Tell The Truth Monday: Mississippi State

This will be the first installment of an in-season, weekly column that mirrors LSU’s themed practice schedule. As Coach O says, on Monday’s, we tell the truth.

• For the first time this season, LSU’s youth showed. Versus BYU the stage didn’t seem too big. Okay, Chattanooga doesn’t count, but on Saturday, we asked boys to be men as we stepped into league play and they failed spectacularly with your routine freshman penalties, missed assignments and generally getting pushed around.
• I spent the weekend in Las Vegas and was only able to watch the first half of the game. My game viewing experience has been interrupted in some manner in each of the first three weeks. Maybe I’m a bad blogger.
• I’m not ready to draw any significant conclusions to Saturday’s embarrassing loss. LSU self-immolated against the first quality opponent on the schedule, but the aforementioned youth play a major factor in that… I think? -\_(“/)_/-
• I share every insidious thought you’ve held about LSU this weekend, but I’m fearful of plunging headlong into negativity as I did with the 2014 team. This should be fun and clutching every frustrating thought doesn’t solve anything.
• Jeff Grimes should be on thin ice. He’s had years now to re-stock and train up a unit in his own image and we’ve seen nothing but routine shuffling, depth issues, and lack of retention, despite luring top recruits. It’s hard to see what he brings to the table right now.
• I’m a marginally talented manager of people myself, who rarely puts his team members in the best place to succeed. Who cares what I think anyway?
• The loss touches a nerve in that the issues seem to mirror much of what Orgeron’s teams displayed in Oxford. Mental mistakes, lack of discipline and shuddering of effort at the first signs of adversity. Losing is bad. Quitting is worse.
• Reigniting discussions of O’s past the moment our team struggles feels a lot like the contingent that were determined to fire Miles at every misstep. Maybe this is par for the course in college football 2017. I’d hate for this place to engage in that level of discourse, but I’m afraid it’s already too late.
• O is rightly taking center stage for the blame. That is the CEO model. But if we believe he’s delegating coordinating responsibilities, then Dave Aranda and Matt Canada aren’t absolved from blame. I’ve seen many quick to bring out the shovels on O, but this was a failure across the board. Bad game plan, bad execution, bad preparation, bad motivation. Bad, bad, bad.
• I’m perpetually reminded of worse versions of myself, even in the throes of constantly seeking to self improve. I worry my best efforts are not enough and I’ll expire marginal, unsatisfied and poorly thought of.
• Danny Etling is fine, but it’s already time to start giving Brennan more snaps and opportunities. He’ll be the starter in 2018 and having him experience real playing time should help ease that learning curve. If O’s motto is that we play our best, regardless of Seniority, Etling should rightly be challenged after a horrendous week 3.
• Is it possible LSU’s roster is weaker than imagined? Recruiting rankings look good but O has played nearly the entire freshman class and we are notably weak on both lines, which significantly weakens the overall roster, no matter the skill talent.
• The 2018 class isn’t exactly alleviating the concerns. Nineteen commits, five more three-stars than four/five-stars and not a single top 200 player on either line committed.
• In hindsight, maybe this is why O’s side negotiated for a healthy buyout over a bigger per annum amount? Did O believe the roster needed significant remaking?
• I’ve long argued that as long as LSU maintained a strong level of talent, they couldn’t regress into the dark ages, but Saturday’s loss is the type that forces you to ask difficult questions, namely: What if all my assumptions are wrong?
• I’m looking for a new job but deathly afraid I won’t find anything satisfactory or that even if I do, no one will want to hire me or even if they do, I will fail miserably right when I’m asked to play a quality opponent in a conference game.