Some of you may remember me in the chat room last year, but I probably even doubt that. Label me a negatiger if you must, but at least read through it all first... I can't honestly say I remember a thing before Hallman, and can't honestly say I even cared about a single recruit until Dinardo gave me hope beating florida in 97 (was 97?? whenever)... Can't say I even checked LSU forums before '07. Just read whatever the media printed/showed and what friends and I would argue about. An FSU friend asked me why everyone is so down on LSU while we're 4-0... and after sending it to him, I figured I'd post it here. comments/thoughts/etc are welcome (forgive whatever grammar/spelling/possibly not perfect statistics... i see Jefferson has technically avg'd 104ypg... point still remains) email: Why do you convince me to type novels?!?! You know... I really try to stay away from being one of those nega-tigers (shutup... that's what we call 'em!). I know you've had your share of them probably every year for the last 7-8 years of bowden's tenure. I wouldn't doubt you have people screaming for Jimbo's head right now for some dumb reason... BUT at the beginning of the year I'm pretty sure I told you our entire season weighs heavily on our QB play..and i quote: **note this was an excerpt from an email I sent him before the season with my thoughts for 2010** "All of the questions and answers of our season lie in the hands of our offensive line and the quarterback, Jordan Jefferson. Our receiving group has insane talent, and could very well surprise everyone with how good they are. Of course the question and dilemna with that... can we get them the ball? Our spring game and my thoughts of our two QB's ( jefferson and jarret lee) are that they can't fill the position well." I truly believe we are a QB away from being a serious national championship contender. Of course, seeing as the QB is the epicenter of any offense... that's a pretty important piece of the puzzle missing. 2008: coming off a NC '07 season with everyone saying things like "we don't rebuild we reload"/etc. Fans thought a repeat was realistic (honestly I didn't think a repeat, but did expect a top 5 season). We started off 5-0 with a big win over a (wrongfully) highly ranked auburn - scored 30 in the 4th to come back against Troy which showed our offense could do big things (even if it was troy... 30 points is a huge quarter). Ended up 8-5 2009: started off 5-0 with an ooc win over Washington (which looked better at the time), and ranked UGA. ended up losing our first bowl in 5 years?~ i think it was 5years. First bowl loss for Miles I know. Ended 9-4 2010: starting off 4-0 with a pretty lackluster win over depleted UNC. Allowed vandy to stay in the game with us until the 4th. beat miss-st, and then gave west virginia a chance to win it late... without noel devine not really even being in the game. Ended - ??? (wow... that screams nega-tiger all over it for a 4-0 start... hmmm) The frustration really is with the QB position. We lost Ryan Perriloux in '08 *b/c he was a thug... shoulda been kicked off the team. Losing him put us in a tough position for QB. Had to start true freshmen. That was 08. It's 2010... we still have those same two guys that didn't develop, and no one on the horizon for next year at all. One of our recruits left under mysterious circumstances... maybe he was kicked for poor attitude and lack of progression... maybe he was allowed a release since he didn't see himself getting any playing time... maybe he left thinking the 'other' recruit was going to be the starter... who knows. The other recruit (Zach Lee if you follow it intensely... sometimes I do/don't...) clearly wanted to come to LSU... clearly wanted to play baseball and football in college... but the LA dodgers offered him 5M... he had turned down the original offer of 2M... can't blame him for that. That means 2011 still puts us in a tough spot at QB without some juco transfer or something. So here we are... with a defense and special teams that has dominated. Ranked top 3 or better in almost every category in the SEC. #1 in total and rushing defense (with 2 real ooc games and not cupcakes like some). A corner and return man that is getting actual press for heisman discussion (i'll get to that if you want me to)... but we have to kick 5 field goals against miss-state. Yet we have a QB that isn't averaging 100yd/game passing. not a typo... not 200-300yrd games... not even 150... 100... hasn't had 100yds passing in the last thee games. Our running back stable is above average... in fact pretty damn good, but it's tough when every defense in the world just stacks the box with 11 guys (obvious exaggeration, don't go crazy) It's one of those... perfect storms brewing. You can only 'out-talent' so many times... eventually in every season you will be behind, and have to come back late in a game. Our defense has proved they can make that late game stop to secure a victory, but our offense hasn't even shown a glimpse of being able to make that late game drive. All signs (including miles and our OC) say that the backup QB, Jarret Lee, is competing and is at least on par with Jefferson... well if that's true, how can you not give him any playing time (hasn't thrown a pass yet this year), when your QB is struggling as bad as he is? I think most any coach in the nation tries something different after 4 games at 100yd passing... hell Spurrier (had to throw his name out there to make you cringe) put in a true freshman with no experience at auburn late in the 4th qtr... one TD away from winning just b/c his senior hero, Garcia, fumbled twice... (one wasn't really an error by the way). Probably cost him the game, but if a player continues to struggle and doesn't show signs of improvement in actual game situations... try something different! Seeing 4-0/5-0 starts end up 9-4 and 8-5 with no real statement game in conference doesn't give me the confidence I wish I could have. Being 4-0 is great. I am still a fan... still pumped about every game. I'll stay and cheer until the clock says 0:00 at whatever bowl we get the honor of going to. Sometimes you think 'what could be' with such a great defense and talent. Sometimes you just wish one small piece of the puzzle would fall into place... (ie: falling into the NC game with 2 losses)... sometimes you wanna just stand up and shout that we'll be 13-0 this year... but sometimes the reality sets in. Point the blame wherever you want.... Jefferson, Miles, Crowton (OC)... but at the end of the day it's tough to be pumping sunshine. We're a kentucky derby race horse with a broken leg... and right now we don't even have a cast on it. so there... why some of us aren't thrilled about 4-0. Are we negatigers?
There are a lot of merits here. I think a lot of people are really frustrated because neither of our QB's look like they've improved much, if any, in the 3 years they've been here. It smells like poor coaching. They've had the same two coaches - Miles and Crowton the whole time they've been at LSU. I don't think it makes you a nega-tiger if you're frustrated. :crystal::geaux::crystal::geaux::crystal:
These two paragraphs contradict themselves. First, you insist that our wins are over scrubs. Then, you suggest that we haven't feasted on cupcakes like others have. I understand your frustration with the QB situation. It's not great; in fact, it's pretty bad. But it's maddening to see Tiger "fans" constantly being the worst, harshest critics of our program. I'm embarrassed that our "fans" are booing our TEAM on national TV. It's just a game, and many folks need to gain a little perspective.
It’s not hard to pump sunshine... Think of it like this. Whatever your religious beliefs, you put your faith in that belief. Why? What proof do you have over another guy who believes different??? I try to use these same concepts with all things that I love and enjoy. LSU for example. I have faith, that at the end of the day, everything works out for the best. I also believe that Miles, GC, JJ, J Lee and all the other young players out there give LSU their best effort. There is no evidence that says any different. It takes a very special group of coaches + players to make a perfect NC team and we are not there yet. Whatever those pieces are, we are slowly getting there… From losing A LOT of the coaching staff in 2007 – 2008 hurt us hard in a number of areas. Though if we would have made a check list of all the bad things in 2008 + 2009 it would look like this: · QB · Running game · Secondary · LB’s · D’line · O’line · Coaching · Play calling Fast forward to today and the list looks like this: · QB · Coaching · Play calling Really, 3 areas left that need the upgrade the rest of the team has gotten. It will come, either from Miles or a new coach, but it will come... You can call it blind faith, homer or the “sunshine pumper”, but the truth is that it is no different than good old faith….
How much of this blame for the quarterbacks not developing fall on the coaching staff, and much of it falls directly on the backs of the QB's? You know it's the coaches that always get the blame, for not making the right changes, or not playing the best guy, or not developing players. Why can't any of the blame be put on Jordan Jefferson and Jarrett Lee for not putting in the work required to be a solid SEC quarterback? And i'm not talking about scheduled practice, i mean pulling a Drew Brees, or Peyton Manning and practicing on their own time, putting in extra work, striving to be better? See we just don't know what they are doing in practice or in their off time because practice is closed to the media. All we ever hear is that they are making great progress, and I think that is a good thing that Miles shields his players.
That was my quote preseason. Would our offensive line give Jefferson enough time to learn and grow. I'd agree that they have.
