slack691

Haven't watched the replay of the Georgia game but I can't recall us rushing more than 4 at any time. I might have missed a couple of plays but I do know that Murray seemingly had all day to throw and a quarterback of his caliber will kill you unless you make him feel the pressure. Can't understand why Chavis almost abhors the blitz. Remember in 2011 against West Virginia, Geno Smith had 65 pass attempts and was not sacked ONCE.. I do think we did get a tipped ball INT, but 65 attempts without a sack speaks volumes about how passive a Def. coordinator Chavis is. If you think about it, almost every time a great QB has a bad game it is because of a fierce pass rush. Can't really argue with the Chief's numbers over the years but the right question is: How much better could our defense be if he blitzed even 15-20% of the time? Got to make the other QB hear footsteps. Patrick Petersen and Mo Claiborne would have trouble covering wideouts when you have to cover for 4 seconds or more. John "what's a Blitz" Chavis.

I hate the Jumbo Set.

I think LeonPhelps makes a good point. IMO, Les is a really classy guy with a lot of character and that is why he is such a good recruiter and why, for the most part, the players love him. But he WILL drive you crazy with his offensive philosophy and/or play calling. Give me Les' managerial skills, character, recruiting expertise, keep Chavis' defense and I'll take Chip Kelly as offensive coordinator. Dream on.

By the way, Magee's long TD run was, I believe, the only running play that was not between the tackles, or at least was the only one that could be considered a stretch play. What ever happened to the toss sweep? It seems that few teams run that these days.

Said it was "decent" not bad. I just think we could run the ball better if we didn't use the Jumbo Set so much. It has gotten frustrating over the years to see Les rely so much on smashmouth football, which seems to me works best when you have a clear talent advantage. Nowadays, there is parity of talent so that the scheme is important. Oregon is the best example of this, always in the top 5 in the country over the last several years in RUSHING. Yes, they don't play in the SEC but last year they averaged almost 6 yards per carry. We averaged 4.2 yards per carry and 170 yard per game- 50th in the FBS. I just wish we could be in the top 25. Hope Cameron ditches the Jumbo Package, especially in the Red Zone.

Agree with u on most observations, especially the one about we (and everyone else) run the ball better out of the shotgun or a 3 or 4 WR set. A lot of LSU fans think we have a dominant runnung game-not true. Last year we averaged 170 yds. per game (50th in FBS),4.2 yars per carry. hardly dominant. I don't think previous years were much better (have not checked yat). How many times do we have to use the Jumbo Set, especially down in the Red Zone, and get completely stuffed before Les realizes that the best way to run the ball is out of a spread formation. Last nite's rushing stats were 48 carries for 197 yds.= 4.1 yp carry. Take away Magee's 52 yd TD and it is 47 for 145 = 3.1 yards per carry. Mediocre at best. Many coaches like Les love to play smashmouth football, but it only works if you have a clear edge in talent, and sometimes not even then. Look at Oregon's or Arizona's yard per carry last year. Yes, thay are not in the SEC but 5.5 yards per carry is great in any league. RUN OUT OF THE SPREAD! PLEASE!

Chavis has done an excellent job overall but I agree that he inexplicably has the D play too soft sometimes, especially late in games. Against Bama last year, on their last drive, I think Bama completeed 3 15+ yard passes ON THE SIDELINE! In my opinion, that shouldn't happen in that situation. Also, I remember in 2011 against West Virginia when Geno Smith had 65 pass attempts and he wasn't sacked once until the very end. Makes no sense. You have to mix it upp and pressure the QB. As good as Chavis has been, it seems he plays "contain the QB" a little too often. It certainly worked against Manziel and A & M but there were times when Manziel had all day to throw. Also, against BAMA in the BCS championship game, he again refused to blitz and, as a result, McCarron got way too comfortable and that set the tone. It was impressive, however, how we held off Bama in that game as long as we did. The same can be said for the Bama game last year, when Bama was completely stopped in the second half until the last drive. I just wish that sometimes Chavis would take more chances as far as blitzing goes because, if you think about it, when great QB's have bad games it is almost always because their protection has broken down and, no matter how good u are, you can't throw the ball if u don't have time to throw. In my opinion, the first thing a defense should do is make the opposing QB hear footsteps- no matter what league you are playing in. All in all, though, Chavis has been very good.

more significant than the #of running plays vs. # of passing plays is the TYPE OF PLAYS that LSU runs. At halftime of one of LSU's mid-late season games, the TV color man showed a LSU play from LSU's previous game. The play was: LSU with 7-man offensive line, 1 WR on each side, QB and 1 RB. Both receivers ran 10 yard hook patterns and BOTH were double-covered. The pass, of course, was incomplete. The announcer then stated that LSU had run this EXACT SAME PLAY 16 times in LSU's previous game. I think that he was trying to say (but was maybe too polite to say so) was that this offense was horrible.
Our passing attack is obviously limited by Mettenberger's lack of pocket awareness and lack of scrambling ability. Also, our WR talent this year was not as good as in years past and the OL has obviously had injuries and problems this year. Although it is understandable to a certain degree that the LSU offensive coaches often employ a "Max Protect" scheme to protect Mettenberger, there are still way too few plays in which LSU splits out 3 or 4 WR's.

In my humble opinion, LSU's offensive mindtrust is even more guilty of ineptitude. Mile still, in terms of running the footbsll, obviously subscribes to the grind-it-out, overpower your opponent, impose your will offensive philosophy. But today's teams, especially in mid to uppper levels of the SEC, are too similar in talent for this approach to work consistently. We did rush for 258 yds. against South Carolina, but this was an exception, albeit a welcome one.

The bottom line: scheme matters! Miles himself explains his throwing the ball at the end of the Clemson game because "there were too many men in the Box". What he refuses to even try is what some of the best college running offenses do on a regular basis- RUN OUT OF THE SPREAD. Oregon, and a lot of other good running teams, have been doing this with success for years. Many may not realize that Oregon's RUSHING offense has been in the top 5 the last 2 years. By using 2,3,4 or even 5 WRs, you are automaticall taking an equal amount of defenders out of the box- by the simple use of a basic formation. How may times have we seen LSU, in short yardage situations, have a 7 or 8 man line, zero or 1 WR and QB, FB, RB. And how many times have u seen us get stuffed?! In most cases, all the defense has to do is key on the fullback and the play is stuffed.

I also heard (not verified) that one of Clemson's defensive coaches said something like this: "LSU's idea of a trick play is a play-action pass".

The bottom line: the old-school mentality of the most effective way to rush the football is to put the most blockers "at the point of attack" may still be effective if u have an overwhelmin talent advantage. However, the last several years have shown (and it makes perfect sense) that "spreading the field" and running thru the gaps is far more effective. Not always, of course, but for the vast majority of situations.

Please Les, please hire an OC that is current and familiar with the more diverse offensive schemes that are prevalent today. GO TIGERS!