Bulletin Board material for Aranda and his players from critical anonymous assist coaches

The big weakness for LSU is both at linebacker and in the pass rush, as opposing coaches say the key will be for LSU to manage some type of pressure on Tagovailoa from a base defense. If not, they could import clones of Honey Badger and Jamal Adams and still not cover these Alabama receivers for six seconds.

“The issue with LSU is that they cannot create a pass rush on base downs,” said an opposing assistant. “That’s going to be Achilles’ heel defensively.”

The LSU defensive front is massive, and perhaps too big. If Tagovailoa has good mobility coming off his ankle surgery, they aren’t much of a threat to sack him. (They also wear down easily, as the spree of, ahem, cramping at Texas showed.)

“There’s no way that defensive line sacks a healthy Tua,” said the coach. “[LSU DC Dave] Aranda won’t be able to drop eight, because if they do that they won’t get to Tua. He’s going to have to change his identity from this year, which is base defense.”

LSU has a reputed high-end pass rusher in K’Lavon Chaisson, but he’s got just two sacks this season and hasn’t lived up to his first-round hype. The lack of pressure will stress LSU’s corners, a typically elite group.

“The matchup for them is going to be if they can cover them in man,” said an assistant who faced LSU this year. “They don’t play zone well, that’s what happened in the UCF game last year, and they couldn’t cover them. That’s going to be the game, if they can cover the receivers in man. I’d imagine Bama thinks they can get them out of man and soften them up in quarters like UCF did.”

There’s little doubt that LSU safety Grant Delpit will be a first-round pick. He’s a sure tackler and is the type of linebacker-hybrid safety the NFL is looking for. (He has missed practice this week with an injury, although he’s still expected to play.)

The issue for LSU against Alabama is that Delpit is not a capable player in man coverage.

“He’s a terrible man-coverage player and they’re doing whatever they can to keep him out of coverage,” said an opposing assistant. “He was in man very few times last season.”

Added another opposing coach: “He’s a great athlete, he just can’t be left in true one-on-one situations against one of your top three skills guys. That’s not his world. That’s definitely his weakness.”

This factor helps offenses diagnose what LSU is doing pre-snap. If Delpit lines up in the slot, there’s a high-percentage chance that he blitzes. If he attempts to cover, expect Alabama to exploit him like they did with Irv Smith last season.

The other secondary weakness is LSU’s slot corner, as Kary Vincent is considered one of the players opposing teams will test. “He’s just OK,” said a coach. “He’s a track guy, he’s not tough or a great tackler. I thought he was the weak link.”

LINK

Sounds more like jealous envy from some opposing assistants. Aranda and his defense couldn't have picked a better stage to show what LSU's DC has been working on all season. LSU's explosive offense bought Aranda valuable time to experiment. Saturday, his brain trust will be on full display. Geaux Tigers!