All in all my sentiments exactly.

It should take some players heads size down a notch and get them working hard for Vandy. A couple of things I have not seen noted other places:
1) There was really no way to prepare for UW and their brand new coach. No way to predict tendencies and be aggressive on defense, so the defense had to be pretty conservative. After we got burned once, we went conservative. And it worked.
2) UW skill players QB, WR, and RB are very good players and will probably play at the next level.
3) Charles Scott does not fit into the LSU spread offense philosophy. The offense is very predictable and unimaginative when he is in the game. I think our coaches may have overestimated our ability to just line up and run the ball. Handing off to Scott again and again just makes the rest of the offense less potent and removes the advantage of flexibility that the spread option and the Wizard are always talking about.

The coaches should have ample amount of film and motivation to get the team ready for the SEC opener. Should be a long week of hard work for the team and that is perfect. The ugly win will ultimately benefit the LSU team and coaches more than a rent a win blowout in the opener. Good game. Go to work coaches and players.

He is an outstanding North and South power runner. He is an outstanding blocker and catches the ball pretty well. In a traditional power I offense, he would completely flourish. It is really hard to defend the number of carries he got last night versus his production.

I agree with many of these points, especially the disappointment of not seeing Shepard. Why in the world would we not try that kid at punt returner??? With all the supposed talent we have, and yet, does anyone really fear that we’re ever going to take one of those back to the house? Love Holliday on KO returns, but he has trouble with the punts apparently, since we always play it safe with CJ.

Is it just me, or does it get old that we never seem to be able to hammer a decent opponent even with the our supposed talent superiority? I’m thinking the VT game in 07 was the last time not counting a Bowl Game. So I’m agreeing with the Killer Instinct point totally.

I watched some of the Bama game and in comparison, we better toughen up quick before we get to SEC play. They flat out looked strong and they flat out bring it. I fear we’re watching the power shift before our eyes and it absolutely stinks.

And I’m not getting this defense thing, either. What is going on when we can’t TACKLE? How can we not know what UW was going to do? Sark had been coaching USC for years! Pop in a tape for crying out loud! And yes, there were some hits, and PP was amazing, but I guarantee you, we got more than we gave and we’re lucky they’re still used to losing.

I think it was better than “well enough” Poseur. His ATVS rating was over 10 (according to Richard), which is really good, and just eyeballing him he looked really good. He threw away a lot of passes in places where your typical 19 year old usually does something fucktarded. His accuracy was good. It seems that he was kept out of the fray for most of the first half, and when the coaches let him loose is when the offense started clicking.

The only really stupid thing he did was when he briefly thought he was Tim Tebow, and decided to power over UW defenders. He can’t do that — even though he may have given that poor kid from UW a concussion, that just isn’t something we need from him. He’s gonna have to get on the ground.

If he keeps up play like this I think we may have the third best qb in the SEC. And he’s only a sophomore. Small sample size I know, but I’m pretty hopeful.

(Since this seems to be a topic of discussion.)

(1) He’s not as pass rush heavy as what you’re probably used to seeing. The defensive line will probably play more contain defense than the chainsaw variety you grew accustomed to over Dorsey years.

(2) He loves the soft zone. You will see the prevent defense when you have the lead.

(3) There’s a phenomenon we used to call “Third and Chavis”, where long 3rd down plays seem to be converted at an alarmingly high rate. This is largely due to the soft zone.

Having said that, when the end of the year gets here, chances are you will be very pleasantly surprised to see where the defense ranks. Last year, the Vols were one of the top 5 defenses in the country, despite being on the field for practically all of the time due to a nonexistent offense.

The oddest thing about Chavis is that you won’t have a clue how his defenses fared so well when the year ends. They’ll be top-flight in statistics and you won’t remember it. It works, and with the homegrown talent available, there’s absolutely no reason it can’t continue to work.

Oh, and last year, he handled the Florida offense quite nicely. The loss was not on the defense by any means. I think you’ll be happy he’s there with your annual interdivisional matchup.