Post Game Chatter: The Auburn Game

I am not an lsu fan , but when you talk about the quarterback jefferson about how he sucks playing, hell did you not see the sorry ass lee playing also, all because all of the rednecks hate to see a black quarterback at lsu, hell, thats right, tell your sorry coach to get some balls and play one quarterback, what is it with you people, its a dam game that you hate to see blacks play anyway at any level, pro, high school, or college.

is out in force and in full bloom today. Why do they persist? He’s not going anywhere and won’t till about 2014 or so. It’s such a useless meme.

Now Crowton needs to be fired at the end of the season. Stud too. It’s been three years of this dysfunctional BS and it’s past time. The excuses are gone and there is no way our talent is close to the 100 mark in the country. Goodbye Gary, nice knowin’ ya. And if the rumor about GC being here because LSU did not want to pay his buyout then I would not want Alleva hiring a new coach anyway. That would make him Joe Dean II.

About the game we were basically beaten by two players. We could not handle Newton on D and Fairley on O. Period. It wasn’t scheme, we had guys in position all day on D that did not make plays, took horrid angles, and could not get off blocks. Our safety play was horrid in run support. Pass D was good. On offense we did not often put our players in position to make plays and when we did they usually didn’t make them. The WR’s and TE can’t catch. This has been a continual problem for years. The whole O staff minus Wilson could go after the season and be replaced. No loss there.

We won’t see the likes of Newton again. Not even Ingram will give us that kind of problem. The guys that could catch him couldn’t take him down and the ones that could take him down couldn’t catch him. His mismatch created all of the space for their other players. Fairley was a different matter. We made no adjustments to handle him and even ran the ball straight at him on the last series. Sometimes you have to wonder where our O staffs heads are?

But we’re 7-1 and likely 10-2 or 9-3. It takes at least an offseason for Les to figure out how to fix something so changes will be coming in the offseason. Of course something else may well get broken too.

And give the Robinson guy a raise. Preferably from the money Alleva saved from not buying our Crowton.

well, lets see; We got hammered with their running game, gave up over 500 yards of total offense, our WR’s couldnt catch their own ass with 2 hands, our Qbs had no time to throw, and Superman was under center for the other team.
 
 Yet, the game was tied with 5:05 remaining. One busted play later and we are down, with still a chance to tie/win the game. I watched the game with several friends and 3 Auburn fans (realtives, couldnt be helped), and the Auburn group were extremely nervous when we got the ball back. All I hear is how we got mauled, yet we lost the game by one late busted TD run.

This is just another weird piece of the 2010 season puzzle…

btw, my personal opinion, Auburn will lose to ’Bama.

I loved the way this team fought. My wife thought LSU was playing horrible everytime AU got a first down, but realistically having watched Cam play all year I knew how tough it was going to be, and even though he piled on yards we were still in the game at the end with a chance to tie.
1)Special teams as a whole were magnificent. I’ve never seen that many punts inside the 10 like that.
2)Defense missed a lot of tackles, though I thought the scheme was sound. I kind of saw it coming with some of the success both MSU and UF had with similiar looks in spurts. I think Montgomery would have helped ALOT in this game; in addition, Hatcher’s inability to tackle anybody was very disappointing. I thought Loston stepped in nicely 2nd half.
3)Offensively I thought our OL was lacking in pass blocking, but they were blowing AU backwards early on. It seems we abandonned Ridley in the 2nd half for some reason. I will say if you’re an OLineman and you’re zone blocking you CANT block Fairley with your arm while looking to someone else, I believe you have to commit to blocking HIM. TT just needs to really concentrate on his catches. He’s a senior he should expect more from himself and he probably does.

Lastly, AU just found a way to win, which is a sign of a good football team. I think if that game is played in BR then it is a different result. I’m proud that our guys played hard and gave maximum effort, and if your team does THAT then losses like this are just overall easier to accept. GEAUX TIGERS beat ’BAMA!

They deserve it.

That said, I absolutely hated Chavis’ ‘game plan’, which was nothing more than to stay in his base defense, blitzing here & there with a shell zone behind it. Chavis is ‘my guy’ – I lobbied for him and I’ll stand behind him. That said, he’s not immune to mistakes and this was one of them.

First off, by sticking to our base, Auburn out manned us – as many or more blockers playside as we had defenders. This happened all night long – on sweeps, draws, option reads, etc.

Secondly, we tried to play the option conventionally, squeezing down by the end and sending LBs to the outside. That was bad – Auburn started blocking the DE or LB, reading other players, and killing us. That lead to our guys trying to ‘decide’ who to take – trying to read the ball and follow it, which is exactly what an option offense wants you to do.

Thirdly, not aggressive enough. Breaking down to make a tackle was the wrong thing to do, as when our defenders tried to break down, Cam was already by them. Our LBs were not flowing downhill, sitting back flat footed instead. When we did blitz, we played a ‘safe’ soft shell zone – why?! We have absolutely wonderful corners and Cam has not shown pinpoint passing – man up and send more – don’t leave open receivers underneath for easy pitch & catch sessions! On top of that, if they are going to double / triple / hold Nevis all night, you HAVE to send the bodies and take advantage of it.

All summed up, it was simply a horrible approach defensively and we paid the price.

Offensively…. I don’t want to talk about that…. The only thing I will say is that our O-line is still not where it needs to be; not for an average team, much less a title contender. They got their asses whooped.

auburn was the better team for sure so a W for the bengal tigers would have been the burglary of the season. if the score weren’t on the screen, any viewer would have assumed we were getting dominated on the scoreboard because, well, we were getting dominated on the field. They will likely be #1 in the BCS when the poll comes out tonight. All in all, losing to one of the best teams in the country is not a reason to rend your tunic. And yet, we were absolutely in the game for 3 and 3/4s quarters despite the aforementioned manhandling, our inconsistency on offense and looking like hot garbage trying to arm tackle the love child of a rhino-cheetah-sequoia threesome. Hell, we might have screwed around and won it if it weren’t for some next level ignorance after that TO. It’s one loss. Should I go ahead and make my reservations for Dallas or is that too presumptuous when our team can’t EVEN GET THE RIGHT PERSONNEL ON THE FIELD 8 GAMES INTO THE SEASON IN A GAME DEFINING DRIVE AGAINST A HUGE RIVAL? /facepalm+gnashing of teeth+weeping of crocodile tears

LSU 13 in the coaches. can’t say i’m surprised, but i’m am a little put off that they dropped us below nebraska, who lost by double digits to a not very good texas team. Not that it matters a whole lot

Tex I think you said it best!

 we are looking this Qb issue straight in the face again next season. Two headed monster at best, even if we bring in the Ga transfer..Watching the Green Bay/MInny game on Sunday night, I almost cried when Matt Flynn hit the field, knowing with that one player right there we could be in line for a NC this year…

A very interesting read. I actually agree with you on most of it with some things to add since last week’s game.

I read the other day where one of the Auburn guys said they had LSU’s game plan figured out by the second half and basically came after them which was obvious.
On Miles, since the 2007 season, he has not had the ability to win the big games that matter. They do ok on most of the teams they play, but when it gets down to the powerhouse teams in the conference, they fade. If it was one year or one game, I’d say perhaps it was the players where the team was lacking, but going on three years of the same, I’d have to say it’s the coaching. LSU has the talent on both sides of the ball, but predictable play calling by Miles and Crowton has really made it easier for other teams to figure out what they are playing.
 
On the quarterback situation, they are not playing the quarterbacks to their strengths and are trying to make them run plays they are not qualified to run. I am a firm beleiver that if LSU had a solid quarterback they would be number one and would be crushing teams this year including Auburn last weekend. The defense is tired. They have been carrying the load. I said before the Auburn game that the offense was going to have to step up because there would be a time when the defense would not be able to carry them. Had the offense been productive, LSU would have beat Auburn. The problem with our quarterback system is Crowton is still trying to run it as he would back when we had a qualified quarterback, but since these guys have not been able to get to that next level as of yet, I would say one or two things, either they are not quarterback material or the coaching on quarterbacks has been extremely poor. The other thing that alarms me is the offense cannot get balanced. Last year, more pressure was put on Jefferson because LSU had no running game for the most part which is the blame on the most part for not having a strong offensive line. This year that was corrected on the most part, now they have no passing game. In order to to be successful on either side of the ball, there has to be balance. If a team has a balanced offense, it keeps defenses off balance because they know the offense has the ability to run and pass. Likewise on defense, the defense has to have the ability to shut down the run and keep the pass game in check. On the most part LSU has done that on defense through most of the games this year.

They have a very tough game coming up against Alabama in a week. As the offense is limited due to the problems they are having at quarterback, I would suggest to use both quarterbacks to their strengths and make plays that are not predictable but playable for them to be able to achieve them. As Jefferson is a strong running and roll out or short option passes, use him in those circumstances, but balance it out to keep the defense on their toes. Likewise, with Lee being a pocket passer, drill them with a strong running game up the middle as it is going to be virtually impossible to run on the outside against Alabama and set up plays where he does pass that he is comfortable making. Trying to get these guys to do things are not capable of doing is what has hurt the offense. I’m not sure if their progress has been limited in their real abilities or in the fact that whoever is doing the quarterback coaching is not doing their job. I know that Matt Flynn was not the best quarterback in the league, but he had the ability to get things done when they needed to get done. The same went with Russell even though he didn’t do too well in the pros. I think anyone with common sense is you evaluate the talent that you have at every position and use that talent in ways plays to their strengths in order to win ballgames.

On defense, with them not playing against a quarterback at Cam’s potential(thank God….LOL) I would suggest strongly going back to what has worked for them all year. If the offense can put up points and the defense plays up to their potential as they have all year except in the second half against North Carolina and the Auburn game last week, LSU should be able to beat Alabama. Irregardless of what anyone says, Alabama is not the team they were last year. They are a very good team no doubt with one of the best coaches in the game, but they are beatable. LSU is still very much alive. They have another week to make the corrections. I would also suggest using Shepard more on the wildcat and put the ball in his hands more. He’s accustomed to playing the quarterback position so it would be nothing new to them. They have some of the best receivers in the country, but they can’t be factor if they don’t get the ball. If they will use the quarterbacks to their strengths, the receivers will become more involved in the game and will become more of a factor. LSU’s poor rankings on offense the last couple of years is beyond ridicalous with the talent they have. I totally hold both Miles and Crowton responsible for this. I’m not saying LSU should have been undefeated over the last two and a half years, but some of the losses and some of the close games such as with Tennessee this year and loss at Ole Miss last year is definitely a breakdown on the coaching end. It honestly seems to me that the coaching staff at LSU outside of Chavis and special teams coach has become very lax on the most part. Yes defense wins championships, but offense wins games. If you don’t have both, you’re in trouble already. LSU’s defense is very good, but even they have off days and can get beat around the field as Auburn showed last week and North Carolian showed in the second half of the first game. A good offense with no defense can’t win cause you have to be able to stop opponents, likewise, a good defense with no offense can’t win. You may stop teams 90% of the time, but there comes a time when the offense has to step up and do their part as well. All in all, if LSU can balance out and straighten out what has been going wrong, they should go the rest of the season without losing another game, but it is to be seen. Up to this point, I’m pretty disgusted as we are now at week 9 and through week 8, the offense has had very little life. As sad as it is, I don’t expect any difference in week ten or week 13. If the corrections haven’t been made at this point, I don’t look for them to be made at all. Let’s hope someone in charge will wake up and get some heat where it needs to be, on Miles and then on down the line. It will get to the point that the better players will not want to go to LSU and play if they are not confident that the program will be a winning program. Everyone loves to win and the better players will go to schools where not only can they make a difference, but they will see W’s and championships, not losses and boos even when you do win. To put it in a nutshell, the Auburn game was coming, it was only a matter of time. I’m surprised they only lost by 7. It very well could have been by 50 with the poor play on both sides of the ball and while I am saying this, what in the world happened to the offensive line? They were horrific. Those quarterbacks should not have been getting hit that many times irregardless of who was on defense. Yes they were whipped and soundly, but honestly, had LSU played up to their potential, the game would have been closer and better all of the way around. Auburn beat them before they ever played because everyone was so focused on Cam Newton and his abilities. Poor game plan all the way around on both sides of the ball. Very good article. Thanks for sharing.