Upon Further Review: LSU

Interesting alignment on 3rd & 9. Three-man front, two safeties right next to each other in middle of the field. We ran the nearest safety off the boundary at the snap. One of the defenders didn’t understand their responsibility because they both run with the slot and leave #11 wide open for an easy pickup. What a disappointing defensive play here. It’s also disappointing the complete lack of pass rush. Carter is getting his face smashed into the turf on the 45-yard line. This is the play that Bandy got ejected on.



Jaquan and Garvin both get held on the next play. They call it on Jaquan's man. Troubling, but Bethel was pushed several yards downfield by one OL. (Not pictured)

Next play Bethel does a very good job of standing his man up with power, then moving to the gap that the runner chooses. It looks like he two-gapped, but it’s really just controlling his man and moving to where the RB chooses. Willis is getting blown off the LOS here.


Good defense on the next play. Willis overpowers his man and gets a pressure on the QB, Bethel stunts (which I’m not a fan of), Pinckney blitzes. Joe Jackson is getting handled by one man on the edge too often. Derrick Smith is pattern matching the slot WR. He passes off the WR and takes the underneath route. He makes a nice tackle on #6 right in his tracks here.


Aggressive alignment on the next play trying to save as many yards as possible on 3rd & 15 to limit any potential FG distance. Coincidentally, Joe Jackson pulls an All-Pro spin move on the LT, gets inside of him, and beats a RB sent to help against him and saves the play. At the top of the screen you can see that Dean misses his jam and gives a free release outside. Burrow throws a back-shoulder pass and Dean makes a nice play on the ball.


After the FG on the kickoff, I see you 5. Wanting to hit a dude.


This is great. This is a highlight. It’s also a pass that if he simply hits Thomas in stride might seriously be a TD. I’ve looked at this play and if he beats the angle from #11 there is no one left to tackle Thomas on this play. Rosier is very late on the throw.


Another completion that is limiting things for the team. No, Cager is not fielding a punt, he is waiting on this deep throw that Rosier short-armed and threw too close to the sideline.


This is another situation where the OL is going too far inside when they have responsibility on White. Donaldson was a yard outside the hash when he started downfield, ducked inside and White was too fast. If he stays outside of the hash he makes this block. He just ends up getting in the way of Mahoney, who is blocking no one. I do wonder if Mahoney was supposed to take the DE on this play, but if not, I wonder what the design for him to block is. It’s a read-option run play, so it’s not an RPO. Just not good film right here.


More bad film. White- who is an All-American LB and their best pass-rusher- walks right up to the LOS. Gauthier blocks down, Jahair blocks out and they both just part the Red Sea towards our QB. Rosier does a good job of escaping and getting a pass off, but if they block White then Hightower has a TD down the left sideline.

Oh I wish Homer had been looking to the giant opening to his right and saw LSU's #4 on the delay. If he blocks him, then Harley is open on the stop route. #4 runs right by him and forces Rosier to throw early and it sails high. Sometimes the plays are fine and you just need to execute.


Gotta hold better. Straight up kicking the laces here from the angle he wants to kick this ball.


On first down for LSU we send Pinckney on a delayed blitz, the QB wanted the swing pass to the flat but Knowles took that route quickly. Willis with the sack when the QB ran right into him. On second down the broadcast glitched and you just see Garvin and Willis making a tackle at the LOS (Not pictured).

3rd & 11 we call an aggressive call. Ten defenders within three yards of the LOS. This is the play that Garvin hits the arm of the QB and it was nearly a TD on the fumble.


I see it asked quite often why Mike Harley plays over some other WR’s and right here is why. He is an absolutely ferocious blocker downfield. This was a nice play by Rosier who got it off under duress. Donaldson was late getting out to the edge blitzer. Lucky not to be a hold on Mahoney here.


Gauthier getting mauled by the NT here. Donaldson getting hit with a club and nearly tossed down. Ball is on-time to Harley in the slot and a good tough catch by Harley here.


Next play is a read-option that is a give to Dallas. Donaldson blocks down on the DE and they leave Delpit free. Rosier holds it long enough to freeze him and on inside zone Dallas shows patience to cut back into the hole for a gain of five. Nice job. (Not pictured)

Again, Donaldson is late getting out on Delpit. Mahoney looks like he’s doing ok, but he’s really getting bullied. If he could’ve just kept his shoulders square here, he holds this block, and Rosier gets a nice run. One weird thing is Dallas turns around and looks at Rosier rather than blocking the man right in front of him. I’m guessing he didn’t sense Rosier take off.


Next play is a missed opportunity. St. Louis is tossed to the ground by the DE, you can see his legs sticking out. If St. Louis just stays upright this has the potential for a big play. Again, as to why Harley plays a lot, you see Hightower up top with a chance to block Greedy and he nearly whiffs on the block. Brevin misses his block completely. Boulware is free onto LB’s and blocks no one. Dallas breaks Greedy’s tackle and gets a first down, but this should’ve been a big one.


Next play and Gauthier is nearly knocked to the turf and is almost literally facing Rosier. Mahoney is getting dump-trucked here. This isn’t gonna work, fellas. We throw deep on back-to-back plays. Interesting that we didn’t try and work the middle of the field in FG range. You can see Ahmmon is blanketed here as Rosier throws it deep. Baxa misses the kick and it’s nothing. Gotta grind just a little bit more there in my view.


LSU runs power and Patchan dips inside the TE and gets upfield so quickly the puller (#79) has to go further into the backfield. It forces the RB to have to bounce the play rather than following the hip of the puller. Redwine- just on the hash at the 33- fires upfield as soon as he sees #18 try to block Patchan knowing that he doesn’t have a coverage responsibility makes the tackle for no gain.


Dean has to make this play. You can see he’s got his arms turned the wrong way to catch this cleanly. If he flips his arms the other way he makes this pick and has a nice return setup. Have to finish this play. It all would’ve gone for naught since D Jax roughed the passer, but this needs to be coached.

Next play they run zone coverage in cover-3 and Redwine steps up when he sees the play-action. The WR runs a skinny post behind him and drops a ball that would’ve been a big play. Redwine needs to get into his drop quicker and deeper to prevent that because the whole point of that coverage is to allow you to use your eyes. (Not pictured)

Remember this defensive play for later. We bait the slant in zone, send the CB off the boundary, and they let D Jax go off the edge. D Jax does not look like himself in this game. Very slow, lethargic. Obviously the rushing the passer penalty a few plays ago has made him tentative. I highlight it to show that D Jax cannot let the QB get outside of him on this play and that seeing the CB blitz is not easy for a QB. What is easy to see is the traffic in your initial read and to just throw it away if it’s not there. We will see Rosier not do that later on.


On 3rd & 10 we only rush three and play coverage. Jackson cannot let the WR get inside of him on the slant on this play. It’s really the one he can’t let happen here. He opens up way too early and allows the WR to cut inside of him. Once he gets inside of a defender playing inside leverage, the defense is not setup to help and it’s a first down. Really an inexcusable play from one of your stars.


Blades and Redwine have combo coverage on the slot WR at the bottom of the screen. Blades is exaggerating his coverage outside the hash. Redwine has anything in-breaking to the middle of the field, but one problem you see with Redwine is he doesn’t always trust his speed and he opens up too early being worried about getting beat deep down the seam. This receiver is wide open, but Burrow misses the throw.


On the big TD run, I have no idea what Bradley Jennings is reading. He’s just way too quick to crash into the C gap on the run. Burrow saw he had numbers in the defense because he checked into this play (Jaquan showed blitz to that side and he checked away from it, would’ve liked to see Jaquan check out of it when he saw QB call an audible). We’ve got three guys for one offensive player to the top of the screen and LSU gets to the next level. The other part of this play is you simply cannot allow the G to get to your FS (though you’d like Knowles to play faster and get there quicker). If you’ve got a G at your third level, you’re giving up a TD, I can tell you that. Bradley has to work from the A gap to the C gap and not start at the C gap. 99 has contain on the edge on this play, so it’s not his primary responsibility. The RG gets to Shaq’s legs and cuts him down. #78 actually gets out and blocks Knowles, who you can’t even see on the screen. Look at Jennings already running to the edge. You have to read your keys here. They’re blocking inside-out on Jackson, this is clearly power and designed for the B gap off LG. If they wanted to run to the edge, the TE would be crashing in on Jackson and not the LT crashing out. Bethel has to do a better job of holding his ground on this play as well. He got turned completely out of the hole.


Look at Jennings from this angle. He completely runs away from his gap for reasons I do not understand. This play was going to work. If Jennings jumps into the correct gap the RB bounces it and probably gets 7-10 yards, but it’s not a house call.


Now that we’re through the 1st quarter, I’ll highlight more impactful plays, but I like to hit most plays at the beginning to get a feel for how everyone is playing things.

Gauthier is just getting mauled by their NT repeatedly. Richards is already wide-open on the slant here. Ball is too far in front, but Ahmmon makes a great catch. A better, more on-time throw here and Richards might get a lot of YAC. You know LSU sees him staring this down and sets it up for the pick-6 later.


Next play they ran a mid-read against NT and Rosier pulled it and ran for nice yardage. Unfortunately, St. Louis holds the DE and gets called. He didn’t need to do it, as Rosier was going to get some yards anyway. You simply have to have the discipline to take a loss on some of these plays and not hold. (Not pictured)

Rosier throws deep on second down towards the bottom of the screen. Cager was there if it’s a good throw. Mallory is running a skinny post for the sole purpose of stressing the FS. Rosier stares at Cager the whole time when, if he had looked to Mallory first knowing that he had Cager on the outside, it would’ve frozen that FS and allowed for Rosier to throw to the middle of the field and have a possible TD. He throws the ball back outside of the hash instead of towards the middle of the field and away from Greedy. Bad throw and this is actually there.


Throw it to Hightower (7) now and it’s a first down. He’s late to get rid of it and they tackle him short of the sticks. I think he wanted Jordan (9) and is looking there instead of 7, but if he hits 7 earlier it’s a first down. He waits and leads the receiver into the sideline.


First down for LSU and Bethel does a great job of getting on the hip of the RG and riding him down the LOS right to the ball carrier. Nice play by Bethel for a two-yard gain. (Not pictured)

Second down LSU tries to run a flanker screen and Jaquan reads it and tackles it after two. (Not pictured)

Third down this is bad. We’ve got two guys right here to stop this play. Instead of 5 attacking here and Bethel flowing down the LOS, they both get together and allow 4 to block both of them! He simply dives at the legs of Bethel and blocks them both. Burrow gets to the edge, Jackson makes a tackle a yard short and they pick it up on 4th down. This is a punt if the defenders stay smart. 5 has to play under control because 4 is his man if he releases, but Bethel has to be smarter and not take such a narrow angle.



You’d like Willis to make this play. Great job by him to get penetration, but he misses the tackle and Brossette picks up the first down.

Next play Pinckney gets into the backfield but misses the tackle. Allows 4. (Not pictured)

Willis gets into the backfield on the next play and makes a big stop for loss. (Not pictured)

Blades is in the slot, and you just can’t let him get across your face on this play and get into the inside. We blitzed everybody and the one place you can’t let him get is right here. He still only catches it at the 41 and Blades doesn’t get him down quick enough.


Tito jumped on 4th down. Ugh. This drive should’ve been over long ago via a punt. This is frustrating. (Not pictured)

LSU then tries to roll QB to his left (toughest throw for a right handed QB). Incomplete. Next play they run a simple inside-zone and Pinckney jumps outside instead of reading his keys. I do not know why they keep wanting to jump outside and leave the inside gaps open like this. Shaq was too passive on an OL getting to the next level. I’d like to see him really shock one of these OL and knock them back into the hole instead of playing patty-cake with them. Jaquan saves a TD run but a first down. Both DT’s get destroyed. This drive has been a nightmare. (Not pictured)

Next play Dean gets completely fooled on the stop-and-go. Look at Dean at the top of the screen. When Chase stutters, Dean throws both his hands up as if he’s trying to stop him from catching it. Dean has to rely on the WR’s hands to tell him when to play the ball. When Dean is in this position, he’s already beaten. Chase turns it on down the sideline and Dean is stumbling and trailing all the way. Dean panics and doesn’t trust himself at the stutter. He never does look for the ball. This drive ending in a TD is just going to drive the coaches crazy when they watch the film.


Joe Jackson is taking the wrong gap here. Why are we completely ignoring the B gap in this game? He runs right into 73. This is too easy. Jaquan is blitzing off the edge, Jackson has to jump inside. We had this play defended honestly.


First down, we run the read again and it’s a nice hole off LT. Devin White is so good he closes a huge lane quickly. Wish Dallas had a little more acceleration through the hole because it could’ve been a lot more than 5. Next down we run the same thing and had the QB keep, but Donaldson is flagged for a false start. Second down they rush quickly and the OL breaks down almost immediately. Rosier runs and gets through a White tackle for a gain of 7 (Not pictured).

Third down and St. Louis allows immediate pressure by #4. You simply can’t allow the edge defender to get inside of you on this play. He blows everything up, then Gauthier is once again getting totally controlled by the nose. If Gauthier makes his block and St. Louis just doesn’t give up the inside, this is a big play. If Gauthier anchors, rolls his hips, and gets just a two-foot push to the top of the screen, Dallas has a huge cutback and blockers downfield. If Gauthier just holds the LOS, we pick up the first down here. 74 is simply getting overpowered all game. St. Louis is struggling with the speed of the edge player.


Feagles’ punt is just 22 yards and it was unacceptable. (Not pictured)

Dean gets confused on a motion where he needs to replace coverage after a receiver comes into his zone. He is way too passive on the play because he was scared of getting beaten deep again. Jaquan trailed the play and almost forced a fumble from behind, but just missed the ball. He did get it later, but he was out-of-bounds after a huge play. In man coverage, this is as open as a player will ever be when the defense actually attempts to cover them. Losing Bandy has been a massive blow in this game. Dean has been the worst player out there thus far.


DT’s jump on the next play, but Burrow is getting away with flinching big-time. They need to call that to stop the QB from having a massive advantage. Flip-side, if I’m Jess Simpson, I’m screaming at my DT’s that the ball is right there. Watch the ball and not the QB flinching. (Not pictured)

Gotta make this tackle, Pinckney. He runs for a first down after this when it could’ve been 2nd & 7.


Next play Joe Jackson gets washed out too easily and blown off the ball. Romeo Finley gets handled by the TE. RB cuts off the TE’s hip and gets four when it should’ve been nothing. (Not pictured)

3rd down, Redwine saves the TD by beating the TE immediately and pressuring the QB. Shaq comes off the opening created and gets to the QB, who has to throw it late. Jackson was beat on the comeback for a TD if the QB isn’t pressured. (Not pictured)

Homer turns this into about 20 yards. I like Deejay Dallas, but Homer is our bellcow and needs to be getting the ball as much as he can handle. Brevin gets out and blocks Devin White, so nice job there rook.


I just do not understand what Rosier is seeing. He must just completely make up his mind that he’s going to Thomas on this pass. Maybe he doesn’t see the LB because of Brevin shielding him, but it just looks really easy to see to me. CB blitz from boundary, LB zone to field side, cover-3 behind it. He’s got the field-side WR on a stop-route all day. Yes, it’s tipped, but it’s just not there.


Do the slot screen to the field-side on first down for 8. It was easy money. Nice inside give to Dallas for seven and a first. (Not pictured)

I talked about wanting Shaq to attack the OL who is pulling and this is an example. This defender shoves Mahoney right into the legs of Dallas and tackles him for a loss. If Mahoney makes this block, this is a huge gain. He has all of that edge if Mahoney gets out there quicker.


Mahoney misses the block on the next run. You see him reaching for the LB who goes right by him. If he makes this block, it’s a nice run.

This is the difference between winning and losing games. You have to hit these passes, Rosier. This was open and he missed it by a bunch.


Feagles made a punt inside the 5-yard line on 4th down. Credit there. (Not pictured)

First & second down they try inside runs and get nothing. Nice plays by Michael Jackson and Gerald Willis on consecutive plays. Then on third down, Willis beats his man with a club/swim move. He’s been a stud. Mike Harley gets called for running into the punter and it was an awful call. He never touched him and took the perfect angle. Then they made another horrendous call on Rousseau for something they called “Leaping.” Miami could not have played a worse ending to that half, but it was unwarranted on really bad calls. (Not pictured)

First play of the second half and Pinckney has got to make this tackle. He goes for 8 after this. Pinckney has had a truly awful game thus far.


Willis beats his man and makes a tackle in the backfield. He’s shown up big-time. Looks like at least a push from what we saw at that spot last year. (Not pictured)

Shaq meets the RB in the hole with a perfect form tackle and Bethel beats his man on 3rd & 1. Nice play. (Not pictured)

On this play Cager has to be tougher and not get pinned so far to the sideline. If he is one foot further inside this is a catch. Give Rosier credit, as this ball is placed perfectly for Cager to go up and get it. He just landed out-of-bounds. My main criticism with Cager continues; he’s simply not tough enough as a big-bodied receiver.


Jeff Thomas beats Greedy on a dig route and Rosier throws a perfect pass. That’s two perfect passes in a row for Rosier. Credit there. (Not pictured)

Devin White covers so much ground. He cuts Rosier down on a scramble that had a lane if Rosier was a step faster. (Not pictured)

Mahoney misses his cut block on Delpit and makes matters worse by jumping into Homer’s lane who has to leap over him. Delpit re-traces and makes the tackle. Just not a good effort with way too much penetration allowed. You saw earlier how Burrow audibled to a run play on the other side when we showed a S blitz? LSU does the same thing but Rosier doesn’t see it and keeps the run call right into it. The blocking was poor, but the QB has to see that and change it.




Michael Jackson bails on the next play and they run a shallow cross and pick up an easy 9. (Not pictured)

Perfect defensive call and Redwine overruns the play. RB cuts right back into that hole and picks up a nice gain. Have to make this tackle. Have to.


RB runs into Ivey, who gets him down by the goal line. Looks like Dean has been benched. Next play we finally read the eyes of the QB, who has been staring receivers down in the quick passing game all day, and get our hands up to knock a pass down. Willis has been very good today. Garvin hurt on the play. On 3rd & goal, we all-out blitz and get there. Jaquan is heady and takes the FB. The pressure gets there luckily because the TE was going to be uncovered on the flag route. (Not pictured)

First down no one is open and Rosier rolls to his left. I wish he would’ve just stepped up in the pocket instead of rolling into the defense, but the receivers didn’t get open. He had plenty of time. Second down, an inside give right into a blitz, Dallas makes a man miss and then runs for a nice 9-yard gain. Wish he could’ve made the S miss and really gotten a big play. Finally get a 3rd & short and they give it to Gray who picks it up. That’ll be much better this year when we get into short yardage I think. (Not pictured)

Want to know why we struggle so much in sustaining drives? This is the reason. This is easy money. It’s a 5-yard stop route and Rosier throws it 10 foot over the head of the receiver. Instead of 2nd & 5, it’s 2nd & 10 and the odds of getting the first go way down. Especially when we miss on a first down pass, it is very likely to be a run on the next play (it was). 4-yard run for Homer not pictured.


Now you’ve got a 3rd & 6 instead of a 3rd & 1 and things are so different from a playcalling standpoint. You see one of the issues you’re going to have with starting a true freshman TE. He just gets overpowered by the rusher here, who isn’t any bigger than he is. Brevin contacted him at the 42 and the defender just trucked him to this point. Rosier completes the pass, but it was a very difficult play because Brevin couldn’t make this block.


Donaldson gets driven back by #4 on this play because he had no knee bend. Just overpowered. That’s not a good look. Mahoney on the ground again. Those two make their block and this is a huge play.

Your slot WR is calling out the blitz, but Rosier never checks to that side again. St. Louis has to also notice it and get out to him if he does come, but he isn’t fast enough. Rosier never sees him, Homer doesn’t get over, pass is intercepted. This play was just not executed by the QB at a high level. He has to see the field so much better.


Willis with a swim move to smash the QB right after the snap. He’s been great. Run right up the gut and Miami acted like they didn’t want to tackle. (Not pictured)

This is how you do it right here. The receiver puts his hands up, Finley goes right up between the arms and knocks the ball out. If he tries to look back, the ball is caught, but by reading the eyes he knows when to play the ball. This is a skill that Dean has just failed to master.


LSU nails a 54-yard FG to extend the obscene streak of opponents making field goals against them. That’s somewhat on coaching as well, that they haven’t been able to find a way to scheme some pressure to block or mess up some kicks. The score moves to 33-3 and though Miami made a few plays late, the game was over at this point.

Willis was the best player on the field for Miami and it wasn’t particularly close. Jeff Thomas made some plays and had the chance for many more if the QB could find him. Jaquan was great. Derrick Smith played well when he was out there. DJ Ivey looks like he should get some time over Dean. Blades needs to get stronger and understand situations better.

This game was as frustrating a game to review as I can remember. The reason is that while we got blown out, there were so many opportunities that this game could’ve been different. Tackling, penalties, execution, O-Line holding their ground, and QB play were the culprits of this loss. If the two teams played 10 times, Miami would win at least 5 of them. Next week Miami has a chance to get right and put this one behind them, as all of their goals are still attainable if they clean some issues up.

Welcome back, Vision. Assuming you didn't bother with the 4th quarter?

How many times can you write “gauthier gets pushed back” or “Mahoney misses his block” in one article? OL got overpowered on the inside, and was too slow on the outside. Poor showing.

Yeah, the 10 photos limit plus the game getting out of hand had me kind of let most of the 4th quarter go.

Any thoughts on Jahir, boulware or scaife? @HurricaneVision

Very worried about the defense.

Thanks again for this. I think big picture wise we have three weeks to make some tweaks that should have been made during the offseason and that I figured had been made.

A thousand upvotes.

I thought I read here that the coaches said thet Mahoney grades out the best? Makes you wonder if the talent is that bad, or of the coaches arent bring up front.

Appreciate the time and effort. Jahsorry Jones should have never got his first start against a team like LSU. Gauthier was brought back to earth. Donaldson needs to go back to guard. Did shaq play? Deejay needs more touches. Still waiting for Harley to take the next step. Dline performance is not meeting at the QB. AR should have continued to ball out and slapped Rosier after the game. Losing Bandy on a BS call was deflating. Punter And Kicker was terrible. Brevin will be fine. Rosier is the beneficiary of poor recruiting and development. I did not get that 1st and 2nd year excitement vibe. Something feels empty with this team.

Tony Perps said:

Very worried about the defense.

Thanks again for this. I think big picture wise we have three weeks to make some tweaks that should have been made during the offseason and that I figured had been made.

Click to expand...

This defense will not save Malik this year. Hold on tight.

scrantoncane said:

Any thoughts on Jahir, boulware or scaife? @HurricaneVision

Click to expand...

Boulware showed good movement skills. I think he was solid but struggled some with power. Thought he was probably the better of the LG's. I expected more problems with LG than RG, but that wasn't what I saw. I know the coaches graded Mahoney as the best OL and they know way more than I do, but what I saw was Mahoney having a tough game.

Scaife is a guy I'd continue getting time and let him get his feet wet.

I too have a bad feeling about this season. Hope we don’t lose to Toledo, who could pick apart this sorry D.

This is why I don't think the play calling was the problem. Oline got ******* picked apart all game, and who could have guessed Hayden Mahoney would get overpowered half the time? Also maybe it's a good idea to put Gaynor in at center a little bit. Gauthier got bullied a lot last year too. But he's gotta call protections, so maybe leave him in.

Of course Rosier is trash.

Defensively honestly I don't think the problem was Diaz - from the play calling perspective. Like seriously the LBs just didn't ******* come to play. The only impact they made was blown tackles that the safeties had to clean up. Seriously they were ***. The Dline was pretty good for the most part, especially Willis. Jaquan and Redwine were very good. And Dean ****ed up a bit, but he wasn't horrible either. Just stop putting the backups in so ******* long. Thats honestly my only gripe defensively really. A few guys ****ed up their responsibilites and thats why LSU's offense got going a bit. It wasn't the placalling much.

Lance Roffers said:

Boulware showed good movement skills. I think he was solid but struggled some with power. Thought he was probably the better of the LG's. I expected more problems with LG than RG, but that wasn't what I saw. I know the coaches graded Mahoney as the best OL and they know way more than I do, but what I saw was Mahoney having a tough game.

Scaife is a guy I'd continue getting time and let him get his feet wet.

Click to expand...

Personally I think the coaches should pick what position they want Scaife to play and based the rest of the depth chart off that. Cause clearly mahoney and Jones aren't the answer.

So if they want Scaife at OT, put St Louis back at Rt and Donaldson back at guard with Boulware. If they want him at guard (which is what i would do) put him at LG and Boulware at RG. Like somethings gotta change on the OLine.

I applaud the OP as I may not have written this much in my entire undergraduate career at UM.