re: Why did Chavis totally abandon the blitz?

Go back and look at the history of Florida-Tennessee games. You will see that the team that ran the ball better won nearly every game. Florida had better balance on offense, and the defense had to guess more. The problem wasn't necessarily Chavis' defense. Often it was Tennessee playing one-dimensional football against Florida's two-dimensional football.

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wvu's oline play, played their best game of the season. the previous 3 games we looked liked a bowl with 28 holes drilled into it trying to contain water.

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You just saw an SEC referee crew that won't call holding unless the defender is tackled at the QB's feet (we don't like it, but we're used to it). When it became obvious that holding would not get called LSU slowed down its pass rush and attempted to occupy throwing lanes. Geno Smith did a fine job of waiting and finding open receivers. But he, and his receivers, would have to have been near perfect to mount scoring drives against LSU. They weren't because LSU made enough plays on defense to disrupt their timing. Despite his best yardage ever, Smith had his worst passer efficiency rating of the season by a considerable margin. That was no accident.