MULE’: Tiger Bait
| 
| 
| Offense taking the field a rare sight in 2009
The recently completed season will at least partly be remembered as one when the offense had trouble getting on the field … and even more trouble staying there. (Photo by Jessica Marshall)
By MARTY MULE’
Tiger Rag Featured Columnist
What was that, the Groundhog Decade, where we keep living the same events over and over, like Bill Murray in that movie?
If we sliced the recently ended decade evenly, from the first five years to the second five years, it’s amazing how much LSU football mirrored itself.
Think about it: The Tigers’ five years (2000-04) under Nick Saban ended with a disappointing season (9-3) and a disappointing loss (30-25 to Iowa) in the Capital One Bowl. The second five-year segment (2005-2009) under Les Miles, ended with a disappointing season (9-4) and a disappointing loss (19-17 to Penn State) in the Capital One Bowl.
And a case could be made that both the Cap One defeats rested largely on the shoulders of each head coach: Saban because he spent most of that bowl week traversing back and forth from Orlando to Miami working out the details of his new contract with the Dolphins instead of concentrating on his college team; Miles because of some once again muddled play-calling, and the undisciplined reaction of his team to questionable officiating.
Peel back some other layers: In the first five years, LSU went 48-16 (.750), won two SEC titles and a national championship. In the second five years, LSU, playing more games, went 51-15 (.772), won one SEC title and one national championship.
People forget it now, with Miles the clear object of their disaffection, but half a decade ago there was some grumbling and unhappiness with Saban, too. In his last season, remember, his Tigers weren’t ready to take on Oregon State (22-21) or Troy (a 24-20 donnybrook), and endured a 45-16 beat-down at Georgia.
It wasn’t the greatest season on the resume’ of the newly crowned king of college football.
Of course, nobody can or will forget this recently-completed season in which the Tigers, expected to compete for at least the SEC West title, never got any traction and struggled mightily to squeeze past such giants as Mississippi State (30-26) and Louisiana Tech (24-16).
Then there was the never-to-be-forgotten cuckoo-cuckoo clock fiasco at Ole Miss, and a somewhat similar finish against Penn State.
Combined in its five-year segments, the decade produced some highs (99 victories and the two national championships) for LSU, at the start when nobody was expecting them and at the end when everybody was. It also produced some letdowns, and the highs never generate much cache’.
From the beginning to the end of the first 10 years of the 21st Century, it would be hard to argue that anyone has gone through more good, more bad, and more ugly football than the LSU Tigers.
And we kept reliving it over and over. And over.
* * *
Where or whom to blame? It’s never out of season at LSU to look for scapegoats in when losses are incurred - meaning, of course, most seasons. This 9-4 year there are an abundance of candidates.
The offense is the most glaring. The offensive line was never more than mediocre, the quarterback never progressed, the receivers seemed to drop as many as they caught, the play-calling was sometimes puzzling.
Consequently, LSU finished last in total offense in the SEC and 112th out of 120 Division 1-A teams with 304.3 yards per game.
That would limit almost any team.
But lost in the blame-game is the defense, whose bend-but-don’t-break performance under John Chavis got a lot of love because it didn’t give up a lot of points (16.0).
Still, the Tiger defense contributed mightily to the offensive problems. They couldn’t get off the field, consistently gave opponents plays and time the Tiger offense might have been able to use to straighten itself out.
Consider that nine of LSU’s opponents ran more plays than the Tigers. Over the course of the season that translated into an average deficit of 11 (70-59). In the four games LSU lost, the margin was 15 (69-54).
Anyone would have to conclude that if that one statistic was switched, that had the Tigers had that many more plays and their opponent had that many fewer, in any one of those games the results might have been reversed.
DIFFERENTIAL OF OFFENSIVE PLAYS
| LSU | Opponent | |
| Washington | 48 | 83 |
| Vanderbilt | 72 | 63 |
| La.-Lafayette | 62 | 66 |
| Mississippi State | 59 | 86 |
| Georgia | 72 | 58 |
| Florida | 47 | 64 |
| Auburn | 66 | 61 |
| Tulane | 57 | 61 |
| Alabama | 56 | 72 |
| La. Tech | 52 | 84 |
| Ole Miss | 64 | 67 |
| Arkansas | 63 | 74 |
| Penn State | 49 | 75 |
Once again…you hit the nail on the head. This is what made the year so frustrating, even when we won. We always seemed to have better talent; or at least equal talent in the case of Bama and Florida; but just could NOT seem to get the damned ball enough. We’d give up plays to make first downs repeatedly; then fail to sustain drives on our own. What a painful season. But I’m confident it wil;l get better. Getting used to the Chavis system and improving at QB and OL are the keys.
True, the LSU defense was on the field a lot., however we were never out of the game. By my count LSU won 9, lost 1, and 3 were decided by the officials, games that we will never no what the outcome might have been. I’m not down on the Tigers or Les Miles. He puts tuff teams on the field and they never ever quit. What we need to do is start blowing some people out to keep the refs from deciding games.
miles must go he is not a good coach the only reason he has had any success at lsu is because lsu has great talent .the talent we have we should be better than 8-8 in the sec over the last two years. if he stays that record will get worse because our talent will get worse because we will probably start to lose recruits. lsu really did not want miles when we hired him. he was like our fith or sxth choice. miles must go now . i would love to see someone like will muschamp or jack delrio come to tiger town. miles just continues to make the same mistakes. i guarentee that he will be fired after lsu goes 9-4 after next season.
You make some excellent points. Personally I feel the defense will improve as Chavis’ system takes hold. LSU should return to a great defense in 2010, especially with the red shirt players that will contribute.
As for the offense, the line was pitiful all season long. I’m not a coach, but it seems to me they could have tried players in different positions, inject new players, or something to shake it up. Instead, they plodded along all season long showing no real improvement. That must be corrected! The offensive play selection was horrible. That same old lame excuse of a player not being ready has worn thin. It’s time to ramp up the offense to an acceptable level. The conservative play selection this year simply cannot continue. With the addition of Gonzales and Wilson, hopefully this will change! With all the talent in Baton Rouge, the level of play in 2008 and 2009 is simply unacceptable! I’m through whining about 2009 though and ready to move on to a great 2010 season!!!!
Great points in your article, I was thinking the same thing. It was frustrating in the big games especially against UF how their offense was able to stay on the field so long. It seemed difficult for the LSU offense to get into any kind of flow. It’s a two-way street because when LSU did get the ball their were far too many 3 and outs. I don’t know if the LSU defense will be better with so much inexperience getting ready to play, but I do believe they will give maximum effort. IMO if the O-Line gets fixed, then all the complaints of play calling, and time of possession go away. You have to field great teams from the INSIDE out. Les don’t settle for a mediocre line or it will literally cost games, but you know this already. Lets GO TIGERS!!