LSU In Review - Weeks Two And Three
by BSD on Dec 18, 2009 10:48 AM EST
in Game Previews
28 comments
Week Two - Vanderbilt Commodores
In week two the LSU Tigers defeated the Vanderbilt Commodores on a rain soaked home opener night game in front of a crowd of 91,000 fans.
Running back Keiland Williams was the star of the night scoring two touchdowns and rushing for 72 yards on 10 carries. Charles Scott added another 49 yards on 13 carries as the Tigers outrushed the Commodores 178-122.
Quarterback Jordan Jefferson dinked and dunked his way for 138 yards on 20-of-29 passing. Brandon LaFell caught 7 passes for 38 yards while senior R.J. Jackson caught six passes for 55 yards. LSU used a little trickeration on their second series when backup quarterback Russell Shepard entered the game. They ran a wildcat play with him where he gained 13 yards. Then on the next play he lined up at reciever and caught a pass for eight yards, but he fumbled at the end of the play.
The LSU defense shut down Vanderbilt quarterback Zac Stacy holding him to just 88 yards passing and under 50% completion. The Tiger defense dominated the night all together holding the Vanderbilt offense to just 210 yards and 7 points.
But LSU was far from perfect on the evening. A poor snap on a punt gave Vanderbilt a safety, and Jefferson threw a pick near the goal line. LSU was fortunate that the latter play was overturned on a defensive holding call. But it was a solid win in the second week of the season for the Tigers.
Quotes From The Game
"Any time you play imperfectly and you come to the postgame, you have to recognize that first things first -- you'd much rather win than do any other thing. That being said, I think we've got to play better. ... There were no style points for this one. That's a fact." - Les Miles
"The defense saved the offense's bacon tonight. We had too many 3-and-outs, and more than one negative possession in the second half. Vandy had great field position for most of the 2nd half thanks to three consecutive possessions in which we ran a total of nine plays with two punts and a bad-snap safety." - And The Valley Shook
Week Three - Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin Cajuns
Week three was a sleeper against the Ragin Cajuns. The amazing statistic of the game is that the Cajuns doubled their all-time scoring against the Tigers in Tiger Stadium. In 12 total games played at Baton Rouge, the Cajuns have been outscored 618-6. They have never scored a touchdown. Ever. Wow. The Cajuns gained 272 total yards with 109 yards rushing. Safety Chad Jones had two interceptions for LSU.
The LSU offense wasn't spectacular, but they were good enough to win. Penalties and turnovers plagued them and held the score lower than it should have been. On the day, LSU only gained 330 total yards. Jefferson completed 16-of-25 passes for 165 yards, 2 TD, and 1 INT. He was also sacked once and fumbled. The LSU running back by committee gained 164 yards. Charles Scott gained 63 on 12 carries while Keiland Williams tallied 41 yards on 10 carries.
Though it was an easy win, it was a particularly brutal game from the injury standpoint for LSU. Tight End Richard Dickson suffered a concussion. Jefferson mildly sprained his knee. DT Josh Downs left with a knee problem. Right tackle Joseph Barksdale had to leave the game as well.
Quotes From The Game
"Our quarterback was not necessarily in a groove early, but we have some talent and we have the ability to make plays. We're not hitting on all cylinders just yet." - Les Miles
"The offensive line should be dominating teams like this and is not doing so. Jordan Jefferson misses open receivers at times. The defense is much improved from the Washington game to now, but still gives up the occasional long, methodical drive or big 3rd down conversion. " - And The Valley Shook
"He's a young quarterback. (Jefferson) He sees some guys open and he's 'Ooh, ooh . . .' and he's not comfortable in his mechanics. He rushes. We've got to get him in practice and do it again, do it again, do it again." - Les Miles
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I hope I don't jinx it
But Trindan Holliday’s (sp?) name hasn’t been mentioned yet. If Vanderbilt, Washington, and LA-Lafayette could do enough to contain him to not being mentioned in post game blurbs, should we be uber concerned about the guy? Sure our kick coverage is awful and he is a speed demon. But I’d be willing to bet that these teams (and Colin Wagner) have/had the ability to kick it the other direction, or to an up man. Just a thought.
"Have I ever told the story of when I met Miley Cyrus?"
Basically no one has kicked it deep to Holliday this year
If you look at LSU’s kick return stats, you’ll see several five and seven yard returns by guys like Chase Clement and Kelvin Sheppard. They’re the upbacks. Basically no one has kicked it deep to Holliday all year. And LSU’s offensive coordinator basically believes it’s unsporting to, you know, hand him the ball in the backfield ande let him run. So his stats aren’t impressive at all.
But the very fact that teams are kicking the ball to upbacks – basically conceding the 35 yard line – has had a positive impact on field position. It just doesn’t show up in the box score.
by 4.0 Point Stance on Dec 18, 2009 11:57 AM EST up reply actions
But conceding the 35 yard line all the time is better than 6 points once or twice a game.
I don’t think I have a problem with kicking to an up back if Holliday doesn’t get his hands on the ball.
"Have I ever told the story of when I met Miley Cyrus?"
I've watched LSU all year (thanks to a necessary alliance in hockey land)
and Holliday hasn’t been that spectacular. They’ve waited and waited and waited for this guy to break out . . . much like we did with DWill, and have never really had that moment. I don’t fear Holliday at all. I do fear Lafell and more importantly, Tolliver. They are tall, fast, and playmaking. “LaDrop” as we called him is less punishing because of the plays he leaves out there. But Tolliver is a beast, and a mostly unheralded one at that. Holliday won’t beat us. Jefferson won’t beat us. Sheppard won’t beat us. Tolliver and Lafell could light anybody up. Us too.
by NittanySeaLion on Dec 18, 2009 1:52 PM EST up reply actions
Holliday
You’ll have to wait until the Georgia game and the Arkansas game to get any real highlights from Holliday. Against Georgia, he had a 40 yard kickoff return that set up our go ahead TD in the last minute. He had an 87 yard punt return TD against Arkansas, plus 57 yards rushing on 9 attempts.
He’s been generally underutilized on offense, because Miles has favored power running backs that make their living between the tackles. When we lost Charles Scott and Keiland Williams, the result was Trindon getting carries in the Arkansas game. Even though Scott is now practicing, it’s still non-contact, so I think Holliday and Stevan Ridley will get the bulk of the carries, with Russell Shepard getting action in the wildcat formation.
CHAD JONES! WOOOO!!!!
Yeah and...
he is averaging like 17 0r 20 per on punt returns. I think. Thats a pretty dang good PR avg.
Trindon's problems
Trindon has not been a big focus in our offense. Scott, Keiland, Murphy, Shepard, and lately Ridley have all gotten more consistent carreis than him. I think the Ole Miss sbnation blogger had a rant about him not being used properly in the last two seasons. He makes an ok point, but misses the important parts, as you would expect from an Ole Miss fan. They’re like a bunch of angry midgets running around and hating on anything they can just to make themselves feel mildly respected by the rest of the world. Lost my focus for a second…
He doesn’t get too many touches, and prior to the Arkansas game, the kind of touches he got were all pretty predictable. His problems are 1.) He has poor balance so he goes down easily 2.) do you want a 5’5 player picking up blitzes? 3.) Lil man got lil hands so he’s not a receiving threat. That severely limits He may make an NFL team as a special teams player or possibly become a professional track athlete, but this isn’t the focus of our offense (not that our offense has shown any focus whatsoever this year).
In the first half of the Arkansas game, he was on his way to the best game he has ever had as a tiger. He actually got a carry or two as a normal RB would and looked pretty damn good. Then he muffed a puntl Our now departed RB coach, Larry Porter, had a rule that if you fumble, he pretty much just takes you out of the game entirely. We have a new running back coach and from what I understand, the days of completely mismanaging our RB talent during games is over. I’ll leave it at that. The hot hand will have the ball. That has not been the case all season long.
by Big McLargeHuge on Dec 21, 2009 4:26 PM EST up reply actions
ragin cajuns
They may suck at football, but that is a great name.
In reading the reviews of the first 3 games I am gaining confidence that our defense is going to have a good game.
A word to the wise ain't necessary - it's the stupid ones that need the advice.
Bill Cosby
We have met the enemy, and they are us.
by mushdamma on Dec 18, 2009 11:16 AM EST reply actions 2 recs
It figures Vandy has a QB
Named Stacy.
"For me the game wasn’t grounded in reality. It was about the uniform you put on that turned you into a warrior. It was about the mythology of the battle, the victory, the defeat, the struggle." - Mike Reid, PSU '69
He's probably a ginger too.
'People are about as happy as they decide they want to be'
by Pete the Streak on Dec 18, 2009 2:55 PM EST up reply actions
Not entirely vital information..
but the Vanderbilt QB’s name is Larry Smith. Zac Stacy was a freshman RB of theirs.
What's up Ryan? ARGHHHHHH!!! oops. ~ Patrick Chewing
I know you probably get tired of my praise
(and criticism), but these are cool. I love the quotes and scoring charts and your succinct summary narratives. If there’s any chance you could throw a drive chart link in on your next ones, that would also be awesome.
It’s a nice way to get to know our bowl opponent a little better. Thanks.
"For me the game wasn’t grounded in reality. It was about the uniform you put on that turned you into a warrior. It was about the mythology of the battle, the victory, the defeat, the struggle." - Mike Reid, PSU '69
Dear Mike,
This post is not about Big Ten Expansion
What gives?
Very truly yours,
jesse.
I say let's rock the Orange Bowl, because nobody will remember in five years anyway.
by jesse. on Dec 18, 2009 12:10 PM EST reply actions 3 recs
Classic
"Jeff Brooks....OHHHH! haHA!" - Gus Johnson
by ReadingRambler on Dec 18, 2009 12:17 PM EST up reply actions
/threadjack
Rambler, jesse., Stillers question for you brothers. Fantasy playoffs. I’m starting Ricky Williams at one RB. In the other slot should I put:
- Mendenhall
- Ryan Grant
(unlikely): Shady McCoy
(unlikely): Jonathan Stewart
"For me the game wasn’t grounded in reality. It was about the uniform you put on that turned you into a warrior. It was about the mythology of the battle, the victory, the defeat, the struggle." - Mike Reid, PSU '69
Well
1] The Steelers aren’t going to make the playoffs, so don’t pick Mendenhall
2] Even if they did, could you imagine what Peyton Manning would do to the Steelers secondary? They’d be down the whole game (ie throwing) and they would certainly lose, and isn’t the goal to have guys that would go deep into the playoffs.
Beat LSU
On the contrary
“fantasy” playoffs generally refer to weeks 14-16 and sometimes week 17 of the regular NFL season.
I would play either Mendenhall or Grant depending on the matchup. I like the way Grant’s been playing lately, if the opposing defenses are a wash…then again I’m no Matthew Berry.
vs the Stillers run D Sunday?
And as opposed to Mendenhall vs. the Packers run D?
"For me the game wasn’t grounded in reality. It was about the uniform you put on that turned you into a warrior. It was about the mythology of the battle, the victory, the defeat, the struggle." - Mike Reid, PSU '69
just give it a couple days
delany will release a statement saying they have eliminated all Div. III, II, and 1-AA teams from contention.
We decide when you hear the snap count...
WHAT!?
I was counting on Lehigh and the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton TV market.
"Never mistake motion for action." - Ernest Hemingway
Nah
Lehigh would never jump. It would mean giving up the rivalry with Lafayette.
Mike
Black Shoe Diaries
that would never happen
they’re the OSU-Michigan rivalry of Northeastern PA
by The JuggerNitt on Dec 18, 2009 2:38 PM EST up reply actions
Bigger than MontCo - Reading CC's Scrabble HateFest?
'People are about as happy as they decide they want to be'
by Pete the Streak on Dec 18, 2009 2:54 PM EST up reply actions
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