ATVS Roundtable: Aggftermath

Well, that game happened. And again. And again. Thoughts?

Dan

Now that we’re all coming down off our tilt, it’s hard not to be mad at the refs for blowing several seemingly normal calls. The illegal formation, the snap itself, the incomplete/fumble that wasn’t reviewed and the DPI on Greedy that wasn’t DPI.

The Mond interception was really the bad luck of instant replay existing, and probably the right overturn. A few years ago, that’s the end of the game. The frustration from that comes from the officiating crew’s deference of when and when not to review. It seemed arbitrary and by arbitrary I mean only used in instances to harm LSU.

But burying all that, LSU had chances to win the game and didn’t. They couldn’t get a first down after what should have been the defense’s last stop of the game. They couldn’t stop A&M from driving the whole field. They couldn’t put it away after numerous good situations in OT. It was wild and stupid and probably a pretty good example of two evenly matched teams.

Ultimately it sucks. If we had lost another game along the way, I don’t think this hurts nearly as badly. But I think this loss puts LSU back into the same series of bowls we’ve been playing in against a similarly uninteresting opponent and means no 10-win regular season. It took LSU’s season from phenomenal to good. It ultimately makes the year feel a bit like a repeat of the last 5: good defense, poor offense, solid team but not moving upward

Jake

I wonder what the Big 12 is up too. Wonder if Amazon would be interested in exclusive rights to LSU football games.

Billy

I don’t see anything come from this, of course, because it’s the SEC. But this was a comically bad case of game management, from the final minute, through the overtimes until the postgame, in which A&M staffers attempted -- one of them successfully -- in attacking the LSU coaches.

This was a clusterfuck all the way down, and it sits at Steve Shaw and Greg Sankey’s feet. They can acknowledge that mistakes were made -- I’m not even asking for specifics -- or they can continue to let the institutional incompetence continue to fester.

As for the players themselves, I hope they find a way to use this. Let it burn through them, and then, in turn, burn through whatever bowl opponent is coming.

Seth

What bothered me the most was the TAMU player after his touchdown catch standing over and grilling Kary Vincent.

Umm...didn’t we just get penalized for that last week?

It’s funny how the offense actually moved the ball in overtime but I do believe it’s a little bit of smoke and mirrors. I’m not sure using your quarterback in the run game offsets the awful passing game enough (unless you have a true option, elite athlete there). Love having it a part of the offense but it doesn’t fix all our problems.

Adam

Well, A&M did want a blood feud. I believe next year they’re going to get one.

First, what happened on the field. It seems so distant because of what happened after the clock struck :01 but the Giles muffed punt will forever remain in my crawl. I’m glad LSU was able to come out of the hole he dropped them in, but that was a disaster. I hate to call a player in specific out for shoddy play, but we all were sold a false bill of goods. I hope he can cure whatever was ailing him in the offseason, but if football WAR was a thing he would have one in the negatives.

Speaking of negatives, LSU’s pass defense...man, where to begin. I understand it’s difficult to defend a good quarterback/receiver combo when they get the ball at the 25, but for a school whose identity is being exceptional at pass coverage you need to make a stop. Just one. I was waiting for it, honestly, but it never came. For me, this has to be the most disappointing aspect of the night. From the moment Mond was ruled down, the secondary players had no answers for A&M. It was a monumental lapse of LSU’s core strength at the time they needed it the most.

Positives! There are...some positives. After a year, I don’t think Steve Ensminger is the guy to take LSU’s offense where O and the fans want it to go. I can say that and still commend the way he adjusted after a terrible half of football and came out like gangbusters in the second half. Just like I thought the offense was in an skid and heading straight for a ravine, he pulled out of it. I remarked that LSU’s offense is poorly suited for overtime and was resigned to the fact that LSU wouldn’t be able to match TDs with A&M. You can tell the offense was limited like Seth said, but E knew all the right buttons to push at the right times to make due. Any stragglers that weren’t on board the Burrow train after the Georgia game surely must be on it now, he was valiant in a losing effort. I can’t commend him enough for his efforts given the status of the offensive line.

Now, the things outside of LSU’s control. Hoo boy.

I am so tired. That’s what I feel above everything else. The secondary and the first half offense and Giles and everything yeah, but LSU won this game three times. That’s what O said and it’s the general consensus on Twitter from everybody not wearing maroon, but it’s true. Make the right calls. The catch/fumble should have been called such on the field, and then replay should have determined if it was incomplete, just like Delpit’s INT or A&M’s returned fumble. That’s the way referees should handle those types of plays since you can’t really overturn a incompletion when the play was blown dead. And then you have the spike and Greedy’s phantom DPI.

I don’t like to blame the refs or fuel any conspiracy theories that the refs hate LSU, but this crew has now severely robbed LSU in two key games this season. People need answers or at the very least acknowledgement.

LASTLY, the fight.

Don’t ever think about pulling the “good bull” virtue card, Aggies. Don’t. This shielding of the guy who hit a man with Parkinson’s in the pacemaker because he’s related to your 10 million dollar speak and spell head ass coach? I honestly expected better from y’all. I really did. For all the jokes about the cult of A&M and the milkmen, I have always been cool with y’all. But this is wrong. And I guarantee you this won’t sit well when you return to BR next year.

Poseur

I completely agree with virtually everything Adam said. Particularly about Giles, who has to be the happiest man in Baton Rouge about all of the overtime insanity, as it deflected the attention away from his game-costing gaffe.

I do slightly disagree with Adam on the defense, though. Kellen Mond was having a fairly dismal day until the overtime period, when pretty much everyone is exhausted and stats cease to have any real meaning. The pass defense did shut down the Aggies until, well, until it mattered most. While I’m willing to give a bit of a pass for defense in the overtimes, when fatigue routinely makes a sieve of even the best defenses, LSU allowed a 12 play, 78-yard drive in the final 1:28 of the game. Now, sure, there were a bevy of questionable calls during that drive, but still... 12 plays. 78 yards. 1:28. Even after the Mond interception called back, A&M ran four plays (plus two spikes) in less than 30 seconds to gain 61 yards and the game-tying score. Bad calls or no, that simply can’t happen.

So while we’re calling out players, Terrance Alexander was terrible. I’m not going to be too upset by the third-string cornerback forced into duty due to injuries, but once A&M realized the weak link of the defense, they ruthlessly exploited it. He’s the corner getting beat on the fourth down, the game-tying touchdown, and several other key touchdowns and the final conversion in 7OT. To be fair, most defenses’ third corner would get torched, too.

The officiating was terrible, and the call that bothered me most was one that didn’t really matter, the unsportsmanlike penalty on Greedy. Greedy had just been flagged for PI, giving A&M new life yet again, and he was understandably upset and a little tired. He talked to the ref and did the clap thing, but it didn’t look like he did anything outrageous. And the ref flagged him, seeking out confrontation like a baseball umpire. It was a moment of inserting yourself into the game and while the call itself didn’t matter, it was sort of emblematic of the officiating problems. They made it about themselves.

I’m so angry about hitting an older man with Parkinson’s in his pacemaker that I can’t even talk about it. Adam’s right again, the Aggies talk a lot about honor, and they do genuinely seem to mean it. If they don’t fire Jimbo’s nephew and Dameyune Craig for starting the altercation, then they are all talk. they will have no honor. The SEC has no honor either, but if A&M won’t do it, then they should step in and fine those two heavily, and suspend them for multiple games. Preferably a full season. That’s not even about football, it’s about human decency.

PodKATT

It’s weird, but I feel like if the game had ended in regulation, Enzminger would be getting some kudos for turning it around a little in the 2nd half. But somehow 7 overtimes and 70+ points and enough yardage to move Burrow to EIGHTH on the all time LSU passer list and I feel worse about Steve staying on than at any point in the season. I know the O line is as banged up as ever, but it’s just tough to even visualize what this offense is even supposed to look like. E will be back for another year, and I’ll make my peace with it, but there’s a real chance his offense is going to doom this entire coaching staff, especially if, Lord help us, someone poaches Aranda this offseason.

There’s nothing left to be said about the officiating. In this league you have to be good enough to take the game out of their hands entirely or they’re going to fuck you. LSU has to get good enough to take the game out of their hands.

The fight is incomprehensible (I know Dameyune Craig has a rep, but WTF dude?) as is the reaction from a lot of A&M fans. We know Jimbo is a worthless human being, but there are better hills to die on than trying to defend the honor of his shithead nephew. They act like we keep bringing up Krags’ Parkinsons to try and draw some sick kind of sympathy angle, so fine, take it out of the equation: What the hell is some GA nobody doing fighting ANYBODY on the LSU sideline? If Faulk suffers any serious reprimand over this, I’m going to be more mad about that than I am the outcome of the game.

Dan

Can we just acknowledge it took the following for A&M to beat LSU:

• 7 overtimes
• 3+ ref snafus
• 1 coaching change
• $80 million dollars
• LSU down 4 defensive starters

Christina

I am not an SEC conspiracy theorist, but this season is trying its damndest to make me one. My issue is with the inconsistency of calls and enforcement of rules. What’s targeting one game is not targeting the next. When LSU stands over a player one week it’s unsportsmanlike, when the Aggies do it, not one blinks. And that’s what the SEC should be absolutely ashamed of. It’s the last week of the regular season and the SEC officiating crew bungled so much of its job that it’s basically a national punchline. Any of us would be fired from our jobs if we performed that poorly. And schools have no recourse whatsoever.

As for the fight ... y’all, I have no chill about that. It’s very personal for me — my grandfather had Parkinson’s and it’s a terrible disease. And even if the LSU staff member who got punched didn’t have a disease, that kind of unsportsmanlike conduct has no place in any game. That Texas A&M has been so shady about confirming details to me supports the argument that they know their guys were in the wrong. And Aggie fans can act all high and mighty if they want, but they are showing their true colors and they ain’t pretty.

Somehow this “post-game altercation” will become LSU’s fault, just wait. And if they come for Kevin Faulk I’ll riot.