It's the morning after, and I couldn't sleep last night (just because I'm a chronic insomniac)so I had time to think about the game a bit while I was lying there.
I don't think anyone should be surprised at the game personally. Alabama's defense has been #1 in most every defensive category all season. I think Jarret Lee would have made things worse had he come in. There would have been no threat of the run, and he would have been under more pressure than Jefferson. It's pretty well proven he can't take pressure and he would have thrown a pick 6 or two in no time. It looked to me like Bama's corners had the LSU receivers locked down all night so it would have taken a Drew Brees to complete any passes. Neither Jefferson or Lee could get that done.
It was a bit sad to watch. An option attack is pretty easy to defend against if you can't pass as long as the defense has athleticism and is prepared for it. I don't fault LSU for anything on the offensive side of the ball. Les knew he didn't have any other options.
What is a bit strange to me is LSU's defense. It's obvious they came in with no other objective but stopping Trent Richardson and making the QB beat them. They did an okay job with Richardson (still had 96 yards rushing on his own, plus another 48 for Lacey), but they allowed themselves to get killed on the passing game. At some point, I kept thinking they'd quit playing so much man coverage and try to shift the defense a bit to slow down our offense. Never really happened, so our TE's just ate them alive all night long. If Maze hadn't of gotten hurt I think it would have been worse, but credit goes to the QB because he made near perfect passes in good coverage that just couldn't be defended. LSU limited yards after reception because of good coverage, but we still moved down the field at will until things got compressed near the end zone. We just don't have a high caliber receiver who can get open in the end-zone, and their sellout to stop the run prevented us from scoring more touchdowns.
Special teams play was good on both sides. Brad Wing is an amazing punter, but he gets on my nerves. He ran all the way down the field on the first punt and stuck his finger inside the face mask of Maze who had just returned a punt 15 yards or so. I'm not sure what he was thinking but thank goodness Maze had poise and didn't drop him on the ground right then. I think if Maze wouldn't have pulled that hamstring right at the end of his second return that he would have easily blown past wing for the touchdown which would have been epic.
Anyway, my personal opinion is that this is the best defensive team that we've seen in college football in at least 10-15 years, perhaps since the 1992 Bama defense. I think Oklahoma State could have given LSU a decent game (still would have lost in the trenches which usually means you lose the game though), but that Bama would have really hurt OSU. It's a shame we left so many points on the field on that Nov 5th game because if we would have won that game handily, LSU wouldn't have been in the SECCG or a BCS game, and Bama would have played OSU in New Orleans last night.
I don't think anyone should be surprised at the game personally. Alabama's defense has been #1 in most every defensive category all season. I think Jarret Lee would have made things worse had he come in. There would have been no threat of the run, and he would have been under more pressure than Jefferson. It's pretty well proven he can't take pressure and he would have thrown a pick 6 or two in no time. It looked to me like Bama's corners had the LSU receivers locked down all night so it would have taken a Drew Brees to complete any passes. Neither Jefferson or Lee could get that done.
It was a bit sad to watch. An option attack is pretty easy to defend against if you can't pass as long as the defense has athleticism and is prepared for it. I don't fault LSU for anything on the offensive side of the ball. Les knew he didn't have any other options.
What is a bit strange to me is LSU's defense. It's obvious they came in with no other objective but stopping Trent Richardson and making the QB beat them. They did an okay job with Richardson (still had 96 yards rushing on his own, plus another 48 for Lacey), but they allowed themselves to get killed on the passing game. At some point, I kept thinking they'd quit playing so much man coverage and try to shift the defense a bit to slow down our offense. Never really happened, so our TE's just ate them alive all night long. If Maze hadn't of gotten hurt I think it would have been worse, but credit goes to the QB because he made near perfect passes in good coverage that just couldn't be defended. LSU limited yards after reception because of good coverage, but we still moved down the field at will until things got compressed near the end zone. We just don't have a high caliber receiver who can get open in the end-zone, and their sellout to stop the run prevented us from scoring more touchdowns.
Special teams play was good on both sides. Brad Wing is an amazing punter, but he gets on my nerves. He ran all the way down the field on the first punt and stuck his finger inside the face mask of Maze who had just returned a punt 15 yards or so. I'm not sure what he was thinking but thank goodness Maze had poise and didn't drop him on the ground right then. I think if Maze wouldn't have pulled that hamstring right at the end of his second return that he would have easily blown past wing for the touchdown which would have been epic.
Anyway, my personal opinion is that this is the best defensive team that we've seen in college football in at least 10-15 years, perhaps since the 1992 Bama defense. I think Oklahoma State could have given LSU a decent game (still would have lost in the trenches which usually means you lose the game though), but that Bama would have really hurt OSU. It's a shame we left so many points on the field on that Nov 5th game because if we would have won that game handily, LSU wouldn't have been in the SECCG or a BCS game, and Bama would have played OSU in New Orleans last night.
