re: *Super Dee Duper Official X's and O's discussion of LSU vs Alabama Thread*

quote:

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I've seen Engrams name a lot this week. No one really seems to be accounting for the fact that Adams could afford to focus all of his attention on Engram because Ole Miss is not a threat to run the ball. Alabama is. If LSU wants to try to take away OJ Howard with Adams then good luck to the kid, but Adams will be needed in run support Saturday night.

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Yep. The biggest difference in this game (in general) is that....

Almost everyone else has to bring a man into the box to help with LSU's run game. Every other game they play LSU has numbers advantages on TEs and WRs. Alabama not only has better athletes in the secondary than everyone else LSU plays, but Alabama doesn't bring a man down into the box the majority of the time. Therefore, not only is LSU playing better defensive players, they are playing more of them in the back end.

On the flip side, Alabama is one of the only teams that LSU is forced to cheat against the run against. Generally, LSU can stay back (like Alabama does to LSU) and allow guys like Adams to concentrate fully on the back end or in an individual matchup (like against Ole Miss with Engram). That likely won't be the case against Alabama.

Therefore, a lot of the things that happen for LSU against almost everyone else on the schedule aren't exactly the same against Alabama because of what Alabama can do against LSU in the trenches, which is generally something other teams cannot do to them there. That totally changes the rest of the game and matchups, because LSU is built (even when a bit more open) around the philosophy that they dominate the trenches. If they were spread team it wouldn't be as big a deal, because they would already play from the notion that they lose the trenches. However, their identity (and philosophy) is built off dominating the trenches.