Being a huge of fan of two opposing teams when they play each other is quite a experience. Last night the edge was taken off my regular viewing of the La Tech and LSU that allowed me to perhaps look at the game in a more objective and clear way. Here is the Good and the bad of last night's game.
Louisiana Tech-
The Defense-
The Defense-
Despite the lop sided score last night , I think there are a lot of positives Tech can take from that game. First I was impressed with the defense. LSU fans will forget that first half rather quickly I predict. I hope Tech fans do not. The New Orleans papers were not this morning. If you were on the LSU boards or listening to the radio there was some shock how good the Tech defense was. For instance Hester who usually can ilk out several good yards per play was really meeting a brick wall. Of course later the defense gave up some big plays. That 5th longest return in LSU history by Hester for a TD comes to mind. However the Tech defense I thought had some great play last night and they will get better. They also did a very good job of putting pressure on Flynn for a good part of the game
The offense.
Well what can you say. It was what I feared. Watching last nights game was very Ole Miss /La Tech game day like. Basically Tech shoots itself in the foot. If it had not been for those two maddening fumbles early on and that bizarre interception in the end zone the game would have taken on a whole different dynamic. That was critical. It gave a much needed cushion for LSU to work through its mistakes in the first half which were many. More to the point it gave the LSU defense some space to feel out the Tech offense so it could adjust. Again the offense shows flashes of brilliance but kills itself by its own monumental mistakes. It is a shame those critical mistakes will overshadow a lot of good offense that first half. LSU was having some major problems with coverage last night in that first half. But the turnover battle was lost. This will be corrected as Dooley gets his own recruits in.
Special Teams-Ah the Tech major highlight of the night and an area that they really out showed LSU. Now this should not come as a surprise. Dooley was a Special teams Coach at LSU and later for the Dolphins. I would expect them to shine. The Special teams aspect of college football is becoming much more important as the years go by. It is also so nice to have a quality Punter that kicks those ball so high and far that its gets good quality hang time. I should also say on punt returns we did fairly well. The talents of such people as Phillip Lavis , who is getting better by the week, shows good things
Conditioning- The difference between last year and this year as to Tech's conditioning is night and day.It is much much better. However it became apparent to me that Tech was getting worn down by LSU last night in the second half. Now that is no huge indictment. Conditioning a team for playing 4 whole quarters is much more than just a one year process. As a LSU fan I have seen this. LSU conditioning coach Tommy Moffit is the best in the nation. The fact that LSU is a largely a second half team and especially a 4th quarter team is directly related to his skills and those of his staff. The LSU team we saw have seen this year is a product of many years of the best physcical conditioning in college football. It will not happen overnight but Tech is on the right path.
Coaching- No complaints. I think Dooley is the best Coach for Tech now and in the future. I ave not felt this good about Louisiana Tech since the days of Coach Crowton. Once he starts getting his recruits we shall see vast improvement. The team we shall see in two years will shock some people. We have already seen what he can do for what is basically the team of the old regime. This years recruiting class is aiming to be great. Even in a year when "experts" say Louisiana does not have banner overall recruiting class. Last time Tech played LSU , I had no expectation the result would be different three years later. I don't have that viewpoint now.
Looking to the future-
It looks bright. Next Saturday is my birthday. After watching LSU hopefully beat Ole Miss , I shall go to Ruston and watch Tech play San Jose State. I hope a lot of fans show up. If Tech wins the last two games this season has been a success.
LSU-
Happy Birthday Coach Miles!!!
Before the Tigers Coach Miles had a very nice birthday present. That is by Auburn and Bama losing LSU goes to the SEC Championship game. According to his contract he gets $75,000 dollars for that. For those that are interested the bonuses increase from here on out as we meet certain goals.. However the big bonus will be if he wins the National Championship. Coach Miles is four games away from about a 1.2 million dollar raise.
Offense-
LSU Fans were their usual over dramatic self last night. I was following the game on the LSU boards and all was despair that first half. This is of course silly. Louisiana Tech was just what the doctor ordered last night for LSU. That is a Team where they could get a good score but one that gave them fits in the first half. Matt Flynn is example number one. Last night after Flynn's interceptions I have heard reports that parts of the LSU faithful at Tiger stadium were yelling for Perrilloux. Well of course that is nonsense. Matt Flynn is a talented QB that needs all the game experience he can get. Flynn made some mistakes but he adjusted. People forget that quarterbacks are a product of their mistakes just as much as their success. Flynn is having to learn from mistakes and still not lose the game over them. All in one year. Something that most QBs don't have to do.
No mistake about it the Tech Defense was giving LSU problems the first half. LSU had a very hard problem establishing the run. I thought this would happen. In the end Flynn passing got LSU to where it needed to be. The second half was stellar.
Defense-
The defense played well last night. The Tech offense was moving on them at with ease at times. However the LSU defense did adjust. Unlike past games we saw signs of adjustments in the second quarter instead of the 3rd or fourth. That is a good sign. I do think that opponents of LSU in the future will look at the first half of the LSU/Tech game. I am not going to broadcast what I saw. However LA Tech was really clever in exposing some holes there.
Special Teams-
Needs work. However it is not nearly as bad as many LSU fans are portraying this morning. I have now seen six separate LSU fan board threads on FIRE Coach Peveto. Well that is insane. I think that LSU fans must , as much it pains them, give some kudos to the Tech Special teams units. They are well coached. However there were some obvious errors LSU must correct and soon.
Flags-
LSU still had some bone head ones. However it was nothing like past weeks. Also some of these should be looked at in context. Especially late in the game when were trying to get a lot of the second string in.
A peek to the future-
It is a shame that so many LSU fans left the stadium early in the third quarter. We really got a insightful look at the LSU team of the future(next year). I should also note that this second string was still going against much of LA Tech's first string. True it was a worn out tired first string of LA Tech. Still it was valuable experience. I came away impressed. I hope that LSU fans that left early will be able to watch a replay of the game and see the LSU future. It looks good.
A look to the the rest of the year-
I am sure it will be a rollar coaster ride the rest of the season. We should handle Ole Miss fairly well. However we should have done that last year. Arkansas still worries me. However we shall be number 1 today. We control our destiny.
2 comments:
I was disappointed. For a while in the third and early fourth I thought my Tigers would manage that 60 point win you had talked about :)
I'll give my two cents since I was at the game (from start to finish, mind you. Those who leave games early are anathema)
I agree with you that Tech's run D was pretty stout. I think Tech has a good D-line and it was obvious our O-line pulled another Tulane and was under-prepared. They managed to eventually establish protection for Flynn and when they did Miles had already decided enough with this running business. The Tech secondary was pretty weak. If Flynn had been a bit more accurate, the score might have been worse. I didn't Flynn did terribly; just mediocre which is expected against a WAC opponent. I didn't hear calls for Perilloux in the student section. When Perilloux did come out and screwed up his drive, I did shout to the amusement of those around me that he should go back to the Varsity.
Our defense performed as usual. That is, they can't quite defend against quick throws and the line needs at least a quarter to out-physical the opposing offense. Eventually they did shut Tech down but it took a while.
Special Teams...uuugghhhh...why did they keep kicking to that guy? Maybe it was sporting, but I would preferred kicking it far and away from him. Then again, Tech kicked to Holliday (which always makes the LSU student section pretty happy) so I shouldn't complain. LSU does need to fix its tendency in the past two games to run from the sides and leave the middle WIDE open. We know this is a good Special Teams unit; they handled the Beamer ballers pretty well. They just need to get back to fundamentals.
I thought Tech's in game decisions were terrible, particularly on the fakes. I thought having a fake was a good idea; I thought having both of the fakes runs up the middle right at the bigger and more physical LSU line to be poor judgment.
I will say that I was impressed that Tech's band came out. There were only like three tubas and a few other instruments but we could see them jamming out (not hear though). Unfortunately they got owned by our band at halftime who did this formation like soldiers marching. It was the coolest thing I've ever seen a band do, and they followed it up by doing a formation of a tank that fired.
As far as the future, you need to find a clip of one of the stringers LSU had in at running back. In this one play, he rushed in the line and is stuffed. He's sandwiched in but somehow manages to spin, pop out, go back and run around the Tech side for about 10 or 15 yards. It was incredible to watch. I don't remember who it was but it was very encouraging.
I enjoyed the game, obviously. I particularly like the series in which LSU was like "Trindon Holliday will score a touchdown this possession" and gave it to him every time. But that pales to the series in which our friend Anthony Zehouye, who usually plays the practice squad, took the field and made two tackles.
I was disappointed in the spread but I fully expected it. Last years team would have been down 40 points at halftime.
Honestly, even if Tech loses one of the last two this year has been a step in the right direction. I think they can win both. We want Boise or Hawaii in a BCS bowl because if that happens Tech can actually go bowling and a bowl game this season would be far better than I expected.
Post a Comment