re: Matt House is the biggest difference maker this year for LSU

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However, I've been pleasantly surprised now that we're 4 games in to learn that FSU is a bit better than I thought, and our defense has come together better than I ever could have imagined after game 1.

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It wasn’t just that. You could see that many of our guys, especially the LBs and Safeties just weren’t reacting and closing down space fast enough yet, especially in zone. They didn’t have the scheme down well enough to play a good P5 opponent at game speed. Because of that, we also weren’t trying to disguise coverages much in that game, making it a lot easier on FSU to know where to attack.

Then you had personnel issues. Baskerville didn’t win his appeal until right before the game, so his snaps were limited and Perkins hadn’t worked his way into the rotation as much yet. Smith got hurt. BJ got banged up. Wasn’t Brooks out for the opener, as well?

I credit the staff for moving some guys around and making some really solid adjustments after that game. I credit the players for executing and really doing their jobs well since then. I think a lot of the mistakes vs FSU were due to execution problems and those seem to have been fully addressed at this point. They seem to have a solid grasp of the defense now.