LSU-Florida Review: What We Liked and What We Didn’t
By Scotty Nola
LSU Coaching Staff
Oct 17, 2015; Baton Rouge, LA, USA; LSU Tigers head coach Les Miles leads the Tigers onto the field prior to kickoff against the Florida Gators at Tiger Stadium. The LSU Tigers defeated Florida 35-28. Mandatory Credit: Crystal LoGiudice-USA TODAY Sports
Top Coaching Likes: Great Defensive Calls, Great Scoring Drives, Great Trickeration
For most of the night the defense did exactly what it needed to, staying dialed in and delivering pressure with the front four while keeping the skill players back in coverage.
The defensive game plan smothered the Gators offense for most of the night and held them to only two scoring drives of any distance.
The offense stayed committed to mixing up the run and pass and kept Florida’s defense off balance for most of the first half, allowing the Tigers to build up enough points to survive a scoring drought in the second half.
Les Miles signature trick play arsenal was in full display. The game gave us a fake field goal, Fournette lined up at quarterback and a flea flicker for a big gain. Vintage Les Miles.
Top Coaching Dislikes: Blown Coverages, Poor Special Teams, Scoring Drought
Communication in the defensive secondary continues to be an issue for the Tigers. Missing their leader accounts for some of this, but the coaches have not done enough to clean up the lapses here and have to bear some of the blame.
Particularly disturbing were the two wide open touchdowns Florida Tight End Jake McGee caught in the first half.
It’s bad enough that te defense erred badly enough to allow a Florida pass catcher to waltz into the end zone unattended twice. On the second play it appeared Arden Key missed the coverage.
Any time your pass rushing defensive end is matched up on the other teams best pass catching Tight End you have been outschemed, badly, to the tune of seven lost points in a one score game.
The special teams units continue to struggle. This team has too much talent to fail game after game here and so far the coaching staff has not been able to come up with anything resembling a solution.
The offense was great in the first half, but a failure to produce in the second half nearly cost them a game. They were only able to score once in the second half after putting up 28 points in the first half.
It’s clear Florida made better halftime adjustments and the Tigers were not able to shift gears and find anything that worked down the stretch. Good offenses score points, great offenses manufacture them.
LSU has had too many long scoring droughts this year, the offense has to be more consistent to beat teams like Bama, Texas A & M and playoff contenders….