hadnt read most of the posts but i didnt really need to to understand its pretty obvious most felt the refs played far too much of a factor in today's game. im never one to blame refs for an outcome yet this one certainly seems to fit the mold. 2 things i dont think ive seen before that i saw today which disturbed me and that was the overturning of the hester catch where certainly the review was not only evidence to not overturn it but solidified moreso that initially it was a catch. how do you overturn an obvious catch when replay shows the exact opposite? a better question i wondered is not how but why. the doucet interference call. ive never seen a review overturn what was an obvious penalty and deemed so by the referee in position. its a judgement call yet somehow reviewed and wrongly called off when the evidence shows the opposite of the decision. bizarro world. I watch a lot of football games and when that hester catch was overturned i thought something smelled but i chalked it up to confusion of the refs. When the lafell interference was overlooked i thought it was your typical missed call. when hester was hit late right in front of the LSU coaching staff and the side judge that smell became a serious stench that never seemed to leave. there was a bogus holding call on dyakowski??? i think it was which killed a drive as well. I just dont know what to make of it all really. the only other time i felt refs were inventing ways to take the game just so happened to be in Auburn 2 years ago on the bogus leverage call. no matter what anyone tries to tell you that call is never made much less in a game deciding situation. i can accept one or two bad obvious calls. Its the overturning of obvious calls the other way which stink to high heaven. Calls reviewed then overturning it in spite of the evidence sends up red flags. bad calls which cant be reviewed or overturned Ive come to accept. thats part of the game. its gonna happen. What i felt and saw today, and i believe i can watch a game about as unbiased as most fans, seemed blatant. whether tubby has those refs so intimidated for whatever reason im not certain but it definitely seems to be the case. i dont know what else i can make of the situation. what we saw today was 2 great teams going toe-to-toe yet an overwhelming and disturbing influence in the outcome from officials. I just cant for the life of me decide what would be the motivation to do so. I can only guess intimidation due to no other sensible answers. either way, there was just a wrongness of it all and it was palpable.
I agree wholeheartedly. I'm usually the first to say, "Well, there were bad calls that went both ways." What I cant fathom is good calls being overturned after review. I was livid. I grew up in Alabama, and live here currently, so I have quite a few friends that are Auburn fans. For the most part, they all agreed, especially about that last interference "no-call." Of course, they will take it any way they can get it, and I cant say I blame them. We will never know whether we would have scored on that drive, anyway, but damn, I would sure have liked to have the opportunity to find out. There are still some positives to take from this game, though. Against a top notch opponent, the defense was stellar. Auburn only crossed the 50 3 times, and 4 out of Auburns 9 possessions netted negative yards. Auburn won the time of possession battle, meaning our defense was on the field longer than they were, and we still only gave up 181 total yards. They couldnt run on us, they couldnt pass on us, they just had a little help from the zebras. Russell had a pretty decent game, really. For the life of me, I cant figure out why he didnt throw it into the endzone on the last play, but he still completed 54% of his passes for 267 yards, and most importantly, no interceptions. We didnt turn the ball over. That was still one hell of a football team we saw today.
the game itself: Playcalling. seems to be a hot topic. I didnt think it was terrible yet the 2 runs on the 2nd to last drive was bad since it was established at that point we weren't going to run effectively. I think we threw the ball much more than it seemed. Id guess a 2:1 pass to run ratio. What i had a problem with is not lining up in shotgun, especially late when time is critical. jamarcus is a big man with size 17 feet? he has a good chance to stumble over himself in a hurried situation plus it takes a lot more time to read and react backpeddling. Single back shotgun 4 wide proved to be most effective anyhow and is a large reason why most are pissed off at jimbo/les for not utilizing the talent at hand. I agree its a valid complaint. Stack formation can only be used ineffectively so many times before you have to admit its not working. Toss sweeps against a speed defense is also stupid, especially with a 80% alley and a whatever % JV. Scott should have been in the game once this was shown yet it seems les sticks with upperclassmen good or bad. a little flexibility/adaptation wouldnt hurt however. Russell's sack was pretty inexcusable. I think that was his only sack? not sure but hes been here 4 years and has to know better. the last pass wasnt bad really. With 5 defenders camped in the EZ you have to give your guy a chance and he did. the problem was the route. he has to run some sort of post or corner pattern i would think. while buster still had a chance to score and was 1 on 1 with a LB hes not the biggest guy to push his way 5 yards. Someone said bowe was wide open in the endzone but i didnt see it probably because i was too pissed to watch a replay. glen dorsey is incredible. ive been on his jock since high school and he reminded me why. the entire defense was pretty spectacular although I didnt see as much of laron and daniels as Id hoped. beckwith is the best linebacker ive seen here in over a decade. he was in on the first 8 of 10 plays it seemed. i lost count. every play almost. if tyson jackson was as heralded out of high school as some big names, we'd be talking all american possibilities for him as well. hes super. zenon had a bad concussion and didnt return the 2nd half i think. coulda used him. the colorada kid is ok but not near as good....sammy joseph. i knew itd come to me. i thought joseph was supposed to be a starter last year yet still nickel/backup guy? Auburn's punter and the refs get comvps. it was funny though after hearing how vaughn missed 5 fgs last year he reinvented himself and practiced the next morning making 10 from every spot on the field and was a changed man. Just another reason to never like or trust a kicker. ever. no really. ok im tired, still a bit pissed off yet still optimistic on the remainder of the season. We should be favored in all the remaining games with the exception of florida. i dont think the coaching and/or play calling was terrible though i do feel it could improve. I do feel like we were prepared to play and got a screwjob in the process. AU will likely lose a game but not 2. Here's to a 12-1 season. i think its not only possible but likely. As pissed off as everyone is, this is a very good team and possibly one of the best ever at LSU. Try to enjoy it in spite of your personal feelings/anger toward the coaches, refs and outcome of the game. I know I am. on a good note, no serious injuries once again in a major slugfest. thats a blessing in itself. cheer up, tiger faithful. its much better that it currently seems.
Landry led the team in tackles last year as a safety. I think you arent hearing as much about him is because we are so much better at LB and CB. Zenon has been incredible, and Chevis has been pretty good, too. Like you said, Beckwith is a beast, and he is usually involved in tackles before the ball carrier reaches the secondary.
After watching the refs give the Steelers the Super Bowl, yesterdays LSU game, and the LSU vs.Auburn game when Ronnie Prude got flagged on the extra point I have to say that refs should be held accountable for their actions..............don't know how I can care so much about a sport that seems riged. Why do people not call out the refs? I really just don't understand why people w/ influence don't.
You guys do know that most of the college replay officials are supplied by the town where the college is located right? hmmm hmmm
When it comes down to it Russell has no touch on his passes. If he is not drilling it at 300 miles per hour, he can't hit a target. Early on he overthrew a wide open receiver that should have been a touchdown. On the last drive he under threw Early Doucet on the reversed PI play... Both throws that I have confidence that Flynn would have hit.. Combine that with the weak scrambling ability Russell has (two plays on the final drive where FLynn would have broken it for a first down at least)... Flynn isnt the physical freak that JR is, but he is a much, much better passer and has a better head on his shoulders...
Good post Tirk. A few other observations: 1) Why didn't we have the fumble reviewed I believe on Auburn's TD scoring drive. Replays looked to me like it was a fumble. Was it reviewable? With those refs though it might have been a waste of time. 2) Atleast 3 no-calls on hits out of bounds. 3) Run more screens. We ate there ass up with it. 4) Obviously should have gone to the passing game much sooner than we did. 5) LSU and/or Auburn are the best 2 teams in the SEC hands down. Both will pummel Tenn or Fla 6) I've thought about it for some time but never vocalized it. If Brandon Cox were to go down for the season so will Auburn's season. No experience at QB beyond him on that team. Cox isn't flashy but i think he does a good job for them managing the game 7) Jamarcus looked uncomfortable or rattled in the 2nd quarter. Regained his composure in the 2nd half. 8) As somebody mentioined. Dyakowski's holding call was a joke. If i remember correctly it resulted in a called back play for a 1st down. 9) We are no threat what so ever as a punt return team. Get some stickem on Holliday's hands and get him back there. 10) What's the purpose in the flag football set up on punt team? Is it to get better coverage? If so, it doesn't work. Not once were we able to get a guy down the field to down the ball near the goal line. 11) LSU is in John Vaughn's head. Can't believe he missed that FG.
