In da Film Room: Brandon Harris vs. Texas A&M (feat. Derrius Guice)

LSU vs. Texas A&M in 2015 was the 2nd time ever that I got high and watched LSU. I became very emotional during the all the Les Miles fanfare and then I passed out on my friends couch during some PAC-12 game.

This wraps up the very disappointing end to LSU’s regular season. It’s very unfortunate that major college football is played within razor thin margins for error. An 11 or 12 game sample is no where near big enough to come to any conclusive evidence on how good a team is. Good teams lose games. LSU lost to three really good teams and it marred what could have been a great season. Brandon Harris continued his post-hernia slide as he finished with a woeful 7 for 21 performance. Because oh how awful the passing game was in this game I will start this article off with the magic of Derrius Guice to lure you all in.

And this

Which kinda reminded me of this

If you want to stay in the happy place I’ve created for you don’t scroll any further. Here’s Brandon Harris vs. Texas A&M

14:27 1st Quarter, 1st & 10 on the LSU 41 -

LSU started running this play after the midway point in the season, I think the first time was play #1 against Florida, where off play action some receiver (the fullback here) will leak into the flats except it’s actually an attempt to set up a screen for him. It’s an interesting play but Mouton drops the pass.

13:42 1st Quarter, 3rd & 8 on the LSU 44 -

LSU often has Fournette run a check release route over the ball and it’s good to see Harris use this route once in a while. The pocket breaks down and he escapes all the while keeping his head up.

11:13 1st Quarter, 2nd & 5 on the TAMU 15 -

Harris is going to check the corner pre- snap and see him in press coverage but as Brandon turns his head when the ball is about to be snapped, the corner jumps back a bit. I think the corner plays this pretty well. He’s in a zone turn so he can see and play the back shoulder throw (not that Harris ever throws that) and is still be over the top of Dupre to play the fade. Still, that ball needs to be at the back pylon so Dupre can run underneath it.

11:07 1st Quarter, 3rd & 5 on the TAMU 15 -

This is pretty good by Harris. He’s going to read out the post-wheel concept by Fournette and Jeter first before coming down to try to hit Dupre on the crossing route (and unfortunately it gets batted). For the post wheel, you’re going to try to hit the post route in rhythm first. Here, the safety is too inside of Jeter to make that throw. The corner is playing over top the wheel route by Fournette so without panicking, Harris tries to get down to Dupre.

9:24 1st Quarter, 3rd & 11 on the TAMU 21 -

I think that Harris is trying to hit Diarse on the double move all the way here. The post route by Jeter is going to eat up a Cover 1/3 safety and then the double move will hopefully beat a Cover 1/3 corner which it does.

6:49 1st Quarter, 1st & 10 on the LSU 37 -

It’s a good read but look where Harris’ feet are pointing towards when he finishes his throw. How are you gonna throw past the opposite hash if your feet are parallel with the hashes?

6:40 1st Quarter, 2nd & 10 on the LSU 37 -

Again with the flat route cum screen pass. Again with the dropped pass.

0:46 1st Quarter, 1st & 10 on the TAMU 48 -

It doesn’t get more Brandon Harris then missing wide open deep crossers. 8 Texas A&M defenders down low and they all bite on the flea flicker. These are the plays LSU needs to have to win football games. This is what a dominant running game does for you.

:05 1st Quarter, 3rd & 5 on the TAMU 42 -

Beautiful timing on this out route throw by Harris. His reads tell him that Dupre is the man who’s gonna get the ball (based on the slot defender) and the throw comes right as he finishes his dropback. Good ball placement, too.

6:55 2nd Quarter, 3rd & 6 on the LSU 27 -

Another good read, but Harris put the ball behind Diarse. He’s reading it inside out, so the first slant by Dupre is covered and then he moves to Diarse who is open.

2:05 2nd Quarter, 3rd & 4 on the LSU 30 -

Unfortunately the quality isn’t great here. Did Johnson drop the ball, or did Harris miss him? It’s a good decision to throw the comeback, nonetheless.

1:52 2nd Quarter, 1st & 15 on the LSU 40 -

This ball gets tipped at the line of scrimmage causing the incompletion.

1:48 2nd Quarter, 2nd & 15 on the LSU 40 -

Look, it’s basically Cover 4 while LSU is running 4 Verts so it’s fine to check it down to Fournette. I will say that the linebackers look a little shallow and MAYBE he could have fit a seam throw in there.

1:19 2nd Quarter, 3rd & 12 on the LSU 43 -

I love almost everything about this. The weakside fade route is the first read and there’s no way for Harris to get the ball there. Next you have a hi-lo read on the weakside backer with Smith running and crossing route and Fournette coming over the ball. That backer gets flat flooted so Harris can throw the crosser right as he’s passing by the Mike Backer. The throw just needs to be a little better, but the timing is so good.

1:00 2nd Quarter, 2nd & 8 on the TAMU 34 -

The same post-wheel concept from earlier but the pressure is too much for Harris.

13:02 3rd Quarter, 3rd & 11 on the TAMU 26 -

Harris is looking weak all the way here but Diarse, I guess, doesn’t get open.

8:00 3rd Quarter, 2nd & 8 on the LSU 39 -

EZ PZ curl-flat. When #22 on the Aggies declares himself to the flats to cover Jeter, there is a window to throw the curl to Dupre.

3:21 2nd Quarter, 2nd & 12 from the LSU 35 -

Same curl-flat concept but I think Jeter gets too deep before breaking out. When that underneath defender gets in the throwing lane of the curl, Harris needs to chill and stay in the pocket. He could have scanned over to find Diarse pretty open.

14:15 4th Quarter, 3rd & 10 on the LSU 24 -

Same middle screen that went for a big play against Florida but A&M is in man coverage so the dude is right there on Fournette.

5:24 4th Quarter, 3rd & 11 on the TAMU 34 -

This is designed bubble screen to Fournette.