My assessment of the LSU opener :
The Good ...
Obviously when you win 41-13, most everything would fall into the category "the good." The line play on both sides of the ball was dominating. The receivers did an excellent job helping out the two inexperienced QBs. Charles Scott showed why he won the starting job in camp. Basically, all of the proven commodities did not disappoint (receivers, and the offensive and defensive lines), one of the unproven areas (tailback) had a really strong showing, and one of the unproven areas did decently if not spectacularly.
The secondary was the main unit (replacing three of four starters) to get an actual test. I give them a pretty good grade. They kept them below 50% completion, below 200 yards passing, no real missed tackles, and no sustained drives. However, they (Chad Jones) blew the one coverage horribly, and it was hard to judge any player as an individual given the scheme and the talent they were facing.
The Bad ...
It would be beyond nitpicking to call any part of the performance "bad." However, there were some areas that we knew we would be weaker in than last year and a couple of those units did nothing to really put those concerns to rest with a road game at Auburn in three weeks.
The QBs were very average, each showcasing their strengths and weaknesses. Hatch is clearly a better game manager. He picked up a lot of first downs on the ground, hit open targets, and managed the clock very well. However, his passes lack the crisp zip that is required given the conference competition he'll soon be facing. He barely hit 50 % of his throws and the misses were on target but just slow enough that they got batted away. Lee has a livelier arm and a bit more accuracy (two TD passes), but he makes terrible reads, kept getting delay of game penalties, had a much lower conversion rate than Hatch - plus he threw an INT, a couple of others that could/should have been, and is no threat to run. I would still consider the competition wide open, but at this stage I would favor Hatch. The good news is that both of them are good at handing off....
Linebacker was kind of hard to judge since AppSt. ran so many wacky multiple receiver sets. This unit will remain a bit of a mystery until next week. Derry Beckwith is proven, but I really wanted to see Riley and Shepperd. Baker had some awesome special teams tackles and he'll be hard to keep off of the field given his athleticism.
Punting was very bad. This is a stupid thing to worry about, but a first year player shanking kicks, sending low returnable kicks - not going to cut it.
All in all, I am looking forward to playing Troy. They run an identical offense to Auburn.
I also watched the Auburn replay on ESPN360.com and that team has problems passing. They also have two warm up games to work the kinks out before hosting LSU. That said, their defense was dominating and they have no problem running the ball at all. Whoever gets their question marks (specifically at QB) sorted out first will win that game. I still give LSU the overall skill and talent edge on both sides of the line and at receiver, but give the edge to Auburn at LB, RB, and secondary play.
It is a race to figure out which one will field a competent signal caller and special teams. Two weeks to figure that out....
The Good ...
Obviously when you win 41-13, most everything would fall into the category "the good." The line play on both sides of the ball was dominating. The receivers did an excellent job helping out the two inexperienced QBs. Charles Scott showed why he won the starting job in camp. Basically, all of the proven commodities did not disappoint (receivers, and the offensive and defensive lines), one of the unproven areas (tailback) had a really strong showing, and one of the unproven areas did decently if not spectacularly.
The secondary was the main unit (replacing three of four starters) to get an actual test. I give them a pretty good grade. They kept them below 50% completion, below 200 yards passing, no real missed tackles, and no sustained drives. However, they (Chad Jones) blew the one coverage horribly, and it was hard to judge any player as an individual given the scheme and the talent they were facing.
The Bad ...
It would be beyond nitpicking to call any part of the performance "bad." However, there were some areas that we knew we would be weaker in than last year and a couple of those units did nothing to really put those concerns to rest with a road game at Auburn in three weeks.
The QBs were very average, each showcasing their strengths and weaknesses. Hatch is clearly a better game manager. He picked up a lot of first downs on the ground, hit open targets, and managed the clock very well. However, his passes lack the crisp zip that is required given the conference competition he'll soon be facing. He barely hit 50 % of his throws and the misses were on target but just slow enough that they got batted away. Lee has a livelier arm and a bit more accuracy (two TD passes), but he makes terrible reads, kept getting delay of game penalties, had a much lower conversion rate than Hatch - plus he threw an INT, a couple of others that could/should have been, and is no threat to run. I would still consider the competition wide open, but at this stage I would favor Hatch. The good news is that both of them are good at handing off....
Linebacker was kind of hard to judge since AppSt. ran so many wacky multiple receiver sets. This unit will remain a bit of a mystery until next week. Derry Beckwith is proven, but I really wanted to see Riley and Shepperd. Baker had some awesome special teams tackles and he'll be hard to keep off of the field given his athleticism.
Punting was very bad. This is a stupid thing to worry about, but a first year player shanking kicks, sending low returnable kicks - not going to cut it.
All in all, I am looking forward to playing Troy. They run an identical offense to Auburn.
I also watched the Auburn replay on ESPN360.com and that team has problems passing. They also have two warm up games to work the kinks out before hosting LSU. That said, their defense was dominating and they have no problem running the ball at all. Whoever gets their question marks (specifically at QB) sorted out first will win that game. I still give LSU the overall skill and talent edge on both sides of the line and at receiver, but give the edge to Auburn at LB, RB, and secondary play.
It is a race to figure out which one will field a competent signal caller and special teams. Two weeks to figure that out....
messyjesse:
LSU looked excellent in their opener. It sucks bad weather has again spoiled another game (at least for a while) for you guys.