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The Tigers got hit with a New-tron bomb. Get it? I hate myself.
Well that was...
Well...it just...was, I guess.
Honestly there isn't a ton to say about the effort - Auburrn was the better team really. In these situations, LSU fans tend to focus on everything that went wrong and forget about the other 11 guys from the other school. And that's not to say our Tigers didn't shoot themselves in the foot a couple of times. But the bottom line on this game is that Auburn simply beat LSU at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. Period, end of story.
But on to the Sunday viewer's guide.
- Well, now you see why we kept telling you that LSU had to keep both quarterbacks. On a day that Jarrett Lee had almost no time throw and wasn't making the most of the time he had, Jordan Jefferson was the only thing about the offense that worked. Not as a passer, but he was running hard and decisively. Those misdirected QB runs seemed to be the only thing that could counteract all the penetration Nick Fairley and company got in the second half.
- Speaking of Fairley - he's earned the SEC defensive lineman championship belt as of today. He made life miserable for all three of LSU's interior linemen at different times on Saturday. He disrupted P.J. Lonergan to the point that he had snapping issues, and consistently bull-rushed past Josh Dworacyzk and T-Bob Hebert. Even split double teams. A-gap pressure is one of the fastest ways to disrupt an offense. LSU was counting on getting it from Drake Nevis, and wound up getting a taste of its own gameplan.
- You know, I'm fairly certain the one thing John Chavis harped on more than anything, when it came to Cam Newton. Do not try and tackle him high. Go for his legs and wrap up. The LSU front seven must have thought Saturday was opposite day.
- A lot of people are riding the Chief for the lack of blitzing, but with this kind of misdirection offense, when it's a run down (and Auburn was rarely in obvious pass situations) reading and reacting are the fundamentally sound ways to go, or you risk blitzing one way and watching a back run the other. And honestly the way Newton was shrugging off tacklers, all it would have done is open up more running lanes.
- It's easy to pile on Gary Crowton on a day like this, and it's hard to get any sort of play-call right when your offensive line can't block. But the second drive of this game was a great example of what has been so frustrating the last two years. Five straight runs right down the field into Auburn territory - followed by a pass. And a quick-screen, the very pass Jefferson has struggled with the most this season. It of course was incomplete and now LSU's behind the chains, and when the second down run gets stuffed you're in the very situation you DON'T want to be in. Is it so wrong to run the same play a few times in a row if it's working?
- Terrance Toliver is a classic case of the flaw of amateur scouting. You can be the biggest, fastest and most athletic prospect there is. But if you want to play wide receiver you have to be able to catch the ball with your hands. Not with your body, with your hands. And that's one thing Toliver has never done consistently.