LSU v Georgia 10.25

LSU v. Georgia 10.25.08

Geez. I’m hard pressed to think of anything positive right now, a mere 10 minutes after the game has ended. I’ve just spent the last 3.5 hours yelling at the TV, my head hurts, and we got embarrassed – not a great combination.

Language Barrier
My mom chastised me for using “creative” language in the early minutes of the game, especially b/c my 88 year old grandmother was watching the game with us. Well, lo and behold if not just 5 minutes later Maw Maw is yelling her fair share of “colorful” language at the TV. So funny!

Shout Out
I have to give a shout out to Cole, who played O-line for the Tigers last year and let me wear his National Championship ring Thursday night. That was cool. Cole, you probably won’t like what you read below, but keep in mind, in spite of my critiques, I love the Tigers.

Pick 6
I think Colt David should give Lee his number - 6. It seems to be a favorite.

Charitable Giving
This is why Lee should wear the number six. Lee continued his charitable giving to the opponents with not one but two interceptions for touchdowns. The first play of the game – SERIOUSLY? Add in the other INT in the first half and you have a really giving QB. O and a side note, the first two INTs came on FIRST down.

QBe Damned
No doubt about it, our QBs are a real problem. I’m all for redshirting Jefferson, but the talk begins – should Miles lift the redshirt and take these bumps and bruises with our QB of the future? My tendency is to say yes. In the last few years, LSU has had great talent at QB, but only having them play for a year, maybe two. Let’s start from scratch and start young. Let JJ get a good feel of the game now – it’s not like he can struggle much more than Lee. Wouldn’t it be something for LSU to have a QB that started for 2.5+ years before he goes pro?

Block Somebody, ANYBODY!
For the love of all things purple and gold, will the O line PUH LEASE block someone? How many runs didn’t go anywhere, b/c we didn’t hit someone. Granted we had some key blocks on key plays, but how many others were blown up by the D b/c we can’t block them?

Kudos to the UGA O-Line
Young and Inexperienced – could have fooled me. Our D line didn’t get near enough pressure on Stafford. Their O line hung in there and opened some big holes for Moreno and gave more than enough time for Stafford to throw. Nice Job.

Coincidence? I Think Not
LSU lost by 14. We gave up 14 easy points to the defense. No coincidence about it.


Wanted: Headhunter
I realize we have some young DBs but I never could have imagined we would not be able to replace a hard hitting safety/sure tackler like Steltz. We do not tackle well in the secondary, we don’t “bring the wood” and hit hard, and we don’t cover well…0 for 3. Recipe for giving up 103 pts in two games (ok, ok, technically the defense only gave up 82 pts – at least 21 can be attributed to the offence and Lee’s generosity).

Coaching
As I’ve been saying for a few weeks, coaching decisions are killing us. I’m a Les Miles fan, but ultimately he’s responsible, b/c he’s the boss. This co-defensive coordinator thing doesn’t seem to be working. You would think b/t the two of them they could coach this inexperienced secondary and put them in a better position to make plays, but, more often than not, we are WAY out of position and can’t tackle. Offensively whoever coaches the QBs is not doing a good job with Lee. I realize he’s young and has a long way to go, but I’m a big believer of learning from your mistakes and not making the same mistake twice. That doesn’t seem to be a priority for our QBs. Lee continues to stare down receivers, throw off his back foot and misreading defenses – and that happens on completions!

Halftime Adjustments
Last week, this was good for us. This week not so much. In fact, we came out worse offensively and defensively.

Blah
Our special teams are not good. Colt David is a solid kicker, so he doesn’t count. Punting – awful. Kickoffs – less than mediocre. Return game – kickoff returns were ok, punt returns were non-existent. We did a good job covering kicks, but there are few bright spots here.

Fourth and Five
Just a thought – why not put Hatch in to pick up this critical fourth down. He gives us more options and even he can throw the ball far enough to pick up five. After 2 INTs do you really think Lee is in the frame of mind to step up and throw the big ball on a critical 4th down in the Red Zone? Strategically, I didn’t like the call.

Hatch Plays Well
He’s pretty steady, and does a good job with our running game. Too bad he can’t throw for crap. And the intentional grounding wasn’t his fault – it’s Crowton’s. Why are we throwing the ball with him anyway, when throughout the drive the running game was clicking? Especially with a drop back pass on a play that needs time to develop. Yeah, yeah, keep the defense off-balance, and all, but they looked pretty balanced on the rush.

Game Ball to Scott
Charles Scott came back from a mediocre game at S. Carolina to have a great day. He ran for over 140 yards and 2 TDs. He ran tough and got some good gains when we needed it. We saw some horrific blocking by the O-line, so more kudos to Scott for running that well, without much help.

Officials
Not so good. Several face mask no-calls, the huge third down play that was flagged for pass-interference but waived off b/c the ball was supposedly tipped at the line, forcing LSU to kick a field goal, instead of the automatic first down. That ball was not even close to being tipped. The TV commentators claimed that is actually a reviewable play, so the officials blew it twice on one play, since the booth didn’t call for a review.

Highlight of my Day
I early voted today and only waited in line for 20 minutes!

#5
Was it just me, or did Keiland look a little chunky and slow? He ran hard, but his speed wasn’t blazing. Not knocking the effort, just the donuts.


Good Luck
Good luck to Georgia this season. I like their team and Mark Richt. They looked good today, and next week’s match up with Florida will be enjoyable to watch. It’ll be nice to sit back and watch both teams play, without having to endure the heartache of LSU getting beat-down by one of them.

Style Points
Anyone who thinks this is a myth is kidding themselves. You can’t tell me that laying the hammer down and running up the score doesn’t help (USC last week?). Tulane is no N. Texas, but we need to return the favor of the beating we received against UGA and earn some style points, and maybe make “the team who shall not be named” a little apprehensive about playing us.