T-Bob blew it and why Crowton might be worse than you think

Amidst all the adulation for T-Bob Hebert for "saving" LSU by having the sense to snap the ball, I am going to present a contrary viewpoint -- that he blew it and nearly cost LSU the game.

The play was going to be a pass play. There are trips left and Terrence Toliver is in the slot and headed for the left corner of the end zone, while Deangelo Peterson is going straight up from the TE position on the other side. It appears to me that the play to Toliver is the primary read if the defensive alignment is favorable and that the route to Peterson is the alternate call if one of the DBs is playing back.

With six seconds left, Jefferson is giving the call to the line and Ridley. At five seconds, Jefferson is glancing at the WRs on the left and looking at the coverage. Ridley and Hurst are not set. At four seconds, Jefferson begins his cadence for the snap. At three seconds, Jefferson appears to be in the process of starting to stamp his leg to call for the ball, as a QB would in a visiting stadium, because the crowd noise would likely prevent his cadence from being heard. At this time, it appears to me that Jefferson is quickly looking at the defense in front of him to assess whether Peterson is likely to be open in the event that the play to Toliver isn't there.

I believe T-Bob panicked and simply snapped the ball too early. To me, Jefferson seems aware of the clock, and there was no way that his cadence was going to last three more seconds. Contrary to popular opinion, it appears that T-Bob, rather than Jefferson, is the one who lacked clock awareness.

It does not matter whether the ball is snapped with three seconds left or one -- it was going to be the last play of the game in any case.

The interesting thing is that the play was going to "work" in that Toliver was going to be open. Neither he nor the DB opposite him see the bad snap, and Toliver jukes him and would have been wide open in the corner.

Reviewing this has made me much more infuriated with Gary Crowton. For a second, please disregard the fact that he sent Jefferson in with only one play instead of two. Disregard the fact that Crowton then substitutes players when there is no time to do so, and this effectively costs us a down (because if we don't sub, we have time for a quick pass play and then another play if that doesn't work).

No, I want you to focus on the fact that the two best goal-line plays that Crowton could come up with were a Jefferson run off tackle and a pass from Jefferson to Toliver. Think about the futility of Jefferson as a pure runner. Think about Jefferson's pass completion percentage. Think about the fact that Toliver drops everything Jefferson throws to him (though he seems to be able to catch Lee's passes just fine).

What confidence do any of you have that Jefferson-to-Toliver in the end zone results in a completed pass?