QB: C While Jennings did look somewhat better in this game, he is still not playing well enough for LSU to come close to beating Ole Miss next week. In fact, if he plays in this manner vs Ole Miss, we may set a record for punts in one game. Still not decisive enough. RB: A- Great that LSU can go to another back when one is not effective. Magee and Williams did a tremendous job in spelling an ineffective Fournette. 4 of the 7 completions in the game went to running backs. WR: C Hard to grade a unit in which the QB cannot pull the trigger to get them the ball. TE/FB: B- Dickson caught a 27 yard pass. Fullbacks continue to shine. OL: B- Did not perform well in the first half but did open up some great holes for Williams and Magee in the 2nd half. DL: B+ Their best game of the year. I would still like to see a pass rush that does not require an all out blitz, however. LB: B Les Miles and Chief Chavis have finally decided to put the best players out on the field with this unit, and the level of play has gotten better and better since the start of the Florida game last week. It will be a strength of this defense before long. Wildcat be damned. DB: A+ Patrick Towles averaged just 4.1 yards per attempt. The longest pass play of the night was tightly contested by Tre White. ST/K: A+ Game ball should go to the special teams. Every phase was superb. The returns helped a sluggish start by the offense to put LSU up 17-3. Keehn has gotten better each week with his punting after an awful start to the season. Coaching: A Dreams really do go to die in Death Valley on a saturday night. This was a Kentucky team that could and should have been 6-0 coming into this contest. They had the utmost in confidence, but left the stadium wondering what the hell hit them. Les decided not to experience another clock management disaster and kicked a FG with 12 seconds to go in the half. I don't blame him.
I'm with you on the grades. I agree with giving Jennings a C, and i think some may think that's high, but he didn't turn the ball over and he moved the chains on 3rd down. That makes the Hat's balls tingle.
Agree with everything aside from qb' s and coaches. Miles should have put Harris in way earlier in the second half when the game was already decided and should have tried to throw it in the endzone before half instead of kicking it on 3rd down, that is a give up play and shows what little confidence our coaching staff has in Jennings.I give them a C+ . Qb's -D , While Jennings did not turn it over he still has issues going through progressions and is still extremely inaccurate on the short passes and long passes for that matter . If not for some great catches by the receivers his numbers would look worse and drives would have stalled and resulted in punts. Harris threw one pass in garbage time and it was picked off, should have been a better throw but he probably is rusty from holding the clipboard.
Coaching is a c+ in my book because of the O. 2 passes from Jennings when we are up big is a disservice to his development.
I give Jennings a D. He missed a wide open tight end on the goal line on a third down. He missed Dural early on a deep post. He's not spotting open receivers which is much worse than spotting them and making inaccurate throws. The 3rd downs that he made were dump-offs where the RBs made the play and not him.
Recruiting continues to baffle me, that is why I am not coaching. On the Saturday morning pre game shows they are always show Billy Bob this or Donte that, all 6-4 about 260, standing back in the pocket, moving up, and hittin receivers all over the field. With the running backs we get, and the receivers we get, I don't understand why a pocket passer that is NO THREAT to run, but who has a brain for quick processing, would not be money inthe bank. We don't need the extra threat of a runner. Either hand the ball off (hopefully not always on first down) and then go through the reads and hit the open man on the drop back pass. It seems too simple. We continually appear to go for the best high school passer/runner when we need a potentially smart rapid mental processing passer. What bites us is that in high school, the best stand head and shoulders above the rest, there is 0 requirement to process what is going on in the secondary. NO so in college, and certaily not pros. Kind of why on our endless list of NFL stars, those at QB are very few and far between. Podunk U can figure this out, why can't LSU.
I am sorry, but to give the QB a C is grade inflation. I don't hate him, it is not his fault, but he lacks the ability to pass effectively (and all it entails) at this level. One pass last night was covered perfectly, but that was his man and that is where the ball went. Not to mention the terrible passes he threw to the wide open guys. Again, the guy is young, still lacks a ton of experiences, though SEC Net announcers are no longer buying into that, either. Until our QB play improves, dramatically, we are on the plateau, and you wont need an electric scoreboard for the remainder of our season!
A little surprised by the opinions on Jennings. I do agree it's not good enough going forward into the toughest part of our schedule, but he is only being asked to do certain things in this offense and he is not turning the ball over which would in turn put us in bad situations. So therefore, I can't see a grade below C or C-. The main issue with Jennings is not having the confidence to throw into tight (or tighter) coverage. He simply won't pull the trigger. And then it turns into him scrambling for his life. The announcers last night as well as the SEC Network guys (McElroy in particular) said LSU needs to take advantage of Jennings' ability as a runner. It is quite baffling that we are trying to make Jennings strictly a pocket passer, which is his weakness. He needs to be rolled out with the threat of running with the ball. He needs to run some read option plays. He is definitely not being put in a position for ultimate success. You can get away with this against a Florida or Kentucky. This offense will struggle mightily these next 2 games vs Ole Miss and Alabama. We may have a big issue just getting past midfield in those 2 games (ala Jordan Jefferson).
The ol ball team was looking a bit more in form last night. I was thrilled that we actually throttled KU,... because that is what LSU is supposed to do. But I'll also agree with several others that our QB play is not going to cut it against the more elite talent. Jennings has a lot to learn. First and foremost, he needs to learn to go through his progressions and see what is comming open. On the long pass to Dupre, the minute he looked that way, the safety broke to offer double coverage leaving the tight end running down the middle of the field wide open! That would have been an easy TD. But Jennings was intent on forcing the ball where he wanted it to go. However, I don't know that Harris would have read it any better. These kids are young. McGee is a beast. Reminds me of Spencer Ware. I know Fournett is the future, but I think under utilizing McGee is a mistake. IMO, he should become the feature back, with a lot of Fournett sprinkled in to give him the carries to develope. Totally agree on the grades for D.
