I know Bama has a great defense. You can look at the whole season, and not just last night, and know their defense is outstanding. However, last night I think LSU contributed to the shut out in a big way with what had to be one of the worst attempts at offense I've seen in a long time. Unforced errors like fumbling snaps and penalties were not the result of anything Bama was doing. Jefferson was off all night. Even when not hurried he was throwing at receivers feet, not throwing to open receivers and didn't seem to want to run the option correctly. How many times did he pitch the ball way too early? When he did find open receivers, they dropped the ball. Then there was the play calling. Down 15 in the 4th quarter, I swear there was a series they ran it 3 straight times in a row before punting. Might have been that series when they had 3rd and maybe 3-4 to go when they ran that fat fullback up the gut. Really? If you're not a passing team I could almost see hoping a tailback could squeeze out 3-4 yards, but the fullback up the gut? So you score 0 points in the first half and make what adjustments at halftime? None? Perfect, you got the same result in the second half. At some point you've got to do something (anything) different. Put in the other QB, go no huddle, get Jefferson out of the pocket, use a trick play, something. It looked like LSU was the team trying to run clock, no sense of urgency. Again, I know Bama has a great D, but alot of the bad last night was self-inflicted by LSU, not necessarily things Bama was doing.
I think Jordan Jefferson looked dazed and confused. Some of the sideline shots of him indicated to me that he opened up a can of quit early in the 3rd. That performance last night cost him a lot of $$ at the next level. Did you notice how he was never on the headset talking to anyone? In the images that stick with me he was standing around (sometimes sitting) with a scowl on his face. So yes.....I think it was great D that absolutely threw LSU and JJ off their game. Its like they were never in it.
Yes because Oregon is known for their tough, potent defense. Good example. That's like saying can you score with the prom queen? Yeah, I can because I scored with the chick from the Quickie Mart.
Miles punting 2 or 3 times in the 4th qtr sticks with me. Once near midfield with 12 minutes left in a 15 point game...The guy doesn't get it. LSU and its staff got what they gamplanned and schemed for....a shutout of their own offense. They were outplayed by Bama in october, thought all they had to do was the same ol in this game. Saban and McElwain attacked LSU on first downs by throwing, doing something different, and executing it. One coaching staff had its **** together, the other didn't. Oh yeah, Jefferson's a lousy QB. I can't forget to get that fact in. When he faces tough situations he has problems
Alabama clearly has a great defense. This year they shut out North Texas, Vanderbuilt, and LSU. Now what does that say about the LSU offense? Not sure, but that was a horrible game plan yesterday. Perhaps Miles should have studied up on Georgia Southern a bit.
i'd say a combo of both.... the bama d looked really stout, but some of lsu's plays were not only poorly called, but even poorly executed. take for instance, their option play. everyone knows how great, fast, manly, etc. bama's defense is. jefferson sprinted out along the line of scrimmage and was met by 1-3 defenders, so he'd pitch the ball to the halfback. fine. but the halfback was never outside of jefferson. he was always behind him, 5 yards deep in the backfield. jefferson would get plastered, and then the play would be stopped for a loss. and then they'd run it again. and again. and again. but the play was doomed from the time it was written down on the chalkboard.
Both teams had very strong Ds. Bama had a balanced O, something LSU has not had in some time. They cobble together O via trickeration, special teams, rotating QBs, etc. Obviously a mediocre O is going to assist in the coronation of a great D and a good, but unspectacular O. The latter will be able to muddle along without feeling threatened and the former will be able to pin its ears back and go. Still, Bama was really the 'better' team the first time they played, the more balanced, and that reality birthed a win last night. I think that the best team won. We even got to see them play something akin to a series and the outcome of that pair of games points strongly in the direction of Bama being the best. The outcome is acceptable, though it clearly doesn't, and couldn't, answer all questions. Often times prolific Os benefit statistically from playing schedules soft on defenses. Okie State didn't really play any team that played great D.
Bama indeed has a great defense, but they are not infallable. LSU made them look much better last night. I guess this happens in "Big Boy Football" I think Les and staff believed his hype and like previously stated thought a repeat of their earlier season plan was all the Big Boys would need. Plus, Lester is not necissarily a football genius. In several of their past games Lester was the beneficiary of some major luck when he made questionable or downright foolish decisions...........no luck last night. Results: goose egg.
Great D by both teams. Bama showed great balance again. This time, they made most of their field goals. No denying that the evidence throughout the season was that both could score just fine against other teams.
I think it was more a bad offense by LSU. Bama's defense is stout, but LSU's offense sucked out loud ast night,. Play the game 10 more times,I thnink it'd be pretty even. But the way the LSU offense played last night, Bama's defense didn't need to be very good.
Actually the pig people had the best offense in the SEC. The offenses that LSU and Alabama rolled out in their two games would rank in the bottom half of the Big 12 or PAC-12. The SEC defenses are based on quick, fast and strong LB's. Keep the LB's away from the ball and LSU and Alabama are terribly average.
If you shutout the #1 team in the country for the national title in their own backyard, you have a f***ing serious gangster a$$ defense. Don't try to make up excuses for what you saw. You saw Saban and his crew completely dominate a very good LSU team. That being said, Saban is still a prick.
LSU's offense all season has been helped by their Special Teams and opportunistic Defense. Saban did not allow their ST's or defense to dictate the game. Saban made Miles look like a fool. Saban will not be coaching at Alabama next year, he is going to try that pro thing again, just a prediction. He is bored with college ball.
Neither team can pass the ball. Bama's QB did have his best game of the year. It really wouldn't surprise me if LSU before the 4th quarter averaged minus yards per attempt. Almost every pass was thrown behind the LOS. I actually think both those teams are in an overrated conference. Their 3rd best team had to pull one out of their *** against the 7th best team in the Big 12. Arkansas (3rd best) didn't do anything special over Aggy that many teams in the Big 12 did.
Both. I know a good qb can look bad if the offensive line isn't protecting him, but there are short quick passes to the tight ends, running backs, and slot receivers that could have been executed. Why didn't Miles adjust to a different game plan, or switch qbs just to try something that may have given the team a shot in the arm? And there were many unforced errors, balls thrown at receivers' feet, balls thrown out of bounds, balls dropped, passes off receivers' hands, just ineptitude in general. If it wasn't the NC game, I would have thought LSU wasn't too interested. Maybe they spent too much time on Bourbon Street. Maybe they thought they just had to show up. Maybe the effect of playing the same team twice bit their butts. Or all of the above. Yeah, there was great defense on display, but I still think an offense like Oregon, Stanford, Okie State, Wisconsin, or Baylor would have put some points up against Alabama. Of course, they might have given up a lot. We wouldn't have had to watch repeated highlights of the field goal holder rotating the laces of the ball.
Worth noting that the two teams that scored the most against LSU this season were West Virginia and Oregon. Against Alabama? Georgia Southern scored more than anyone else (and it wasn't fluky). In both cases, it was all non-conference teams that could score against these schools. That suggests mediocre offense all throughout the SEC.
Jefferson, the LSU qb that started last night would not have beat out the starting qb for all but 2 big 12 teams. He was not hitting open receivers, making lousy decisions reading coverage, and could not look off the d-backs. Weeden would have had success last night, especially against bama because bama's d backfield is not as good as LSU's. the question is, could okie state have stopped either team. I think they could have done enough on both sides of the ball to make it a very entertaining game, in contrast to the **** that was rolled out last night.
Defense wins championships. Six in a row for the SEC? They need to break up that big boy conference, so somebody else has a chance.
LSU only holds SEC teams and FCS teams to low totals. Oregon and WVU both scored on them, but both of those teams have mediocre defenses so it didn't matter. Alabama basically only played 1 good offense all year long, although they did play very well against that 1 offense, but if you are the type to make the "anyone can get up for 1 game a year" argument against Boise State, then be consistent and apply it to the Alabama D too. And Georgia's D played LSU just as good as Alabama did, the difference is Alabama's offense and special teams are good enough to play keep away and go into safe mode to let their D win it, while Georgia's offense and special teams are not. I don't ever like taking OU's side, but their D gave a pretty good performance in 2000 against a high scoring offense, and they had even less help from their offense than 'Bama did.
