Pissed!!!

When Nick Saban says he is “PISSED” in the post game radio interview, you know the man isn’t happy. For the last four plus seasons, Saban has made it a habit to keep his emotions in check when talking about the Tigers and dealing with the media. But Saturday night, his patience was sorely tested in LSU’s come from behind victory over Troy. He even told Jordy that he (Saban) appreciated Jordy’s positive spin on the game, but that didn’t change the fact that he was pissed.

Before I rip on Randall, I think the biggest problem this season has been turnover margin. LSU is ranked #101 out of 117 Division I teams. The Tigers are –7 this season. At the top of the ladder, Texas A&M is +16. Turnovers have killed the Tigers and kept the last two games closer than they should have been. The running backs have been careless with the ball and the same can be said for the quarterbacks.

With Marcus Randall at the helm, LSU has been as schizophrenic as any team in the SEC, even the entire country. Randall is now 8-6 in games in which he started or came off the bench to finish. LSU’s longest winning streak with Randall is two games. (win, loss, win, loss, win, loss, loss, win, win, loss, win, loss, win, win) In his career he has thrown 15 TD’s and 11 INT’s. I assume that Saban has decided to end the QB merry-go-round and just stick with Randall, come hell or high water.

Welcome to Hell…

Don’t misunderstand me, Randall plays very hard and prepares for games. But he hasn’t conquered the mental part of the game. Be it acting as a steadying influence or playing well week after week against quality opponents. Looking at his numbers, one could conclude that he is putting together a nice season. The problem is consistency. He played well last week yet struggled against an overmatched (or so it seemed on paper) Troy team. Opportunities present themselves Saturday and he didn’t take advantage of them. Against Florida, WITH a healthy running game, Randall made a number of plays and correct reads. Against Troy, he never took advantage of man coverage. He threw deep maybe once or twice. Is this a function of play calling? I have no idea, only the staff can answer that question. But this has been a problem ALL season. Having said all that, stunningly, LSU is second in the conference in passing offense.

* BTW: It seems like we ran only four different plays last night; the shuffle pass to Skyler Green, the slip screen to Craig Davis, 10 yard out routes, or my favorite, the drop back and run around and get two yards by Randall/ QB draw for 1 yard.

Adding to Saban’s angst, LSU’s inability to run the ball is a huge problem. I don’t know how the O-Line graded out, but it could not have been very good. Looking at the bigger picture, during Saban’s tenure at LSU, the Tigers have had only one 1000 yard rusher (Justin Vincent, 1001 yards in 2003). Again, this may be a function of play calling and the rotation of the running backs.

I think the rest of the season looks unclear at this point. No one can get a handle on this team. I assume Randall will be the quarterback all season, but how can you leave him in there if he continues to play poorly? If Saban rides the season out with Randall, where will the Tigers be next season? I have heard a number of negative things about Russell. He’s not that sharp; he doesn’t like to watch film; he can’t read defenses. If these things are true, I think the race will be wide open with Matt Flynn getting an opportunity to play. Quarterback is the toughest position to project coming out of high school, and while recruiting is important, I will always remain skeptical until a guy makes plays IN Tiger Stadium.

LSU gets Vandy next week and I am reluctant to guess what the final score may be. The Tigers will win the game, but who knows which offense will show up. Saban will be chewing ass all week, so I expect a solid performance. LSU 34 – Vandy 3.