LSU: Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

LSU fans have a lot to be miserable about today and I am not going to try to hide behind a lot of numbers.  Anyone that saw the LSU game can tell you that sometimes even the indisputable score board can tell lies.  Yes I am say LSU lost against North Carolina despite the final score.  I know, crazy talk but, not if you saw the game I was watching.  So after sleeping on it and going to church this morning with my family, I am going to see if there is any hope for those LSU fans still looking for hope.   LSU did prevail in the final score and there are LSU players and coaches that deserve recognition.  Here is where I believe credit is due by unit.


Punt and Punt Return Teams
There are two players that are highlight worthy.  First, Derek Helton punt a ball that no one could locate and rolled out of bounds perfectly at the one yard line.  Punting and punt coverage was great all night. Patrick Peterson is superman.  He returned the ball maybe better than any punt return guy I have ever seen. His returns included an 87yard  touchdown.


The Defense
Had LSU had more than a handful of plays on offense, this game would have been a real blow out early.  In the first two series the defense recovered two fumbles with good field position for the offense.  Last year there  were a number of fumbles by LSU's opponents that LSU did not get.  Drake Nevis got two sacks and Josh Downs, redshirt freshman Sam Montgomery and true freshman Tyrann Mathieu recorded one sack each.  Has LSU tied its sack total from last year in the first game? I don't think we have met that mark yet, but you get the idea.  Also, wasn't it reported that Josh Downs broke his leg just about a week ago. If that is true - Way to go, J.D.!  LSU's defense was on the field way too long in the second half but I mainly blame LSU's offense for that.  As a whole LSU's defense played well.  The defense got burned on two really big passes; one for about 75 yards and another for 97 yards so clearly LSU's safeties will have to work on keeping everything in front of them should a corner get beat but other than a couple of big passes the defense did a good job.  Some have expressed concern about the slant passes that North Carolina had some success with.  If you are one of those concerned people, don't worry.  Watch the replay on Cox.  North Carolina abandoned those slants for the most part because LSU would seriously injured one of those receivers or stepped in front of one of those passes for an int had they kept going to that play.  North Carolina did go to the big tight end Pianalto several times but, regular readers of this blog were aware that Pianalto is the real deal.  No surprise there and when the game was on the line the D rose to the occasion.


The offensive line, Russell Shepard, Rueben Randle, and Stevan Ridley
The offensive line was not horrible, like last year. To be fair, a lot of us were eagerly awaiting Will Blackwell's addition to the line. I am not sure that anyone can find fault that he got hurt on the first play. It is football. Knees get hurt.  I was surprised to learn T-Bob Hebert, the backup center, is Blackwell's backup. That may have altered things but the line did not stink.  Russell Shepard had a touchdown catch and a run that I could have sworn was a replay from last year's run against Auburn.  Rueben Randle caught anything thrown his way. Randle made Jefferson look good when he slowed down and came back to that 51yard touchdown pass.  It cracked me up to hear Brent Musberger talk about the youngster that was covering our veteran true sophomore.  Ah, what a difference a year makes when you are so young.


Hopefully, each of the next several weeks I will be able to repeat: "Ah, what a difference a week makes."


Believe it or not there are three SEC teams, two that I saw play, that I would not trade places with. Ole Miss lost to Jacksonville State in Oxford.  Florida was not able to complete a shot gun snap most of the game. If that had been any SEC team that Florida was playing instead of Miami of Ohio, they would have been losers. And Vanderbilt, where LSU travels to play this week, lost to Northwestern 23-20.  When I saw that score I first thought it said Northwestern State but no, this was the Big Ten Northwestern.  I didn't see that game but as I heard Notre Dame's new head coach Chip Kelly say to a reporter after a too close win over Purdue something like  "I would much rather be correcting mistakes after a win than a loss."