LSU Breakdown

Category 6

Recruit
Joined
Sep 19, 2016
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I posted this on another board. I've since seen some posts regarding some things that I do not believe are accurate observations (posts on Richts playcalling etc). Below is my own opinion based on the a game breakdown:

Guys/Units/Coaches That Belonged Based on a Drive-By-Drive Analysis

WR Thomas (5)
Whole Defense (4)
RB Dallas (3)
S Johnson (3)
DE Unit (2)
OL Unit (2)
CB Jackson (2)
DT Willis (2)
WR Hightower (2)
WR Cager (1)
Offensive Calling (1)
Defensive Calling (1)
RB Homer (1)
DLine Unit (1)

Guys/Units/Coaches That Didn't Belong Based on a Drive-By-Drive Analysis

OL Unit (7)
QB Rosier (6)
P Feagles (3)
LB Unit (3)
Special Teams Coaching (2)
DT Bethel (2)
DT Other? (2)
CB Dean (2)
RB Homer (2)
Diaz (1)
WR Richards (1)
DE Jackson (1)
LB Smith (1)
S Knowles (1)
TE Jordan (1)
CB Ivey (1)
LB Pickney (1)
RB Coaching (1)

My Overall observations:

The Negatives

OL The Offensive line, in my opinion, was the biggest issue of the entire game. We can talk about QB all we want, but when we tried to run early in the game our OL got absolutely rocked to the point we had no choice but to pass to try and create first downs. They got manhandled, missed assignments, and were overall highly inconsistent. They looked under-talented AND under-coached. The only time they started to look decent was towards the end of the game when LSU changed their entire defensive unit and played a softer tech. Concerning, Richt said he thought the unit played well overall, especially to start the game. I found the complete opposite. I'm really beginning to distrust what this staff reports OR highly question their willingness to address reality.

QB We've talked Rosier to death. His accuracy issues have been prevalent since he started two years ago, and like Shadow said, was only masked to some fans by a winning product. How given that knowledge we are here in 2018 is mind boggling. Regardless, he's got to be done. I don't care what anybody says, unless his backups are total garbage we simply have to move on. If Richt can't get something out of Perry/Weldon/Williams that is better than Rosier, then this fanbase has nobody else to look at but him and his son... And frankly, even if they ball out in the next couple games, that still wreaks of mismanagement that we went into LSU with Rosier.

Feagles Talked to death. I just caught Richt's Savannah State presser where he says Feagles looks great in practice again. So help me god if that kid shanks an important punt in the next few games I'm pulling my donor payments.

LB Unit Shockingly bad. I'm not advanced enough to completely figure this out, but I've seen some respected folks say they think its Diaz's system. Whatever it is, our LBs were almost (see DT #2 and Diaz's over substituting) the only major liability on our defense. They were out of position, got swallowed by the OL, and generally failed to play any major impact in the game. Total waste of talent and or really bad developmental coaching. If we don't have really solid safety's, we will get absolutely torched in the run game based on what I'm seeing.

Special Teams Coaching This one really bugs me. To me, it was pretty clear after last year our STs coaching needed a change. I've posted this one to death but I'll reiterate, Miami was 117th in the country in Special Team's efficiencies out of 130. We instead chose to use our extra coach to promote a GA coach to train ***ing strikers alongside Diaz. That was a Shannon-esk move by Richt. Hartley continued to coach STs, not recruiting (or making a winning argument to recruit) a punter to go alongside Feagles and we show up game 1 looking totally unprepared. 1 punt busted block, 1 kicker infringement, 1 wall jump infringement, 2 untouched shanks, 1 punt that went beyond our coverage with little hangtime, 1 onside kick that went immediately out of bounds. I grew up as a cane fan watching Soldinger's special teams, it's a slap in the face to a program with so much natural STs talent in its recruiting area to have a coach so out of their depth. As I always say, Miami should always have one of the best STs in the country given its recruiting grounds. Miami deserves better coaching here and we had the chance this offseason to address it WITHOUT firing a coach and we didn't address it. Hair pulling to me.

#2 DT Our lack of DT recruiting has caught up with us. Bethel is not a DT that ACC championship teams have as a starter. He consistently got pushed out of the hole, a lot of LSU's early running success when we weren't blitzing our minds out came from our inability at this position. Kool being an idiot or not, this one is on Richt and Diaz as there were literal years to correct this issue.

Dean Our only liability on a starting secondary. He was picked on a lot (LSU was clearly avoiding Jackson). Dean is going to be tested all season. Hopefully he improves as time goes on but I'm not seeing his issue being experience/coaching, which leads me to believe he'll likely be as he is for the season.

Homer I like the kid but he seriously lacks vision. DJ is clearly the better back.

Richards Frustrated or not, he did not look the part in the early part of the game. Hightower actually looked better...

Defensive Subs Already discussed but D Smith, Knowles, Ivey and Jackson all in on the same play against LSU who doesn't run that many offensive plays. LoL, Diaz you're an idiot. Cost us that long run. PS. Knowles is still Knowles - bizarre playing time.

Jackson I'm not sure if anyone else caught this but his mobility is REALLY bad. Total liability at DE. At one point LSUs RB changed direction - it took Jackson nearly 7 yards to get his body turned around. I feel for the guy but he shouldn't be on the field.

The Positives

Thomas STUD. Best Miami WR I've seen here since Butch left. Really came into his own this offeason. Shockingly willing to put himself out there despite him being a speed/finess player. Assuming he doesn't mentally check out as the season goes on, my god.

Whole Defense In general, the defense is legit. What's sad is it could be better. Our LBs are lost in the system and our #2 DT is a big liability against anybody who can run the ball (we'll lose to Clemson based on that position alone).

Dallas Best RB on the team. I'm concerned with Brown's love affair with Homer. Consistently Dallas looked the part against LSU, creating extra yards DESPITE our OL getting their *** pushed in. Wheras Homer ran straight into the pile/downhill safety, DJ created extra space on each run. You can't win against defenses of this caliber with an RB that simply lowers its head. Really impressed with Dallas.

Jackson and Johnson The real deal. Top level NFL caliber DBs. Not really tested (especially Jackson). Johnson made play after play tackling however, bailing out Dean and our LBs.

DE Unit Studs, we know what we have here. They lost contain a few times but otherwise I think they looked really good and did what you'd expect them to do.

Willis As advertised. I saw him get pushed back once or twice but overall total animal. If only we weren't so weak next to him we'd dominate in the run game.

Hightower No drop off from what we saw in spring. Oddly, looked like the second best WR on the team if you watched closely.

Overall

My impression is Miami was not mentally prepared for this game. Leaving the QB alone, execution, mostly on the offensive and STs side of the ball showed serious quality control issues. Oline mentally were not prepared, RBs consistently missed blitz pickups, most of STs looked bushleague. For the second year I'm getting the sense the offense does not have a guy who is REQUIRING consistency across the coaching staff and players at a level that some of the great OCs do (I'm looking at you Richt). Additionally, personnel choices for an LSU matchup were very suspect; you're wasting snaps when you put B.Jordan and Mallory on the field against a team like LSU - I saw this multiple times, CUTE. Too much substitution on the defensive side, really reducing quality, against a team that doesn't run that many offensive plays. I'd argue the defensive subs cost us at least 10 points.

Physically, I think we're doing well in the weight room but our starters looked unready to deal with the strength and skill of the LSU starters in front of them. I think this is Richt's fault. Miami generally practices 1s vs. 2s, repetition training our players into muscle memory and techniques that work versus inferior strength and skill. LSU on the other hand I know practices 1s vs 1s. When you get into a game like this as the 1st game of the season, I think Miami's 1s were not used to dealing with the MEN across from them. That's a coaching issue.

Defensive calling wise, I think Many Diaz called a great game - a few key blitz calls completely halted LSU drives. I think he did some stupid things with his subs which I think he'll correct in the future; not sure why a coach with his experience made that mistake in the first place though.

Offensive calling wise, in general I think Richt called a great game. Our issues were quality control and personnel inabilities. Later in the game I saw some suspect avoidance to take advantage of LSU's disinterest in our shorter routes but that very well could be Richt's fear in Rosier's accuracy - a high throw in that scenario is a pick. I continue to think Richt is a masterful play caller, I have long-term concerns about his offensive philosophy which doesn't put our players in any strategic advantage and more importantly he's proving my suspicion that he and Brown aren't doing a very good job demanding or training discipline and consistency across the offense.

I see upcoming talent on the offensive side of the ball (Hightower, Jordan, DJ Dallas, Thomas), I'm not seeing that same superior talent shining through the ranks on the defensive side of the ball. Concerning and aligns with what I'm seeing on the recruiting side.

Regarding the QB, I'm not mad we didn't throw in Weldon (or even Perry if he'd been around). There's no point in throwing a kid like that to the wolves when the game was already out of hand against a defense like that. You get to develop these kids once, no sense in Kyle Wrighting them (anybody remember that FSU game, kid was never the same...)

This post was meant to be micro. I'm going to do another that brings some bigger concerns of mine forward. My notes from the game are below, they were done on a cell phone so be kind regarding typos etc.

-------------------------------------------------------

1st Quarter

Miami three and out - Oline got whooped all three plays. Homer lacked vision. Passing sets but Rosier bailed and ran. (Doesn’t belong - OL, Homer, Punt Team)

Bad punt blocking. Feagles Wiffs.

Miami defense plays well, cant stop 3rd and 8.
More holding on Miami DEs not called. Dean targeting was a joke. The timeout caused it, seemed like he refs were going to let it go. Overall good series but same Diaz issues. (Belongs - Des, Doesn’t belong Bethel, Diaz)

LSU fiedgoal.

Miami offensive drive 2 - couple solid protections, one bad rosier throw (accuracy), one good rosier throw, one bad timed rosier throw (timing). Miami’s offensive line seems under-coached from a preparedness standpoint. Lots of accidental penetration. (belongs - Jeff Thomas, Cager, Doesn’t belong Rosier, OL)

Miami field goal

LSU offensive drive 2 - Miami’s defense dominates. Great Dline on run and pass. (Belongs whole defense)

LSU punt

Miami offensive drive 3 - DJ Dallas makes a few plays out of nothing. Rosier makes a play with his legs. Major reluctance on Richts part to pass, LSU wa begging for it. Richt try’s, Richards gets his butt whooped. They flip the play, Rosier completely wiffs. (Belongs - DJ Dallas, Ol, offensive calling. Doesn’t belong - Rosier, Richards)

Miami attempts FG from 45, hooks.

LSU offensive drive 3 - Jackson mental mistake, Jackson change of direction is total liability for DE. Miami gives up second 3rd and long - a lot of space in the secondary. Diaz reacts with major blitz. Derek Smith looked WAY slow for Miami. Defense should have checked out after LSU checked their blitz. LSU scheme literally overwhelmed numbers there. (Belongs - Miami’s DEs, Doesn’t belong - Jackson, D. Smith, Bethel)

Miami offensive drive 4 - two immaculate passes by rosier. Good run by rosier. Questionable passing decisions by Rosier. No runs. (Belongs - OL, Doesn’t Belong - Rosier, Feagles)

Miami Punts - Feagles feaglesses

LSU Offensive Drive 4 - G Willis looks good. Linebackers continue to be weak link of defense. Miami struggled to get pass penetration. Jackson and Johnson are great. Linebackers getting their asses kicked and out of position. Red wine having a tough game. (Belongs - Jackson, Johnson, G Willis Doesn’t Belong - Other DT, Dean, LBs)

LSU touchdown. Imposing its will.

Miami Offesncie Drive 5 - DJ Dallas looks good. Good run by Rosier. Questionable call on 3rd and 3 - oline got whooped, DJ Dallas kept his head down. Feagles feggled - kid doesn’t have the hand eye coordination. (Belongs - DJ Dallas, doesn’t belong OL, Feagles)

3 and out. Miami punt

LSU Offensive drive 5 - Deans getting picked on - very soft coverage. Miami’s d is starting to show wear. Diaz starts dialing up pressure. LBs look poor again. Good stop. (Belongs Jackson, Johnson, Diaz, Doesn’t belong DT, LB, Dean)

LSU FG (Mia 3, LSU 20)

Miami offensive drive 6 - Oline gets whooped. Homer bounces out. Rosier throws pick 6. Bad decision by rosier. (Belongs, Homer, doesn’t belong - OL, Rosier)

Miami Offensive drive 7 - DJ Dallas looks good. Brevan Jordan gets totally stoned causing run play to get derailed. Odd reluctance to run screen game. LSU was begging for it. Rosier completely wiffs with time. Feagles finally provides a punt. (Belongs DJ Dallas doesn’t belong - Rosier, OL, BreVin Jordan)

LSU Drive 6 Pinned Deep - Miami D shows up LSU is conservative. Miami STs are under coached. Miami foregoes attempt to catch up my penalizing our. LSU winds down clock. (Belings. - Miami D, doesn’t belong STs coaching, play call, and focus)

Half

LSU Drive 7 - Miami’s run D looks good. Typical Manny Diaz overwhelming defensive 3 and out.

LSU Punt

Miami Offensive Drive 8 - Things looks good overall, Cager gets manhandled by Greedy. Arabda overwhelms with Blitz to shut drive down. OL gets overwhelmed, makes mistakes. OL gets overwhelmed. (Belongs Thomas, doesn’t belong OL).

Miami punt, Feagles doesn’t put enough air on it and putpunts coverage team.

LSU Offensive Drive 8 - Miami’s getting out schemed. Pinckney crashes incorrectly, Redwine loses contain, Ivey take a terrible angle LSU defender is loose. Ivey gets ran over. G Willis dominates. Johnson looks good.
(Belongs - Johnson, G Willis, doesn’t belong Pickney, Ivey, LBs in general)

LSU FG

Miami Offense Drive 9 - LSU sitting back. Rosier can’t progress through reads. dH Dallas looks good. Rosier completely airmailed langam. Travis shows lack of vision. Rosier makes a solid roll out pass. OL gets whooped on obvious run down. Rosier interception. (Belongs - DJ Dallas, doesn’t belong - OL, Rosier, Homer)

LSU Drvie 9 - LSU is more physical. Good pass breakup by Finley. (Belongs - Total defense)

LSU FG

Miami Offensive drive 10 - Rosier panicked, lost play. Gray misses blitz pick up big time - almost gets rosier killed. Miami’s scheme had no response for space provided by DBs. Rosier blindly throws deep. Thomas catches, has nothing to do with Rosier. Holmes wiffed on blitz pickup, almost gets rosier killed. Rosier runs hard twice - trying to make something of nothing. Rosier makes terrible decisions should have been intercepted. Rosier running hard. Long drive wore LSU down.

LSU Drive 10 - DLine looking good. Quarterman sighting. LSU slowing things down. (Belongs - Defensive line)

Miami Offensive Drive 11 - Rosier misses and is late. More offensive line mistakes. Rosier to Thomas bomb. Hightower makes a pla (Belongs - Thomas, Hightower)

Baxa kicks out of bounds.

LSU Drive 11 - Miami D holds (Belongs - All)

Miami Offensive Drive 12 - OL gets killed up middle, Rosier negatively reacts. Grounding. Rosier airmailed Jordan. Thomas looks legit as usual. Rosier makes good play on 4th down. Hightower is a player. OL struggles - plays taking too long to develop. Rosier airmailed Jordan again. Rosier airmailed Thomas. Yikes. OL gets whooped. (Belongs - Thomas, Hightower, doesn’t belong - OL, Rosier)

LSU Drive 12 - LSU runs the clock out.
 
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I was very disappointed with Joe Jackson. I did not see a first-round edge player live, nor on the tape this week. He was a big letdown.

Rhetorical question, but I wonder who is the blame for that? I know what my answer is. A guy is border 1st round talent and is non existent after a coaching change. It was just 1 game so I’ll hold my thoughts before I start bringing up all the threads from the spring of people saying the guy is better than Kul because of a 30 second YouTube video of him coaching.
 
Willis is the highest rated guy and played just like the 5 star he was and thats the difference....stars matter. Joes change of direction is awful I agree he looked so slow out there when he had to change direction. Our lack of DT recruiting will hurt the rest of the defense and alot of the DBs will be exploited in multiple games later on in the season. This defense isnt championship worthy at all, the Offense has super talent but its nullified by bad qb play and bad playcalling.
 
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Can you expand on this:
"I continue to think Richt is a masterful play caller, I have long-term concerns about his offensive philosophy which doesn't put our players in any strategic advantage and more importantly he's proving my suspicion that he and Brown aren't doing a very good job demanding or training discipline and consistency across the offense."

Are you saying Richt was a masterful play caller in the past, but here you question his offensive philsophy?
 
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Can you expand on this:
"I continue to think Richt is a masterful play caller, I have long-term concerns about his offensive philosophy which doesn't put our players in any strategic advantage and more importantly he's proving my suspicion that he and Brown aren't doing a very good job demanding or training discipline and consistency across the offense."

Are you saying Richt was a masterful play caller in the past, but here you question his offensive philsophy?
Agree, that’s an oxymoron of statements here. Perhaps, he means on paper, CMR is great, but in execution, he’s ****-poor. Therefore, the call for a true OC hire by folks here.
 
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What do the numbers to the right of the players name reflect?
How many drives they either scored a belongs or a doesn't belong. You can see the notes below.

Can you expand on this:
"I continue to think Richt is a masterful play caller, I have long-term concerns about his offensive philosophy which doesn't put our players in any strategic advantage and more importantly he's proving my suspicion that he and Brown aren't doing a very good job demanding or training discipline and consistency across the offense."

Are you saying Richt was a masterful play caller in the past, but here you question his offensive philsophy?
Offense philosophy/design and play-calling are two different things. Richt's offensive philosophy/design is very straightforward which has been touched on a lot on this board. The offense does not rely on trickery, misalignment, or creating advantage in numbers or space like a lot of modern spread offenses do. Richt's offense runs a lot of go routes, does a simple RPO, and prefers to run downhill in the run game. Because of this Richt generally isn't creating a strategic advantage for his players on any given play; instead he's relying on his players to beat their opponent man-on. It's fine, it would work well at Alabama as its simple which HOPEFULLY creates less mistakes but requires elite athletes as you're simply asking folks to beat the guy in front of them consistently. The problem is when Richt plays teams with as good or better players (Clemson, LSU), his players are either inconsistently winning those match-ups or simply getting abused. Playcalling is different, you can have a guy who has a bad offensive philosophy/design but is a great play-caller because he has a great feel for the game, sees opportunities with personnel, and generally understands what plays would have success in a given situation. For example, LSU began leaving Richards on an island with #22, almost immediately Richt went to take advantage of it. It was a great play-call, Richards just got brutalized by #22 on the play AND Rosier made a bad throw. The play didn't work but it was great recognition and play call from Mark. Also, generally last year Mark covered up a lot of Rosier's weaknesses by focusing on down field throws and runs. Some coordinators oddly don't do that (see Berlin's first year where they idiotically tried to make the kid be a drop back quarterback).

Conversely, Coley had an interesting offense. He had designs to try and isolate players and confuse the defense. He however was a TERRIBLE play caller. Constantly making bad decisions (calling a reverse on 3 and 2), having a RB throw a pass in a snowstorm, not taking advantage of mistakes on a defense. Coley's horrible playcalling made a decent offense philosphy look like garbage.

There are three characteristics of an OC. His quality control during the week, meaning how well is he drilling his system into his assistant coaches and players and making sure everyone is on the same page and executes it well and efficiently. How good of a playcaller is he on gameday (you can factor in adjustments here). And how good is he at designing a system. Mark is very good at playcalling on gameday, his system is probably too simple in 2018 and I seriously question his quality control during the week. An example of someone who did all three well was Gus Malzahn at Clemson. They were organized and well coached and generally made very few mistakes in games. His offensive philosophy constantly was creating mismatches and putting players in space the defense did not intend, and his playcalling was generally spot on regarding when to run versus pass as well as what types of plays to call in certain situations.
 
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Man, I really think the point you touched on about practicing 1s vs 2s is huge . Especially given that we’re not particularly deep besides at WR and RB.

It it just common sense that if you’ve been spending an entire offseason practicing against 2nd and 3rds stringers it wont be the same once you get in a game against a team with a pulse, and like you said a team that practices 1s vs 1s

Steel sharpens steel
 
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We are light years away from elite level in the 3 most important positions: QB, OL and DL. Sucks, but it's painfully obvious
 
*Miami would go from 9-10 wins a season to playing with the big boys with simply 3 things:

Start winning the big-time recruiting battles for OL and DL (not currently happenings outside of Donaldson). Get a full-time OC (bye Richt JR). Get a competent Special Teams coach.

Do those three things, Miami is a very different team. IMO the quarterbacks are there, they are just a year away from being ready.
 
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My lord...I’m done trying.

Do any of you know what max protection means and do any of know what is the average time a QB should have in the pocket?
 
How many drives they either scored a belongs or a doesn't belong. You can see the notes below.

Offense philosophy/design and play-calling are two different things. Richt's offensive philosophy/design is very straightforward which has been touched on a lot on this board. The offense does not rely on trickery, misalignment, or creating advantage in numbers or space like a lot of modern spread offenses do. Richt's offense runs a lot of go routes, does a simple RPO, and prefers to run downhill in the run game. Because of this Richt generally isn't creating a strategic advantage for his players on any given play; instead he's relying on his players to beat their opponent man-on. It's fine, it would work well at Alabama as its simple which HOPEFULLY creates less mistakes but requires elite athletes as you're simply asking folks to beat the guy in front of them consistently. The problem is when Richt plays teams with as good or better players (Clemson, LSU), his players are either inconsistently winning those match-ups or simply getting abused. Playcalling is different, you can have a guy who has a bad offensive philosophy/design but is a great play-caller because he has a great feel for the game, sees opportunities with personnel, and generally understands what plays would have success in a given situation. For example, LSU began leaving Richards on an island with #22, almost immediately Richt went to take advantage of it. It was a great play-call, Richards just got brutalized by #22 on the play AND Rosier made a bad throw. The play didn't work but it was great recognition and play call from Mark. Also, generally last year Mark covered up a lot of Rosier's weaknesses by focusing on down field throws and runs. Some coordinators oddly don't do that (see Berlin's first year where they idiotically tried to make the kid be a drop back quarterback).

Conversely, Coley had an interesting offense. He had designs to try and isolate players and confuse the defense. He however was a TERRIBLE play caller. Constantly making bad decisions (calling a reverse on 3 and 2), having a RB throw a pass in a snowstorm, not taking advantage of mistakes on a defense. Coley's horrible playcalling made a decent offense philosphy look like garbage.

There are three characteristics of an OC. His quality control during the week, meaning how well is he drilling his system into his assistant coaches and players and making sure everyone is on the same page and executes it well and efficiently. How good of a playcaller is he on gameday (you can factor in adjustments here). And how good is he at designing a system. Mark is very good at playcalling on gameday, his system is probably too simple in 2018 and I seriously question his quality control during the week. An example of someone who did all three well was Gus Malzahn at Clemson. They were organized and well coached and generally made very few mistakes in games. His offensive philosophy constantly was creating mismatches and putting players in space the defense did not intend, and his playcalling was generally spot on regarding when to run versus pass as well as what types of plays to call in certain situations.

Great explanation. Thanks.
 
Jackson got juked completely out of his cleats on a 3rd down play. (slant route)
And it's far from the first time I've seen it happen. Ain't nobody scared to throw at that kid. He gets his fair share of action.
 
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