Three Weeks Of LSU Football: The Highs and Lows

High: The Offensive Line is Blocking!

Dec 30, 2014; Nashville, TN, USA; LSU Tigers guard Vadal Alexander (74) takes the field prior to the game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the Music City Bowl at LP Field. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

The offensive line has been blowing defenders out of the box opening up huge lanes for Leonard Fournette. This has been a huge relief for a unit that had not even settled on a starting 5 the week of the first game.

You rarely hear Vadal Alexander or Jerald Hawkins names called during a game. The two tackles usually eliminate their assignments from consideration quickly quietly and efficiently. Ethan Pocic has been a stabilizing factor lined up between two freshman.

Will Clapp already looks like an all time LSU great like his father before him. True Freshman Guard Maea Teuhama is as advertised, an NFL level talent who showed up in camp ready to play form day 1. At times this line has been completely dominant. At times.

Low: Inconsistent Line play continues to dog the Bayou Bengals
It’s rare that a team fails to name a starting 5 on the line early and stick with them the entire season. This unit never had time to gel before the first game and changed lineups at half time of that game.

The talent is there, that much is easy to see. The line often completely dominates opponents, shutting pass rushers down and opening up huge lanes in the run game.

The consistency is not there. Leonard Fournette has had to make his own luck too many times when blocking broke down. The line is also one of the main offenders in the high penalty rate the team is amassing.

There were multiple false starts and multiple holds assessed against linemen in the Carrier Dome last Saturday. That was bad enough against Syracuse, leaving an inferior opponent in the game for far too long. Against an Alabama or Ole Miss level team too many penalties could be a season killer.

Next: Not Deep Enough?