Behind the Numbers: LSU v Auburn

by Poseur on Oct 27, 2009 9:20 AM CDT in Football Comment 7 comments

Before we move forward to Tulane, one last look at the Auburn game with this week's Behind the Numbers.

21/4.5/2.0. Kelvin Sheppard and Harry Coleman's combined tackles/tackles for a loss/sack defensive lines. Over the past few years, the one consistent criticism of LSU's defense has been that of the linebacker play. Even the best LSU defenses seemed to lack a dominant linebacker. Harry Coleman had a spectacular game, forcing a fumble on both of his sacks and forcing an incompletion that was very close to a third fumble. But Kelvin Sheppard was everywhere. Coleman made the highlight reel plays, but Sheppard made what seemed like every other play. Both of these linebackers had simply outstanding games. If I would have told you that linebacker would be a team strength in the preseason, would you have believed me?

1/9. Auburn's third down conversions in the first three quarters. Auburn turned it around a bit in the fourth and finally got their fourth down act together against the second stringers, but LSU's defense dominated on third down. LSU's defense, unlike against Florida, stopped drives.

9-86-1. Terrance Toliver's receiving numbers. He has become Jordan Jefferson's go to receiver. Brandon LaFell had a few key drops in the game (and still had a nice game), but Toliver caught 9 of Jefferson's 22 completions. His longest catch was only 14 yards, so a lot of those catches were those security blanket type of catches. Short catches for positive gains.

11-26. Charles Scott and Keiland Williams combined rushing numbers. That is not good, especially when you consider Scott gained 8 yards on his first carry. From that point on, LSU's running backs gained 18 yards on 10 carries, 9 of them by Scott. Guh.

4 for 5. Red zone efficiency has been a problem all year, so getting four scores on five trips to the red zone is major progress. Three of the four scores were touchdowns, which is even more progress. Looking ahead, LSU will need this kind of efficiency to beat Bama.

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Scott and Williams

Well, a lot of us complained that we aren’t a power rushing team, that we should be throwing more, etc. Careful what we wish for?

As far as the LB’s, one had to think our investment in Chavis was going to pay off before long.

by artiger on Oct 27, 2009 9:44 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Actually did some charting on Scott

He had 10 total carries for 20 yards…16 of those yards came on his 6 I-formation runs, and none of his runs out of that set lost yardage (he did have one carry for no gain). They need to get away from using him in the spread sets and get back to pounding him a little more.

I’m going to try and look at his I-runs versus other formation runs in the last few games if I get a chance. Jefferson’s TD passes all came from the I as well. See what happens when you break tendency a little, Mr. Crowton?

by Billy Gomila on Oct 27, 2009 11:11 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Pass protection

One thing I noticed was the time JJ had on several passes, including the two TD passes. He did get sacked a couple of times and got his bell rung on the last one, but he had plenty enough time on most pass plays. Is this due to a better scheme (play action, roll outs etc.) or better pass blocking or a bad Auburn pass rush? I’d sure like to think the first two with Alabama coming up.

by bcooper on Oct 27, 2009 2:21 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think a lot of it was scheme. Jefferson has been taking some absurdly deep drops, which makes it harder to block because the o-line couldn’t push the rusher behind the QB. There was no pocket to step into. Jefferson’s shorter drops helped the line out. Though Auburn’s d-line helped.

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by Poseur on Oct 27, 2009 2:56 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

That was another thing I noticed out of the I

Jefferson seemed to get through his drop, step and throw a lil faster then he tends to out of the shotgun. Now, that might be because most of the routes were intermediate-distance, so by the time he got back 5 steps it was time to throw, but it seemed to help put him in a rhythm.

Plus, 5 steps from under center is nowhere near as deep as shotgun plus another 2 or 3 steps. This is going to be big against Bama, because the key to beating Saban’s blitzes are usually quick slants or seem routes.

by Billy Gomila on Oct 27, 2009 3:27 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think..

It helps him through his progressions as well. While in shotgun you have to drop your focus to catch the ball, and that slight amount of time may be enough to cause doubt on his part. He is still looks more comfortable formations out of the shotgun than he is running the option at the moment.

At the end of the day

by Mikeno on Oct 27, 2009 7:24 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs