LSU is flawed? Among other things #Auburn@LSU

Alright, here we go!

In the pouring rain we had a little Tiger on Tiger violence in the swamps (literally) of Baton Rogue. And I hope the rest of the SEC...and the country was watching.

The first quarter was as dominating a first half of football as I have ever seen. LSU got pressure, LSU got turnovers, Jeremy Hill got touchdowns, and LSU even managed to block a punt. The LSU defense was swarming to the ball to make tackles, the Auburn defense was being gouged by the LSU running game, Landry was superb catching the ball and running after the catch. Simply amazing. I even made a note sometime in the first half that LSU is starting to remind me of the USC national championship teams. They have a stable of running backs, they have hired killers on defense, they have two excellent wide receivers, and their fans are like a pack of wild animals at game time (that's a compliment). But there is one glaring dis-similarity between these two teams that worries me for LSU, and that's the ability to put teams away, more on that in a minute.

As the first half wore on, and it WORE on, I don't know if anyone else felt this way, but this was a LONG game. Almost 4 hours and it seemed to drag at times. Anyways, as the first half wore on, LSU lost their fire on offense and defense it seemed to me. LSU got up 21-0 and then it was time to sit on it, old LSU style. Then the defense started to show signs of letting up: missed tackles, penalties and Auburn drove the ball down the field around 6 minutes before half. But then LSU stepped up, swarmed on third down and shut Auburn down. At half-time Jeremy Hill had 151 yards rushing and Auburn had 104 yards total....simply WOW.

The second half started with an Auburn on-side kick, a smart fair catch by LSU, and then Mettenberger's first INT of the season. It had to happen sometime right? Then Auburn took that ball right down the field for a TD and made it look easy....half-time adjustments by Auburn? Was LSU already looking ahead to Georgia? Or are the critics correct in saying that LSU lets up on their opponents after they get a lead? At this point in the game I made a notation that "LSU needs some passion on offense - too early to save up for Georgia." And what does LSU do on the next possession, Hill runs for 16, and Landry catches a 53 yard TD pass on a swing pass....only to be called back on a phantom holding penalty. This penalty was funny to me because I counted at least 4 instances of Auburn's offensive line choking out LSU defensive lineman on their way to the quarterback - no calls. So LSU comes right back and after hitting the sidelines all day in the passing game, they hit a BIG one right down the middle to their TE Dickson. Hill eventually punches the ball in with fantastic running vision at the goal-line. What I liked about this drive though was that Landry seems to be the lightening rod. They put the ball in his hands and life was given back to the LSU offense and they scored. Even on the next drive he makes a 26 yard catch and run on 3rd and 5. Of course that drive ended with a fake field goal attempt, good to see the Hatter is still the Hatter.

On the next Auburn drive the LSU D absolutely let up and Auburn hit a nice 52 yard bomb against freshman DB Tre'Davious White. Then came a run up the middle and it's another Auburn touchdown. Within the next LSU drive ESPN reminds us that Auburn has not allowed any points in the 4th quarter all year...32 yards to Landry later and they gave up their first touchdown. At this point Mettenberger was 9/11 for 160 yards after his interception and it was a great answer by LSU; they were looking a little more passionate and the defense responded with a 3 and out against Auburn on the next drive.

Then as the fourth quarter dragged along Auburn hit another big pass play on either Mills or Collins, I can't remember who and by the time I remembered to go back and look my DVR wouldn't go back that far. Once again though, no fire on the defense and Auburn ran in for another score that was way too easy. Now, here came the onside kick, and let me say the officials GOT IT RIGHT! The Auburn kicker's body was across the line but the ball was at the 9.5 when he made contact. It was right there in brown and green. But at this point the fire had completely gone out and LSU punted the ball right back to Auburn. As Auburn started putting together another drive I thought, "THIS IS GOING TO BE THE CLEMSON GAME ALL OVER AGAIN!!!" But Jalen Mills made another interception and for all intents and purposes this game was over.

I still stand by what I said, LSU is the best team in the SEC and one of the best in the country, but after watching the Auburn game there are definitely some concerns. Just concerns, I am not ready to call them problems yet. A knock on LSU so far this year is that they let people off the mat, now I have defended them by saying they are giving up garbage yards and garbage points during the garbage time of the game; ie after the game is won. And against Auburn...they might have been looking ahead to Georgia after they got up 21-0....or maybe the defense is too young to have that killer instinct and ability to put teams away. This is still a defense that let up against Auburn, but IT CANNOT HAPPEN AGAINST GEORGIA. It CANNOT HAPPEN AGAINST ALABAMA. And IT CANNOT HAPPEN AGAINST A&M. If it happens against Georgia I will officially move this "concern" into the problem category, because the Georgia game is for all the early marbles and with a let up against them in Athens, LSU probably loses the game. You cannot go on the road against a team like Georgia and "do just enough" to win a game.

Another thing that bothers me about LSU is penalties. I lost count at 4 false starts for LSU and THAT'S AT HOME PEOPLE!!! There is NO REASON a home team should have false start penalties! Period. My other concern is Beckham. Beckham is a GREAT returner, but I am not sold on him as a wide out, he drops way to many passes, and I am still reminded of the drop he had against Florida last year that doomed LSU to lose that game. He made one great catch on the TD drive in the 4th quarter, but Landry was making them all day. Mettenberger, Hill, and Landry are as legitimate as they come and that LSU offense is going to be okay, if they stay inspired through-out the game. And my last concern is fast tempo offenses on LSU's D. We saw it against Clemson and I think we saw it again a little bit against Auburn. Auburn ran 85 plays for 437 yards, which is the most given up by LSU this year. LSU only ran 66 plays. The offense must help the defense out against these style of offenses in the future and win the Time of Possession battle; Auburn actually had the ball for a minute longer than LSU. Passion needed all around for a full 60 minutes please.

As for Auburn, I was impressed, they didn't quit and they definitely look like they are on the right track. I wonder why Malzahn didn't throw deep on LSU more, then I realized it might have had something to do with the pressure that LSU was putting on Marshal early on. But when the fire was draining from the D, Gus took his chances.

And finally on the Les Miles watch we had this gem of an answer when asked to describe Jeremy Hill's running in the first half: "That was a "handling the weather..." You read that right, that was A "handling the weather." I had no idea that "handling the weather" could be a thing all it's own like that. And then he said, "a real heavy mist for this stadium." MIST?!?! Really Miles?!?! What do you consider rain?!?! So I guess it was "un-typically misty" in Baton Rogue Saturday night. All I know is that LSU D had better un-typically play hard all game against Georgia.

Now on to other Top 25 action:

Florida State, Ohio State, Miami, UCLA, Louisville, Washington, and Wisconsin beat all beat their opponents by a combined: 379 to 40.

Miami's back up quarterbacks were 17 of 19 for 231 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Wisconsin WAS mad as hell after Arizona State.

Michigan officially sucks after almost going to down to UCONN, well I told you all that the former Big East now the AAC was tough, but 2 more INT's from Gardner and this Wolverine train is not running on a full head of steam. Just like the rest of the B10.

Notre Dame ruined my predictions with a win over Michigan State - I haven't had a chance to watch this game yet so I don't have much to say, just bitter is all.

The real Stanford stood up in the first half, then sat back down in the second half but still beat Arizona State - I haven't had a chance to watch this one yet either, but I will!

And can we officially be worried about Alabama? They played their home opener against Colorado State and were far from dominating. Is the bar too high for this team? Are we expecting too much in the way of domination based on previous years? A win is a win I've always said, but when you only run for 66 yards, need a special teams touchdown again, and are only up 17-6 going into the 4th quarter... you have to wonder if they chinks in the armor are getting bigger. Oh yeah, they were also 2 for 10 on third down.

Texas A&m took part of my advice and ran the ball 48 times against SMU, won time of possession and dominated in a 42-13 drubbing. Manziel only threw 21 times and was efficient although he threw another pick. But A&M forced 3 turnovers, and that's what that defense needs to do if they are going to give up over 400 yards of offense. As we saw with Oklahoma State a few years ago, you can have a terrible defense, an amazing offense, and as long as the defense forces turnovers you can be one of the elite teams in the country. Only Oklahoma State didn't play in the SEC.

Georgia's win over North Texas really wasn't that close. The Bulldogs scored 45 and the defense technically only gave up 1 touchdown. I hate the fact that special teams touchdowns count against the defense. The Georgia special teams unit continues to be un-special and this is going to be a problem going forward. You can't give away 14 points like this in conference play and expect to be okay. A blocked punt and a kick-off return for touchdown is a break-down on all fronts.

Florida had an interesting day with their starting quarterback throwing a pick 6 and breaking his leg. At the leg break it was 7-0 Tennessee. Then Tyler Murphy came in and went 8/14 for 134 yards and a touchdown. Not world burning but Florida did get up 31-10 before they gave up a garbage TD to Tennessee late. The Florida defense did it again with 6 take-aways. Not ready to say the Florida offense fixed their issues, but they did score more points without Driskel then they have with him. Break something to fix something...

Clemson had a rough outing against NC State. I think the most surprising thing was how NC State was consistently wreaking havoc on the Clemson offensive line. It just goes to show that if the big boys up front don't dominate, the flashy guys on the edges can't get it down. Clemson tackling was less than great at times as well. Speaking of penalties at home, I counted at least 5 false starts on NC State.....are you kidding me? And as good as the call was in the LSU game, the call on the 83 yard end-round touchdown was just as bad. First of all they should have called it a touchdown, THEN reviewed it, instead of the other way around. And second of all...he was in-bounds. It seemed after this play you could see the air going out of the NC State balloon little by little until their was nothing left but a Clemson victory. I think the most troubling thing for Clemson was Tahj Boyd's body language...you are a senior, you are a quarterback, you are a Heisman candidate, you are the leader of this team...stop sulking like a baby, fire up your offensive line and get your ass in gear. Unbelievable.

Teams on my Watch List:

Welcome Texas Tech with a 33-7 victory. And the mantra will be, "Why not Texas Tech?"

Welcome Miami to the watch list with a 70 point victory, but Texas did not go quietly with a nice win themselves. This is a fluid situation.

UNC/Georgia Tech - what a slop fest in a "heavy mist" in Georgia. Some people call it rain. I was less than impressed by Georgia Tech's defense, maybe my expectations were too high? And they were playing UNC and Renner, but Renner had a terrible completion percentage; although he did make some amazing throws for touchdowns. The Georgia Tech running game never seemed to get really rolling to me, but in the end Georgia Tech defended the home turf and won 28-20, in a game that was very winnable for UNC. It seemed once the momentum turned for Tech in the second half UNC could not recover....and speaking of momentum swings:

Rutgers DID NOT lose, but I am still welcoming UTAH into the watch-list! Once again I have not watched the Utah game yet so I am with-holding any opinions at this time except, Pac12 watch out. This conference continues to get stronger and stronger. But I am really gearing up to talk about Rutgers. A team I had on my watch list and left for dead, but in retrospect I might have cut them off too early. I told you the former Big East, now the AAC conference was tough...too bad the Razorbacks didn't listen. I made the statement last week that Arkansas' running game and defense would be too much for Rutgers. Little did I know that Rutgers' defensive line would be too much for Arkansas' offensive line. The Hog defense was dominating for a time, they had a pick 6, they were sacking the quarterback all day, forcing fumbles and generally causing chaos. The offense wasn't spectacular for the Hogs but they were committed to the run, and with Collins running the ball...why not be? The back-up QB Derby made some good throws when he had to, but was not asked to do to much. But as good as the defense for Arkansas was, it wasn't good enough, I counted 2 dropped INT's and once the momentum shifted to Rutgers, the Hog D couldn't get stops. The tide turned on a huge punt return for a touchdown for Rutgers which made the score 24-14. Still nothing to be worried about at this point, but it only got worse from there. Rutgers was blowing up the Arkansas run game all day, Derby was high on a lot of throws, some that hurt the Razorbacks in the 4th quarter, and holes in the Hog secondary started opening up like festering wounds. The final straw came on the Hog drive after Rutgers made it 28-24, Derby was sacked on first down, then he hit RB Williams on a swing pass and for some reason Williams decided to run BACKWARDS, then it was 3rd and 24, then it was a punt, and that was at the 2:56 mark. I was in more than shock at what happened in this game. The Razorbacks came into a hostile environment, took control of the game just like I predicted, then they gave it away. 21 un-answered points for Rutgers. This is all too familiar to Razorback fans; having come from Arkansas myself I feel a certain kinship to this type of pain. Of course I had picked them to win so I was more upset about that. A text conversation to one of my best friends in Arkansas went something like this:
HIM: So much for your Arkansas praise...
ME: F****** B*******. It would be them. Sons of b******. I can't wait to write about that f****** game.
So it goes. My fiancee who lived in Arkansas most of her life had this tid-bit to say: "Maybe the Hogs' coach should start eating grass like that guy in LSU." I mean don't knock it till you try it right?

As for Rutgers though...Didn't I tell you that the former Big East, now the AAC is tough? And that loss to Fresno State looks less and less like a fluke as Fresno St continues to win and get into the polls.

So how did my predictions do? 8 out of 10 with only Arkansas and Michigan State coming up short.

As for my prediction of the Coaches' Top 10? I was "that" close with the only change coming this week was LSU switching spots with Louisville. So much for Rutgers beating an SEC team having a positive impact for Louisville.

Thanks for reading as always!!! I will be back later with my first part of my SEC defensive breakdown. I will have more to say about Notre Dame, Stanford, and Utah on Wednesday when we look ahead to this coming Saturday. This coming Saturday is going to be amazing. If you haven't peeked at this up-coming schedule, go do it now and start getting excited.

All comments are welcome at the bottom of this blog or to my email collegefootballfanweekly@gmail.com
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