Football

I thought about this yesterday: both my football teams opened the season on a Thursday night: LSU against Mississippi State on 8/30, Saints against Colts on 9/6. Their results were a little different.

LSU forced seven turnovers and pitched a shutout, 45-0. The Saints got outscored 31-0 in the second half and lost 41-10. It's a good thing they don't play the Colts every weekend, or I'd be worried. More on LSU:

The game against Virginia Tech was probably the most highly anticipated game of the first two weeks. Non-conference game, with #2 vs. #9. Tech had a good defense and great special teams. LSU fans were concerned about the simplified offense shown against MSU and the "punt ugly" formation that drives people up the wall. It seemed almost guaranteed that VT would block one or two punts. The offensive line didn't seem good enough to allow the rest of the offense to shine. Most of Matt Flynn's completions went to a single receiver, Early Doucet. So there were questions.

Questions answered.

Some scouts had given VT the advantage at several positions, but none of them would pick them to win, and I think there are two main reasons. One is Tiger Stadium. Two is that LSU's linebackers don't play against VT's linebackers, so position A vs. position A matchups don't mean anything. The biggest mismatch in the game was up front between the LSU defensive line and the VT offensive line. No room for Branden Ore to run, no time for Sean Glennon to throw. Unless VT's defense was dominant and kept the game close and low-scoring, they couldn't expect to win.

They couldn't.

LSU's defense played just as well as expected. 149 total yards, 7 points, 2-14 on third down. It was the offense that really surprised people. Looking sluggish against MSU, a lot of people thought it was being held back in order to keep VT from being able to scout it. Les Miles downplayed that, saying they weren't going to unveil a new "wantango" offense against VT. If Saturday's performance is what we can expect, then I say "Unleash the Wantango!"

Nearly 600 yards of offense, almost 50-50 rushing and passing. Everybody on the field played very well. The offensive line played its best regular-season game in years. Matt Flynn hit Brandon LaFell with some big passes. LaFell took advantage of the attention paid to Early Doucet and had his best game as a Tiger.

Keiland Williams looked like he's becoming a breakout player with national recognition. He took a pitch from Flynn, leaped over a blocker, broke a tackle, and cut across the entire length of the field for a 67-yard touchdown. Later on he took a simple handoff around right end, cut upfield, accelerated, came back left a little and scored a 32-yard touchdown. Great plays.

Jacob Hester has steadily become a better player each year, and he looks great through two games. He doesn't seem to be as much of a receiver in the Wantango, but he's running tough and breaking tackles.

I had figured Charles Scott to be a bruiser, but he's shown some good moves and shiftiness that I didn't expect.

Early Doucet had a good game against MSU and good catches for first downs against VT. They have him returning punts as well. Check that. They have him catching punts. I don't think he tried to return any, which is fine with me.

Ryan Perrilloux has seen time as a backup in both games and looked pretty good. This offense looks like a really good fit for him. He had two touchdown passes: a good fake on a run that left Early wide open, and a really nice pass to Terrance Toliver in the end zone in the 4th quarter.

You could have argued that VT's defense matched up well against LSU's offense in two areas: linebackers versus running backs and secondary versus receivers. Neither of those things were true.

Virginia Tech had allowed the fewest yards on defense the last two years, giving them the #1 statistical defense in the country. I don't usually go for the "conference vs. conference" nonsense that goes around because I think usually ends up sounding silly. But looking at Virginia Tech's schedule last year, they played against ONE good quarterback, BC's Matt Ryan. ACC QBs stunk last year, and I have to believe that that's one reason for their lofty ranking. Not the only reason, but a real reason.

LSU's picked up some ground in the writers' and coaches' polls, though not enough to overtake USC. A few sites and individuals are arguing for LSU #1 based on performance on the field so far. There's a long way to go.