LSU: 4-0, highly ranked and about to be put to the test| by Carl Dubois on Sep 27, 2009 at 1:51 am |  | |
During a long Saturday of college football, I saw LSU's past, present, future and the near future it should have instead of the one I think it will have.
On my way to Thibodaux to cover Ryan Perrilloux's return to Louisiana, I listened to Jim Hawthorne and Doug Moreau call the first half of LSU's 30-26 victory at Mississippi State. In the press box at John L. Guidry Stadium at Nicholls State, I watched the second half on my laptop.
Back home in Baton Rouge, I watched the game again thanks to DVR technology. Most of the day and night I kept telling myself I still saw an 8-4 team wearing purple and gold, and at times I was convinced this would be one of the four losses.
But back to my first sentence. Perrilloux was the ghost of LSU championships past, the haunting reminder of LSU's struggles at quarterback since 2007 and a display of the talent and fifth-year-senior leadership the Tigers could be taking to Georgia next weekend.
He was by far the best player on the field in Jacksonville State's 60-10 victory at Nicholls State. Adjusted for inflation and the lack of an SEC supporting cast around him, Perrilloux still showed why LSU would be a championship contender if he'd taken care of business and done his growing up in Baton Rouge instead of in Alabama.
An edited version of the story I wrote for The Associated Press talks a little bit about that. There's more later in this piece.
Meanwhile, LSU is 4-0, probably will be ranked in the top five by this afternoon -- and is quite delighted the Houston Astros didn't make Chad Jones an offer he couldn't refuse in the summer of 2007. Jones returned a punt 93 yards for a touchdown and made two consecutive goal-line plays on defense, all of which changed the outcome Saturday.
The rain and wet ball affected this game, to be sure, and we'll never fully know the role weather did and didn't play in making it a close one, so let's not dwell on it. We also shouldn't spend much thought on LSU's Friday night and Saturday wakeup routine being severely altered by a morning kickoff -- and how lightning cut short the usual pregame warmups.
Teams whose coaches and players say their standard is championships, as Les Miles and the Tigers have been, don't use excuses about losing a few hours here and there. So let's treat them like a championship contender for now. Toss the early start out of the discussion.
The good
LSU did things worth celebrating Saturday. Patrick Peterson's interception return for a touchdown was a big play, and it probably owes more than many realize to Harry Coleman's effort and success in affecting the play.
The return game got the jumpstart it needed, and it came from Jones, a player Miles challenged to make his move. He did.
Jordan Jefferson's timing with Brandon LaFell and Terrance Toliver continues gliding in the right direction, and the passing game hit on long balls that helped give LSU cushion the Tigers would later need. There was a 40-yard pass to Toliver, and the deep post route LaFell ran in synch with Jefferson will play an ever bigger role in forcing opposing defenses to give more cushion than we've seen in the first month of the season.
Jefferson is improving in some of the subtleties that separate great quarterbacks from good ones. I don't think he's done.
The bad and the ugly
There was all of that and more, but LSU did things worth criticizing Saturday.
Jefferson was under too much pressure from State's defense. There was a time during LSU's baseball season when I thought opposing teams should have bunted on the Tigers again and again to make LSU prove it could consistently defend the short game, and I wonder if we're about to see a football version of that.
I wonder if we're about to see SEC defenses blitz the LSU football team again and again. Had Jefferson and his receivers not made strides in keeping State honest with the vertical passing game, I'd have said to bet the farm on it. We'll see.
A good bit of "fancy" on offense seemed unnecessary on a wet day -- and didn't fool State's defense. LSU's lack of dominant line play means it can't be the power running team Miles would love the Tigers to be, and they're not clicking enough to be the explosive air game their talent suggests they can be.
Balance and timing, therefore, are crucial -- as is good judgment on play calls.
Is there an outside running game?
I'll ascribe snap, hold and kick problems largely to the wet conditions, but it's still a concern.
State should not have been able to turn a busted play into a 50-yard touchdown pass and celebration against this LSU defense. Not like that.
LSU had four takeaways in the first half and couldn't knock out Mississippi State. That's telling.
Speaking of the Bulldogs ... Dan Mullen's offense was impressive. BUT ...
You don't give it to your power back, Anthony Dixon, on either third-and-inches or fourth-and-inches? Bad. Real bad.
Quarterback Tyson Lee is going to learn to extend the ball when he's that close. All it has to do is break the plane of the goal line, and if someone knocks it loose after that, it means nothing. So, that's your ballgame right there.
Watching a game in person at Manning Field at Nicholls State while watching the LSU game on the Internet reminded me how Archie won his first game with the New Orleans Saints by lunging and sticking the ball across the plane. The Los Angeles Rams popped it from his grip, but too late. He'd scored the winning touchdown.
If Mullen is the caretaker of quarterbacks his reputation says he is, he's already had that conversation with Lee.
Final thoughts about Perrilloux
As I've said before, a veteran Perrilloux who plays for his teammates and makes decisions with them in mind would be a tremendous asset at LSU this season and would cover up a lot of growing pains.
"We had a game we played at home (last year), and it was the open week for LSU, and I'm over there talking to Ryan and look up, and there must have been 15 LSU players right up there above him," Jacksonville State coach Jack Crowe said Saturday. "He's had a chemistry with every football team he's ever been with. He's got a chemistry with this one.
"He can lead a football team. He can make the plays. He's a great player. He's got me in his corner, I can tell you that."
Crowe said he's never heard Perrilloux say a negative word about anyone he's played with or played for, despite the troubles he had before enrolling at Jacksonville State.
"That's classy to me," Crowe said. "The thing that started making a big mark with me that I could trust him was because he wasn't looking to find somebody to blame his problems on."
Crowe said Perrilloux is good enough to play anywhere in the country, despite any perception he's had to settle for playing at a program with a low profile.
"He was the No. 1 player in the country coming out, right?" Crowe said. "I love you, LSU, but if you had him he'd be the No. 1 player for your team too."
The past was water under the little bayou bridge near the Nicholls State campus Saturday, and yet you could still feel the ripple effects in LSU's program.
Final thoughts about the Tigers
Jones was the hero, with his punt return, his pass breakup on State's third-and-goal play and his stop on the fourth-and-goal option. After teammates checked Lee's initial progress, Dreadlocks of Doom drove him back, preventing any second effort.
There is something to be said for surviving a game like this one, and I suspect it built more character and confidence than many would have wagered before they went to bed Saturday night.
Now, finally, the season is here. Georgia. Florida. Auburn.
Between the Tulane and Louisiana Tech games, Alabama. Then, Ole Miss and Arkansas.
What's going to happen? I still lean toward 8-4, but I don't have a crystal ball. LSU has two.
With an eye to the future, I can say this: What sinks a major program is never anything external. This program -- players, coaches and fans included -- would eat itself or implode before a rival could have a chance to do anything to torpedo it.
With an eye to the past, I can say this: Ten years ago, when I arrived on the LSU beat, a 4-0 start and a top-five ranking would have been celebrated. If Halloween came at the start of October instead of at the end, the hot costume in town this year would feature Dreadlocks of Dread.
I suppose that's a measure of how far LSU has come in a decade. I suspect the next month will have a lot to say about how far the Tigers may have slipped in two years.
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Carl Dubois has written or blogged about LSU sports since 1999. You can contact him at carl1061 'at' gmail.com, but don't expect a reply before noon Sunday. He plans to sleep in after a tiring Saturday.
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