My wife: "Why are you so upset, didn't LSU win last night?"
Me: "Yeah, but they didn't win right."
My wife: "What do you mean didn't win right?"
Me: "They should have won by a lot more."
My wife: "Well, how much were they favored by?"
Me: "Three points."
My wife: "How much did they win by?"
Me: "Two points."
My wife (makes face): "Yeah, I don't see how you can show your face in public..."
I didn't get in until late last night and I've got a ton of family stuff going on today, so I figured I'd just voice my thoughts in a couple of posts and let them be eviscerated in my absence.
The Good:
Lots of good last night.
On offense, the biggest and most important thing to me was how Harris looked. On the road, in his first start of the season, his second start ever, he looked calm and in command of the team. He didn't have any significant communication problems (that weren't cowbell-related) and consistently made good decisions with the ball. His passing wasn't perfect, but he stood in the pocket rather than taking off at the first sign of trouble, took some hits and threw it away when he needed to. Someone has developed that kid tremendously in the last 365 days, and he has clearly taken his role on this team seriously - credit where its due.
This is the best OL I think Miles has had, and Fournette the best RB he's had. No need to expound on that.
I don't recall any drops in the game, and we got some good passes to the TE. Didn't look like we were afraid to throw passes to the middle of the field, which is a bit of a change from last year.
On defense I thought Tolliver covered like a glove in man-to-man - he had one miscommunication where he passed a guy off to a safety who wasn't there, but I'm not sure who's fault that was, but his coverage was tremendous. Jefferson stepped in and stepped up admirably for Mills. Beckwith is who he thought he was. Arden Key is who we hoped he was. Godchaux is a nightmare and is probably going to make LaCouture a lot of money this year. Our nickel package with Beckwith, Jones and Thomas just might be the best defensive set in college football right now though its clearly too early to say for sure.
On special teams Keehn dropped five punts inside the 20. While White didn't get many return opportunities, all of the decisions he made back there were good ones, whether it was deciding not to field, faking the catch to get a touch-back or calling off teammates on short kicks. Return opportunities will come, but ball-security is paramount.
To that point, this team went on the road in their first game of the season and didn't turn the ball over once.
No significant injuries last night. That's always good.
The Bad:
One would expect there to be some things that need improvement in the season opener, and there were. The most glaring thing was the penalties. LSU had 9 penalties for 95 yards but in reality it was closer to 250 yards. An unnecessary hold erased a 90+ yard scoring run by Dural and a 30+ scoring catch by him as well. Another erased a big gainer by Darrell Williams that might have iced the game. They all looked legit to me, but none looked like they would have significantly affected the outcome of the play. If those holds aren't made - or aren't called - LSU likely wins this game by double digits. I like Adams' intensity, but he needs to learn that its not safe to stand over a fallen foe and talk trash, even if you are on your own sideline.
LSU failed to force any turn-overs last night. While it was good that we didn't commit any, we have to find a way to get to the ball, especially against an opponent who puts it in the air 52 times. Prescott's experience and maturity really showed last night.
The Ugly:
True to form, LSU went on the road against a ranked conference foe and gutted out a win despite their opponent having a warm-up game and them not... and many LSU fans can only find derogatory things to say. I look forward to being a grandfather one day and telling the kids about how we all pissed and moaned our way through the golden age of LSU football, when SEC road wins brought forth cries from the faithful like 'disgusting' and 'embarrassing'. I'll talk about the mythical virtue of 'unpredictability' in another post, but it just saps the joy out of LSU football when I can't celebrate wins alongside my fellow fans.
All in all a good start to the season, even if it was a predictable one - both on the field and in the stands. Plenty of things for both they and us to work on heading into the Auburn game.
Me: "Yeah, but they didn't win right."
My wife: "What do you mean didn't win right?"
Me: "They should have won by a lot more."
My wife: "Well, how much were they favored by?"
Me: "Three points."
My wife: "How much did they win by?"
Me: "Two points."
My wife (makes face): "Yeah, I don't see how you can show your face in public..."
I didn't get in until late last night and I've got a ton of family stuff going on today, so I figured I'd just voice my thoughts in a couple of posts and let them be eviscerated in my absence.
The Good:
Lots of good last night.
On offense, the biggest and most important thing to me was how Harris looked. On the road, in his first start of the season, his second start ever, he looked calm and in command of the team. He didn't have any significant communication problems (that weren't cowbell-related) and consistently made good decisions with the ball. His passing wasn't perfect, but he stood in the pocket rather than taking off at the first sign of trouble, took some hits and threw it away when he needed to. Someone has developed that kid tremendously in the last 365 days, and he has clearly taken his role on this team seriously - credit where its due.
This is the best OL I think Miles has had, and Fournette the best RB he's had. No need to expound on that.
I don't recall any drops in the game, and we got some good passes to the TE. Didn't look like we were afraid to throw passes to the middle of the field, which is a bit of a change from last year.
On defense I thought Tolliver covered like a glove in man-to-man - he had one miscommunication where he passed a guy off to a safety who wasn't there, but I'm not sure who's fault that was, but his coverage was tremendous. Jefferson stepped in and stepped up admirably for Mills. Beckwith is who he thought he was. Arden Key is who we hoped he was. Godchaux is a nightmare and is probably going to make LaCouture a lot of money this year. Our nickel package with Beckwith, Jones and Thomas just might be the best defensive set in college football right now though its clearly too early to say for sure.
On special teams Keehn dropped five punts inside the 20. While White didn't get many return opportunities, all of the decisions he made back there were good ones, whether it was deciding not to field, faking the catch to get a touch-back or calling off teammates on short kicks. Return opportunities will come, but ball-security is paramount.
To that point, this team went on the road in their first game of the season and didn't turn the ball over once.
No significant injuries last night. That's always good.
The Bad:
One would expect there to be some things that need improvement in the season opener, and there were. The most glaring thing was the penalties. LSU had 9 penalties for 95 yards but in reality it was closer to 250 yards. An unnecessary hold erased a 90+ yard scoring run by Dural and a 30+ scoring catch by him as well. Another erased a big gainer by Darrell Williams that might have iced the game. They all looked legit to me, but none looked like they would have significantly affected the outcome of the play. If those holds aren't made - or aren't called - LSU likely wins this game by double digits. I like Adams' intensity, but he needs to learn that its not safe to stand over a fallen foe and talk trash, even if you are on your own sideline.
LSU failed to force any turn-overs last night. While it was good that we didn't commit any, we have to find a way to get to the ball, especially against an opponent who puts it in the air 52 times. Prescott's experience and maturity really showed last night.
The Ugly:
True to form, LSU went on the road against a ranked conference foe and gutted out a win despite their opponent having a warm-up game and them not... and many LSU fans can only find derogatory things to say. I look forward to being a grandfather one day and telling the kids about how we all pissed and moaned our way through the golden age of LSU football, when SEC road wins brought forth cries from the faithful like 'disgusting' and 'embarrassing'. I'll talk about the mythical virtue of 'unpredictability' in another post, but it just saps the joy out of LSU football when I can't celebrate wins alongside my fellow fans.
All in all a good start to the season, even if it was a predictable one - both on the field and in the stands. Plenty of things for both they and us to work on heading into the Auburn game.
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