re: Zone blocking destroyed LSU Offense

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The biggest change I saw was that we ran a bunch more zone option. that was the slow developing option that everybody hated. JJ didn't seem to see it very well.

Maybe when they said we were going to more zone they meant outside zone (scheme used on zone option) instead of a traditional pin and pull series (basic OL rules - if down block take it if not pull).

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I'm certainly not an o-line technician, so thanks for the education. It would seem to me that part of the problem this year were the playcalls that came in so late. It looked like to me blocking calls were being made with 2 seconds left on the play clock, which really gives the lineman no time to assess the d before the play begins.

If you pull your blocker down with you doesn't that have the same effect as a pancake block?

i will post a description of what each is tonight. and zone blocking is a great scheme and wasn't our problem this year. our problem is that we tried to use both angle and zone this year and were not very good at either. we didnt have the size to us angle blocking this year and our technique especially footwork was terrible on the zone blocking schemes. anyways i will try to post up more later.

Funny how people single out T-Bob but there isnt much mention of the AWEFUL season Hitt had. His own brother owned him.

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My personal opinion is that LSU did not play its most talented players on the interior of the line.

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I agree that the guard position could have been upgraded with the play of Hurst and Blackwell. I'd like to see those guys start at guard next year. They are huge!

I was listening to the Ole Miss-LSU game on the radio, and they mentioned how big Bobbie Massie (freshman RT I think for Miss) was. One the next offensive series for LSU, they mentioned how Alex Hurst was even bigger than Massie! With a few personal changes, our line could be one of the bigger o-lines in the country.

My opinion is that it was a combination of things:

1. only slightly above average OL
2. our skill player blocking was down a little this year
3. young QB that was not always able to get us out of bad plays at the line of scrimmage. the look mode was intended to alleviate this but they'd either not show anything (keep their 2 high shell) and roll safeties post snap or they'd show one thing and change when we changed.
4. I think we had some tendency issues based on personnel and formations. every offense has tendencies but I think the compartmentalization of our offense based on which RB was in the game allowed opposing DCs to hone in on our tendencies more than other opponents. having said that, as long as you have a hat for a hat and can execute it doesn't matter if they know what's coming. USC knew the power play was coming when they played stanford and stanford had run it 4 times in a row. they still couldn't stop it. breaking tendencies is nice but if you can get into a good play vs. what you are seeing and then you can have 11 guys execute that play then it won't matter.

if you combine all of these then you end up with the 108th offense in college football. If #1 and #2 are better then it takes pressure off #3 and #4. you can cram the ball down people's throats and just tell your QB to run the play unless you see one high or no high safeties then check play action.

If #3 and #4 are better then it takes pressure off #1 and #2. that is why teams with lesser talent can execute and score points against more talented defenses.

In 07 we had a great OL, great skill player blocking, a savvy QB that got us in and out of plays at the LOS. We were still kind of tendency oriented but like I said if you have 11 guys that can execute and a QB that can skillfully get you in and out of plays at the LOS then it doesn't matter.

just my opinion.

as for 2008 I thought JL was fine at getting us in and out of plays. his issues were post snap. once people realized that he had completely lost confidence in being able to execute any post snap reads they stacked the box and forced him to throw. because his confidence was shot we were relegated to throwing a wr quick, a screen, or a roll out with very simple reads. defenses forced us into these situations and played our tendencies.

I thought he was gone. Miles needs to go after Hevesy at MS State. I've seen that guy work. He's awesome. intense, intelligent, detail oriented, and he makes his players believe.

His results are hard to discount too. took a line that performed so-so fro j.b. grimes and turned them into a machine.

Aglandry, I am agreeing with you. My point was Landry posting those as having no evidence of T-Bob getting burned all season. I posted one he got burned on that had a potential game changing effect.

That said, the guy is young and coming off an ACL injury. My guess is he hasn't been able to strengthen up as much as is needed given that.