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So what are LSU & Alabama going to do differently this go round?
Posted on 12/23/11 at 9:25 am
Posted on 12/23/11 at 9:25 am
Back in November, these two teams participated in a Clash of the Titans type of battle that saw neither of them really do much on the offensive side of the ball.
LSU gave away two possessions on turnovers, had to insert their backup, go away from the Pro-Style, & begin running an option-based ground game with precious few passes, if any at all.
Amazingly, LSU found enough success with this to win the game.
For the Crimson Tide, they had a one-man-band by the name of Trent Richardson. Their leading receiver & rusher, Richardson finished with better than 160+ total yards. Fairly even distributed yards, as he had 80+ through the air, & 80+ on the ground as well.
He had both of Alabama's best offensive plays with a wheel route reception early, & a tough, bulling run through several levels of the LSU Defense as several All-Americans simply could not bring him down.
Having said that, Alabama's playcalling became erratic, & their execution even worse in the red zones all night. Trick plays in inexplicable situations. Throwing towards All-American cornerbacks. Going away from the one consistent threat on offense all night.
It conspired to put several scoring opportunities on the Special Teams Unit, which completely choked. But was it their fault? The situations they were asked to execute within were out of their comfort zones. By leaving this one on the kicking team, it truly exposed the one weakness of the Alabama team. Special Teams will not win a game for the Crimson Tide.
They can however lose the game for Alabama.
So, with both of these teams having sputtering performances in crucial areas and seeing the mistakes of their last tilt in the rear view mirror, what are the cures for what ails them?
Will LSU go after a perceived weakness of Alabama with the option-game once again? With LSU finding some success scratching out some offense with Jordan Jefferson running the Sprint Option & Speed Option, & with Georgia State completely surprising some observers by gashing the vaunted Bama run defense using the Triple Option, will Alabama look to shore up its Defense by going all in and practicing on how to defend the Option?
For LSU, will we figure out how to cover the back out of the backfield? Will Alabama see on tape what I did? That Michael Brockers was an immovable object on the interior of the line of scrimmage for most of the game. Will they get Vlachos some help & somehow utilize double teams on the interior with an H-Back to somehow open up interior run holes?
I think these are the key questions. Neither of these teams is going to win this game through the air unless someone blows a coverage or simply slips & falls.
The stories of this game, in my view:
Can Alabama defend the edge & defend the option properly?
And...
If LSU still maintains superiority on the interior Line Of Scrimmage, will Alabama be able to run to the edge with their personnel? Or will Alabama be able to scheme a way to rush the ball through the A-Gap consistently?
Answer those questions, and it'll go a long way to answering the question of who wins the game in New Orleans in January.
My personal opinion is that LSU showed folks in November that we could suffer turnovers, go away from our gameplan, use different personnel, & still scratch out offense against a very talented defense by using our edge rushing game. If any of you kept up with my posting on the Rant, you'll know I crowed about not running Ford to the edge all year. We didn't do it nearly enough. Until we had to. Then we showed we could actually get the job done against a top-flight-if not the best-defense in America.
So, this isn't some johnny come lately take on my part. It seems like Alabama also has genuinely had lots of trouble defending to the edge. Alabama is built to stop the run, & most of the time, that starts up the middle. But their linebackers, while extremely talented, aren't exactly guys that rove from sideline to sideline for 60 minutes. Just not built that way.
For LSU, the linebackers are rangy & fast, but we're not deep, & we are suspect in coverage. If your line can block, there will probably still be opportunities on circle routes, middle routes, wheel routes, & the shallow cross.
The real question is if you can run it consistently. You weren't able to in November. If you can't come January, I think you will be in some trouble.
Bottom line is that I think LSU with a month to prepare for a gameplan, no worries with personnel changes (barring health issues, JJ's the guy from beginning to end) & the like, will give a much, much better performance on offense & move the ball effectively. I'm not sure Alabama can overcome the issues it had offensively.
Just my take, but I think LSU wins this one convincingly.
What say the SEC Rant?
LSU gave away two possessions on turnovers, had to insert their backup, go away from the Pro-Style, & begin running an option-based ground game with precious few passes, if any at all.
Amazingly, LSU found enough success with this to win the game.
For the Crimson Tide, they had a one-man-band by the name of Trent Richardson. Their leading receiver & rusher, Richardson finished with better than 160+ total yards. Fairly even distributed yards, as he had 80+ through the air, & 80+ on the ground as well.
He had both of Alabama's best offensive plays with a wheel route reception early, & a tough, bulling run through several levels of the LSU Defense as several All-Americans simply could not bring him down.
Having said that, Alabama's playcalling became erratic, & their execution even worse in the red zones all night. Trick plays in inexplicable situations. Throwing towards All-American cornerbacks. Going away from the one consistent threat on offense all night.
It conspired to put several scoring opportunities on the Special Teams Unit, which completely choked. But was it their fault? The situations they were asked to execute within were out of their comfort zones. By leaving this one on the kicking team, it truly exposed the one weakness of the Alabama team. Special Teams will not win a game for the Crimson Tide.
They can however lose the game for Alabama.
So, with both of these teams having sputtering performances in crucial areas and seeing the mistakes of their last tilt in the rear view mirror, what are the cures for what ails them?
Will LSU go after a perceived weakness of Alabama with the option-game once again? With LSU finding some success scratching out some offense with Jordan Jefferson running the Sprint Option & Speed Option, & with Georgia State completely surprising some observers by gashing the vaunted Bama run defense using the Triple Option, will Alabama look to shore up its Defense by going all in and practicing on how to defend the Option?
For LSU, will we figure out how to cover the back out of the backfield? Will Alabama see on tape what I did? That Michael Brockers was an immovable object on the interior of the line of scrimmage for most of the game. Will they get Vlachos some help & somehow utilize double teams on the interior with an H-Back to somehow open up interior run holes?
I think these are the key questions. Neither of these teams is going to win this game through the air unless someone blows a coverage or simply slips & falls.
The stories of this game, in my view:
Can Alabama defend the edge & defend the option properly?
And...
If LSU still maintains superiority on the interior Line Of Scrimmage, will Alabama be able to run to the edge with their personnel? Or will Alabama be able to scheme a way to rush the ball through the A-Gap consistently?
Answer those questions, and it'll go a long way to answering the question of who wins the game in New Orleans in January.
My personal opinion is that LSU showed folks in November that we could suffer turnovers, go away from our gameplan, use different personnel, & still scratch out offense against a very talented defense by using our edge rushing game. If any of you kept up with my posting on the Rant, you'll know I crowed about not running Ford to the edge all year. We didn't do it nearly enough. Until we had to. Then we showed we could actually get the job done against a top-flight-if not the best-defense in America.
So, this isn't some johnny come lately take on my part. It seems like Alabama also has genuinely had lots of trouble defending to the edge. Alabama is built to stop the run, & most of the time, that starts up the middle. But their linebackers, while extremely talented, aren't exactly guys that rove from sideline to sideline for 60 minutes. Just not built that way.
For LSU, the linebackers are rangy & fast, but we're not deep, & we are suspect in coverage. If your line can block, there will probably still be opportunities on circle routes, middle routes, wheel routes, & the shallow cross.
The real question is if you can run it consistently. You weren't able to in November. If you can't come January, I think you will be in some trouble.
Bottom line is that I think LSU with a month to prepare for a gameplan, no worries with personnel changes (barring health issues, JJ's the guy from beginning to end) & the like, will give a much, much better performance on offense & move the ball effectively. I'm not sure Alabama can overcome the issues it had offensively.
Just my take, but I think LSU wins this one convincingly.
What say the SEC Rant?
11
Posted on 12/23/11 at 9:28 am to GFunk
make field goals - stop trying to kick 50+ yard ones.
Posted on 12/23/11 at 9:33 am to Thracken13
LSU will not be ultra conservative this time around. Saban will be more conservative. I doubt there will be any passes from Maze or halfback passes. I suspect LSU's game plan to be different with JJ running both aspects, pass and option, of the offense. I think Saban will try to maximize AJ, expect a few more down the field shots than in game 1. UGA caught LSU off kilter in the first 1/2 of their game, expect BAMA to test our corners, especially honey badger deep. If Simon is on the field, they will attack him.
For LSU, expect the offense to pass deep and try to loosen up the Bama D. To me this game depends on which JJ shows up. If the UGA JJ shows up, its a long night. If the JJ from the Arkansas game shows up, watch out, LSU can score some points.
For LSU, expect the offense to pass deep and try to loosen up the Bama D. To me this game depends on which JJ shows up. If the UGA JJ shows up, its a long night. If the JJ from the Arkansas game shows up, watch out, LSU can score some points.
This post was edited on 12/23/11 at 9:36 am
Posted on 12/23/11 at 9:35 am to GFunk
Tl dr
What Bama will do differently - win the game.
What LSU will do differently - lose the game.
What Bama will do differently - win the game.
What LSU will do differently - lose the game.
Posted on 12/23/11 at 9:35 am to GFunk
tl;dr
One thing Bama has to do is eliminate the negative plays. They had 7 negative plays for -32 yards in the game. LSU run blitzed effectively throughout the game. Richardson starred in the first half but really only had that one impact play in the 2nd half.
LSU was extremely conservative on offense, even more so than usual. The two Lee picks probably had something to do with that. I think they need to be more balanced in this game, they ran the ball 41 times and only threw it 17. There were a few "give-up" plays in the 2nd half where they ran up the middle on 3rd down just to prevent a turnover. I think they need to be more balanced, because I think Bama will be ready to stop the option.
One thing Bama has to do is eliminate the negative plays. They had 7 negative plays for -32 yards in the game. LSU run blitzed effectively throughout the game. Richardson starred in the first half but really only had that one impact play in the 2nd half.
LSU was extremely conservative on offense, even more so than usual. The two Lee picks probably had something to do with that. I think they need to be more balanced in this game, they ran the ball 41 times and only threw it 17. There were a few "give-up" plays in the 2nd half where they ran up the middle on 3rd down just to prevent a turnover. I think they need to be more balanced, because I think Bama will be ready to stop the option.
Posted on 12/23/11 at 9:38 am to GFunk
quote:
What say the SEC Rant
You wasted a lot of time on something almost no one will take the time to read.
Posted on 12/23/11 at 9:39 am to GFunk
Alabama was sand bagging. We will win by 20 this time.
Posted on 12/23/11 at 9:40 am to GFunk
quote:
So what are LSU & Alabama going to do differently this go round?
LSU wins easily this time
Posted on 12/23/11 at 9:41 am to bamasgot13
quote:
What Bama will do differently - win the game.
That's like your opinion man.
Posted on 12/23/11 at 9:43 am to TunaTigers
quote:
That's like your opinion man.
no son. it is fact.
Posted on 12/23/11 at 9:44 am to I Love Bama
michael ford is gonna do the alphabet on nico johnson all night
Posted on 12/23/11 at 9:45 am to Maximus
Posted on 12/23/11 at 9:48 am to GFunk
Great post! I completely agree. We saw everything Bama had on offense in the first game and they couldn't have asked for a better environment for their team to execute in.
LSU will open up the playbook on offense and will be playing in a MUCH more favorable environment. A convincing win in this matchup to me is a 9 point win.
LSU wins 29-20
LSU will open up the playbook on offense and will be playing in a MUCH more favorable environment. A convincing win in this matchup to me is a 9 point win.
LSU wins 29-20
Posted on 12/23/11 at 9:48 am to I Love Bama
Yeah, going by how I have heard that term used previously, and in the context of which he used it, that's pretty gross, and really gay.
Posted on 12/23/11 at 9:50 am to ALTiger
lol what makes you think that LSU is going to open the playbook? You think that yall are going to magically be able to pass on us this go around? Trick plays? What will yall be able to do differently this time?
Posted on 12/23/11 at 9:52 am to LMB46
quote:
LSU was extremely conservative on offense, even more so than usual. The two Lee picks probably had something to do with that. I think they need to be more balanced in this game, they ran the ball 41 times and only threw it 17. There were a few "give-up" plays in the 2nd half where they ran up the middle on 3rd down just to prevent a turnover. I think they need to be more balanced, because I think Bama will be ready to stop the option.
Thank you for being an unbiased LSU fan and actually giving a good breakdown of the game. Your post couldn't be more correct. LSU was way too conservative offensively against Alabama on 11/5. They should have tried to attack Alabama's secondary more. Alabama's defense is prone to giving up big passing plays defensively and it's very difficult to sustain drives against that team. I don't think it was a coincidence that in their best drive of the game, LSU completed a long pass downfield.
Posted on 12/23/11 at 9:54 am to Unbiased Bama Fan
I realllllly hope they try to attack our secondary this go around.
Posted on 12/23/11 at 9:54 am to I Love Bama
9-6
Posted on 12/23/11 at 9:56 am to Paul Allen
Yes, that was last game, this thread is about the next game. Try and keep up, rantard.
Posted on 12/23/11 at 10:00 am to Funky Tide 8
quote:
I realllllly hope they try to attack our secondary this go around.
I don't think this year's secondary is anywhere close to being as good as our 2009 team. The '09 secondary shut down every passing offense down without much of a natural pass rush. When Alabama generated pressure, it was through blitz packages which left our DBs out on an island. Yet teams still couldn't take advantage. Also, 2009 Alabama had 24 INTs compared to only 12 for this year's team so it was a far riskier proposition trying to throw the ball on them.
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