Im less down after this loss than some wins in recent past. The offense may be thw best ever even though run blocking needs to improve. No way to sugar coat it, the defense simply sucks in every phase of the game. Yes we are young and talented, but I thought we would be better than this before now. There should be an increased sense of urgency on that side of the ball for sure. Not sure if they are close enough to give much hope right now IMO. On the positive side, the O is so good it shouldn't matter in most games, but some will be closer than they should be and others are in definite doubt. Chavis has his work cut out for him.
Its not just the fact the players arent as good as years past. Its the fact that they still look clueless. Youth or not, some of that goes on coaching. Not to mention the constant miscommunication we keep seeing. Chavis and staff better step it up. The OL needs better coaching too. Those false start penalties.
Avery Johnson will step up next year, might even get healthy enough to enjoy the last part of the season or the bowl game. Good side is we didn't get blown out, so we shouldn't fall out of 9th in the polls. Still a respectable spot.
Settle down Kathy Miles. Cherry picking a game from 9 years ago doesn't address anything we're talking about. First you attempted to to make the case that our offense hasn't stunk before Cam and now you're attempting to defend this defense. You look like a fool in both cases. As well you seem to have some sort of hard on for me. The criticism of Chavis has been consistent and around since he's been at Tennessee. We didn't make up the nickname 3rd & Chavis. When the chips are down, Chavis gets soft and it costs games. His defense is tolerable when he has NFL talent and it's unwatchable when he doesn't.
This team is loaded with NFL talent in the back 7. The front 4 are lacking to say the least. But none are NFL ready now! Again, this is an extremely young and inexperienced defense. Everyone will be singing its praise this time next year, but for now they suck! Chavis needs to get them ready quicker, but players also need to step up and play. For all the whining, Chavis is the best DC LSU has ever had and I was there for the Arnsparger years too.
I'm not sure I agree, but the gnashing of teeth over this loss is ridiculous. We lost by 3 points. Away from home. Against a top 10 SEC power. And we still control our destiny, just like UGA did after the Clemson loss. If we make even modest improvements, we're going to absolutely torch the only opponent that matters.
Very disappointed but what bothered me most, what haunts me is the fact that the referees made sure not to call anything down the stretch. I get all the other factors including the offense, the defense, Crucial TO by Beckham but regardless the non calls in this game haunts me. I didn't watch the whole game. I was at football practice with Tyler. I recorded and was going to watch it from the beginning but didn't have the heart after that ending. It is one thing to lose a game it is quite another for your WR's to be interferred with and no calls down the stretch, I believe the last 3rd and 4th down. They have a lot of work to do. Losing those key defensive players last year really hurt us. Seems like we can't get the right combination, good passing and running game, good defense. Last year would have been great with this offense. Two years ago with this offense, undefeated, national champions.
That 2004 game was David Greene's perfect game of his career. He could do no wrong. I remember defenders being draped all over his receiver and he just placed it perfectly time and time again in that game. It was the perfect storm.