- AuPATHY. That's currently the fitting slogan for our '16 campaign. After a stretch of 21 games-and-counting where our offense has looked consistently discombobulated and poorly coached, it's becoming more and more difficult for a fan to not say, "Wake me when we finally pull the plug". It's past the angry and even the depression stage. It's acceptance* (for most).
* Acceptance isn't the same as contentment, FWIW. But I'm not getting mad at 5pm Saturday if Gus has trouble calling a play that can get the ball across the goal line anymore than I would when my kids shit in the floor at 5-months-old. It's expected.
- 22+ months of watching a mess on offense is bad. But when your Head Coach has one job and we are utterly terrible at that one job, it doesn't give ya the warm-and-fuzzies that the captain will right the ship. Especially when it's appears he has no plan and is simply throwing darts from play-to-play and "wishing" for a good outcome.
(Next segment is if you truly believe strategy was used by either team last Sat instead of a pre-determined agreement between Gus/Sumlin to try and keep each other employed at this level as long as possible)
Offense
- Welcome to The Land of the Misfit Toys!! If we haven't been reminded enough over the last 8-9 years since "ramping up our recruiting and landing one stud class after another", coaching is fairly vital in CFB and perhaps is slightly more important than the Jimmys and the Joes.
- Sean White's in a bad spot. It's evident that the foundation, the core, the building block of Gus's offensive philosophy is based around a true dual-threat QB (with running trumping passing in that dual). Yet the best QB on his team for the past two seasons was recruited/signed only because he was an accurate, pocket passer.
- If we're going to play offense in a 10-yard box, there's absolutely no reason to have SW in there. If we're not designing/perfecting a handful of plays vertically, he has no role. We certainly didn't recruit him because of his size, ability to run the option, or inability to not fall down every time a defender sneezes on him.
- White certainly has some deficiencies and can improve. But it's clear that Gus's offense and SW's positive attributes are like oil and water.
- Kam Pettway played great!! We can go on about KP not playing a bigger role in this game. But if you're essentially having to scream, "This offense just doesn't GO without Kam Pettway!!!", then that offense probably sucks. And it does. But he played great and it was cool to see.
Defense
- The D didn't play great... but they played well. Certainly well enough to win.
- Not sure if reported, but Stephen Roberts must've been hurt late in the 3rd/early in the 4th. He didn't play during the final 3 1/2 possessions yet Markell Boston went in. So might've had something occur.
- Carl Lawson is very,very good but he lacks the agility to finish plays against a QB with any mobility. It is what it is. He's one of the main reasons that our D is suddenly something close to solid. He's a 2nd rounder... not a top-10 pick.
- Still, at some point we need to turn 13 QB Hurries into something more than 1 sack. If we're going to somehow win games while scoring 4 points, we need everything we can get on D.
- Marlon had a handful of really fine plays. Derrick Brown struggled a bit in this one.
- The LBs really are fun to watch after the past ~6 years. It's the little things. Tre Williams made a ho-hum tackle on 2-n-5 at our 20 that resulted in a 5-yard gain for the RB and a 1st down. But after the RB broke the LOS, if Tre hadn't acutely "slid" down the line and dove to make a solid tackle, it's a 20-yard walk into the end zone. Last season, there is zero chance that KF or JG make that play. We held TAMU to a FG.
- TAMU averaged 1.4 yards on 3rd/4th down. FANTASTIC!! But they averaged 7.7 yards on 1st/2nd. They had 4 plays of 20+ yards. Those 4 plays went for 200 yards. The other 71 went for 284 (4 per play).
The D wasn't prefect... but well enough to win. 26 points in 12 possessions vs TAMU is nothing shameful (does not include the FG "drive" after our fumble put TAMU in FG range).
- Trigga Tray Matthews - He may be a one-game wonder.
2015: He was great in Game 1. By Game 6, it became evident that something was wrong. After Game 8, he was finally benched. Beginning in Game 9, our D played better as it was a fair 11-on-11 matchup.
Cut to 2016: very solid against Clemson. By Game 3, he looked like someone's Grandmother. 2 of the 3 biggest gainers by TAMU were simply due to Matthews being out of his element. First, Kirk juked and got by Trigga in a phone booth. How that happened... no idea. Then, the final long run when he simply had to take a seat, put his ankles back on, stand up, then begin running*.
I mention Trigga simply to monitor. He plays every snap even if it appears that our D may be even stronger with Roberts/Ruffin at the two S and Trigga rotating. He's just agonizingly slow.
*Fun fact: On the 89-yard TD run by TAMU, after Trigga got up and began running full speed, Marlon Davidson was two yards ahead of him. 40 yards later, Marlon was still 2 yards ahead of him.
Marlon's a fast 270 pounder for sure... but Tray is just a very slow Safety.
- I do not buy the concept that the defense will lose heart. I think's it total BS and is being floated around as a possible excuse in case the D actually does have a bad game (and it likely will). We've played good D for a few games for the first time in 8 years. Therefore, the D hasn't earned the right to lose heart.
In 2012, Corey Lemonier was the only one on D who eventually quit and it cost him. He fell to Pick 88 in the draft and in his 4th year is just trying to hang on in the league. Plus we never pronounced his name correctly. So zero legacy. Dee Ford kept busting his tail and became what CL could've been... a 1st rounder.
If we have 1-2 dogging it, replace them. We're fairly deep now then in recent years. Little worries about that, though.
LSU Game
- LSU isn't that great. But I think Gus realizes he has to try and trick them in order to win (that likely goes for OM, UGA, Bama). He can't beat 'em head-up with his Mickey Mouse play-calling.
- Sean White is the starter. I expect we'll have trouble scoring points no matter how well or poorly SW is playing.
- Gus will hope the D can keep it close enough while it becomes obvious that we won't score much with a pro-style QB.
- JF3 will then enter the game (surprise!!) and Gus will hope that LSU has totally forgotten to plan for anything resembling a ZRO. We may hope to catch them off guard and sneak in a TD or two before they adjust.
- In the end, it likely won't be enough. But we are playing Les Miles so never bet against the team he's playing. But that's how I see it playing out: SW then JF3 then see if we have more points than them at the end. And then JF3 probably starts vs UL-Monroe.
- The one thing that will probably happen by the end of the year, and will be a foretelling to Gus spending his Golden Years in a padded room, will be when Jeremy Johnson returns because he looks like he should be able to do it. After last week, I wouldn't be shocked by anything... including that happening this Saturday. If so, start the jet (well.. fire the AD, then start the jet).
WAR EAGLE!!!
Total Plays: 76 (53 in Nickel... 23 in Dime)
DT
M. Adams - 50
D. Russell - 40
M. Swain - 18
D. Brown - 16
D. Lawrence - 13
An. Williams - 10
DE
C. Lawson - 50
M. Davidson - 49
B. Cowart - 21
J. Holland - 19
P. James III - 18
LB
D. Davis - 47
Tr. Williams - 42
D. Williams - 34
Mon. Atkinson - 6
CB
C. Davis - 75
J. Holsey - 54
J. Davis - 30
S
Tr. Matthews - 76
R. Ford - 69
St. Roberts - 54 (injured in 4th??)
N. Ruffin - 37
M. Boston - 8
* Acceptance isn't the same as contentment, FWIW. But I'm not getting mad at 5pm Saturday if Gus has trouble calling a play that can get the ball across the goal line anymore than I would when my kids shit in the floor at 5-months-old. It's expected.
- 22+ months of watching a mess on offense is bad. But when your Head Coach has one job and we are utterly terrible at that one job, it doesn't give ya the warm-and-fuzzies that the captain will right the ship. Especially when it's appears he has no plan and is simply throwing darts from play-to-play and "wishing" for a good outcome.
(Next segment is if you truly believe strategy was used by either team last Sat instead of a pre-determined agreement between Gus/Sumlin to try and keep each other employed at this level as long as possible)
Offense
- Welcome to The Land of the Misfit Toys!! If we haven't been reminded enough over the last 8-9 years since "ramping up our recruiting and landing one stud class after another", coaching is fairly vital in CFB and perhaps is slightly more important than the Jimmys and the Joes.
- Sean White's in a bad spot. It's evident that the foundation, the core, the building block of Gus's offensive philosophy is based around a true dual-threat QB (with running trumping passing in that dual). Yet the best QB on his team for the past two seasons was recruited/signed only because he was an accurate, pocket passer.
- If we're going to play offense in a 10-yard box, there's absolutely no reason to have SW in there. If we're not designing/perfecting a handful of plays vertically, he has no role. We certainly didn't recruit him because of his size, ability to run the option, or inability to not fall down every time a defender sneezes on him.
- White certainly has some deficiencies and can improve. But it's clear that Gus's offense and SW's positive attributes are like oil and water.
- Kam Pettway played great!! We can go on about KP not playing a bigger role in this game. But if you're essentially having to scream, "This offense just doesn't GO without Kam Pettway!!!", then that offense probably sucks. And it does. But he played great and it was cool to see.
Defense
- The D didn't play great... but they played well. Certainly well enough to win.
- Not sure if reported, but Stephen Roberts must've been hurt late in the 3rd/early in the 4th. He didn't play during the final 3 1/2 possessions yet Markell Boston went in. So might've had something occur.
- Carl Lawson is very,very good but he lacks the agility to finish plays against a QB with any mobility. It is what it is. He's one of the main reasons that our D is suddenly something close to solid. He's a 2nd rounder... not a top-10 pick.
- Still, at some point we need to turn 13 QB Hurries into something more than 1 sack. If we're going to somehow win games while scoring 4 points, we need everything we can get on D.
- Marlon had a handful of really fine plays. Derrick Brown struggled a bit in this one.
- The LBs really are fun to watch after the past ~6 years. It's the little things. Tre Williams made a ho-hum tackle on 2-n-5 at our 20 that resulted in a 5-yard gain for the RB and a 1st down. But after the RB broke the LOS, if Tre hadn't acutely "slid" down the line and dove to make a solid tackle, it's a 20-yard walk into the end zone. Last season, there is zero chance that KF or JG make that play. We held TAMU to a FG.
- TAMU averaged 1.4 yards on 3rd/4th down. FANTASTIC!! But they averaged 7.7 yards on 1st/2nd. They had 4 plays of 20+ yards. Those 4 plays went for 200 yards. The other 71 went for 284 (4 per play).
The D wasn't prefect... but well enough to win. 26 points in 12 possessions vs TAMU is nothing shameful (does not include the FG "drive" after our fumble put TAMU in FG range).
- Trigga Tray Matthews - He may be a one-game wonder.
2015: He was great in Game 1. By Game 6, it became evident that something was wrong. After Game 8, he was finally benched. Beginning in Game 9, our D played better as it was a fair 11-on-11 matchup.
Cut to 2016: very solid against Clemson. By Game 3, he looked like someone's Grandmother. 2 of the 3 biggest gainers by TAMU were simply due to Matthews being out of his element. First, Kirk juked and got by Trigga in a phone booth. How that happened... no idea. Then, the final long run when he simply had to take a seat, put his ankles back on, stand up, then begin running*.
I mention Trigga simply to monitor. He plays every snap even if it appears that our D may be even stronger with Roberts/Ruffin at the two S and Trigga rotating. He's just agonizingly slow.
*Fun fact: On the 89-yard TD run by TAMU, after Trigga got up and began running full speed, Marlon Davidson was two yards ahead of him. 40 yards later, Marlon was still 2 yards ahead of him.
Marlon's a fast 270 pounder for sure... but Tray is just a very slow Safety.
- I do not buy the concept that the defense will lose heart. I think's it total BS and is being floated around as a possible excuse in case the D actually does have a bad game (and it likely will). We've played good D for a few games for the first time in 8 years. Therefore, the D hasn't earned the right to lose heart.
In 2012, Corey Lemonier was the only one on D who eventually quit and it cost him. He fell to Pick 88 in the draft and in his 4th year is just trying to hang on in the league. Plus we never pronounced his name correctly. So zero legacy. Dee Ford kept busting his tail and became what CL could've been... a 1st rounder.
If we have 1-2 dogging it, replace them. We're fairly deep now then in recent years. Little worries about that, though.
LSU Game
- LSU isn't that great. But I think Gus realizes he has to try and trick them in order to win (that likely goes for OM, UGA, Bama). He can't beat 'em head-up with his Mickey Mouse play-calling.
- Sean White is the starter. I expect we'll have trouble scoring points no matter how well or poorly SW is playing.
- Gus will hope the D can keep it close enough while it becomes obvious that we won't score much with a pro-style QB.
- JF3 will then enter the game (surprise!!) and Gus will hope that LSU has totally forgotten to plan for anything resembling a ZRO. We may hope to catch them off guard and sneak in a TD or two before they adjust.
- In the end, it likely won't be enough. But we are playing Les Miles so never bet against the team he's playing. But that's how I see it playing out: SW then JF3 then see if we have more points than them at the end. And then JF3 probably starts vs UL-Monroe.
- The one thing that will probably happen by the end of the year, and will be a foretelling to Gus spending his Golden Years in a padded room, will be when Jeremy Johnson returns because he looks like he should be able to do it. After last week, I wouldn't be shocked by anything... including that happening this Saturday. If so, start the jet (well.. fire the AD, then start the jet).
WAR EAGLE!!!
Total Plays: 76 (53 in Nickel... 23 in Dime)
DT
M. Adams - 50
D. Russell - 40
M. Swain - 18
D. Brown - 16
D. Lawrence - 13
An. Williams - 10
DE
C. Lawson - 50
M. Davidson - 49
B. Cowart - 21
J. Holland - 19
P. James III - 18
LB
D. Davis - 47
Tr. Williams - 42
D. Williams - 34
Mon. Atkinson - 6
CB
C. Davis - 75
J. Holsey - 54
J. Davis - 30
S
Tr. Matthews - 76
R. Ford - 69
St. Roberts - 54 (injured in 4th??)
N. Ruffin - 37
M. Boston - 8
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