THE GOOD The defense played good enough to win if the offense had showed up and kept them off the field a bit. Just a few miscues. Jamie Keehn had a good night at least. Five good punts for a 45 yard average in a game where our field position mostly sucked. It could have been worse. THE BAD LSU was supposed to be deep on the O-line, but losing two starters put them right back in game one. Our "dual-threat" quarterback did not run or pass effectively. Our "can't miss" freshman running back carried 5 times for 9 yards. First back-to-back losses for Les since 2008. First regular season shutout for Les. Quinn got benched and his replacement caught one 5-yard pass. Beckwith has become a fine run-stopper, but he left his man wide open on at least three pass plays. Horrible long snap from Porter before he was lost for the season. 27-yard loss. Arkansas sky-kicked and gave us no chance for a big return. Open receivers were missed badly several times. THE UGLY The offense didn't even manage to be one-dimensional. They had no dimension at all. 36 rushing yards on 32 attempts . . . one yard per play . . . 200 yards under average. 87 passing yards on 12 completions. This will not cut it. Les must find a passing game. Two missed field goals from the #2 kicker in the country. Zero offensive points. Zilch. 123 yards of total offense. Negative yardage in the first quarter. The O-line could not open holes for the backs nor give the quarterback any time in the pocket. LSU was not able to put the Bama loss behind them. Arkansas is a beatable team. LSU was not hungry and Arkansas was. This team played with no emotion, which is hard to understand.
Agree with all but the very last point. I am not at all surprised to see this team play uninspired football, because our entire philosophy is uninspired. Miles no longer plays to win - he plays not to lose. That philosophy sucks the aggression and emotion out of a team, resulting in what we saw last night. Shameful all the way around.
The "Ugly" Coaching. Agree with all others. Our receivers are frustrated. Dural looks to me like he has kind of given up. He missed the long ball. It was not the defense that caused the miss. He simply missed it the ball completely. That said, again, he must be tremendously frustrated. He has the ability and has shown it.
It must be frustrating for all the players when their coaching staff refuses to deviate from the "process" no matter how bad it is failing. And Miles will bench, or rotate out, any player except one.
It's a cumulative effect. If your told you can break through a brick wall by running straight at it, you might get fired up for the first couple of attempts. After a while, the realization that its not going to work sinks in and you stop attacking the wall.
The defense played inspired. They were up for the challenge. The issue here is the O just has no faith anymore. AJ has zero trust in himself nor do his teammates. Les has stuck with AJ for too long when he should NOT have been the full time starter. When you call a run play on third and nine you know something wrong. The O his hand cuffed. The OL had no fire but it is difficult to have fire when you are out manned every play. As for slamming Fournette for his stats. No one ran well. No back can run when they do not have holes. He was never ever to get established. LSU is too predictable with him in the game. This loss was all on Miles. The team has just lost all faith. He keeps on with a QB who no other coach would continue to play. Any coach with a half ass of sense would see AJ is not working and it is only getting worse. It is time for a change. But no, not the dumb ass Miles. Last night was the last straw for me. I think Miles has been wonderful for LSU. He is an exceptional man but his best times are a thing of the past. I think it would be best for both to have a fresh start. No, I'm not saying he should be fired. Just saying I think in time it will get to that. He won't ever beat Bama at this point. He has them beat but will manage to lose.
