Momma!! Make the Bad Man Stop!!!

Leonard Fournette will not win the Heisman, but to my purple and gold tinted glasses, he is the best player in the country. Look no further than Saturday night's record setting performance, 284 yards on 16 carries with three touchdowns. Fournette's scores came from 78, 76 and 59 yards. He was a beast showing that rare combination of power and elite level top end speed. Savor it LSU's fans. It will be a looooong time before we see anyone in his class again.

After a tight first half, the Tigers dominated the final thirty minutes. That's a trend that has yielded a 73-7 second half scoring advantage for the Tigers since Coach O took over. A few observations:

• Etling continued his nice play. He finished the game 19 of 28 for 204 yards with 1 TD and 1 INT. He did have one fumble but that was a vicious hit from an unblocked Ole Miss defender.
• Speaking of the fumble, I think LSU was a bit too aggressive there. On it's own 17 with only a minute left, LSU looked to start a drive with a play action pass that ended up with Etling fumbling. Ole Miss got the ball at LSU's nine and scored with a few seconds left to go into the half.
• I thought the play calling in the first quarter was too clever. I'm happy the offense is mixing it up, but against a team as weak in run defense as Ole Miss, I was willing to line up and play a little smash mouth mixing in the play action pass. The play calling eventually settled down and Fournette began romping to a historic night.
• Since Coach O took over, LSU is averaging 8.6 yards per play. In the previous four games, the Tigers averaged 5.8.
• LSU's second half was an example of the type of killer instinct Miles never engaged in. The Tigers locked down on defense AND kept up the pressure offensively culminating in an 11 play TD drive that took six minutes off the clock and effectively sealed the game.
• After going down 10-0, the defense really clamped down on Ole Miss. If not for the fumble late in the first half, the Rebs would have been held to under 20 points.
• Beckwith was a laser guided missile all night. He was the embodiment of Mike the Tiger hunting and killing his prey.

Playoffs Week 8:

A little shake up this week! Ohio State fell at Penn State this weekend so Washington jumps in there with Alabama, Clemson and Michigan.

Big Plays Put Eagles Away

After an unexpected bye week, the Tigers returned to the field in triumphant fashion over an outmatched Southern Miss team. LSU looked disinterested and sloppy in the first half, but blew the game open with 35 second half points. The Tigers ran 10 plays in the third quarter resulting in 28 points. For the game, LSU ran 42 plays resulting in 45 points. A few observations:

1. I still don't know how good LSU is. The Tigers' best win is over...4-3 USM? Giant test this weekend against Ole Miss.
2. The defense is giving up only 14 points a game to rank #4 in the nation. LSU is #1 nationally in red zone TD defense. Teams are scoring a little less than one TD per four red zone trips. The Tigers are also only allowing opponents to convert 30.9% of their third down opportunities.
3. Danny Etling is moving up the stats chart as well. He is now ranked 5^th in QB efficiency in the SEC. He is also 5^th in yards per attempt (7.8) and completion percentage (58.8). On third downs with 1-9 yards for a first, Etling is 15 for 23 with 12 first downs. That's a 52% conversion rate. For comparison Harris converted only 38.8% of his third down attempts into first downs.

Ole Miss is up next for the Tigers. The Tigers are a 5 ½ point favorite over the 3-3 Rebels. Ole Miss has played a tough schedule, but who have they beat? Georgia? Memphis? Saturday will be a real test for both teams. Ole Miss has a dynamic offense lead by Chad Kelly. But the defense has struggled giving up 446 yards a game, dead last in the conference and 104^th nationally. Expect an inspired effort from both teams but with home field advantage and the return of Leonard Fournette, I like LSU.

LSU 34 – Ole Miss 24

Odds and Ends

• I'm tired of the LSU – UF drama but I will say this about the entire episode: I am glad the game will be played. It is a shame it took an ugly turn because UF and the SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey completely mismanaged the situation. Now both UF and Sankey are trying to deflect blame to LSU for their lack of foresight. Alleva made the best out of a bad situation mishandled by Sankey who has taken to making cheap shots at LSU.
• I have no idea who will be LSU's next head coach. I think the short list starts and ends with Jimbo Fisher. I think if LSU backs up the money truck they can get him. Tom Herman at Houston is also a hot name. The only question is his small body of work as a head coach. Other coaches I would look at would be Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State, Wille Taggert at USF and the guy running the shop right now Ed Orgeron. I think the only way Orgeron gets the job is if the top names on Alleva's list say no.
• Derrius Guice reached the career 1,000 yard mark in only 113 carries. That works out to be 8.8 yards a carry. Fastest to 1,000 yards in LSU history.

Playoffs Week 7:

I'm sticking with Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan, Clemson. I don't see either Big 10 team losing before the big showdown in the Horseshoe. Washington and Texas A&M are viable candidates as well.

Now this one was fun!!

A Smashing Debut

Les Miles coached LSU for 148 games. Ed Orgeron has coached LSU for one game. In that one contest, Coach O's offense put up more yards in a single game than Miles ever did in his entire tenure. If that isn't an indictment of Miles' gross offensive incompetence I don't know what is.

OK. I'm done bashing Miles and his stone age offense.

A few observations:

• Our defense was fantastic. Mizzu came into the game leading the SEC in offense scoring over 44.5 points per game. LSU held the other Tigers to 7 points and 265 yards.
• Mizzu went three and out their first three drives of the game.
• That was the offense LSU is capable of. In the context of one week's preparation, the Tigers were able to use their power running and open up the passing game.
• LSU had 42:00+ in time of possession. Amazing!
• Etling needs to work on his deep passes. He over threw three deep balls with open receivers. But otherwise he was efficient hitting 9 different receivers for over 200 yards.
• Etling needs to learn how to get out of bounds or slide. He took too may shots for my liking.
• The Tigers were in three and four wide formations for a big portion of the game. The staff also mixed in the I formation to good effect as well.
• The players noted that a lighter practice schedule helped with staying fresh and having more energy.

The Swamp

Coach O faces a huge test this weekend traveling to Florida. LSU has won five of the last six in this series. The Tigers are 4-3 in Gainesville the last seven visits. UF leads the league in defense giving up only 230 yards per game and 11.6 points per game. Those numbers are a little deceiving in that four of their five opponents are ranked 102^nd or worse in offense nationally. LSU opened up as a 2 ½ point favorite for Saturday's game. Expect a big effort form the Tigers in a relatively low scoring game. LSU has some real mojo going with the change of regime.

LSU 24 – UF 16

Playoffs Week 5:

After five weeks, the combined record of three of my original playoff picks (LSU, TCU, FSU) is 9-6.  Ouch!  But Michigan is still rolling along.  I think the Big 12 and Pac-12 will end with 2+ loss champions opening the door to the OSU - Michigan loser.

Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan, Clemson