On the Cusp of... Something

Ridley is averaging 5.8 yards per carry on the year but had 4 ypc against Mississippi State. By contrast, Keiland Williams and Charles Scott rushed for a combined 15 attempts and 35 yards against them last year. I disagree about him being a I agree with you about him being a mediocre running back or our team not having the personnel to be a run first team. Ridley averaged 9.8 ypc against Vanderbilt.

Most of that came in the second half. There wasn’t anything wrong with the plays called. Jordan’s best pass that game was poorly placed but completed to Spencer Ware. It should have been a TD but Jefferson was a little off on an easy throw. Whether it was a slant or swing pass out to the flat, he was off the mark. He can’t distribute the balls in those kind of plays accurately and quickly enough to make the offense work. So we can either try someone who can do that consistently or simplify things a bit. Roll him out of the pocket to give him an easier decision and allow him to be more comfortable with the pressure. More importantly, we are better off sticking to the running game and keeping the defense honest with play action, bubble screens or whatever type of route will keep teams from stacking the box. But going into that game, Ridley averaged more yards per carry than Trent Richardson.

The key to this year in general is eliminating negative plays. I don’t want to see any rushing plays stuffed at the line. That was way too frequent last year. Ridley has consistently gained positive yardage which helps keep a drive going.

Lastly, Jordan Jefferson had over 200 yards passing last year but most were on 3 plays. Something always happened to cause things to stall out or we quickly scored a touchdown. This resulted in MSU running 86 plays to our 58. We need to take advantage of our defense and eat up more clock, dominate field position, and eliminate turnovers.

… which I don’t agree with BTW, he did it, so it counts. But okay. Let’s grant the premise. Take away his biggest run (65 yards) and he’s rushed 35 times for 175 yards. An average of 5.0 yards per carry. That’s ahead of Charles Scott’s 4.7 YPC. Keiland averaged 5.26 YPC last season, and he only had one run over 20 yards in 70 atrtempts.

Last year, as a team, LSU only had 8 runs over 20 yards.LSU, through 3 games, has 4 rushes over 20 yards this season, two by Ridley. His 65 yard rush is twice as longas any run by Scott or Williams last seaosn (season longs of 34 and 25 respectively). I fail to see how this is a bad thing.

I do agree that Jefferson needs to do more, but Ridley is already more productive than both of our top two backs last season. While I agree that Jefferson needs to improve, Ridley does not. I’m fine with 5.0 YPC, throwing out the occassional 65 yard run.

ESPN has ridley with 55 attempts for 355 yards this year. So 54 – 290 would be 5.37. I do like the idea of measuring hoe much one long run skews that average just as a possible way to look at how consistent they are. My big thing is that too often, runs put JJ in a bad spot by not picking up any yardage. What i like about Ridley is that he is not one of those all it nothing backs but still has the ability to pick up some longer gains.

I do think WVU will score between 21 to 28 points—I hope not but they have a lot of experience and good skill players, so I think we will need to open it up on offense a little more to win getting closer to that 50/50 mark which as you said and I agree with is where we need to be to make a run at the West.

I apologize. I was trying to type and entertain a 3 year old at the same time. Quality decreases.

I still stand by my larger point, though. We can beat the MSU’s and VU’s (and Ole Miss’s and Tennessees) of the world as we currently stand, but I don’t think we are serious contenders unless and until our passing game improves. Plus, we are leaving a lot of yards/points on the table by failing to take advantage of our talent at the outside.

Jefferson had a good game this week. If he can really improve and sustain it, look out, because we’ll be a threat to anyone.

I agree with you 100%.

JJ was much better, when we dumbed things down for him. Which leads to the question, why did we ever make it more complex? Thanks Gary…

The biggest problem here is that the only hole in Bama’s armor is their DB’s. If we are going to beat Bama we are going to have to throw it. As of right now, we are not there. Improvement is great, but we need to pick up the pace.