GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
LSU defensive coordinator Blake Baker would like do-overs on a few of the game situations he faced last season. He didn’t say which ones, but he dropped some hints during a rare assistant coach press conference at the LSU football facility on Monday morning.
“Any coordinator that comes up here who says he doesn’t wish he had a call back is lying through his teeth,” Baker laughed. “And there’s some that definitely stick out more than others.”
And if you are thinking about the Texas A&M and Alabama games, you are warm.
Texas A&M backup quarterback Marcel Reed entered the game midway in the third quarter at College Station, Texas, with the No. 8 Tigers (6-1) leading the No. 14 Aggies (6-1), 17-7. And he rushed nine times for 62 yards, scoring touchdowns on runs of 8, 8 and 4 yards in a 38-23 win that wrecked LSU’s season.
The next week, Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe rambled for 185 yards on 12 carries with TD runs of 72, 39, 19 and 10 in a 42-13 rout. The Tigers went on to lose a third straight game before recovering to finish 9-4.
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“One of the things when you go back and look at last year was stopping running quarterbacks,” Baker said. “There are definitely some things that we’re going to do different schematically to give our guys a better chance of that. Sometimes, it’s something that I have to do a better job of. That is understanding … um. How do I put this? Um, I’ll just leave it at that.”
Baker has some plans, but he is not divulging any details.
“Just making sure that we give them the tools necessary to stop the run, whether that be an extra hat, whatever the case may be,” he said.
LSU’s defense matched up with personnel better late in the season as even Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia was held to 43 yards on six carries with a 1-yard TD. He gained 800 on the season with eight touchdowns.
“I think I got a better feel for our personnel as the season went on,” Baker said. “And I think that’s kind of why we improved. There were some things that we did that weren’t necessarily my DNA later in the year. But again as a coordinator you’ve got to adapt to the schemes that you’re going to see. And I think that’s what we did well as a staff as the year rolled on.”
Asked what part of his DNA was shed as the season went on, Baker was again secretive.
“Um, eh, I don’t necessarily want to put it out there for future game planning,” he said. “Good try, though.”
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