LSU Grades: The Report From The Tire Store

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Good job, Commissioner.

I have not spent a lot of time contemplating the game or the outcome.  See, I have a dental appointment on Wednesday afternoon and I have found it more comforting to reflect on that outing than the one I took to Tuscaloosa over the weekend.

But now that you’ve brought it up, I’ll put in what I can add.

As for the grades themselves, I pretty much agree.  The defense had some let downs.  Allowing the long drive just before half time was completely mental errors.  On several plays in that drive players were in position to make plays and simply did not.  But it is hard to argue with outstanding results. Holding the #1 team in the country out of the end zone and to single-digit points for a game plus an overtime period should be a game winning effort and is testament to the players and the coaching.  There is not much more you can ask of a defense except to give your team a chance to break one big play to win the game.  And after the sorry showing by the offense in the overtime period (play calls and execution), I’m not sure it was easy to motivate them to even go out there.

I would be tempted to grade the coaches lower.  We were penalized twice in the game for breaking the huddle with too many players.  No team, certainly not one with championship aspirations, can do that, much less 9 games into the season against the #1 team in the country.  The end around call deep in the LSU end that lost 6 yards was a huge turning point.  It was right in front of us and there was room to run, but I’m not sure why you call that play at that time.  The decision not to use a time out before LSU’s last punt and basically play for overtime is another one that left me standing in disbelief.  LSU fans near me high-fived when we made that decision.  I didn’t blame them.  I’d point out some other specifics that bothered me, but I prefer to think about my crown on the left side that feels a little loose.

Regular readers know that I have been whining and hand wringing about the kicking game since North Texas left town.  However, the parts that had me most concerned performed pretty well Saturday night.  Maze says the big punt from LSU changed trajectory when it hit CBS’s over the field camera wire.  CBS says no it didn’t.  I certainly couldn’t tell, but I don’t think it affected it that much.  Someone needs to explain why we continue to send a place kicker out for field goals who has proven, to the satisfaction of the second-largest tv audience for a regular season football game in 25 years, that he just didn’t have it, at least on this particular night.  Did I mention that I’ve got a lower right molar that has already broken once and just doesn’t feel right when I, say, bite the plastic handle off a shaker?

Your most telling statement is about the number of mistakes in the game.  Alabama made enough errors to lose two games to a team the caliber of LSU.  I’m not sure about the Williams catch at the goal line.  Because of where I sit, I only saw him go up and have one hand on each side of the ball.  The next thing I knew, LSU’s band was playing.  It was not a perfect pass from Maze, but catchable and was where only Williams had a chance at it.  I think that is two interceptions this year that hit Williams in the hands.  You could see the offense deflate after that call. 

I just have to comment on the attack on Kirkpatrick and the official’s reaction.  Our team was already furious about what they felt was an uncalled holding call on a pass pattern to Hanks(?) that might have scored.  Dre laid still on the field for an uncomfortably long period of time after he was clotheslined (or “held” as the official so benignly put it). I understand they replayed it several times on tv and even the near-comatose Verne Lundquist thought it was outrageous.  A lot of players were spilling onto the field – so was a lot of trash from the stands.  Les himself made it out past the numbers.  The SEC has got to get a handle on that kind of play.  If they do not, there is going to be an ugly incident that ESPN will play 60 jillion times.  It was close in this game, it was close in VU/UGA.  But given that the SEC office appears focused only on: 1. making money; and 2. sweeping trash under the proverbial rug, I expect the silence will be deafening.  I do not blame Steve Shaw – I think this attitude comes from the very top.

As for a “rematch” lots of LSU fans (and there were lots of them) were predicting it after the game.  I tend to doubt it.  First, we have to win out and probably by some pretty convincing scores.  We are on the road twice in the conference, so it is not a given.  Second, I don’t think Coach Saban will run up the score even given the opportunity and even if it would help our post-season posturing.

Third, if either OKS or Stanford goes undefeated, then they get the shot.  I expect the TV networks to push this.  They are not at all interested in 6-9 overtime games.  They much prefer a game that is 46-49 with the team getting the ball last winning and defense an afterthought.  Given their choices, I think TV would rather see an OK State vs. Stanford shootout, but are resigned to taking at least one team that plays defense.  I actually think it is pretty likely that one of those two teams will lose.  Stanford, in particular, has some injury problems and relies far too much on the play of one player.  USC has shown the blueprint for how to beat them.  Oklahoma State has Oklahoma, but if they should lose that game, I’m not sure that they and the Sooners don’t have just as much a claim to the BCS berth as do we, though that loss to Texas Tech is hard to explain.  I do not think LSU loses to Arkansas in Baton Rouge, no disrespect to the Hogs, that’s just how I see it after we played them both. 

I continue to think Alabama is at least the second best team in college football.  They may be the best team, but they could not prove it at home when they needed to Saturday night, and that’s all there is to it.  The BCS championship voters may not like the idea of one challenger not even winning its half of its own conference.  My guess is we end up in the Sugar Bowl, maybe having to play the Smurfs of Boise State after they finish an undefeated season by dispatching the Idaho College of Cosmetology and HVAC Repair and talking about how they deserve better  I could contemplate how to get our team motivated for such a game, whether our fans would travel to see it, etc. but I think I’d prefer to focus on the reassuring high-pitched whine of a dental instrument.

Roll Tide anyway, everyone.

The Correspondent From The Tire Store