One thing i have heard is that Miles believes in throwing deep more often than Saban did. If i have a criticism of our offense last year is we didnt go vertical enough. We are going to go deep more and we have the speed to do it. Why drive the length of the field all the time when you can hit 6 quick. Nothing demoralizes a defense faster than giving up big plays for 6. We are also going to be able to run effectively i think so defenses are not going to know what hits them. Let the Horses get up and go and just hold on for the ride. Lets get this party started. I am ready for the season to get started. Geaux Tigers
i do not disagree that going deep more often will help our offense but i think that when a team drives down the feild getting firstdown after firstdown is the most demoralizing thing for defenses
I have heard this on the internet, but I have not heard Miles say it. It's Jimbo's familiar offense anyway. When he has a QB that can hit a receiver deep (Booty, Rohan) he airs it. When he doesn't (Mauck, Randall) he doesn't. Makes good sense to me. Balance is the key. Any team that is one-dimensional can be stopped by modern defenses. If they never know your tendency to pass or run you will make yardage against the defense. A quick TD just gives the ball right back to an opponent. Dominant teams win by controlling the time of possession with the run and the quick pass. The bomb is spice to be used sparingly if effective. Nothing demoralizes an opponent more than watching the clock run when they are behind and the other team is methodically conducting 7 and 9 minute TD drives, leaving them no time to get back in it.
Jimbo stated (article a few weeks back) that they will "open up" the offense (namely, get away from Saban philosophy ball control & clock consumption by running the ball down opponents throats). The new philosophy will allow Jimbo to gamble more & focus on scoring & LSU's big play ability. LSU will need to develop this early against NT & ASU. LSU will not get away with a "W" in the big games (TN, etc) without a greatly improved vertical passing game & he knows it. I'm sure they'll practice it (schemes, specific plays) & get it against NT & ASU. I'm looking for big blowout wins with huge passing numbers (attempts/yardage/tds) to signal the new LSU offense's arrival after the first two games. If we don't see it, you can expect trouble against Tennessee. The Tennessee game is the entire season from a NC perspective for LSU. LSU's passing attack must be a serious threat & able to score quickly to keep Tennessee from stacking the line to stop the run. I expect the Tennessee game to be nothing like the Auburn game of last year. I'm looking for a high scoring game (LSU 35 points+) with lots of big plays, and of course, an LSU victory.
First of all we did not have anybody or the time to throw deep last year IMO. Secondly as long as LSU has the ball and the other teams offense is on the sidelines they scoring opportunities are very low. If all we did the last couple of years was go 3 and out that's one thing. JA and AB did a fine job as did the young receivers. This year may be different but not because Miles has some run and gun stored up but because the player situations changed. I still believe that the defenses are going to have to deal with Broussard and Addai.
Short horizontal BALL CONTROL SABAN DIRECTIVE passes less than 10 yards (50% completion rate for Russell last year) for little yardage was the norm. Vertical passing (10+yards, 15+ arguably) tends to set a defense back on its heels. That's when I want to see those ABC RB studs (addai, bruiser, carey & Co.) break off the big runs. WAKE UP!!! YOU ARE GONNA SEE A VERTICAL "BALLS TO THE WALL" BIG PLAY OFFENSE in 2005. Get ready & eat a low cholesterol diet & keep your arteries clear. Excitement is coming!!! Say goodbye (adios, tata, toodleloo, etc) to the 7 minute drive. Give me a :30 drive that pastes 6 points on the board & a 40-50+ points per game average with 450-500 yards offense/game. When you do run, you'll gain just as much as if you play ball control & you'll break off for plenty more big gains. One thing is for sure. We'll find out what Jimbo can really do given Freedom to open it up & "chunk the rock". LSU won't be a 70% passing team like Urban's gang, but I'm excited about the possibilities of Air Attack LSU & its Top ranked Receiver Corp, backed by the sound insurance of a Top 5 OL & RB corps. The sky is the limit. :geauxtige LSU! :champs: :helmet: :geauxtige :lsup: :champs: :crystal:
I believe Jimbo proved he can air it out in 2001. We broke all sorts of passing and scoring records that year. Any offensive philosophy depends on the QB. If you have a QB like Davey, you can air it out more. You become a little more balanced with a QB like Mauck who was efficient, but not a great passer. You run the ball when you have a QB like Randall who struggled in the passing game. I do think Jimbo would like to take a few more shots downfield this year, as well as more 15-20 yard passes. But the frequency will depend on how our QBs perform. If they struggle, will run more.
Saban was recruiting for the last 5 years to get the personnel.... To LSU in order to have BOTH a deep threat and to be able to run the ball effectively as well. After 5 years of recruiting and stockpiling talent, and even though LSU won the 2003 National Championship, LSU is now at the point where Saban thought he could realisticly make a run at a National Title. When you have the talent level which is produced by Louisiana High Schools to form the base of your football program it makes turning a program around a little easier and quicker. For example, in 2003, the National championship team had 9 Louisiana players starting the Championship game on offense and 8 Louisiana players starting on defense, including the entire defensive line. When there is that kind of talent available in LSU's backyard it makes it much easier to go out and "cherry-pick" top talent outside Louisiana. Then there is the fact that Texas is right next door and LSU traditionally has recruited some top Texas players. This has continued and even expanded under Saban. All in all, this was the year Saban was pointing to when he thought all the pieces of the puzzle would be in place to make LSU a National Power. LSU now has every conceivable offensive weapon an is deep at every position. It takes time to recruit the talent level and depth which is at LSU right now. Coach Miles has absolutely inherited a gold mine of football talent on both sides of the football. He knows this and so does the LSU coaching staff. There is no way LSU could have assembled a coaching staff like the one Coach Miles has assembled if there was questionable talent on campus at LSU right now. Quite a few of LSU's current players will be playing on Sundays within the next few years. IMO, the talent level at LSU is at an all-time high and from the looks of things on the recruiting front, Coach Miles is continuing to go after and get commitments from some the same type players Saban was getting. It's time to play some football.
Re: Saban was recruiting for the last 5 years to get the personnel.... To quote (not exactly) Ron Jaworski, "You throw for show and run for dough." In other words you throw the ball to score points and get a lead then you run it to control the clock and win games. It doesn't matter what level of football you are talking about, in order to win consistently you better be able to consistently run the football and stop the run.
