Once again, having Jarrett Lee at QB helps the LSU running game

And this is true even when his passes aren't quite hitting. From that video that somebody posted earlier, we see that there were several "almost" deep passes throughout the game...

25 – Clement (1Q)
30 – Boone (1Q)
30 – Beckham (1Q)
18 – Boone (3Q)
15 – Beckham (4Q -- would have been a TD)
37 – Beckham (4Q -- catch negated by holding penalty on LSU)

Many have been arguing about whether the receivers or the QB were more to blame, but to me, that's not really that important. I think it's clear that (A) the receivers did not have their timing down with Lee, and looked out of sync, and (B) that the passing game could have been better.

Nonetheless, despite the lack of big receptions, the passing game was still very very DANGEROUS, and the Ducks knew it. Peterson had a great game, and Randle and Beckham and Clement were always on the verge of doing something big.

The Ducks tried to stack the box earlier in the game, but over time, they had to respect Lee's ability to read defenses and pass deep-to-intermediate over the middle.

So for the passing game, we get 10-22, 98 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT, and 1 sack for 6 yards, translating into 23 plays for 92 yards, which (other than the PI penalties and lack of turnovers) is quite bad. I certainly hope that Lee and the receivers get their timing down better before the game in Starkville on Thursday the 15th.

But looking at the running game, we have the sack and then 3 "team loss" rushes (on bad snaps, etc.) for -21 yards ( LINK), and other than that, we get 202 rushing yards on only 44 attempts, good for 4.59 yards per carry.

So what I and others have been saying for years is demonstrated yet again--the LSU running game works better with a pro-style QB like Lee in the game to keep the opposing defensive backs honest.