OK the Tigers kicked ass on a completely outmanned team Saturday night. We all suspected that Addai would be good and now I think he will be a huge factor in LSU's success and may be the best running back in the SEC. We already knew how good Clayton is and he proved it again. Ditto for Henderson. The D looked great but we still don't know how good they are considering the competition. Several freshmen played very well, especially Broussard, Vincent and Pittman. What was disapointing was that LSU did not have a single long sustained scoring drive. Sure its exciting to see the long scoring plays but we all know that its not very likely that LSU will be able to strike from long range multiple times per game against SEC competition. It is extremely crucial that the Tigers be able to grind out long scoring ball control drives using the run and the short passing game. The run blocking against ULM was adequate at times, opening holes for at least long enough for a quick and talent running back like Addai to take advantage of but the run blocking was pretty inconsistent. To sustain drives against the likes of Georgia, Florida, Auburn and Alabama the highly touted Tiger O Line needs to give 110% on each and every play. The pass blocking was also inconsitent, allowing the ULM pass rush to force Mauck into more hurried throws than I ever expected against that level of competition. The Georgia pass rush will make ULMs look like a high school. If Peterman, Reed, Wilkerson and the rest are as good as they have been hyped they need to start proving it starting Saturday against Arizona. Even though Mauck passed for 3 TDs his completion percentage was less than 50% - 13 for 28. True, 3 off his throws were dropped, including one by Michael Clayton of all people but he needs to get the completion percentage up around 60% if the Tigers are going to be effective in mixing up the run and the short passes to sustain long drives. He was tentative early in the game but got better as the game moved along. I understand that it was important for him to have the opportunity to regain his confidence in actual competition and I believe that he will improve as the season moves along. To Maucks credit he has proven that he can rise to the occasion in the big games. His only loss as a starter was in last years opener against a Virginia Tech team that already had a game against a rent-a-win team under its belt to work out the first game kinks. How good Mauck will be this season and how consistent the running game will be goes back to how well the O Line steps up to the plate. The inconsistency of the O Line against inferior competion who they outweighed by about 75 pounds per man was my biggest concern coming off Saturday's game. Not much I can say about the defense except for congratulations for a well played game, especially Jack Hunt. Hunt has more heart in his pinkie finger than a lot of players have in their whole body. Will Hunt be capable of staying with SEC quality receivers in man to man coverage? Doubtful but we'll find out soon enough. I didn't find this out until last night when I watched the replay on Cox Cable but Randall Gay broke a bone and will be out from 4 to 6 weeks so somebody will have to step up bigtime to replace him. Congrats to special teams all around. Several great punt and kickoff returns and great coverage on punts and kickoffs. No worries about the punting. Donnie Jones was outstanding. Even the 56 yard punt that went into the end zone for a touchback was almost downed on the ULM 1 yard line but for a bad bounce. Gaudet missed an easy field goal and had another one blocked because the didn't get the football elevated quickly enough but hopefully we can blame the bad weather on that. He did drill all the extra points. Despite the blowout win Nick Saban was not happy with the quality of play so we can expect that mistakes WILL be corrected by Saturday. There is not a game on the schedule that the Tigers are not capable of winning. If every player plays up to his capabilites and gives th maximum effort on every play of every game Charles Hanagriff's prediction of a 12-0 regular season record could come true.
Look for Ronnie Prude to step up into Randall Gay's spot. In high school he was a multi sport star so he is talanted. He played high school ball on the same team as Stromile Swift.
Good, Bad, Ugly Regarding LSUs slow start. What rain and a soggy field does to a team is slow them down. I'm not so worried about the fact LSU was slow to score at first or the fact we didn't score fast enough or often enough. A wet field that is soggy takes away a teams speed so we were not able to showcase what we really have just yet. It was still a dominating performance that could have been much worse. Next week on a dry field, we will really be able to showcase our talent and speed. I really don't think it will be that close. Just my thoughts!
As far as the freshman that played well, don't forget to include Landry. I think he got some quality plays in and, at the least, made his impact known getting to the QB a few times on the safety blitz and forcing throws. I won't argue with much of what you said, but I will defend Mauck's lack-luster performance. Field conditions were sloppy--not that they were drastically better when Randall was in, but early in the game, during the "downpour", Mauck had to battle with a soaked, wet ball. Again, even though the field conditions weren't that much better, at least when Randall was in, it wasn't raining "cats and dogs".
Under the good category, LSU had zero lost fumbles which, given the conditions, is amazing regardless of the competition.
i think Mauck's percentage is low because of the conditions he was playing in. It was sloppy in the first half (especially 1st quarter) and that had a lot to do with his percentages.
I agree with Bengal B I think Bengal B brings up the same concerns I have as well. The O-line is not consisted of first time starters and I think we should have been more productive in the run. Mauck does need to improve some as well. That being said I think we will see dramatic improvements this week. I have a whole lot of trust and respect for Coach Saban and he will have the Tigers ready to play. And I have to admit, I like Mauck! He may not be the flashy 300+ yards passing QB but he is gives me the impreseeion of being the quiet leader, little mistakes, and knows and uses the stregnth of his offensive unit. Also, I know the O-line will perform like they should. And I will love to see the Tigers run the ball like they did against Miss. St. last year at Tiger Stadium. With regards to the Tiger defense I expect to continue to see solid performances all season long.
