LSU-Alabama X’s and O’s conversation

Going to try to have a non troll thread but we’ll see.

I’m picking Alabama to win this game, though we have a bit more than a punchers chance which is incredible considering where this LSU team was even a few weeks ago. Brian Kelly has done an outstanding job here so far.

The offense has evolved significantly since the opener against Florida State. They’ve moved away from the slow developing play action game and started forcing defenses to chose between 1) Daniels outside run 2) counter or trap between the tackles 3) RPO slant or 4) Zone killer 15-20 yard passes between the safety and corner. All 4 options have been effective when defenses don’t respect them.

People have been saying okay we’re going to make Jayden beat us throwing, but the OL has improved enough in both run and pass coverage that teams can’t squat on us in coverage the way they were earlier in the year.

Jayden has been a slow starter but consistently improves as the game goes on, he was throwing absolute darts by the mid 2nd quarter the other night and has been responsible for 750 yards and 11 touchdowns the last 2 games.

The Wide Receiver room is excellent with 3 top end starters and several other solid contributors. The running backs are led by a former walk on who isn’t physically imposing but does everything with intensity and attention to detail.

Ultimately though you’re dealing with a team that’s starting two true freshman tackles, and while both have been as good as any freshman linemen we’ve had here going back 20 or 30 years, they’re still freshman and Alabama is going to have the advantage there.

Defensively the first player to talk about is another true freshman, Harold Perkins who has been extremely disruptive as a pass rusher and overall lifts the play of his teammates with the energy he brings. I try to avoid hyperbole but he’s the best freshman defender I’ve seen at LSU in a long time.

BJ Ojulari is the other elite pass rusher to be accounted for. The problem thus far is both he and Perkins play the same position in Matt House’s defense, and thus far they’ve been reluctant to play both at the same time as they feel it makes us light against the run. The front 7 overall has been very good though not yet as deep a room as they’d like at linebacker and Maason Smith, probably the best lineman on the team, was lost for the year against Florida State.

The secondary has been up and down and we’re badly exploited against Tennessee. This is another area I expect Alabama to be able to take advantage of though I wouldn’t call them bad per se, just inconsistent

Special Teams has been absolutely horrible most of the year. That they didn’t make a game jeopardizing mistake against Ole Miss is the most positive thing I can say about them. Muffed kicks, missed field goals, and poor return coverage have all been issues, though our punter has been good.

Overall I don’t expect LSU to be able to win this game, though just the thought that’s they might in year 1 of a full rebuild says a lot about the current trajectory of the program.

Regardless, it’s nice that the LSU-Alabama game means something again.