LSU v Tennessee - Game 7

Week 7: LSU v Tennessee

I feel like I didn’t watch this game…but I did. While enjoying good food/drinks with the fam, I watched what was a fairly uninteresting game. Sure I had a few outbursts, and have a few frustrations (aired below), but I had trouble focusing on watching the game. Too many other distractions were a much better option (eating, drinking, pretty weather, YouTube, nephew, etc). But it beat the hell out of listening to the game on the radio again!

Last Year is OVER

How many times did they show last’ years, “too many men on the field” finish? Yes, TN lost and shouldn’t have. Yes, our QB was clueless and still is, but this is a new year. Move on because we just handled up on the Vols and didn’t even play or coach well. I bet they don’t replay the final score of the 2011 game the next time we meet up with the Vols, so lets just move on.

Jarrett Lee

Let me be the first to say Thank You for your hard work and smart, steady play. As you fade into oblivion, passed over, yet again, for Miles’ “Chosen One”, please know that I think you’re our best bet for a National Title/Win over Bama. I will never forget you…

Spencer Ware

Unstoppable beast. No, I do not believe he’s the best back in the country, but I do believe he’s right up there. He has a motor that doesn’t quit and he’s lighting up any LB/DB who dares take him on head to head. The collisions he instigates are fierce, and he’s always falling forward for positive yards. Can’t say enough about this guy.

Chavis

I will not call this man a cry-baby. Yes, his emotions finally caught up with him and unfortunately he teared up in front of the media. I see nothing wrong with a man who cries, especially when its obvious how much being back at Tennessee and beating the Vols meant to The Chief. We are lucky to have such a great schemer, but even luckier to have a person with a genuine love of the game as our defensive coach.

Jefferson’s Playing Time

As I’ve said before, I am not opposed to Jefferson being inserted as change of pace QB, as his running ability is a valuable weapon, but enough is enough. Starting him in the second half…inexcusable. Look, the guy comes in, never really “reads” the option, just keeps it himself, throws balls so hard at his receivers he’s lucky they don’t ricochet to the defense. His passing ability resides somewhere between “O Crap!” and “What were you thinking?”, making the offense completely one-dimensional with him behind center. He continues to struggle with clock/game management and just doesn’t have “it”. I am concerned about his increased playing time and what that means for Jarrett Lee and ultimately, this team’s title chances. I don’t have faith in Jefferson not to screw it up and it is not fair for Lee to have the worst kind of mop-up duty ever. As Lee Corso said last week, “if it ain’t broke…”

Tyrann Mathieu

Stop Talking. Let your play speak for itself. You have played really great football, aside from your amazing plays, but you worry so much about smack talking and highlight reels you got beat, dragged and handled up on. One tackle doesn’t do much for your honey badger reputation, but only 1 tackle hurt your team even more. Focus on being a shut down corner and the plays will come. The Vols are held to a FG if there isn’t early contact by Mathieu in the end zone on third down. Sure, it was a good play on the ball, but you have to take the good (praise) with the bad (criticism) and that was not acceptable. Possibly a worse play was allowing the TN receiver to gain 15+ yards with TM hanging on to him. Instead of tackling, TM allowed a first down trying to make the strip. I’m glad he had his mediocre performance against TN and got that out of the way.

Lackluster

I was unimpressed with LSU’s level of effort against the Vols. Sure, we beat them by 31, and held them to a TD, but overall it was pretty boring. We got NO pressure on Sims, our DBs got beat on occasion, our offense looked out of rhythm at times, and our coach made questionable decisions. I just hope it was an “off” week for everyone because we out-talented Tennessee, but we won’t have that advantage in the next few weeks.

Bright Spots

Mo Claiborne’s interception was very nice and Ware ran the ball well. I thought Jefferson had a few nice runs too. But against the Vols, I really hoped for some standout plays and just a few days later, I can’t remember any.

Challenge: Fail

Why in the hell did Miles challenge TN’s extra point? And lose a valuable timeout with 2:30 left in the half? Just silly. Us “@ home” viewers commented how ugly the kick was but after 1 replay there was no denying the kick squeaked through. Miles’ explanation was ridiculous (he thought it had the same look as a kick from when he coached at another school…at least 8 years ago) and the price we had to pay for that one measly point, a time out, probably cost us a touchdown before the half. Sure, it didn’t matter in this game, but it could matter in several games to come, and I worry that the Tiger coach is falling into a winner’s trap – thinking his decisions are invincible.

Here we go again

Deplorable clock management rears its ugly head once again. Before this week, there were a few close calls (all with Jefferson at the helm), but nothing as poor as Saturday. If you’re going to change QBs, do it…don’t screw around until there’s hardly any time left on the play clock. The one thing I despise more than field goals is burning time outs unnecessarily.

Dooley’s Pants

Who told Dooley those bright orange pants would look good on him? I bet his mother goes on the radio denying any insinuations that she picked them out for her little boy.

Soapbox

Why, on all of the nation sports websites, when a picture of an LSU player is used, it’s always Jordan Jefferson? LSU takes over #1 in the AP poll – Jefferson. LSU ranked #1 in the first BCS poll, Jefferson’s mug shot. Really? He’s had little impact on our #1 ranking, yet he’s the face of the Tigers. Unbelievable. This guy hasn’t even played the enough snaps to total a whole game, and the only photo of him that should be making headlines is/was his mugshot. It’s a gross misrepresentation of this Tiger team that is 7-0 and a great injustice to the players who stayed out of trouble and have earned the Tiger’s their #1 rankings. Is Miles’ Jefferson obsession sprinkled in the Kool Aid being passed around in the Fox Sports newsroom? Has ESPN run out of free shoes to give its reporters and is trying to get in Jefferson’s good graces to borrow a few pairs? If anything, show this squad as a unit, a team, and not single any one person out, especially the guy that has clearly indicated that all he’s worried about is himself.

Vols Receivers

On both of the interceptions that Sims threw, I really thought the TN WRs had plenty of time to make a defensive play on the ball, to thwart the Tiger INT. Instead, I marveled at their lack of effort to help their struggling QB out. Shouldn’t that be WR 101?

Saints

Finally an afternoon game for the Saints, but of course, I had something better to do than watch the game. An afternoon hanging out with some fun folks, shooting skeet on a pretty day, while listening to some football on the radio after a BBQ is pretty much the perfect Sunday. Sure, it could have been a few degrees cooler, and it would have been nice to hit at least one target, but I still had fun and I found my new favorite weapon of choice for shooting skeet – Ruger 20-gauge over/under. Lock and load.

OUCH

Didn’t see it live but saw the replay of Sean Payton’s painful sideline crash. Broken leg and torn ligaments…no fun. I wish him all the best.

Ouch 2

The Saints lost to the Bucs. There goes our commanding lead of the NFC South.

QB #2…Again

It looks like LSU’s string of playing against the backup QB stays alive again this week. This time, though, it’s because this QB’s play has been better than the #1 guy, not because of an injury to the #1 guy. Auburn is winning some games on good fortune and a nose for the football. That’s a scary combination.

Prediction

Auburn isn’t exactly a threat to repeat as a National Champ, but another lackluster performance by the LSU squad won’t beat this team. I’m going to pretend LSU comes out sharper, and more focused than last week, and is feeling that excitement to play the “next best thing” out of the state of Alabama this year. I think LSU prevails, but has some serious resistance along the way. LSU 30, Auburn 13.