More....... DEFENSIVE EVALUATION LSU'S FRONT Wisconsin had a lot of success running the football against LSU. We talked last week in the preview about the quality of the Badgers' offensive line. Wisconsin did a fantastic job running through the "A" gap (between center and guard). They down-blocked and consistently reached LSU's "3" technique at defensive tackle, getting to the second level to create creases for Melvin Gordon and Corey Clement. When LSU tried reducing its front to the inside, Wisconsin had success hooking LSU's ends on the stretch play to the outside. When Gordon was in the game, the big-play threat was greater due to the fact that he is as explosiveness as any back in the country. On Wisconsin's first touchdown -- the fly sweep -- LSU got caught with two guys in the offensive left "B" gap (between guard and tackle) with no one in the "C" gap (outside of tackle). With the defensive end slanting inside, it was the linebacker's responsibility to scrape outside and fill the "C" gap. With that gap uncovered, Gordon's explosiveness was too much for any defensive back to have an angle on him. LSU had a lot of missed tackles, missed assignments and two guys in same gap too often in first half. The biggest adjustments made with LSU's front in the second half was getting the defensive line and linebackers to account for the right gaps. In a one-gap, penetrating scheme, when a player gets angle-blocked into another gap, the open gap must be filled, but the linebackers had trouble seeing and hitting the gaps properly. After watching his defense leave too many gaps uncovered, coordinator John Chavis played more eight-man fronts in the second half. Wisconsin tried throwing late, but with no ability to get open from its receivers, the Badgers had no success. Wisconsin was 1-for-7 for nine yards in its final three possessions, including two interceptions. Once LSU settled down and with Gordon hobbled, the big plays ceased for Wisconsin. DEFENSIVE LINE The play at defensive tackle will have to improve once LSU gets into SEC play. Wisconsin has a good offensive line but so do a number of teams in the SEC West. The SEC teams also have good backs and a better passing attack than Wisconsin. I was impressed with Davon Godchaux. He played with heavy hands and got push inside. At end, Danielle Hunter got trapped few times but was effective in the second half. Jermauria Rasco played with effort but missed tackles early as the Badgers' offensive line consistently climbed to the second level. Lewis Neal and Tashawn Bower are capable of developing into edge rushers who can be reduced inside in the nickel package. Greg Gilmore and Frank Herron didn't play a down and Maquedius Bain was suspended for game. With the top three reserves out, expect a marked improvement from LSU's defensive line going forward. LINEBACKERS The linebackers had their moments, good and bad. They didn't scrape and fill behind the ends on the Reggie Love TD on the fly sweep, but Kwon Alexander was in on lots of tackles. Deion Jones, Kendall Beckwith and Duke Riley all had quality reps. The linebackers did a nice job covering the flat in the second half. SECONDARY This unit graded out well for the most part, though Wisconsin didn't threaten with any separation by its receivers. LSU stayed on top of the routes, planted and drove on the ball well. Jalen Mills was instinctive, and Ronald Martin took good angles and showed good ball skills. Overall, the third-level tackling was good and the DBs did a nice job in the second half of setting the edge vs. the perimeter run. Dwayne Thomas has a chance to be a very good nickel back. SPECIAL TEAMS The kicking game was outstanding. Cameron Gamble was a weapon on kickoffs. Punter Jamie Keehn was more consistent but did have one shank. The fake punt was timely and had great execution, despite the fact that it didn't fool Wisconsin and LSU had the wrong personnel on the field.
A little more.... Film Room: LSU 28, Wisconsin 24 Welcome to Film Room, our weekly analysis of LSU’s last football game. Have a seat. No talking. No tweeting. No texting. Pay attention. You’ll notice our most time is spent on the first segment. After all, big plays win games – and lose them. How They Happened (big-play analysis) Love’s 45-yard end-around: UW WR Reggie Love scores on an end-around on Wisconsin’s first drive of the game. The Badgers have two tight ends left and two receivers right. Love, starting on the right, goes in motion left, running behind the O-line and taking the handoff from QB Tanner McEvoy. It appears that at least one (and maybe two) LSU linebackers goof on this play. Was Lamar Louis, aligned opposite Love when the two are set, supposed to follow Love when he ran in motion? He didn’t. Meanwhile, Kwon Alexander (yellow circle), who aligns in the spot in which Love ran, stunts into the backfield at the snap. To make matters worse, defensive end Danielle Hunter (red) trips as Love races by him. LB D.J. Welter who’d also crept toward the line of scrimmage, failed to catch Love down field. Seas part: Melvin Gordon ran 14 yards for a touchdown to give the Badgers a 17-7 lead. Gordon gets the ball and the seas part on the right side of the line. DE Jermauria Rasco crashes down and topples Christian LaCouture in the process. Meanwhile, Kendell Beckwith (left circle) is just too late to the play, and Kwon Alexander (right) had stepped out to guard a slot receiver. The closest circle is Ronald Martin being kicked out. Gordon’s dash: Melvin Gordon’s 63-yard run came on the first play of the second half and set up a TD that put the Badgers up 24-7. Gordon gets the handoff, starts left and then cuts to the middle of the field. D.J. Welter (circle) is blocked out by the left guard. He’s taken completely out of the play. Kwon Alexander (arrow) takes the wrong hole and gets caught up in blocks. Finally, LSU’s last man, safety Jalen Mills, rushes to the action too fast, leaving no one at home as a last resort. You wanna know what really happened though? Gordon is good, that’s what. His vision was impeccable on the play. Hilliard’s three-carry drive: Kenny Hilliard had carries of 17, 8 and 28 yards on LSU’s go-ahead touchdown drive. He scored on a 28-yard dash to give LSU its first lead with 9:41 left in the game. The 17-yard first-down play (which you see on the right) was a read-option for QB Anthony Jennings. He gave to Hilliard, and the seas parted. Credit RG Hoko Fanaika and RT Jerald Hawkins for winning their individual battles. They parted a hole for Hilliard that’s, literally, 10-plus feet wide. The UW linebacker went after Jennings. On the 8-yard carry, LSU again ran behind Fanaika. He sprung Hilliard for a block and so did center Ethan Pocic, who moved to the second level and got a linebacker. Guess what? For a third straight down, Hilliard ran behind Fanaika. The right guard, in conjunction with Hawkins, whipped his man. UW’s linebackers, again, split to the outside for Jennings, leaving the middle wide open for Hilliard’s 28-yard TD. That play came while UW was in its nickel package. The fake: Midway through the third quarter, LSU got a spark when it converted a fake punt on a fourth-and-down and 3 from near midfield. Kendell Beckwith took a direct snap and ran five yards. Coach Les Miles said afterward that the appropriate personnel weren’t on the field. Redshirt freshman John David Moore rushes onto the field at the last minute. Beckwith received the direct snap, faked the pitch to punter Jamie Keehn and headed left. Tackle La’el Collins and guard Vadal Alexander got the blocks, but it’s Beckwith’s last-second cut (see the red arrow) to the right that gets the necessary yard or two for the first down. Moore had a nice block too. It was believed to be the first play of his LSU career. One last stand: Down four points and pinned at its own 10-yard line, Wisconsin had one last shot to drive down for a game-winning score. LSU’s defense forced a three-and-out. It’s worth noting that Keehn hit a spectacular punt to pin the Badgers. Punting from midfield with 2:30 left in the game, Keehn’s high punt was fair caught at the 10. On first down, Wisconsin’s attempt at the option failed because of LB Kwon Alexander (circle). The speedy Alexander immediately read the play. As soon as UW QB Tanner McEvoy pitched to his running back, Alexander darted in for the tackle-for-loss, stepping over his would-be blocker. On second down, DE Danielle Hunter created pressure to force McEvoy to throw off his back foot (an incomplete pass). On third-and-12, LSU used its Mustang package to create pressure, specifically from Dwayne Thomas. The result? Incomplete pass and a punt. Big Ugly Blips and Booms (O-line analysis) The blips were everywhere, especially in the first half. At halftime, LSU had one real pancake block while tallying a total of nine missed blocks. LG Vadal Alexander struggled the most. He had four miscues blocking and a false start. Jerald Hawkins had three missed blocks. Hawkins came out of the game at one point. He was replaced by Evan Washington for one drive. In the second half, the line picked up (and so did the rushing yards) . We counted five good pancakes in the second half, three from left tackle La’el Collins. Hoko Fanaika had two good rushing blocks as well in the second half. Monday Morning Quarterback (QB analysis) We charted Anthony Jennings for about a half-dozen errant passes, at least three of them on screen passes. He had a tough time with the touch throws, but had two precise long bombs to Travin Dural and a wonderfully thrown post route to Dural, who seems to be his go-to receiver (see below). Jennings seemed to make good decisions on the read-option. He mostly handed it off, but he kept it at least three times and got decent yardage. Sacks brought down his net rushing yards. We only saw the option once or twice. Jennings ran it with Fournette, kept it and got a good chunk of yards. Jennings heaved the ball down field, up for grabs, more than anyone would want. Against a good SEC secondary, many of his long heaves would have been intercepted. Backing it up (FB/RB analysis) The running backs found little daylight over the first three quarters. Finally, Kenny Hilliard had success in the fourth quarter. Don’t necessarily blame the group of tailbacks for the early woes. Wisconsin’s linebackers, sometimes, appeared to know where the play was going, and LSU’s line didn’t help much. Now, let’s turn to the guy everyone wants to talk about: Fournette. He rarely followed his blocks. The former No. 1 recruit in the nation, instead, jetted toward the end of the line on many of his carries. He didn’t shy away from contact, though. Problem is, neither did Wisconsin players. They stood their ground and made great tackles on the running back. They were well informed of Fournette. There was a lot of celebration after tackling him. FB Connor Neighbors didn’t have his best game. We charted him for three missed block and one pancake.
More........... Five-yard Out (receiver analysis) Travin Dural and John Diarse certainly emerged as LSU’s top two receivers. Diarse is a strong wideout who has Jarvis Landry-ability to get yards after the catch. Dural is the deep threat, and he’s apparently the go-to person for Jennings. Dural, who had three catches, was targeted eight times. That’s about twice as many as the next wideout was targeted. He’s clearly a guy Jennings likes to hit, but LSU needs to spread it around more. Trey Quinn, who was in on nearly every offensive play, was targeted just 3-4 times. He caught one pass and a two-point conversion. The only drops came from tight ends. DeSean Smith dropped a low but catchable ball from Jennings. Travis Dickson had a drop, though it would have been a tough catch. Front Seven (Defensive linemen and linebacker analysis) The difference in the second half was one player: LB Kwon Alexander (to the right, he makes a speedy move past UW’s LG for a tackle for loss). The guy was everywhere. His speed was no match for Wisconsin’s offensive line. Alexander struggled at times in the first half (on at least two big running plays, he was blocked out). He was pulled for several series before being re-inserted in the second half. He did great things. We charted him for four “attacks” and two “pressures” in the second half. An attack is a defensive player making a great hustle play for a tackle. A pressure is pressuring the QB. The defensive ends – Danielle Hunter and Jermauria Rasco – each had a three kill points (kill points are combined pressures and attacks). Outside of Alexander, they led the defense. What really helped: DC John Chavis loaded the box late, stacking eight to nine people in there to force Wisconsin to throw. Starting middle linebacker D.J. Welter didn’t do any fantastic things. He had at least one “attack” but was blocked out of plays, especially in the first half. Kendell Beckwith, his backup, was blocked out of at least two plays and did not register a kill point. Freshman Davon Godchaux saw a lot of playing time at DT, especially in the fourth quarter (10-15 snaps overall). During the TV broadcast, play-by-play man Sean McDonough said Miles compared Godchaux to Glenn Dorsey during the ESPN crew meeting with the coach the day before the game. Maybe he’s the reason we didn’t see any of Frank Herron and Greg Gilmore. Break It Up (secondary analysis) The best unit on the field, despite the whiffs. This group had the most missed tackles, but that’s mostly because they had the most opportunities (not a good thing since running backs aren’t supposed to get to that level). At one point during the TV broadcast, McDonough mentioned that Wisconsin’s receivers were being “blanketed” by LSU’s defensive backs. Nearly every pass attempt was challenged by the unit. Tre’Davious White and Jalen Collins (in for suspended CB Rashard Robinson) excelled. White made a tackle after fighting off a block and falling to the ground, and Collins had multiple impressive tackles. Each had great coverage – even on completions. They forced UW QB Tanner McEvoy to be perfect – and he wasn’t more often than not. Safety Jalen Mills over-pursued on a few running plays, but he made up for it. He had that outstretched interception, a couple of nice tackles and he came off the edge in the Mustang, pressuring McEvoy into an interception that Ronald Marin hauled in (that’s above).
The O-line play was not as bad as it seemed. It appeared worse than it was because the TEs and Fullbacks were missing so many blocks. I'd give the O-line a solid C, which is bad for a unit with the hype this one had. Blocking in general would probably get a D because it was dragged down by the other units whiffing so much.
What other FBS coach would suspend such important players against a team ranked #14 in the nation? Urban Meyer, for instance, suspended a key player against the likes of Navy. Had they been playing USC, not so much. Les Miles will always be at the very top of the integrity grade amongst FBS head coaches.
Porter was suspended. Word is Les and Brick would have liked to get Herron and Gilmore in, but didn't. Look to see those two more in the next two games. The staff really likes Godchaux, for a guy to be out of real in game football, for almost two years, he looked very good. I was talking with someone about him, I was told LSU picked us a good one, very good. This is kind of like, when LSU offered Kwon Alexander after he had a knee injury, it has payed off big time. After a major injury, most teams will back off on a player. LSU looks at this from another angle, an it pays off.
Muschamp suspended three, then had their game rained out and said "well, I guess that counts" so they are playing for the next one.
