Week 3 thoughts (CMU game)

[Nutriaitch]

Hey, we covered the spread for first time all year!
Im sure us signing a sponsorship deal with a sports book this week had nothing to do with it.

 

Offense first:

Mickey Joseph wasn’t kidding. We are loaded at WR. I mean loaded like a Cheech & Chong reunion tour.  

We already knew about Boutte. 
Bech had yet another great week. An amazing catch in EndZone. 2nd on team in receiving yardage for the game.

Devonta Lee showed out. 

Brian Thomas Jr had a couple grabs

Malik Nabers caught a ball intended for people behind the bench. 

DEION SMITH!!!!  Are you freaking kidding me?  With #6 playing like that i almost thought Terrace Marshall Jr somehow snuck into the game. 

 

(more to come next post)

[Nutriaitch]

Running Backs:

Kiner has to be the bell cow from here on out. It’s obvious. Me and Fish said it in podcast before game, and it’s even more obvious now.  
TDP, i love you bro, but your longer run was shorter than Kiner averages. Plus you put the ball on the carpet. It’s time to let the youngster shine. 

The Kiner stiff arm was an absolute beauty. Like Leonard Fournette vs Miss State in 2016 pretty. Just a grown ass dude completely taking away the manhood of his opponent.  Then he follows that up with Clyde-esque spin move em route to endzone.  GORGEOUS. 

[Nutriaitch]

Max Johnson.

Very good game.  Went through progressions. Found open guy, hit open guy. 

372 and 5 great night. 

Pick 6 was ugly, but WR did not do him any favors on that one. 

only big issue i have is he still has happy feet and throws off back leg waaay to often. 

[Nutriaitch]

DEFENSE:

D-Line is about to start making a habit of just dominating games. 
Last week was Smith. This week Ojulari. We got more options than those if you try to eliminate them. Andre Anthony had a scoop and score (let’s hope his injury isn’t as bad as it looked)  

LB. Where the hell have you been, Damone Clark? Best game since 2019. easily. Baskerville had another nice showing as well. Strong also played very well

DBU - Y’all go ahead and talk shyte about Sting again. Ole boy showed up pissed off and ready to play.  Major Burns with the pick (got burned later though). Flott in the Slot played very well.  

Teams are just straight up avoiding Eli Ricks. Not sure what they’ll do when they remember we have an All American on the other half. 

[Nutriaitch]

Cade York is still Cade York. 

Avery kickoffs land in the next parish. And averages 45 per punt. 

Koy Moore on PR’s, um let’s just say hope Palmer is back next week. 

[Fishhead]

I like that we can no longer say Max only has two attempts of 20+ yds on the season.

Major Burns is an issue.  I know you didn't see the UCLA game, but his tackle attempt on that 3rd and 13 was the exact same shyte-tastic effort at tackling as the long TD against UCLA. 

He had the pick and flashed some good, but he's gotta be more physical.  You're a SAFETY, knock the hell outta someone!  Instead he dives at the legs like a chihuahua.  

Like I said, let Avery play safety

[Fishhead]

Also, just a stat...

Avery Atkins - 8 kickoffs, 520 yds
65 yd avg 
(100% touchback)  ***ETA Cade York kicked off the last kickoff, also TB.  Getting that on film for NFL scouts, because you HAVE to do both in the league.  York is superman though***

4 punts, 45.3 yd average with 3 fair catches

 

BEAST

[Fishhead]

LSU 6-11 on 3rd downs

CMU still 9 of 19, so good for them.  But their defense was allowing 28%.  LSU beat that by double.  

Many of their 3rd down conversions were late 2nd half.

[Herb]

12 minutes ago, Fishhead said:

Many of their 3rd down conversions were late 2nd half.

Yeah, at that point we were basically focused on keeping them in bounds in order to let the clock wind down.

On another note, as mentioned in Gameday Chat, it appeared receivers were unable to adjust to catching passes from Nussmeier once he came in.

These guys need to catch most of those passes. They look like they are hitting the receivers in their hands.

Not sure if Nussmeier has way too much gas on those passes and needs to dial down the 'heat' a notch or two or if the receivers just need to work with him in practice more to get used to his passes.

[Fishhead]

24 minutes ago, Herb said:

Yeah, at that point we were basically focused on keeping them in bounds in order to let the clock wind down.

On another note, as mentioned in Gameday Chat, it appeared receivers were unable to adjust to catching passes from Nussmeier once he came in.

These guys need to catch most of those passes. They look like they are hitting the receivers in their hands.

Not sure if Nussmeier has way too much gas on those passes and needs to dial down the 'heat' a notch or two or if the receivers just need to work with him in practice more to get used to his passes.

Bottom line, if max is qb1 (and he is), Nuss ain't getting many reps during the week.

10 gave up on the only pass Nuss threw with touch. Other than that, he throws high heat and guys ain't used to it. 

[COTiger]

I temper my enthusiasm with last nights W with the following rushing stats.

Against UCLA we had 25 rusing attempts for 49 yards. Against McNeese we had 36 attempts for 124 yards. Last night we had 24 attempts for 84 yards. Add those three games up and we had 85 attempts for 257 yards. That's a pityful 3 yards per carry.  If SEC opponents don't blitz the sh*t out of us, I'll be shocked.

[Nutriaitch]

29 minutes ago, COTiger said:

Last night we had 24 attempts for 84 yards.

 

true, but outside of 2 snaps, the running game looked a lot better. 

TDP lost 11 yards on the fumble that he recovered. 
Nuss got sacked for a 10 yard loss (goes into running stats in College). 

Remove those 2 plays and it’s 22 carries for 105. That’s a 4.77 yard average. Not earth shattering, but respectable. 

[Nutriaitch]

also, y’all should be proud of me. I stayed away from the negatives this week. 

[COTiger]

28 minutes ago, Nutriaitch said:

 

true, but outside of 2 snaps, the running game looked a lot better. 

TDP lost 11 yards on the fumble that he recovered. 
Nuss got sacked oa 10 yard loss (goes into running stats in College). 

Remove those 2 plays and it’s 22 carries for 105. That’s a 4.77 yard average. Not earth shattering, but respectable. 

I'm withholding serious judgement until we get into the meat of the SEC schedule.  Unfortunately I don't think it's going to be pretty.

[Fishhead]

At this point, what is "the meat of the SEC schedule"?  

The SEC looks down as a whole to me, including Alabama.  Georgia is by far the best defense in the league and we won't play them unless by some insane circumstance we win the west. 

Alabama is obviously still very good, but they scored 10 against UF yesterday after the 1st quarter and didn't look all that hot against Mercer...MERCER.  Miami they looked great, until we've seen what Miami is.  

MSU lost to Memphis yesterday. Yeah, I know, bad call.  But if the call is reversed and they win by less than a TD, that's still garbage.  

TAMU barely beat Colorado, who as we found out yesterday is possibly a bottom 5 Power 5 team in the country.  

Missouri could've well LOST to Central Michigan at home in game 1.  

(Not disagreeing with your post, just pointing out the overall shittiness I've seen everywhere in CFB this year)

 

The only thing you can do when we're playing the McNeese's and CMU's of the world is look for tangible improvement.  I saw plenty last night from offensive scheme, Max with accuracy (75%), aided by incredible catches by freshman WRs, Corey Kiner probably securing the RB1 position (he better have), Avery Atkins punting improved (45.3 ypp), Sting getting involved in run defense forcing a fumble and making several open field tackles, big Joe Evans dominating in his action on the DL, allowing Maason Smith to play DE, BJ Ojulari is the most underrated dude on the team, Bech, Smith, Lee, BTJ all played HUGE in the absence of Palmer, 18 and 23 looking like they knew what they were doing and playing fast, and the defense has improved every week.  

Major Burns with a pick but hopefully Jay Ward is back against MSU.  Sage Ryan, we don't know yet how he'll do but he'll be back next week.  Hopefully Cam Wire is back too and Andre Anthony just has a minor injury, although I don't see that part being the case.

[COTiger]

I view the meat of the SEC schedule as any SEC team we are scheduled to play.  I also base my opinion on who we've played to date and the results.  Until I see significant improvement against a quality opponent I'm skeptical.   Also, as far as the strength of the SEC, take a look at the coaches poll and get back to me.

Edited September 19, 2021 by COTiger

[dachsie]

7 hours ago, Fishhead said:

Also, just a stat...

Avery Atkins - 8 kickoffs, 520 yds
65 yd avg 
(100% touchback)  ***ETA Cade York kicked off the last kickoff, also TB.  Getting that on film for NFL scouts, because you HAVE to do both in the league.  York is superman though***

4 punts, 45.3 yd average with 3 fair catches

 

BEAST

Which one of them kicked it into the stands?

 

[dachsie]

36 minutes ago, COTiger said:

I view the meat of the SEC schedule as any SEC team we are scheduled to play.  I also base my opinion on who we've played to date and the results.  Until I see significant improvement against a quality opponent I'm skeptical.   Also, as far as the strength of the SEC, take a look at the coaches poll and get back to me.

I think you are justified in being skeptical.  After that first couple of games I was convinced we wouldn't win a single SEC game.  Hopefully, they will continue to improve like last nite.  The test begins on Sat.

[Fishhead]

28 minutes ago, dachsie said:

Which one of them kicked it into the stands?

 

Cade

[Fishhead]

23 minutes ago, dachsie said:

I think you are justified in being skeptical.  After that first couple of games I was convinced we wouldn't win a single SEC game.  Hopefully, they will continue to improve like last nite.  The test begins on Sat.

And then we'll say "well it was just MSU". 

I mean, neither of you is wrong to be skeptical.  Read my posts, listen to the podcast.  I'm skeptical as hell.  I'm just talking here. 

I was mentioning the "meat of the SEC schedule" because the SEC appears down this year so that phrase just doesn't carry much weight.  Missouri is SEC.  They looked like crap against the team we put away in the first half last night.  

Just for discussion, unrelated to how LSU is compared to anyone else in the SEC, curious as to y'all's thoughts so far.  I know Dachs you're in Aggieville, and CO you're in Colorado.  How do you guys view "#8 TAMU" after their first 3 games against absolute cupcakes?  I mention you, CO, because one of those cupcakes was Colorado.  

Probably warrants a separate thread, but for discussions sake, just wondering if anyone else is seeing what I'm seeing.  SEC is down.  Problem is, ACC is a complete and total joke lol.  Oklahoma struggling, tOSU already dropped a game and hasn't looked like a top team either.  It's a really weird season so far.  Setting up like 2007, maybe.  Chaos as we head through November.  
 

[COTiger]

You keep saying the SEC is down this year.  Have you looked at the Coach's Poll released today?  If not, take a look at it.  Count the number of SEC teams in the top 25 & get back to us.

[Fishhead]

29 minutes ago, COTiger said:

You keep saying the SEC is down this year.  Have you looked at the Coach's Poll released today?  If not, take a look at it.  Count the number of SEC teams in the top 25 & get back to us.

Have you seen TAMU play?  Or anyone else?  How about Oklahoma?  What about Clemson?  

We're 3 weeks into the season and there's been no major moves in the polls.  I'm capable of actually watching a team play and figuring if they're really good (like a top 5-10 team) or just lucky they played Texas St and New Mexico and lucky to have escaped with a single digit win vs a bad Colorado team.

Alabama may go undefeated, I dunno.  But they ain't what they were last season.  

Clemson struggled BAD with Ga Tech yesterday.  They've scored like 17 points in two games.  Yet they're a top 10 team according to week 3 polls. 

Plus I've mentioned numerous times you're not wrong to be skeptical re: LSU.  Last week you questioned me if I'd given up after two weeks lol.  Now you're seemingly on the opposite end of the spectrum and I'm not even disagreeing with you.  I'm attempting to discuss the state of the conference as a whole and in fact CFB as a whole.  These early top 10 teams, most aren't looking very dominant.  Like I said, UGA seems to be the top team based on early resume.  All could change of course. 

[COTiger]

I've been watching college football games since black & white TV with rabbit ears days.  I suspect I've been watching games since before you were born.  The SEC is the dominant conference historically.  No debate at all.

[Fishhead]

I didn't ask how long you've been watching.  I asked have you watched specific teams THIS year, which is what my question was about. 

I had B&W with rabbit ears, too.  What's that have to do with this (attempted) discussion?  

[COTiger]

Damn, you're a little sensitive.  Pardon me for not replying to your thread like you wanted.