Two weeks later against Alabama, LSU scored twice inside the red zone as Johnson threw a pair of 8-yard touchdowns. But when LSU had a chance to retake the lead in the fourth quarter — once again from the 8-yard line — it turned the ball over on downs.
Davis-Price rushed for 1 yard. Then Johnson threw three straight incomplete passes. Those were only a few drives. It either punted or turned the ball over on 17 of its 22 possessions. The Tigers went 9 for 30 on third downs during that stretch. A major concern for the offense, LSU has converted As he exited the stadium on Saturday night, Orgeron tr….
I think we've been trying to find a happy medium between run and pass. That phrase — getting ahead in the chains — has often been said by LSU this season. The Tigers have tried pushing the ball to the outside and using passes on early downs to set up manageable third-down situations. Shorter conversions would take pressure off of the offensive line, which has improved but continues to struggle with pass protection.
The group allowed 10 sacks over the last two games. Last week, Johnson said the Tigers had mostly run the ball on first down since beating Florida behind a run-heavy approach. As the days until LSU names a new football coach dwindle, so does the list of likely or at least plausible candidates.
LSU then called 11 runs and 10 passes on first down against Alabama. But the offense averaged 6. The Tigers only converted two third downs that were over 2 yards. What's the best way to attack? Because that's what we want to do: We want to aggressively attack the defense at all fronts. Max Johnson crooked his finger and Koy Moore motioned from left slot receiver to the right. It wasn't a major adjustment on the second play of LSU's spring game — just a subtle realignment that shifted the defense over and cleared up a lane for Johnson on a zone read to the left.
Orgeron told reporters LSU wouldn't use many of its complicated motions and shifts during the scrimmage. Still, on the first drive, the Tigers used some form of minor motion or shift in all but three of the 11 plays. The frequency wasn't all that surprising, considering the Carolina Panthers used pre-snap motion and shifts more than half the time Just like the philosophy behind personnel variability, pre-snap motions can create play flexibility and matchup advantages.
They can clear up spacing for passing lanes and tip off the coverages and blitzes a defense is going to run. Often, a pre-snap motion can do all of those things at once. Take the first official play Carolina ran with Joe Brady in the booth. McCaffrey motioned out of the backfield to left slot receiver. The realignment also opened up the middle of the field, where quarterback Teddy Bridgewater completed a slant to Anderson for an yard gain.
Motions can also amplify the advantages an offense has within its personnel grouping. Against Washington, the Panthers had their fullback, Alex Armah, lined up off the line as an F-back where a tight end might normally be on third-and Then, Armah motioned into the backfield to create a traditional-looking offset I-formation, and he was the lead blocker on a 3-yard rush for a first down. Again, the types of motions LSU might use depends on the skillsets of the players on the roster.
Armah, who had only caught three passes in his two previous seasons in Carolina before Brady arrived, wasn't a major receiving threat. Carolina also used motions to exploit parts of a defense where the Panthers had a numbers advantage. On one play against Kansas City, most of the Chiefs defense occupied the left side of the field because the Panthers had three receivers there.
Only one defender was lined up beyond Carolina's right tackle. Samuel motioned left to right and received a pitch from Bridgewater with plenty of room on the right side for a yard touchdown. LSU used the motion pitch in , too, most notably on a yard gain by Jefferson against Utah State. Boutte also ran the motion pitch in Saturday's spring game but got caught in the backfield for a loss of 2 yards. Most of the motions and shifts the Tigers used in the scrimmage were subtle, and players insisted there's still plenty more they haven't yet revealed.
Four plays into LSU's spring game, a Johnson pass hit Boutte in stride across the middle of the field. Boutte was wide open. He weaved for what would've been a yard touchdown had the score not been called back on an illegal block in the back. Those expecting LSU's leaky secondary to improve may have groaned, but Boutte had run the sort of lethal crossing route that tormented opposing defenses in with first downs, long touchdown scores and gains in big chunks with several yards after the catch.
Brady's two seasons in New Orleans under coach Sean Payton reinforced the young coach's growing football philosophy, which was already rooted in the West Coast passing game. In Brady's one season in Baton Rouge, the Tigers confounded defenses by sometimes running multiple crossing routes at different depth levels on the field, which more often than not left at least one receiver completely open with plenty of room to run.
Of course, Brady organized the offense with a full staff, including Peetz, whose roots in the West Coast offense include one season with the Washington Football Team under Jay Gruden in That's not to say the Panthers didn't throw it deep. Moore as well as a yard score to Anderson. And it's not say LSU won't also throw it deep in The Tigers may not have the trio of first-round receivers as it did in — Jefferson and presumably Chase and Terrace Marshall — but a strong-armed quarterback in Myles Brennan and a matchup winner in Boutte could create more favorable opportunities against college opponents than an offense might see in the NFL.
But all the routes — the hitches, the ins, the outs, the screens — all thrive when there's a multitude of combinations and masterful spacing. The Panthers avoided being predictable on given downs and distances. Zach Strief, a year center for the Saints who's now an assistant offensive line coach with the franchise, said there are no secret schemes within the New Orleans passing attack Brady learned.
Anyone can turn on the film, write down every route, and they'd have Payton's playbook. He spent long days and nights poring over game film. He would have done it for free. It is not his offense, he says, but is instead a conglomeration of ideas from the staff organized by Ensminger. Ensminger and Brady, separated by more than 30 years in age, work in tandem to create the game plan and call the plays.
Ensminger decides when Brady gets the call. Sometimes Brady gets a third-down play. Other times he calls an entire drive. Late in the Texas game, LSU was leading by six points at its own yard line with less than three minutes left. For Brady, it was an easy call. We had a good bead on Texas. Ensminger called four vertical routes and kept the running back, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, in the backfield as a sixth pass protector.
In a collapsing pocket, Edwards-Helaire made the saving block to provide Burrow with enough time to find receiver Justin Jefferson, who broke a tackle and jaunted 61 yards for the game-securing touchdown. We play all these dang night games. You have success in a night game, you wake up and go back into work. On Oct. Nearly 40 years ago, Arkansas coach Lou Holtz switched away from the veer option solely because of the disadvantages it created in recruiting.
Holtz says he had trouble signing skill players. Today those teams that moved from the option to a more pro-style offense are now switching to the spread for the same reason. Ironically, the Tigers have never had trouble signing good players. In fact, Louisiana is talent-rich, and six of LSU's last seven signing classes have ranked in the top seven nationally.
However, most high school athletes these days are playing in a version of the spread. It explains why more true freshman quarterbacks than ever are playing and succeeding: They've spent years operating in the same schemes at the prep level.
Now that LSU is running an offense its recruits are familiar with, they have an easier adjustment to the college game. But the switch to this style of offense isn't all positive.
There are drawbacks to a quick-paced system that puts the ball in the air so much. One of them reared its head in Austin: The Tigers lost the time of possession battle by eight minutes.
Their defense was on the field for 85 plays, the most in a regulation game since As a result, LSU's defense, one loaded with five-star athletes and led by the highest-paid defensive coordinator in the nation, Dave Aranda, allowed 38 points and yards. Even against Northwestern State last Saturday—a game LSU won 65—14 and completed 29 of 33 passes for yards—the D was on the field for more than 33 minutes.
Neuheisel expects a "correction" from the traditional powers that have recently switched, meaning the LSUs and Alabamas will drift back toward their old ways. Edsall agrees. There are other issues.
Defensive coaches now have three full games of LSU's new offense. That's two more than Texas coaches got. We've barely scratched the surface.
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