re: Josh Pate Hits The Nail on The Head

Nail on the head!

quote:

---

In the offseason all we have is what we are on paper…

---

Our "on paper" talent level didn't increase by that much.

Pate is always measured and most of the time correct. He was right on all counts. One of the most revealing, yet obvious statements was that "UCLA has hardly any players that would even get an LSU offer". Maybe that's a little hyperbole, but most wouldn't be considered starting quality just based on ranking. That means comparatively they are better coached, developed and prepared.

I'm still baffled we hired an OC and DC with little to no game planning experience. You may be able to get away with that if the HC has coordinator experience, but we know that's not the case.

I gave O a mulligan for 2020, but I was a fool to believe he had righted the ship. Pate also indicates that O has alienated the admin with some of his actions and at this point the outcome really seems inevitable.

quote:

---

Judging by the threads on here, that's not hard to achieve.

---

Well, you're not wrong about that.

quote:

---

You can blame Bo all day long, but there was an underlying issue that the defensive players mostly gave up. I've heard all kinds of reasons for this, including BLM, etc. Who knows?

---

I think we can ALL agree that last year the defense, especially the LBs and Safeties looked COMPLETELY lost...all season long. Several were guys who had played many snaps for LSU PRIOR to the 2020 season (Stingley, Stevens, Hampton, Harris, Clark, just to name a few). In the prior year(s) those played well to really well and didn't really seemed to be confused all that often.

In 2020 the DC, scheme, philosophy, etc changes from the prior year. Suddenly, guys who had previously played well appear to have no idea what they are supposed to be doing from play to play. We ALL blamed Pelini. How could Clark go from being a pretty good player in 2019 to being absolutely atrocious in 2020? Same for the other guys? Clearly Pelini's scheme sucked and he could not communicate it to the players. Then.....

the UCLA game happened. New season. New DC. EXACT SAME PROBLEMS! Pelini is gone. So is Jones running the EXACT SAME DEFENSE that produced terrible results last season? Are he and the new defensive coaches equally as ineffective a teaching/communicating with the players? Did the guys who were pretty good in 2019 really all of a sudden forget how to play football? What happened?!!!

When there is a similar pattern of results despite multiple different people involved don't you have to look for what are the CONSTANTS over that period of time to diagnose the problem? The CONSTANT is Orgeron. The defense went from, at worst, above-average, to COMPLETELY TERRIBLE after Aranda left...which also coincided with Orgeron's decision to run HIS "attacking" 4-3 defense.

If you are getting equally terrible mistakes/results despite having TWO different coaching staffs in charge it becomes less probable that BOTH DC's (Pelini and Jones) equally suck and MORE probable they are both being forced to coordinate the defense within the confines of the HC's absolutely awful approach.

The complete collapse of the defense is not the result of two "bad" hires at DC or players simply not giving a shite. It's the result of the equivalent of a football caveman in terms of scheme/approach deciding he wants to run HIS failed approach because he has no idea what he is doing. There are too many variables and too few constants over the past 11 games to draw any other conclusion.

Ed is the story of the hippo

he wants to be thought of as an elite coach in college football. He's tried changing his stripes and doing his best to emulate what actual good program managers/coaches do...but at the end of the day he's just a position coach.

I agree that as of now it looks bleak and he should be fired but what if his young coordinators figure it out along the way and we finish 9-3 (6-2)?

Does the Admin want us to fail for not firing him then?

(This is a hypothetical and I in no way for see our record being that good)

This whole thing reeks of 2012 gene chizik

O will not be fired if he goes 9-3

I am willing to discount that possibility. An autopsy of the Orgeron "era" should include as a telltale/portent the hiring and firing of Matt Canada. This would mark the unmistakable pattern of Eddie's hires. None have stayed more than a season save for Ensminger. Outside of Brady, he has failed at every turn.

Now the team has no credible O-line, no running game and receivers that are far from game-breakers, Boutte notwithstanding. The defense has been in complete disarray going on two seasons now. It amounts to little more than an unschooled mob. It has no leaders...at all.

This can only be the product of poor coaching. Everything is set from the top-the attitude, philosophy, culture. LSU football has no vision, no focus, no cohesion. It has no process from what I can see. Does a program with a process in place hire someone without interviewing him first? Does it then admit that it would have made the hire either way.

What makes anyone think that Eddie will suddenly change how he does things now? He is completely disorganized, out of his element. He is not a professional in any positive sense of that word outside of his pay. It should embarrass the university and anyone connected with it.

2021 will be another difficult sojourn for Tiger Nation. We will now see if Scott Woodward is what most of us imagine him to be.