Break Time

Fans always want to read WAY too much into games like these. LSU was never going to lose this game. Period. And there was nothing LSU could have done to “impress” me with a victory. Furman was a rent-a-win scheduled to secure a 7th home game for a homecoming blowout.

OFFENSE

*Z Mett is in a little slump. He’s thrown 4 TD’s and 5 INT’s in his last three games. Let’s hope the week off lets him rest up and refocus for the best defense he will face all year.

*ODB had a career night with 204 receiving yards and 2 TD’s. But he has got to stop fumbling punts.

*Jeremy Hill continues to roll with his 5th 100 yard game of the season.

DEFENSE

* The defense was sluggish in the first half but played extremely well in the second. The Tigers gave up a measly 39 yards in the final 30 minutes.

* This LSU team is on pass to tally 8 INT’s for the season. That is the smallest amount since 2008. For comparison, from 2009-2012 the Tigers averaged 17 INT’s a season. Overall, from 2010-2012, LSU forced an average of 31 turnovers a season. This year, the Tigers are on pace for only 17 takeaways.

* I would like to see Kendall Beckwith get more playing time. He looks like he has the potential to be very good.

Odds & Ends

There is a very good article here from And The Valley Shook regarding the LSU fan base. It is a thought I have espoused for a long time. That is:

Get over being mad. It’s a football game. It’s young men running around and crashing into each other. You can’t win every game. I will never forget after the exciting win over Arkansas in 2009 how the LSU fans around me looked furious about how the game played out. We won! Be excited! Don’t bring your miserable life around this program!

I hear this TIRED mantra about LSU being so much more talented then everyone else and we never live up to our talent, blah, blah, blah. That is a complete MYTH. Yes LSU is very talented, so is A&M, Alabama, Missouri, Georgia and any number of other teams. The disparity in talent is very slim.

The other misguided anger involves the head coach “not getting the players up for the game.” This plays into our societal cop-out of refusing to force individuals to take responsibilities for themselves and their actions. We want to blame anyone except the party responsible. If a player can’t motivate himself to play, the blame lies with the player. True fire and passion cannot be “coached” into a player. Crappy game plan, blame the coaches. Crappy effort, blame the players.

We have a week off after nine straight weeks of LSU football. I think that long stretch may have taken a toll on the players and played into the loss to Ole Miss. The break should rejuvenate the Tigers for the biggest test of the season on November 9.