re: Question for LSU Fans - RE: Chavis's Defense

against A&M in particular, we played a lot of mustang, got extra db's on the field. had good enough lb's like minter and lamin barrow to help make it work, otherwise you're going to be exposed. even welter had a nice game last yr

good enough db's to play press coverage on the outside (our young guys really started to come on late in the 2013 season, so that helped in regards to that game)

a little 3-2-6, 4-2-5, just mixed it up. dwayne thomas did a good job playing that ron brooks/honey badger role

if you can come out and establish the run, and get some balance it can be difficult to stop. a&m did that in 2012, but thats when chavis made the adjustment, and our offense capitalized off the turnovers.

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How does he do it and (more important part) can his success be copied in your opinion?

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LSU "Mustang" package. Three down linemen and eight DB's if you count the LB's as DB's. Coverage and blitzes are easy to disguise when you match that many DB's on the receiver corps. Also your CB's have got to be able to play man coverage.

One other aspect that I have never heard discussed here is what I call the fox and hound strategy. When you have someone like JFF that will run with the ball a lot then build a fence and run a blitz to flush him into it.

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LSU gets a lot of top DBs, but he has turned a number of guys into studs. Mathieu comes to mind. He was a 3 star and not highly recruited. I believe LSU was his only SEC offer.

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Yeah, he was undersized and not elite speed, but the kid was a gamer and had a good football iq/instinct for the play, like if manziel had gone to texas to play safety Lolololol. I'm hoping deshawn capers smith can grow into that kind of roll, he doesn't jump out with any of his physical attributes but he seems to have a good feel for the game. Tony Hurd our nickleback provided a lot of timely big plays for us last year. I'm really nervous about this year's defense. Any kind of pass rush could be a huge bandaid.

you'll hear a lot about the Mustang Package. Which is not a conventional "situational" type package. In other words, when O trots X players on field, they don't swap to it. O doesn't dictate when it's used I guess is the best way of saying it. It's more a style that allows flexibility.

- already stated, physical CB's that cover very well.

- LB's that can cover slots/TE's in parts of the field (and know when to release them to safety's). That's the speed vs size.

- Have to have multiple skill safeties.

- DTs that abosrb blockers, DE's that can play in space.

One thing I noticed about when LSU played TAMU was controlled rush. And not just keeping lanes (everybody tried that). I saw once where Mingo had him dead to rights and he just stopped and moved just enough to keep the OT off of him. What he did was take away 3-4 gaps that JFF could run in. Takes coached discipline for that (credit Brick Haley too).

ETA: looks like I just elaborated on what GetMoreWithLes said. sorry.

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True, but our run game was sub- par last year and we ran all over y'all. Sunshine also tossed for 350 yards.

And later in the season y'all shut down a much better TAMU offense and earlier y'all controlled a much better Auburn.

It just doesn't make sense to me. We lit y'all up in DV the year before, too, even though we didn't win.

Please note - I'm not trying to troll. This is a legit conundrum to me. I really do love Chavis's defense. LSU is my second favorite team.

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I'd like to hear an explanation myself. That game baffled my mind.

I wouldn't get caught up on yardage though, other teams always get a ton of yardage. We tighten up in the red zone.............that and we've had phenomenal special teams the last few years.

Chavis has done a good job against some of the more prolific O' and schemes out there. We got smoked pretty good by Auburn/Cam in '10 and later that year by OM/Masoli.

I think Chavis learned from those. To be sure we were a little thin at DL in '10 (Montgomery season ending injury and Mingo as RS Fr) but not that thin.

What Chavis does well is find some anchor point on D (whatever it may be) and work from there. I think he expected that to be our DL last year and they underachieved big-time so it wasn't until White/Robinson stepped-up at CB that our D began to take shape. Unfortunately, that was mid-to-late season.

Two other points:
- Chavis's D's have really struggled in late game possessions over-n-over again.
- Muschamp (e.g., vs UF while he was DC at AU in '07) and Patterson (4-2-5) have done better than most against the better O's. When Chavis retires and Muchamp's no longer welcome in Gainesville I would love to have him as DC.

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Chavis's D's have really struggled in late game possessions over-n-over again.

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I wish the Mythbusters would feature this on their show. His Defenses are not significantly worse at the end of games compared to other DCs.

Whatever makes you feel better.

Ah the good ole mustang package. As long as you're not up four with a minute left with David Greene, Fred Gibson, and a hobnail boot lying around, you're golden.

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Ah the good ole mustang package. As long as you're not up four with a minute left with David Greene, Fred Gibson, and a hobnail boot lying around, you're golden.

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I'd play the entire game in the Mustang, even goal line situations, to have Chavis back over what we've had since then.