LSU @ Auburn: Initial Thoughts

by Richard Pittman on Sep 20, 2008 10:25 PM CDT in Football Comment 7 comments

WHOOO!! WHOOO!!! WHOOOO!!!!!!!!! WHOOOO!!!!!!

That's my first thought. My second thought is:

YEAAAHHHH!!!!! YEAAAHHH!!!!!!

What a game by Jarrett Lee. He goes out there and stinks it up for his first 3 possessions, then when the team absolutely needs him, he goes out there and plays a very solid game.

I think we saw the maturation of a quarterback tonight.

If you remember this post about seeing Hatch and Lee doing interviews, you remember that my thoughts were that Lee appeared to have the confidence and body language of a top notch athlete. I'm not going to take any credit for predicting anything like this to happen, because clearly I did not, but I can't say it surprises me that he came in showed moxie despite his early struggles.

I don't want to make this post into The Jarrett Lee Show, because the game was won by the defense and by Charles Scott, who proved his doubters (including myself) that he is an elite SEC back.

The defense was outstanding, doing everything that could be asked of them. Yes, they allowed some yards and some points, but they stuffed the run and made Auburn pass the ball. When you pass a lot, you throw interceptions and/or end up in long yardage situations a lot.

You have to hand it to our punters as well. We thought this was a worry spot, and they were very very good, averaging 48 yards per kick, not giving up any touchbacks, and not giving up a return of any consequence.

This team now has the inside track to take the SEC West. We've gotten over the biggest hurdle, a road game against Auburn. Now we have to take care of business against the rest of the SEC West (that Bama game looks bigger and bigger all the time, doesn't it?) and not implode against the East and we should be fine.

More thoughts later.

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Lee

That guy went from the most unpopular person in Louisiana to a god in the span of an hour. Incredible game.

by Poseur on Sep 20, 2008 10:28 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

A god might be stretching it..

..but he certainly had a heck of a 2nd half. Good on him. I hope he builds on it and becomes the QB we’ve been hoping for.

Richard Pittman

by Richard Pittman on Sep 20, 2008 10:58 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I really thought the game was over when lee had to come back in

Major props to:
Lee (way to step it up. clutch performance in the second half)
Scott
Colt David
LaFell (not too worried about him having the drops anymore.. huge game)
Dline
Oline (second half)
Dalfrey (great punts. no touchbacks)
Chris Hawkins really stepped up.
Quinn Johnson looked like he had some great blocks

by nepomo on Sep 20, 2008 11:06 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Great game all around

Even the things we did wrong I’m not that upset about (except the interception, which I’ll have more on later). When we gave up points, it was because Auburn made plays, not because we made mistakes. Hey, sometimes a good team makes plays against another good team. I’m not upset about McCray giving up that touchdown. He was beaten by a step by a good receiver, and the throw was perfect. Alright, the throw to Hawthorne that set it up was kind of crazy, and I don’t know what happened on it.

Richard Pittman

by Richard Pittman on Sep 20, 2008 11:11 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

And yeah,

I thought it was over too when Lee came in.. and all those guys had great games. Lafell came up huge in the 2nd half and proved once again that he is our best receiver. Chris Mitchell got his first career touchdown (can you believe that?). Jared Mitchell made some key plays late. The secondary really looked good. I don’t care if they gave up yards, they looked pretty darn good.

I don’t have any complaints about this game right now. We’re a flawed team that played an imperfect game and still came up with a HUGE win on the road. HUGE.

I hope Hatch is OK, because we still need him.

Richard Pittman

by Richard Pittman on Sep 20, 2008 11:14 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

The O-line and Scott were awesome....

Scott’s vision really has improved so much since last year. The O-Line played awesome, but I think it is great to see how a RB’s vision can make good blocking look even better. I only wish we had gotten Scott a few more touches, but that is minor.

What an awesome game!

by Zandor435 on Sep 21, 2008 12:04 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I still can't believe that the Tigers won ...

It’s still a little surreal to me. Perhaps when the rankings come out and I see that LSU is still undefeated, it will sink in.

I know that we are looking forward to the Florida game … but we’ve got Mississippi State up next, and they were able to hold the War Eagles of Auburn to a field goal. Don’t be misunderestimatin’ Sylvestor Croom’s team.

by .ryan on Sep 21, 2008 1:29 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs