The game of inches became a game of feet

[JacketDan]

We had 3 "inches" plays that I thought completely changed the tide of the game and the feel of the team.

1. Josh slightly under throwing Bebe on the first possession which allowed the DB to make a play on the ball.

2. Josh hitting Bebe on the back shoulder instead of in stride in the end zone and forcing a FG attempt.

3. The D playing well and forcing a third and three inside the 25 and MJ jumps off-sides to give them a first down.

One and two would have made it a 14-7 (or was it 14-14) game and gotten our guys thinking they could hang with the passing game. The third one setup the awful sequence of personal foul, TD drive, onside kick, muffed punt, TD drive. It was suddenly 21-3 instead of 7-3 and the offense never touched the ball.

 

[BuzzMD]

+1

If we are playing the woulda, coulda game, then those 3 plays may have helped us be more respectable/even have a chance to win. But I am not so sure, I think LSU beat us in every aspect, imo.

Now I know how Ohio State fan feels the first week of January.

 

[floridajacket]

It's UNC all over again. My only guess is that we had a young but talented team this year. We went toe-to-toe against LSU most plays of the game, with LSU only having 10 more total yards than us. But we have too many unforced errors, eventually cascading to what we saw in the 2nd quarter.

If nothing else, this game will focus the team more, starting with strength and conditioning in the next couple of weeks. If we won this game, we could have been preseason top-10, but now we'll have to prove again that this game was a fluke and execute much better next year.

 

[gtrat1967]

Somebody said, in another thread, that LSU "overwhelmed the 3O with superior athletes". It's a very good point However, a well-conceived, well-concealed, well-executed air game which, until the moment the ball leaves the hand looks like any other option play, would eliminate this problem. Guys, defenses can't be everywhere in strength, and they have to react immdeiately to what they think they see. Let's give them something to see and react to, then suddenly.....

We really need this as a viable 4th option before we will be able to handle the LSU's of the world consistently and confidently.

 

[nate]

I agree. These were the "shoot ourselves in the foot plays". Who knows what would've happened had we executed on these plays. Not saying we would've pulled out a win...LSU looked very good last night...but maybe the game wouldn't have felt like something getting shoved up our backsides all night

 

[The Jacket]

I agree. These were the "shoot ourselves in the foot plays". Who knows what would've happened had we executed on these plays. Not saying we would've pulled out a win...LSU looked very good last night...but maybe the game wouldn't have felt like something getting shoved up our backsides all night

Agreed. LSU was going to do what they were going to do last night. We had our chances to get in the game and compete, but we screwed it up early and LSU made sure we never got chances to rectify it.