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Archie
(192.91.171.36) on 9/20/2006 - 3:13 p.m. says: ( 206 views
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"++regspot::RT++Great read/commentary from a Baton Rouge..."
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(EDITED BY AUTHOR: 9/20/2006 - 3:13 p.m.) Advocate sportswriter....a lot smarter (and more mature)...than others...
Rabalais: Maybe it's the Crying Game
By SCOTT RABALAIS
Advocate sportswriter
Published: Sep 20, 2006
My ears are ringing. My eyes are stinging from reading the message boards. My e-mail in-box is begging for me to add on a spare bedroom.
Enough already. If LSU fans tormented by their Tigers' 7-3 loss to Auburn on Saturday are still thrashing about for a name for this game (among other things that have them thrashing), then I submit this suggestion.
The Crying Game.
No one, or at least very few people, in this town or in the LSU fan nation at large can seem to find resolution in a very simple fact: LSU lost by four points in an epic defensive struggle, the likes of which haven't been seen much since the days of single-bar helmets, to a very good team now ranked No. 2 in the polls on its home turf.
No. There are more nefarious, insidious reasons behind it.
The officials botched the game, or at least made many anti-LSU calls. The LSU coaches were too conservative in their game plan. LSU coach Les Miles doesn't let offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher have enough free rein with the play-calling. The program is falling apart.
Let's examine each of these issues.
1. The officials botched it. LSU fans have complaint with numerous calls from the game, starting with the pass interference call waved off on a pass to Early Doucet at the 3 late in the game. Problem is most of us (myself included) didn't understand the rule. There is no penalty if the ball is ruled uncatchable regardless of what else is happening on the play short of a personal foul. But with Doucet traveling from left to right and the ball going from right to left, it would have been incredibly hard for him to make a play on the ball even if Zach Gilbert didn't have him around the waist before the ball arrived.
In other words, strange as it looked, the right call was made.
"Pass interference is a complicated rule," said Rogers Redding, SEC coordinator of officials. "It takes up four pages in the (NCAA football) rulebook, talking about catchability, impeding the receiver's path to the ball. It's not as simple as people think."
The right call was also made on pass interference on Daniel Francis when Jessie Daniels made an interception earlier in the fourth quarter, because Francis' interference drove Courtney Taylor out of position to be able to make a play on the ball. It was catchable without the interference.
LSU can gripe about two other calls. Jacob Hester did catch and take one step on a fourth-down reception before being stripped of the ball and it rolled out of bounds. And David Irons did hold Brandon LaFell in the end zone on a pass from JaMarcus Russell.
2. The LSU coaches were too conservative in their game plan. Clearly, LSU's 200-yard per game rushing average going into the Auburn game was a mirage. LSU's run blockers and runners are struggling. Justin Vincent is still tentative. Alley Broussard isn't fully recovered from his knee injury. Jacob Hester is versatile but neither speedy nor brawny.
Many have called - after the fact, not before - for LSU to have played Charles Scott and Keiland Williams. Clearly, Miles wasn't comfortable with tossing his freshmen into the fray, though maybe he should have. Conservative was the watchword for the day, a day dominated by defense. It was the kind of game where a coach is loathe to increase the chances of a mistake, knowing he has a great defense to save the day.
Should LSU have passed more on first down? Well, LSU threw 15 times on first down and ran 10, though those stats are skewed by LSU's last two desperate drives. Auburn passed only five times on first down and ran 17.
It sounds boring, but balance is best. LSU, and Miles, should be more willing to use the pass when the running game bogs down. But for want of one more play, 4 more yards, LSU would have emerged as the winner.
3. Miles should let Fisher have more of a free rein with the offense. This is the story you hear: Miles and Fisher are both offensive coaches. Miles wants a more conservative style of play-calling and holds Fisher to that. Of course, under Nick Saban the story was that Saban, a defensive coach, held Fisher to a more conservative style.
Some say LSU should do what it did in 2001, throw away the run and throw on virtually every down. LSU didn't do that until after it dropped to 4-3 with a loss to Ole Miss. Point is, all coaches are stubborn. But while a more expansive and crafty passing game might be better for LSU in the long run, you have to be able to run as well.
4. The sky is falling. Hopes for LSU to play for the national title were unrealistic. Not with this road schedule. LSU was always going to be fortunate to go 10-2 playing at Auburn, Florida, Tennessee and Arkansas. So LSU loses a game that many expected it to lose and suddenly the program is going down the toilet.
It's too early to know that. But save the crying game for later. This season has too many ups and downs left in it to decide how it will turn out now.
Story originally published in The Advocate
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Good column....and a lot smarter than most writers, even most of the guys on the national level...
I also hope "the Crying Game" moniker sticks! The Earthquake Game, The Fire Game....the Crying Game!!!!! :-)
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