Winners and Losers: Auburn

Well that sucked.

LSU blew a game to Auburn they had no business losing, snapping a 22-year winning streak at home over the other Tigers. LSU sits at 3-2 overall, 1-1 in conference and they have an absolute gauntlet of a schedule coming up: @ Kentucky, home vs. Florida, @ Ole Miss, @ Alabama. As Max said at the end of his recap “buckle up,” y’all because this loss could easily turn into a five-game losing streak.

Winner: Cade York

4/4 on his field goals including a 51-yarder. He’s the best kicker in America and all LSU has left this season is to lobby the Groza Award people

Winner: Jack Bech and Kayshon Boutte

They’re awesome. 13 catches, 211 yards, and a touchdown. Too bad Boutte only had two targets and one catch the entire second half.

Loser: Redzone Efficiency

Four trips, one touchdown. LSU had to kick field goals from Auburn’s 14 yard line, 8 yard line, and 5 yard line. This is my “I’m surprised we lost” face.

Loser: Game Management

LSU called its final timeout of the first half at the 8:40 mark in the second quarter. One of those timeouts, by the way, came on a critical 4th and 1 spot...and then LSU got called for a false start coming out of that timeout.

But that’s not even the biggest example of LSU pissing away a timeout. I’m going to bold and italicize this so there’s no mistaking what I’m about to say:

LSU called a timeout coming off a kickoff.

I mean...what the fuck are we doing here? Les Miles calling a spike with one second on the clock against Ole Miss thinks that’s embarrassing. T-Bob Hebert snapping the ball over Jordan Jefferson’s head thinks “man you guys really need to get your shit together.”

Okay, burning timeouts I can maybe explain way. But what about while nursing a fourth quarter lead LSU called 12 plays and all of them were passes? Or that when they finally did run the ball it was when they were losing. Jake Peetz has forgotten more football than I’ll ever know but that’s coaching malpractice on his part.

Speaking of malpractice I’d like to reiterate what I said about Kayshon Boutte: he had one touch in the entire second half. You can’t scheme up something to get him open? A rub route, a screen, some kind of pick play...anything? Again I’m nowhere near as smart as Jake Peetz but you’d think feeding maybe the best receiver in the country the ball would have crossed somebody’s mind.

Loser: The Running Game

LSU is 128th in all of FBS in rushing. Think about that, LSU has long had awesome running backs: Billy Cannon, Charles Alexander, Cecil Collins, Kevin Faulk, Cecil Collins, Leonard Fournette, Jeremy Hill, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, I can go on and on. And through five weeks LSU is only better than Mississippi State and Bowling Green in terms of running the football.

Folks do you realize LSU had 26 carries for ELEVEN yards. LSU averaged less than half a yard per carry. Toward the end of the game Auburn dropped nine players into coverage and LSU never ran it. I never thought we’d see LSU be not only unable to run, but unwilling to run the ball and yet here we are.

Corey Kiner got five carries for 22 yards, a 4.4 YPC. Maybe give him the ball more? Yeah the offensive line is shit but he’s shown he can at least make something happen.

Loser: Ed Orgeron

It’s a wrap for Coach O, the only question is when will Scott Woodward axe him.

Orgeron is LSU’s Gene Chizik, or Miami’s Larry Coker. He got lucky one time and his one time was maybe the greatest season in college football history. But while he was able to build a championship team, he has failed miserably at building a championship program and the sooner LSU moves on from him the better. I just wonder how many more embarrassing losses we’ll have to endure this year because make no mistake more are coming.