Uninspired
by Richard Pittman on Oct 13, 2009 6:18 AM CDT
in Football
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PrintWork has kept me from re-watching the game, so my comments are going to be more uninformed than they usually are. It took me a long time to figure out what bothered me so much about the Florida game, but I finally was able to put my finger on it. Read this from last week.
I'm going to just come out and say it. We don't need to win this game. A win would be a big boon to the team's psyche. It would put us firmly in the media spotlight and make people talk about us as a true national championship contender, but we in no way, shape, or form need to win this game. Win or lose, we control our destiny in the SEC West race. We will win the West if we win out after Florida, and we probably need to win out regardless of what happens this week. We are generally expected to lose, and our press reports suck out loud already, so unless we get blown out we aren't going to suffer in the media. All that combines to tell me that this is probably the least important game on our schedule.
On the other hand, a win sure would be great. A loss represents only a lost opportunity for a win, rather than a genuinely damaging result for the team. It's rare you can say that about a game, but this is one of those. We can come out and play a game against a good opponent with really no pressure on us to actually win. That's what the win against Georgia did for us. It gave us license to go into the Florida game loose, playing like a team with nothing to lose and everything to gain, because this time it is true.
And therein lies the problem. The team did not play loose. It did not play like a team with nothing to lose. It was, in fight, the tightest I've ever seen our offense play in memory. It was, in fact, a lost opportunity to develop team character, to be a fun and inspiring team to watch.
A team with nothing to lose doesn't leave Russell Shepard on the bench all game. A team with nothing to lose does not abandon the downfield passing game. A team with nothing to lose does not kick a field goal from inside the 1 yard line. A team with nothing to lose puts on a show, and if it must take the loss it does so with style and gusto.
The coaching staff appeared to be playing not to get blown out. It tried nothing innovative. It tried nothing to try to put the Florida defense off-balance, I suppose out of fear of making a big mistake. With Florida being bound and determined to play the game just as conservatively as they could, we had an opportunity to take advantage of their play by trying to pile up points quickly. Sure, it could have backfired and put us out of the game early, but so what? The game did not really matter.
Florida deserves credit for stopping our offense so thoroughly in the second half. It's not like they were passive actors in the game, but in a game where we were (let's face it) starting the race a couple steps behind our opponent, we took a tortoise approach when we should have been the hare. I am fairly disgusted with how that game played out, and it's mostly with the offensive game plan. Individual players did not help matters, but the game plan kept us in handcuffs all night.
We get a bye week now, and then a suspect Auburn team. I want to see this offense take on some life in that Auburn game. It's time it developed a personality, more than anything.
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I agree....
I keep going back to Shep. not even in the game for one play. Is he not averaging more yards per carry than any of the backs? I was under the impression that he might even be capable of a pass being a QB in high school. And I thought I saw Ruben Randle on the field but our timid QB
failed (at least six times) to get the ball down field much.
Maybe bring in Lee for one series? Anything in the third quarter to right the sinking offensive ship. Sorry guys I’m just frustrated at this point.
Opening things up...
You’re insane.
Would have made for a more exciting game and I worry if we negatively impacted any of the many recruits supposedly attending the game by playing close to the vest. But with our personnel, against that defense, with our inexperienced QB, it would have guaranteed a blow-out. As it was, we were one play away going into the fourth of tying the contest.
You really should watch the game again and count the number of drive-killing drops made by the receivers. You don’t have to look far. On the promising opening drive Tolliver drops a pass that would have converted third and 2 while putting us in field goal range. Instead we have to punt from midfield.
Throwing the ball downfield, to this cast of receivers, would have only resulted in shorter drives, more interceptions, more drops and more possession for Florida.
Scott should have made the TD on the second-down play. Instead he “settles” for a six yard gain running straight into the last defender. On third down, you’ll see that two LSU lineman are pushed four yards into the backfield almost immediately. The announcer was right, they were “blown up”. Unless you ask JJ to make an end zone pass I would say a turnover on downs is guaranteed.
Sure, it’s frustrating as hell to watch. But by keeping the score close, this young team’s psyche is protected and should be okay. Also, the polls show us only sliding to around #10. While you’re sure to rightfully scoff at any National Championship talk, we are nonetheless still in the picture at this position.
5-1 going into the bye with Auburn up next is not a bad thing at all.
Protecting the players psyche?
By showing little confidence in them to win the game? The coaching staff played tight and it trickled down to the players. I’m referring to the offensive side of the ball mainly.
Crowton and Miles blew this game from a philosophy and X’s and O’s standpoint. With the talent at their disposal this team should be able to at least score 14 points, even if it is against the ‘Gators’. This is LSU we’re talking about not Tennessee.
Offensive Rhythm vs. Offensive Spark
There is a recognized tension between the need for rhythm on offense and the need to “do something different” that better utilizes our many weapons. This seems to have replaced the debate over whether or not the offensive line is to blame for poor production. Judging only from the play calling and the post-game coaching comments, the winner in this debate right now seems to be rhythm.
The total number of offensive snaps appears to be a key variable in the number of snaps Shepard gets (Think back to Washington). I suspect that since JJ is our primary quarterback, this trend may continue as long as we’re winning games we should. This seems like a reasonable proposition as long as we do win those games. With two weeks off, Auburn should be a good indicator of how tightly the coaches are going to hold to the patterns they have established through the first half of the season.
This makes us the second SEC team to face Florida with the thought "let'
by 4.0 Point Stance on Oct 13, 2009 9:22 AM CDT reply actions
s not get blown out.
Both LSU and UT – in home games, no less – seemed so afraid of florida that their primary goal was to keep the score down and take respectable 10 point losses rather than risk losing by 4 TDs. I find it reprehensible.
I also wonder if a key moment of the game was Jefferson’s pick at the end of the half. It didn’t seem particularly important at the time. But maybe it shook him, as he came back scared in the second half. I, like many Tiger fans, suspect that the coaches have gotten Jefferson too worried about interceptions.
If you drill into his head that throwing a pick is worse than death, when he inevitably does throw one it will crush his confidence.
by 4.0 Point Stance on Oct 13, 2009 9:25 AM CDT up reply actions
While I do agree that the coaching was uninspired
Those players were ready to play. Trust me that was definitely visible first hand.
I totally agree
they were just put in a position to fail by the coaching staff. Offensively that is.
"It is What It Is"
It was less than uninspired
My problem is that LSU wasn’t playing to win. In person it didn’t even appear that they were trying to win with the plays they called and i can’t imagine it looked any different on tv. The ‘playing not to lose’ mentality is not going to inspire players and isn’t going to win many games. And it’s such a change from 2 years ago.
Actually, I think it's the opposite
I don’t know that there was this much analysis put into it, but Chris Brown at Smart Football has had some great articles on the strategy an underdog should take to win a game against a superior offense. Basically, Chris argues that a favorite should favor a strategy that lengthens the game and reduces the variance of outcomes by increasing the number of trials (plays) for it’s offense. Obversely, the underdog should pursue a strategy that shortens the game, on the assumption that fewer trials increases the overall variance of the outcomes and leaves more opportunity for upsets. Money quote:
As explained above, the higher variance and thus David-favoring strategy is to reduce the number of "trials" — i.e. plays. This is where a passing strategy and a strategy that involves "shortening the game and keeping it close" might run counter to each other. Incomplete passes typically stop the clock (I can’t keep the college clock rules in my brain anymore), as do plays where the ballcarrier goes out of bounds, which is more common on passes (same with the clock rules). If an underdog were to get an early lead, they obviously would love it if the game effectively ended right there. Yes, there is much to say about the problems inherent in not playing to lose and all that, but those are means questions, not ends. And all can agree that an underdog would love to get an early lead in a game against a favorite and have the clock run out as fast as possible.
Of course, the flaw in that strategy is that you can’t give the favorite a 64-47 play advantage and you do actually have to be able to score. Details, details.
CHAD JONES! WOOOO!!!!
That would be plausible..
If we take a Vanderbilt or a Kentucky into account, but that game was LSU vs. UF. On paper it is an even match-up. Also it seems as though the Gators were the ones playing minimal risk football, and I’m still not sure of what kind of game-plan the Tigers were using because the offense was really that bad.
Maybe I'm really dumb....
But I still think if LSU would have come to play football that they could have won that game. I really wanted to check the team to see if there was a pulse there. The offense did nothing the whole game except for a couple of drives and the Florida offense rushed all over our defense all day. Both sides of the line were blown away. By the way, got a q for everyone. They said in the game on Sat that Les Miles said the offensive line is the strongest he’s had yet since bieng at LSU. If such is the case, then why is our quarterback being sacked so much? Seems to me if the line was the strongest we have had yet that our quarterback should be in good hands with a line that could protect him. We’ve got a great team, but they have to start playing LSU football and quit being so scared of making a mistake. You make a mistake, you make a mistake, but you have to play. You make mistakes and the other team makes mistakes. It’s life and it’s football. All goes back to the same ole scenario. Most of these players played in the game against Georgia Tech last year and blew them away. Where is that team? We need them now.
Uninspired....
I soooo agree with you. But how can our buys play with any kind of heart when they know they can do better, they have the talent to do better and yet, the calls aren’t given. You have talent being left on the bench, they’re being forced to play way too conservatively. There was no reason why we couldn’t have left the game against FL with a 6-0 season to date. Not with the way FL was playing, for sure!! You could tell Tebow was timid about playing and he shouldn’t have been in that game, atleast not for the entirity. But I guess it was good for us that he was, giving the was he way playing… anyone else might have really buried us. Plus, I hate that our Saturday night, home-turf winning steak is over. But maybe that’s just me!! Nuff Said!!
IT'S ALL ABOUT THE FOOTBALL, BABY!! GEAUX TIGERS!!
They have to unleash them.
When you have the talent LSU has, you practice hard, drill them, fire them up, and let them loose. That’s how you win football games. Go back to 2007, they took chances, they won games. Last year was a rough year, we had all young guys, but most have been around at least a year now, let them loose a little more, fire them up, give them something to believe in, You keep them cornered, they lose their spirit and there is no fire.
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