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The way too early 2019 LSU at Texas game discussion


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2 hours ago, sith_horn said:

Just hope his pass protection is up to snuff. If anyone can test it, LSU can. No doubts about his run blocking or pulling at all. I'm also salivating at the thought of runs to the left with a Cosmi-Braun tandem. As always, the trenches will play a deciding role. LSU has a couple of monsters at NT. Shaq has his work cut out for him, but he goes up against the likes of Keondre in practice and held his own against Gawja.

I'm expecting HUNH and a fair amount of the quick game early.  It's what Herman did to Georgia, which got their fat NTs running all over the field with no chance to rotate subs in.  LSU's 370 lb NT should be even more vulnerable to this.  I also expect lots of RB screens and use of counter.  The best way to counter LSU's size is with speed and  blocking angles.  The front 6 is huge and (for their size) fast.  But change of direction is something else again.

Delayed screens allow the offense to strip away run support from Tigah corners locked up in man coverage.  They just run away from the NT and backside DE.  And the smaller, quicker Texas OL are better at picking off LBs and safeties in space.  Finally, Coach O is promising more aggressive penetration by the defensive front.  That's a recipe for being abused by misdirection.

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49 minutes ago, sushihorn said:

I'm expecting HUNH and a fair amount of the quick game early.  It's what Herman did to Georgia, which got their fat NTs running all over the field with no chance to rotate subs in.  LSU's 370 lb NT should be even more vulnerable to this.  I also expect lots of RB screens and use of counter.  The best way to counter LSU's size is with speed and  blocking angles.  The front 6 is huge and (for their size) fast.  But change of direction is something else again.

 

Not sure who the 370 lb NT is? If you mean Tyler Shelvin, they slimmed him down from 364 to 346 or so. Siaki Ika is 354 lb per their roster. A freshman, but looks like a Polynesian bull that reportedly their OL has difficulty blocking. Those Polynesians tend to move their weight well.

LSU Football Roster
 

49 minutes ago, sushihorn said:

Delayed screens allow the offense to strip away run support from Tigah corners locked up in man coverage.  They just run away from the NT and backside DE.  And the smaller, quicker Texas OL are better at picking off LBs and safeties in space.  Finally, Coach O is promising more aggressive penetration by the defensive front.  That's a recipe for being abused by misdirection.

Depends on the means of penetration. Penetration a la the Poona Ford variety is generally a good thing. Aggressive blitzing/stunts is more of the risk/reward variety. But Ehlinger is reportedly advancing his reads of D's and checking into different play options. That inspires some confidence.

           
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7 hours ago, Kyrie Eleison said:

no...Chaisson isn’t the strength of our defense. not even close.
Delpit, Divinity, Fulton, Phillips, Stevens, Lawrence...in that order.

 

Gotta admit, I like watching Delpit play. Most of the time in the games I've seen he's been your stereotypical center fielder type of safety, sneaking up on a route for the INT or PBU, but every once in a while, I see flashes of enforcer, too.

Great safety play is what makes for great defense, which has been a source of pleasure for Texas more often than not down through the years.

I guarantee you Sam will know where Delpit is on every snap, because real recognize real.

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1 hour ago, sushihorn said:

The fact that they are trying to transition to a scheme based on the quick game and RPOs yet the OL gave up SIX sacks in their scrimmage should concern any rational LSU fan.

I'm told only three are real sacks plus this an NFL all world defense (sec)

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41 minutes ago, Zavala said:

Got the article?

 

 

BATON ROUGE, La. — Tuesday morning, back when it was just Damien Lewis and Chasen Hines who were banged up, Saahdiq Charles talked about injuries.

It’s been an LSU fall camp full of knicks and bruises and days where seemingly half the starting lineup sat out of practice. Charles said it was nice to start getting some numbers back on the line, finally good to get some cohesiveness back in a group that’s spent the past two years shuffling around constantly.

Finally, he said, there seemed to be some progress.

“When we start just mixing and people being out, that’s kind of tough,” the junior left tackle said. “You get used to playing next to a certain person. Even our techniques are the same, but we kind of start getting the flow with one person and it’s messed up a little bit.”

And then highly-touted freshman guard Kardell Thomas went down Wednesday with a gruesome ankle injury that will require surgery and keep him out as long as two months, sources told The Athletic. Suddenly another blow to LSU’s offensive line depth that’s becoming thinner by the day.

Add Thomas’ injury to Lewis and Hines missing time, and suddenly three of the top four guards getting reps at camp are dealing with different injuries.

Lewis, LSU’s All-SEC right guard, will likely miss Saturday’s scrimmage, Ed Orgeron said, but sources also said it’s not anything serious. Hines, the 19-year-old sophomore who was at one point the frontrunner for the left guard role, has missed seven of the past eight practices. Orgeron said he hopes Hines will return soon.

Orgeron was asked Wednesday if this accumulation of injuries is becoming concerning. Aside from not knowing Thomas’ status at the time, he confidently said “No.”

“The rest of the injuries, everybody’s gonna be back ready to go,” he said.

Regardless of how confident LSU is in the long-term health of its offensive line, the group was already the No. 1 concern heading into the 2019 season. The interior line was considered the strength with two All-SEC players in Lewis and center Lloyd Cushenberry, plus a talented three-man competition at left-guard. The tackles were the major liability in 2018, with Charles and right tackle Austin Deculus struggling in pass protection.

Then, right when reports of positivity started coming out of camp about improvement from Charles and Deculus, the LSU defensive line dominated Saturday’s scrimmage and the interior line’s depth takes a major hit via injuries.

Thomas might not have been the expected starting left guard. It seemed to be more of a battle between Magee and Hines, if he becomes healthy, but Thomas had his best day of camp Monday and was starting to make progress, multiple players said. Now, LSU has just one of those top four guards practicing.

LSU turned to Donavaughn Campbell as the first team guard at practice Thursday while moving freshman Anthony Bradford from tackle to the second-team guard spot. Orgeron said senior tackle Badara Traore has been taking reps at guard, but even he’s missed the last two practices. LSU also had to move defensive lineman Jakori Savage back to offense.

Orgeron and LSU maintain they’re being careful with players and not pushing them through minor injuries, especially for more experienced veterans. With recently banged-up players like Joe Burrow, K’Lavon Chaisson, Kristian Fulton and Grant Delpit all returning to practice this week, Orgeron’s words have proven so far to be true.

Charles himself is somebody who dealt with injuries the past two seasons, and Hines had offseason knee surgery and returned for fall camp.

“Especially when the numbers are starting to go down, you kind of have to do a little more and fight through more,” Charles said, “just because we gotta have five of us at least.”

With Hines missing so much time, though, Orgeron said it’s looking like it will be Magee right now at left guard. He’s a senior who has started games for LSU at both guard and tackle, getting pulled from both spots at different times, but Orgeron added he’s in good shape, knows what to do and is “Very versatile. He’s gonna play for us.” It will be interesting to see how much ground Hines can make up if he returns sooner rather than later.

Charles is securely LSU’s left tackle, same with Cushenberry at center and Lewis at right guard. Right tackle was considered a competition going into a camp, but all indications are Deculus has taken a lead there. Orgeron has referred to Traore as the “third tackle,” and he’s the one taking reps at guard because of the injuries.

Deculus is somebody who was thrown into playing time as an 18-year-old freshman and struggled again as a 19-year-old starting right tackle. Now, sources say the two-year veteran has looked like “an entirely different player” and is one of the better-conditioned players on the line. LSU strength coach Tommy Moffitt named him as one of the offseason standouts, in his eyes.

Another name to follow is redshirt freshman Dare Rosenthal, a 6-foot-7 redshirt freshman who flipped from defense to the offensive line midway through last season.

“I’ll tell you a guy that’s coming along is Dare Rosenthal,” Orgeron said. “He is coming along at left tackle. He’s made a lot of improvement. He’s not game-ready yet, but he’s one of the most improved linemen we have.”

People have raved about Rosenthal’s massive upside if he ever switched to offense since high school, and now he’s finally learning it, but that’s taken time. Charles, another tackle who primarily played defense in high school, said he’s taken Rosenthal under his wing and called him his “little guy.” As Orgeron said, he’s still a project and has a ways to go, but he could be a tackle for the future.

“Athletic, long, tall, he’s fast,” Charles said. “He’s the prototypical NFL left tackle if you just look at him.”

Until proven otherwise, though, the question marks around the LSU offensive line continue to add up. The tackles need to show they can pass protect against Power-5 competition before their improvement will be believed. The interior line needs to show it’s healthy, even if LSU maintains Lewis and Hines will be okay.

The entire offensive line needs to take a step forward if LSU wants to make good on its College Football Playoff aspirations.

Until then, we wait.

Edited by Etexhorn13
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23 hours ago, Zavala said:

Got the article?

Here you go:

Quote

BATON ROUGE, La. — Tuesday morning, back when it was just Damien Lewis and Chasen Hines who were banged up, Saahdiq Charles talked about injuries.

It’s been an LSU fall camp full of knicks and bruises and days where seemingly half the starting lineup sat out of practice. And when the Tigers get blown the fuck up in Austin on September 7th, injuries along the front line will provide the perfect excuse for aggy and other SECSEC apologists. Asked for comment, coach Ed Orgeron said "Me hungry...me want aminal [sic] crackers."

 

Edited by OU Sucks
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15 minutes ago, sith_horn said:

It’s funny. No denying LSU has talented receivers but I feel like as a Longhorn fan I’ve read a version of that article at least three times since 2010. Different offensive systems but between “Harsin/White, Gilbert & Herman” there’s been some gushing fan-fiction piece written every time a new OC has been brought on. 

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16 minutes ago, BrazilHorn said:

It’s funny. No denying LSU has talented receivers but I feel like as a Longhorn fan I’ve read a version of that article at least three times since 2010. Different offensive systems but between “Harsin/White, Gilbert & Herman” there’s been some gushing fan-fiction piece written every time a new OC has been brought on. 

It's not your imagination.  Nor is it just the sites and outlets catering to casual fans.  Here is a write up from 2018 from the best Xs and Os site catering to LSU fans.

The Evolution of the Run-Pass Option and What it Might Mean for LSU

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7 minutes ago, Pig Bellmont said:

Can someone name one successful offense where the weakness was the OL? 

 

 

Nope, but I can probably give you a dozen examples over the past 20 years where Texas wasted fantastic RBs and WRs by having a shitty o-line, does that count?

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3 hours ago, Johnny Sack said:

2009 Texas

2009 OL was average.  Not good run blockers but pretty good pass protectors.  31 sacks given up on 540 pass attempts (5.4% sack ratio) which is well above average.  People are still traumatized by the Big XII CCG where 9 of those sacks occurred.  Ex the performance by the freak pass rushing DT, the Texas OL gives up 22 sacks in 13 games (1.7 sacks per game) and an excellent sack ratio of 4.2%.  For reference our QBs (mostly freshman Garrett Gilbert) had 42 pass attempts in the NCG and the OL surrendered only ONE sack.

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5 minutes ago, sushihorn said:

2009 OL was average.  Not good run blockers but pretty good pass protectors.  31 sacks given up on 540 pass attempts (5.4% sack ratio) which is well above average.  People are still traumatized by the Big XII CCG where 9 of those sacks occurred.  Ex the performance by the freak pass rushing DT, the Texas OL gives up 22 sacks in 13 games (1.7 sacks per game) and an excellent sack ratio of 4.2%.  For reference our QBs (mostly freshman Garrett Gilbert) had 42 pass attempts in the NCG and the OL surrendered only ONE sack.

There are some similarities between the 2009 Texas OL and the 2018 OL. Not overly talented but experienced and cohesive.

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7 minutes ago, Cairn Horn88 said:

Tom Herman drops INSANE quote. Must see. Brimming with confidence against the Tigers.  Posted on 8/21/19 at 11:32 am

https://www.secrant.com/rant/sec-football/tom-herman-drops-insane-quote-must-see-brimming-with-confidence-against-the-tigers/84923770/

Really?  Hmmm.

It's like none of those mouth breathers have ever heard of Lou Holtz or poor mouthing.

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