LSU's keys to victory: Offense: No turnovers Jordan Jefferson 50 yards rushing/150 yards passing Ware/Ford/Blue/Gore/ - 200 yards rushing combined Control Time of Possession. Defense: Contain, Contain, Contain. Stay home and in lanes force 3rd and long situations DO NOT LET THOMAS BEAT YOU WITH HIS LEGS. can you add to that Tiger fans, or disagree? Duckfan? Oregon's keys to victory?
Oregon's keys to victory: Offense: No turnovers Darren Thomas 50 yards rushing/250 yards passing James, Barner - 125 yards rushing combined, 75 combined receiving run/pass the ball wide at first, spread the field, exhaust them with tempo, establish the inside run. Defense: Don't let them pound the run. swarm tackling force 3rd and long situations Make Jordan Jefferson beat us with the pass. Special teams, contain LSU, is most important Other: Ducks have a lot of big plays on offense. Kelly demands downfield blocking by receivers, it's a big part of the Duck's game-plan. can you add to that Tiger fans, or disagree?
Can't ask for much more on offense. On defense I would add, Put pressure on the QB, blitz with corners, LBs Keep fresh legs on D Control field position Don't give up big plays
Oregon Offense: Get ball to play makers in space (James, Barner, Seastrunk, Huff). Maintain fast tempo. O-Line play needs to step up. Oregon Defense: Sell out to stop the run. Hit the QB. Beware of trick plays on 3rd and long and punting situations. LSU Offense: Get QB going early. Short passing plays to build confidence. Pound the ball, then play action off of it. Control the line of scrimmage. LSU Defense: Conditioning (Rotate fresh legs in all game long to keep up with the pace that Oregon plays. Disrupt the running game (Play assignment football). Secondary needs to come off the receiver's down-field blocks on running plays and screens to make tackles. Special teams: Oregon: Use Barner/Seastunk in the return game to control field position. LSU: Contain Oregon's dangerous return game. Angle punts to the sidelines. What I don't want to see: Dirty play from either side. Fake injuries. A million TV timeouts to slow Oregon momentum.
That is going to be the key to this game. If Oregon can keep LSU's defensive line from rotating, that will be a huge advantage.
Keeping the tempo high paced is definitely a huge key for Oregon. Unfortunately, with the game being a high profile, nationally televised game, it will have added TV timeouts. The Tigers will have that much more time to rest. Oregon's offense relies on that tempo not only to tire the defense, but also creates momentum for themselves on offense. In the NC, Auburn did a great job of not allowing Oregon to create that momentum early. Once they got it going late in the game, it was to late. If LSU can do a similar job, Oregon may be in trouble. The one thing that Auburn had, that LSU doesn't (at least at this point) was a prolific offense that scored just enough to win the NC. LSU's defense is better (on paper) than Auburn's, so it will be interesting to see where that gets them.
If you think LSU is going to be out of shape, you are making a mistake. LSU ran a slower offense last year because the OC substituted on almost every play depending on who the defense had in the game. The new OD is probably not going to do that, but he may be just as methodical. We play in a league with a half-dozen teams that can beat us with a balanced and high-powered offense. We have learned that one of the best defenses against such teams is a methodical, ball-control offense that grinds out 8-minute drives. A team can't score if it can't get the ball back. Oregons poor time-of-possession is not a good thing, amigo.
He's talking about our defense getting worn out from not having opportunities to substitute players. If Oregon runs its offense, there's no defense in America that wouldn't be tired, so it's more important for our D to get pressure and make plays. Let our D-line control their offense rather than the other way around. It's not a good thing over the extent of a season but we won many games the past few years despite losing the TOP battle. Oregon makes an emphasis on scoring fast and often, so it's hard to say TOP is a good indicator of how good their offense is.
Power running against the Ducks, was pretty successful last year, but only early in the game. Tennessee, Stanford, USC, Washington, Arizona State, Oregon State, and even Washington State, ripped off several 10-20 yard running plays early in their games against Oregon. The Ducks in all of those games, had our opponents running game pretty much shut down by the middle of the 2nd quarter. The second, or early third quarter was also when Oregon really started to pressure their QB. My hunch, the game-plan was, over-defend the pass until the opponents tendencies became apparent. Adjust, adjust, and then focus more on controlling the run, as well as turning up the pressure on the QB. In the Rosebowl, the same scenario played out. It was Pryor's passing and running, on 3rd and long, that killed the Ducks. Speculation on my part; Versus Auburn, Chip Kelly didn't want Cam Newton to beat the Ducks, as Pryor had in the Rosebowl. The plan was to shut down Newton, and I thought Oregon did a good job vs the big cyclops. Maybe Oregon should have focused more on the run, It was Auburn's RB that really hurt us. The Duck's defense was very good last year, it should be better this year. The Oregon offense, I suspect, will be somewhat different this year. In the National Championship game, Darren Thomas was clutch in the fourth quarter. He led the Ducks down the field, and his passing and cool head tied the game. Thomas had no experiance in late game pressure situations, until that game. Thomas is a redshirt junior this year, with a full year of game experiance under his belt. DT is a fine passer, expect this year's Ducks offense to emphasize the passing game. With the caveat, Oregon's best receiver has graduated, and he was our go to guy. The Ducks recruited a very fine incoming class of receivers, but they are freshmen. Chip Kelly has said they need a freshman receiver to step up and contribute this year. Keep your eye on soph. Josh Huff, I think he might explode onto the national scene this year. He plays all over the field, and is a tazr, (hybrid running back receiver). Perhaps Tony Dungee's kid Eric will step up as a redshirt freshman. James, Barner, and Seastrunk are expected to be Oregon's RB's. Expect more receiving yards from LaMichael James this year. Oregon's offensive line lost a lot of experiance to graduation. I think they will eventually become better than last year. I see the Duck's offensive line as being the key to the LSU game. Oregon needs some production from the inside running game, and good production running wider. More importantly, Thomas needs to be protected, before and while delivering the ball. The Duck's offensive line needs to protect DT from being hit hard often. He's shown that he'll hang in there, and finish the play while being hit. But if Thomas is hurt, the Oregon backup QB's have exactly, zero snaps of game experiance. Oregon's tempo, adds a whole new dimension, I could write 1,000 words on the subject. Time of possession, it's an odd thing. Our victims will have a huge top advantage, yet we win by 35 points. Ok, here it comes.... If Oregon's offense is even 70% of what it normally is, I believe that having a big, fast, dynamic quarterback, is the only way to beat the Duck's. I know, really big words, but that's the way I see it.
