Talking Football

Today is Super Bowl Sunday, so let's talk football: LSU football. LSU has more players in the game than any other team, so I can get away with it. Corey Webster has been playing the best football of his life for the Giants the past few weeks. The Patriots have Kevin Faulk (who's gotten a lot of praise lately), Randall Gay, Eric Alexander, and Jarvis Green. They also wear a 91 sticker on their helmets to honor Marquise Hill, who died in an accident during the offseason.

LSU was able to play in the BCS national title game in spite of losing twice during the season, including losing the last game of the regular season to Arkansas. They came back and won the SEC Championship Game (SECCG to you message boarders) with a backup quarterback, and a few other things bounced their way as well. And so it happened that Ohio State would take on the SEC champion in the national title game for the second year in a row.

Based on how things had gone for them a year earlier, (and an 0-8 record against the SEC in bowl games) a lot of people predicted that OSU would get hammered. I felt that they were being undervalued. They were a good team with a great coach, and I thought the talk about LSU's speed advantage was nonsense. OSU had a good offensive line, a great running back, and a good defense. I wasn't prepared to say they deserved the #1 ranking that the statistics awarded them, but they were good.

So as you know, LSU won 38-24. Ohio State got off to a 10-0 lead one a great run by Beanie Wells and a figgie. At the time, I thought LSU holding them to a field goal on the second possession was big. A false start penatly helped. And 10-0 wasn't a big deal considering that LSU had faced ten-point deficits before. "Got 'em right where we want 'em," I thought. I didn't really mean it, but I thought it.

After that, LSU ran off 31 straight points. Gary Crowton had put together a great game plan, got the defense spread out, and Matt Flynn picked it apart. When a yard or two was needed, Jacob Hester got two or three. The receivers held onto the ball, and the offensive line gave Flynn and the running backs plenty of time and room to work with. I don't think LSU's speed on offense was what led to their success, but rather the combination of the plan, execution, and winning up front. Which brings me to the defense:

After the first two OSU drives, LSU controlled the line of scrimmage on defense. I'd watched the OSU-Illinois game and wasn't terribly impressed with Todd Boeckman, though it's not really fair to judge a guy on his worst game of the season. Illinois got some pressure on him early, and as the game wore on he got antsy. He eventually felt pressure that wasn't really there. The same thing happened against LSU. It didn't help that his wideouts had a hard time getting open, which gave the rush more time to get in his face. Aside from letting Brandon Saine get wide open a couple of times, the pass defense was fantastic, knocking down passes, getting two INTs, and tackling pretty well.

More about controlling the line: there's a general point of view that says SEC teams are faster, and Big Ten teams are more physical. LSU was the more physical team up front, and the advantage only grew as the game went on. On defense, Glenn Dorsey was healthy and looked more like the All-American people thought he was. Ricky Jean-Francois was getting back into the swing of things after missing the entire regular season (he played in the SECCG) and came up with a blocked figgie. Tyson Jackson played very well, shutting me up. I'd criticized him a good deal during the season for not pressuring the quarterback as much as I expected. He did get better at the end of the season, and when he had a one-on-one matchup, he did well.

LSU doesn't do a lot of fancy stuff with the running game, so it's mostly pulling, trapping, and straight-ahead mashing. Vernon Gholston was an All-American at defensive end, but outside of a couple of plays where he got pressure on Flynn, I didn't see much from him. Considering that LSU had a converted defensive tackle playing right offensive tackle, that's not that much. So yes, LSU has a lot of speed, but it was the line giving the speed and athleticism of the skill players the opportunity to get to work that made the difference.

(This was actually the best argument to be made for OSU winning the game, and it was made by Todd Blackledge: LSU was a better matchup for OSU than some other teams. LSU's offense really isn't a speed offense like Florida's last year. It's more of a power offense)

LSU's game plan reflected that. There was one deep pass the whole game. Most of passes were short, relying on timing, execution, protection, guys getting open, Flynn being accurate with the ball, and guys holding on to the ball. It wasn't a "let's run away from them" style of offense. It worked. Flynn threw four TD passes.

Special mention goes out to Harry Coleman, who filled in for Craig Steltz at safety. Coleman blitzed and hammered Boeckman on a play that ended in an INT. He also recovered two fumbles, one of LSU's and one of theirs. OSU was unable to take advantage of Steltz's absence, partly because everyone else was playing so well, but also because Coleman had such a solid game.

So congratulations to the players and coaches from LSU. Glenn Dorsey has been a great player for four years, and he has always expressed his joy at playing for LSU. I'm glad he came back. A couple of guys who have waited a while to earn a starting job, Flynn and Steltz, got to walk away with rings. Be Pelini got a nice sendoff before becoming the head coach at Nebraska, where I hope he does well. Ali Highsmith has been LSU's best all-around linebacker for the last three years, and he had a great game. And of course, Les Miles has only gone 35-6 in his three years as head coach at LSU. LSU doesn't always play great, (though most of the time they do) but they always play their guts out for him. Most times, that's been enough.