All LSU fans have noticed. Penalties. Turnovers. What's the deal? Is this a mental brain fart being experienced by the team do to the strange circumstances this season? Is the coaching staff not stressing the importance enough? Could it be because of having a new coaching staff? Where's the ultimate blame lie? Players or coaches? IMO, isolated incidents are the players fault. Consistent problems are a product of coaching, but this season has other circumstances to be taken into account. Thoughts?
I just think the team has been taking everything for granted. They haven't been playing with a killer instinct and had forgotten what it felt like to really have a hunger to win, at least as a team. I think this game was something of a wake up call and it could be the turning point of the season (at least I hope).
I'd say both coaches and players share the blame on this one. The penalties are really out of hand and this is something the coaches should really be focusing on, but its not like this is anything new. We've always seemed to struggle with stupid penalties even under Saban. How many long returns did Domanick Davis have called back by a block in the back much like Skyler is seeing? Or even the whole snap count issue with Marcus Randall. This is nothing new and is partly to blame on such high pressures for this program, however it should be kept to a minimum and the coaching staff probably bears the brunt of this one. Turnovers really fall more on the players hands. Carter just got caught up in an unbalance spin move, Russell got sacked pretty hard, Addai did tuck the ball but it was cleanly punched out, and Russell made a bad pass which got tipped away. All unfortunate events but should get better with time and an earful from the coaching staff.
Coaches aren't to blame for two of the fumbles, the Vanderbilt players made great plays to strip the ball. They pulled a ball out that was in solid possession, obviously they are taught to strip the ball and do it well. Well, I guess technically you can blame the coaches...the Vandy coaches. The INT was a player mistake. Either Jones or Russell, I didn't get a chance to see the replay. The penalties are on the coaches, although at least 4 of them were not really penalties. They've got to do a better job of getting them ready to make the correct play in those situations. On one of the INTs, Wroten pulled up short of blocking in the back, which showed good mental awareness...if he had done it, that wouldn't reflect badly on the coaches just like him pulling up isn't their responsibility - although hammering on them during practice should prepare them to think about whether they'll be blocking in the back. I saw no coaching mistakes at all in this game. Clock management, punting/fg decisions, TO management, playcalling, defensive mentality, all were very very sound. We could have easily beaten Vandy 55-0. The only points they scored were directly the result of turnovers...turnovers that could have easily led to TDs for our team.
