Abandoning the Run is NOT a Good Idea

Discussion in 'The Tiger's Den' started by CajunPunk, Oct 13, 2007.

  1. CajunPunk

    CajunPunk TF's Resident Realist

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    I know I'll get a lot of red for this, but I'm not trying to be a jerk, or trying to trash Les Miles, or trying to be negative. I'm just sharing my thoughts...

    Offense

    What is the deal with the slow starting first quarters the last few games? We scored 0 against Kentucky, 0 against Florida, and 7 against Tulane (which should have been much more).

    I think it should be obvious now that without Doucet, we have no one. Well, no one but Dickson who is EXTREMELY underutilized. It wasn't until this game that they made use of Dickson, yet when it came time to throw to a TE for a TD pass, they elect to put in the blocking TE.

    How many times are we gonna let a WR drop a ball before we pull him out of the game or at least for a few plays? The drops remind me of the frustrating '04 season where no one could catch a cold.

    Charles Scott had 7 carries with 94 yards. Now, his stats are a little inflated because of a 55 yard run, but if you take away the long run, he would still average 6.5 YPC. 5 of his carries were ALL in the first half! What happened to him? Why was he not played more? I love Trindon, but he carried the ball 5 times for 24 yards. Take away his 17 yard run, and you get an average of 1.4 YPC. His carries should NOT be the same as Scott. Scott should have had triple what Holliday had.

    Why did we abandon the run (especially Scott) completely in the second half?

    Why is it that when we have Perrilloux in the game, we have an option, a scramble, a pass, etc. at our disposal, yet we kept him out of (if not the entire) overtime? Flynn is a decent QB. That's it. Just because he looks like Matt Damon and beat Miami a couple years ago doesn't mean he should play more than RP. At this point in the season, it seems pretty apparent that RP and MF are equally effective, and that's if RP doesn't have the edge.

    Yeah, I know... Flynn has a lot of dropped passes, and he was injured but if you watched the same game I watched, you would have seen that a good bit of his passes were under thrown, over thrown, and there were passes thrown behind his receivers. After last week and this week, I think it's pretty obvious that we are guaranteed an overthrown pass if it means he is in pursuit or on the run.

    Unlike last year, our o-line blocks better for the run, yet we get pass happy. Passing, we averaged 3.7 yards per pass. Rushing, we averaged 5.2 per run. You do the math.

    Since the second half of the South Carolina game, this team hasn't played anywhere close to its ability. When we played Tulane, we were sleepwalking, and I think they were the first ones to expose things in our defense. Florida took the expose' further and Kentucky is continuing the trend.

    Defense

    Again, I don't know what SC did in the second half or what Tulane put together, but our D has been on a decline since.

    We held Miss State to 146 yards, VT to 149 yards, and MTSU to 90 yards, but then we "held" SC to 261 yards, Tulane to 227, Florida to 314 yards, and UK to 375 yards (and 43 points).

    Now, I know that the last group were better teams, but each good team we've beaten thus far has gone on to win, so that argument doesn't work.

    Tonight, Zenon and Steltz looked mediocre at best.

    The LBs over-pursued. Kentucky's o-line was handling our d-line almost as well as Florida did (we had no sacks today). If it weren't for Tyson Jackson's blow to the head at the end, there may have been a different ending.

    This defense is better than they are playing. What happened?

    I won't even mention the penalties.

    Summary

    Do we just simply blame the bad play calling and the fact that LSU got flat out outplayed and "out-game planned" on the idea that we got "beat up" by Florida from last week? What is the excuse? Injuries? UK's best RB was out, and his backup still played great against our D, not to mention the dropped passes they had in the beginning (remember the one at the 2 yard line?).

    I know it's unrealistic to expect LSU to win every single game, but when all of the local radio hosts and most of the fans are predicting a blowout like they did with the Tulane game, you expect more than what we've been seeing.

    I love this team. I just hate the fact that we will more than likely miss playing in the NC, because USF, OSU and Cal will probably run the table (not to mention the media's love for USC), which will keep us away from a good ranking. No, it's not realistic to expect every game to be won, but in a season like this, our chance to play in the NC is to win every game, and I hope we didn't just blow it.
     
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  2. SpartanCaptain

    SpartanCaptain Founding Member

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    These are all good questions and I just wish we could ask Les Miles himself, who knows we might get some answers that would suffice.
     
  3. stk

    stk Founding Member

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    I think this is a pretty objective post that i'd agree with for the most part.
     
  4. tigerpub

    tigerpub Founding Member

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    All good points. Would add that when NOT blitzing is NOT working, why not try pulling a few. I don't get it.
     
  5. COramprat

    COramprat Simma Da Na

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    I'm not going to bash you because you make some valid points but Perriloux isn't ready in my opinion. He still has to learn game management and his accuracy is still not quite there. You have to look at past games as well. He is about the same as Flynn was in this game as far as throwing accurately. Flynn had a bad game. All QB's do but I still think he has all the tools as well as the expereince to lead this team.

    We stayed with the run...but with Hester. I think that is by design so that no running back gets too worn/beat up in a game.

    The defense has always been vulnerable in the secondary. Teams that can expose this will get the run going too. Pressure on the QB is key also. I'm at a loss as to why I'm screaming at the TV to get pressure on the QB in the first half and the DC can't see it too.

    I think all of the chips fell into place for Kentucky. They are very good, had a good game plan and caught LSU after a very emotional win against Florida. We came out flat and made alot of mistakes in the way of penalties and lackluster play. I almost wish we would have lost last week instead of this one.
     
  6. islstl

    islstl Playoff committee is a group of great football men Staff Member

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    At this point I would say it is safe to say Perrilloux is a much better passing QB than Flynn. I didn't realize Flynn would be this poor of a passer.
     
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  7. True Grit

    True Grit Founding Member

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    I agree with most of this. SC and Arky blitzed Woodson alot and it was very effective. Woodson is bad under pressure.

    And at this point Perrilloux is a better passer than Flynn. Flynn looked pretty bad tonight, and really hasnt looked that good all season. Too tell the truth, if both Ryan and Matt were seniors Ryan would probably be starting.
     
  8. CajunPunk

    CajunPunk TF's Resident Realist

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    RP had 2 throws. One of which was a bullet into the ground, which was kinda funny looking I might add. He's not allowed to get into a passing groove.

    Just about every time he's in the game, he running the option or just handing it off. To say that his accuracy was the same is kind of unfair, I think.

    I understand this mentality, but sometimes I wish they would stick with one guy so he can get his feel for the game (i.e. Faulk, Toefield, Hilliard, etc.) and then fill in where needed.

    Hester didn't look good tonight. I think he was injured or something. He ran hard when he did, but he just looked different. I dunno.

    Just about every time they gave the ball to Scott (I know it was only 5 times) it was for a good gain. In the second half, they cut off completely a guy who ran for almost 100 yards in the first half. He didn't look beat up to me.

    I agree 100%. It was nice having those years with Landry and Daniels. Before that, and now after, it's not the same. Very vulnerable.

    I was thinking the same thing. I almost wish we would have lost to Florida. However, I how this loss wakes LSU up and they get back to the form they were in for the VT game - completely dominant on both sides of the ball.
     
  9. bmy-

    bmy- Founding Member

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    It's hard to tell through a television.. I just didn't feel like we were "confident" today. Maybe 'explosive' is a better word..

    I agree with the post.. nothing left to do but suck it up and move on. We have to avoid penalties in and use RP slightly more and we'll be fine.

    I'd kind of like to see Flynn take a shot at the option -- add some more depth to the attack.
     
  10. TenTonJim

    TenTonJim Freshman

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    Answer: Because Les Miles is full of himself and not a very good game day coach.
     

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