Lighten up Texas. We pounded the crap out of Troy. Their 3 scoring drives totaled 17 yards. Take away the turnovers and it's the expected blowout. Have we reached the point where an ugly win is not a win? By the way, good post TE. Makes a lot of sense. I tried to give you rep points but the system won't let me.
I agree that TE has a great post, and usually his info is pretty on target. I guess my response to TE's post would be where does Flynn fit into this picture? What is he doing in practice that has got him so far down the depth chart? I have heard nothing but great things about him from people here in Texas and LSU fans, so why is he not getting his shot? I think it speaks volumes that we are actively recruiting a stud QB again this year, and that RP in Reserve is still getting weekly visits from Saban even though he is a Texas commit. we have a bigger QB issue with Russel and Flynn then any of us thought, Saban's actions regarding their playing time and his recruiting speaks to that. any info on why Flynn does not get a shot is greatly appreciated.
In reality you can't take away their 17 points on easy drives. 10 points which was set up by Marcus Randall and 7 set up by Broussard. The same Broussard who never saw the game again but we sure as hell saw Randall on the field after his 3rd INT. Are you going to be saying this same crap if we give short yardage to Bama, Ole Piss, or Ark. We would have kicked the crap out of them if we would not have given them so many points off turnovers. LSU fans need to take off the purple and gold glasses and see that we haven't gone anywheres on offense since game one. While other teams have gotten better we are the same. IMHO Randall shouldn't see the field again. I would rather lose with the future than with a 5th year senior playing like a true freshman.
This could be a 2 loss season and everyone is complaining. Hell, LSU fans sure are a tough bunch. Randall did over come the turn overs and win. That is not an easy thing to do. Good game, we won and I am off to play golf. Which I will enjoy the golf game much more because Randall threw the winning touchdown pass.
I felt the same as you earlier in the season, but the problem is that Russell never improved either. If he is lazy about learning the plays, and he doesn't know them, he will get us killed. If you are head coach, will you put a talented kid on the field, when you see he is not making a good faith effort to learn the system and execute it? The answer is NO. You would be rewarding bad behavior. You have to coach the kid, but the kid has to be receptive; he has to do his part also. In that case, you may have to lose games going with lesser talents that are willing to put in the effort to be the best they can become. That kind of coaching decision smacks of integrity, and a view to the long term best interests of the team. If Russell learns that his prodigious talent alone will not get him the world handed to him on a silver platter, he will be a much better person because Saban taught him how to work. If Russell is not putting forth the effort, then Saban is doing the right thing. Just MHO.
What a great post! One thing is for sure: the play calling last night was atrocious IMO. We seemed to run absolutely everything to the short side of the field and we essentially ran 4 plays with very little variation. Coach Saban is not ready to be a "next year" coach at this very moment in time because we are winning football games and we are looking to play our way into a January Bowl Game. If you peek around the country you will see that lots of big programs are not exactly where they want to be right now. Ohio State, Florida, Missouri, Iowa, Notre Dame, Oregon, Clemson, Maryland, Colorado, Kansas State, Washington State, Washington, etc. Even Michigan can't seem to put that perfect season together after great recruiting over most of the last decade. Our program is winning and we have 2 losses on the road to two teams in the Top 10 with a combined 1 loss between them. I agree, the offense is stale and it moves like pond water, but we are winning and we are staying in the pack in a year following a NC. Saban will take the Lou Holtz approach to mistakes: admit them, learn from them, and don't repeat them. This season has not lived up to our expectations and I share in many of your frustrations, but if not anything else I must admit that this year has truly been a blast and it's been fun to watch a bunch of freshman and sophomores compete week in and week out...
I hate to say it but our RBs have been benched because of their mistakes. What do they learn from this, nothing. All they have learned is their coaches have no confidence in them while they are watching a QB make mistake after mistake but he still gets to play. That is total BS. Saban is a great coach but his ego is really starting to show this year. He won't play guys because of mistakes and work ethic but will play with lesser talent that makes the same mistakes but they get rewarded with PT. We need to play Addai, Broussard, and Vincent all at RB. Last night every time Addai wasn't in the game after Broussard got benched Randall was the one to run the ball. Any D can read that. All RBs should get carries. Carey should be returning punts because Green is not the same as he was last year. I think Carey could do a better job right now. Punt returns last year gave us great field position at times but this year we have played on our side of the field most of the game.
I dunno. I think the only thing Randall needs to work on is interceptions. He threw some really nice passes at the game. I think just about everyone underestimated Troys defense. We couldn't run the ball AT ALL. They had our number on the ground. So we had to go to the air. If Randall can improve his accuracy, he'll do fine.
Matt Flynn is not getting PT this year because they threw this year away in Fall Camp. You can barely get two quarterbacks ready in fall camp, and three is not possible. They knew that Flynn would not be ready this year from a preparation standpoint. Reason being is that an understanding of the offense is one thing. Reps are another. Knowing everyone's role on the play is one thing. Putting that knowledge onto the field and into a game-like situation is another. He simply did not get the reps, and without them, he's not going to get playing time. The hope is that Russell gets the point that Saban will not hand him the reigns. This is what this year is showing JaMarcus. He should also see that a guy who didn't get reps-WHO WILL GET REPS NEXT SPRING & FALL-will put in the time and effort in the offseason and in meetings and in practice that he has thusfar shown he cannot do. Russell will lose the starting job without a dedication to excellence. Flynn will win the job with the same dedication. Flynn-barring injury-isn't going to get any meaningful playing time this year, and that was decided in the fall camp. He just didn't get the reps.
