles.

This brings up the question. With fewer defensive tackles and more linebackers, are we setting up a switch to the 3-4?

I don't have a definitive answer to that question. After all, positions can be somewhat fluid. While Davenport and Downs are definitely tackles, Bennie Logan and/or Michael Brockers may be as well, though I have considered them defensive ends to this point. Michael Brockers in particular has bulked up quite a bit, as he now is listed at 285#, and reports say he looks it. Class of 2008 signees Lavar Edwards and Chancey Aghayere, who have previously been considered defensive ends, may also see a move to tackle. Lavar Edwards, a redshirt freshman, is actually now listed as a tackle.

Or will these guys just be the kind of big defensive ends that the 3-4 system requires?

I'm not saying it's happening, and I'm not taking a position on whether it should happen. The circumstances have simply made me suspicious about our plans for the future of the defensive tackle position.

5 Keys To A Successful Season, Bonus Edition #2: The Last of Saban's Recruits

Richard Pittman — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 11:42:37 -0000

Do they not make these people shave for these pictures? Come on Coleman! They used to make people wear suits for their roster pictures.

Way back before the 2007 season, Nick Saban was hired at Alabama, and I was (and still am, for that matter) a resident of Tuscaloosa. I cannot tell you how many times in the next 18 months I defended Les Miles only to hear the retort, "But he is doing it with Nick Saban's recruits." In 2007, many a Bama fan discovered the world of recruiting, and they've been obsessed by it ever since.

Well, it's now 2009, and 4 full seasons have passed since Nick Saban last walked a sideline wearing purple and gold, and one might be tempted to think that the spectre of "But he is doing it with Nick Saban's recruits" has passed. You would be partly wrong. Sure, the roster is mostly made up of people from the 2005 class and beyond, all of whom gave Les Miles their Letter of Intent, but if you look back on Nick Saban's last recruiting class at LSU, the 2004 class, two names will stick out at you as still being on the LSU roster: Harry Coleman and Charles Alexander.

Coleman was a "greyshirt" in 2004, meaning he delayed his enrollment for a semester and actually counted towards the 2005 class. He was never actually coached by Nick Saban, but he turned in a signed Letter of Intent to Nick Saban, so I guess he still counts. He redshirted in 2005, then was a special teams monster for a while before taking over for Craig Steltz at safety. He had a tough year at safety last year and has since moved to linebacker.

Charles Alexander has had an injury-filled career at defensive tackle. He redshirted in 2004, so he was actually coached by Nick Saban. He lost most of two subsequent years to injury, including most of the 2007 national championship year. He was granted a 6th year of eligibility by the NCAA and so is back now for his second senior year.

Both of these players will have significant roles on the 2009 team. Coleman appears to be the starting strongside linebacker in the John Chavis system. He was actually listed as a linebacker when he was signed, but moved to safety because he is and was a "tweener". Just a little big for a safety but small for a linebacker. While he was outstanding in the BCSNCG after the 2007 season, I believe last year proved he was not ideally suited for safety. The new defensive staff moved him to linebacker where he will increase the speed on the field.

Alexander was a force in 2007 before he was injured. Everyone remembers how that defense struggled after the chop block on Glenn Dorsey, but people forget that the truly dominating efforts ceased after Alexander was hurt. We outscored our first two opponents that year by a combined 93-7 before Alexander got hurt. We mauled MTSU, but after that the games tightened up a lot, and I attribute a lot of that to the loss of Alexander, who was a great blocker-occupying defensive tackle beside Glenn Dorsey, allowing Dorsey to run free a little more.

Last year, we saw a version of Charles Alexander that probably was not ready to come back and play. He started, but was largely ineffective. Charles Alexander will probably have a smaller role. It is not expected that he will be a starter. He will likely be the third defensive tackle in the rotation, behind senior Al Woods and junior Drake Nevis. The staff is going to try to protect him because he has had so many problems. If he stays healthy, I would expect his role to increase as the season progresses. At his best, Charles Alexander is just too good to hold back.

The "Winning with Saban's recruits" label is somewhat tongue-in-cheek here. Obviously, the bulk of this team is Miles' guys. These two will play their roles, however, and they will be important players to the success of this team. Harry Coleman will be asked to play a lot of roles, from run-stuffing to covering wide receivers, with probably an occasional blitz thrown in. Alexander will at least provide depth at defensive tackle, if he stays healthy, and may be our starter by seasons' end when the games get bigger.