My thoughts on the Offense and Defense

Let's start with offense. I'm tired of all the bashing of CLM and CCC. They're two of the most talented coaches in their respected fields in all of college football. CLM has one of the highest win percentages in the SEC. He's obviously doing something right.

Let's look at the years where LSU has been the most successful.
2007: LSU was number 9 in the country and number 1 in the SEC in total offensive yards with 3154 yards passing and 2998 rushing yards for a total of 6152. Pretty electric right? What did that do for the defense? Allowed for.. number 9 in the country and second in the SEC with 3690 total yards.

2011: We take a step back with an electric offense but become more efficient until later in the second half of the season. We only ranked 57th with 4971 total yards but the defense was ranked 5th in the nation with only 3661 yards given up. Electric defense. But we ranked number 1 in the turnover margin. Our offense played within the confines of themselves and the defense created opportunities for the offense.

Start difference. But you can see how both sides of the ball benefit from having a dominant side of the football. Either the offense is dominant and allows for the defense to strive or the defense is dominant and sets up the offensive production.

2013: Last year we a had a top 15 ranked defense. There were several blown assignments that resulted in the loss of games (UGA) or a bad showing (OM - ZM 3 INT). You cancel that out then we're 11-1 going into the SEC championship game. Offensively we ranked 33rd with a 3000 yard passer, two 1000 yard receivers, and a runningback over 1000 yards. First time in the SEC. BUT ALL of the production has left. Including the the majority of the defense since the 2011 season.


Enough with statistics. This year we see that offensively we have regressed back to the 2008, 2009, 2010 offense. Most of this has to do with quarterback production. I'm not advocating any particular quarterback (GO KRAGTHORPE... ) Anyway. One of the major things to look back at those past successful offensive years is the balance that was able to be achieved. Those weren't all just run heavy teams or pass heavy teams. There was a balance that allowed both to succeed.

This year we see the lack of a passing game. We cannot complete slant routes. We cannot complete flat routes. Most of our numbers come from busted defensive plays. It doesn't matter if you run a spread offense or a pro-style I formation. If you can't complete a simple pass then the running game has all the pressure. Something to think about.. After the dominance our offense showed last year, the regression our offense has showed this year doesn't result from CLM calling the plays but the lack of confidence that CLM and CCC have in our quarterbacks. They know better than we do their capabilities, AND if they are unwilling to throw the ball when necessary, it isn't because they want to, it's because they simply cannot do it. That became evident when I watched AJ fail to complete simple passes to wide open receivers against Moo St.

Onto defense. Our corners are the best in the entire country. Hands down. But they simply cannot be asked to cover for eternity because the front 7 cannot put enough pressure on the QB. I attribute this not to lack of recruiting but lack of experience and bodies. We've been gouged on the front seven over the last 5 years. Look at the NFL draft. We're doing the best we can. Now the MLB spot is the most key position of the entire defense. I feel like this is the same dilemma that we are seeing in the offense. The lack of production coming from the front 7 will hurt any defense.

An offense cannot strive without a competent defense. A defense cannot strive without a competent offense.





And most importantly, does anyone remember hearing CCC yell at the QBs and Wrs in the video saying that we would run a 1950s offense if we can't complete a simple slant route? It's pretty telling. This team can still succeed. It requires players to step up and fulfill the potential to which they were recruited at.

/rant