quote:
But nine penalties — seven on offense — two sacks and a season-worst four turnovers constantly threw kinks into LSU’s offensive progress.

There were plenty of culprits.

Jordan Jefferson was picked off on a third down from near midfield. Left tackle Joseph Barksdale was called for holding to wipe out a 12-yard Stevan Ridley run that would have moved the ball to UT’s 14-yard-line. Deangelo Peterson coughed up a fumble on third down with the Tigers in field-goal range. Jarrett Lee was flagged for intentional grounding on a first-down play. And Richard Murphy bobbled a toss on first down for a 12-yard loss when LSU had moved into Volunteers’ territory.

The result was a wave of second- and third-and-long snaps, especially in the first half.

As with most games that go to the wire that against teams where it shouldn't have, there many, many squandered opportunities. The blame for that is on both the coaches and the players. Blame the players for failure to execute and blame the coaches for failure to correct this recurring problem. The coaches are also to blame for not saving any timeouts in case we needed them for a 2 minute drill. The coaches are definitely to blame for the chaos incurred by running the ball and not immediately going no huddle and running another play. Having 1st and goal with 40 seconds left should mean 4 chances at the end zone, not 2 and a half. But all that would be a moot point if we hadn't squandered so many opportunities earlier in the game by shooting ourselves in the foot with mistakes and penalties.

But the coaches should get credit for pulling out all the stops on offense. They tried both QBs early and often. They threw some deep balls. They took some chances. And unfortunately, those QBs showed us yet again why neither of them is consistent enough to be a starting QB in the SEC. But we're stuck with them for this season. We've got to make do. And at the end of the season, if neither QB improves then it's probably high time for Miles to find someone new to be his OC and QB coach. If he doesn't fire Crowton and plays the loyalty card, it will be his own job that is at risk from 2011 on.