In-Game Thread: Louisiana vs. Boise State

[Boomer]

Was Nixon the only player on the field Saturday that gave his teammates a high five, Boomer? Our point is that no one is knocking Nixon here, saying he's not a "team" player. But, there are literally thousands and thousands of team players around the country... almost none of whom are extolled for giving a high five to teammates when walking off the field.

It wasn't a high 5 and he went out of his way to give what looked like a go get em tap---again getting pulled out under those circumstances would have ticked many off, but his attitude is what I am referring to---Team!!!

[BrockMeaux]

I cant go there, Bustle was king of fundamentals' but brought no passion to the players overall performance.

Hudspeth took fundamentally sound teams and motivated them to unexpected heights.

Today, Hudspeth teams are struggling with fundamentals, and no amount of motivation will help a team lacking in that department.

History has shown it takes both.

jmo

I think this is a good assessment of things.

[zephyr]

That's always been the case. Our own system playing itself gives our coaches a false sense of preparedness.

It was sarcasm.

[RedCajun]

If Zo were still around, we still would. The single back backfield provides some other sets that can be hugely effective. Without criticizing down to our athletes... Hud, Munoz and Dez need to have a serious conversation with our receivers. The offense we run absolutely requires our receivers do some blocking. I'm not sure they were told that for Boise. But if we continue this offense, those WRs are going to have to learn how to block, and actually drive people out of their shoes.

On that note, Boise's wrs did an outstanding job of blocking on the outside. It made our wrs lack of blocking more obvious

[Just1More]

It was sarcasm.

You didn't think I knew that? I was piling on. I've been saying it for years... even pre-Hud. We are notoriously confident going into game 1 every season... because our defense is ill-prepared... and our offense thinks it is prepared, because they play opposite an ill-prepared defense.

[zephyr]

You didn't think I knew that? I was piling on. I've been saying it for years... even pre-Hud. We are notoriously confident going into game 1 every season... because our defense is ill-prepared... and our offense thinks it is prepared, because they play opposite an ill-prepared defense.

Well, I'm never sure. Especially when CC and some of the others have argued with me ad nauseum about the prospective talent of that group.

[Just1More]

On that note, Boise's wrs did an outstanding job of blocking on the outside. It made our wrs lack of blocking more obvious

No doubt about it. Coaching. It made me very disappointed in Munoz and Dez... to be quite honest. This week better involve WRs learning how to ram a defender's chest into his backbone. I've never seen such lost and wimpy attempts at blocking. I know you'd rather catch the ball... but for God's sake... help your DAMN team! Do what you're assigned to do! Who makes football players these days? Does every one of them have to be begged to be a bull?

The single worst aspect from our offense was the atrocious WR blocking. And it was obvious it was paramount to our plays. You don't have to knock the guys jock strap off. Our WRs 75% of the time failed to make contact when in blocking assignments. We didn't even get a penalty out of any of them for holding or anything. They decided they didn't like the duty... and blew it off. What coaching staff puts up with that?

[Boomer]

On that note, Boise's wrs did an outstanding job of blocking on the outside. It made our wrs lack of blocking more obvious

---Correct---the differentiation was quite evident and I think that possibly the quickness of the ball to the flat (not sure)---also when McG is anywhere on the field the defense is aware of it and prepositions accordingly!!! been out of it too long but splitting our TEs out (excluding Ladarius Green) does not put a real threat to the opponents secondary with their athleticism!!

[Just1More]

Well, I'm never sure. Especially when CC and some of the others have argued with me ad nauseum about the prospective talent of that group.

Understood. My post wasn't an obvious add on to yours. I was thinking more in terms of how that's been going on a very long time (practice creating illusions of sufficiency).

I'm not convinced we lack athletic talent on defense. It's just horribly coached. There is almost no chance of not fielding athletes on defense in south Louisiana. When you see defenses unable to do jack squat... it is a coaching issue. It takes all 11 players to make the system function. We have way too many fans that watch one player... or a group (ie secondary) and get massively confused on how defenses work. It is a net that with holes in any part of it... can and will be exploited. Our defense has coaching holes. The talent is inexperienced and hasn't worked as a unit for long... but the coaching is not there. And it is obvious.

I hope Lucas can at least see the basic breakdowns and get enough defensive cohesion working to give McNeese's offense some difficulty. If there offense has some schemeology to it... Lucas has his work cut out. Boise was not operating anything fancy. They were all simply following their assignments to the letter... seeing what we weren't doing well... and exploiting it.

[zephyr]

Understood. My post wasn't an obvious add on to yours. I was thinking more in terms of how that's been going on a very long time (practice creating illusions of sufficiency).

I'm not convinced we lack athletic talent on defense. It's just horribly coached. There is almost no chance of not fielding athletes on defense in south Louisiana. When you see defenses unable to do jack squat... it is a coaching issue. It takes all 11 players to make the system function. We have way too many fans that watch one player... or a group (ie secondary) and get massively confused on how defenses work. It is a net that with holes in any part of it... can and will be exploited. Our defense has coaching holes. The talent is inexperienced and hasn't worked as a unit for long... but the coaching is not there. And it is obvious.

I hope Lucas can at least see the basic breakdowns and get enough defensive cohesion working to give McNeese's offense some difficulty. If there offense has some schemeology to it... Lucas has his work cut out. Boise was not operating anything fancy. They were all simply following their assignments to the letter... seeing what we weren't doing well... and exploiting it.

Athletically, I think the defense is fine with the exception of the DL. In my synopsis of the game i posted last night, I mentioned that the DL just looks sluggish and slow to come off the snap with no explosiveness whatsoever. We have talent, even in the secondary which was torched. I also mentioned S. Thomas in that review. He got burned several times and by my estimation, he cost us 2 TD's directly. He also made some nice plays and tackles. Savion Brown was probably our best CB on Saturday but he almost got burned on a deep pass that was overthrown. Why? because he got all twisted up and basically had to rotate his hips 360 degrees to get back in place and by that time the receiver had developed some space. Its not athleticism, its just overall fundamentals.

[Just1More]

Athletically, I think the defense is fine with the exception of the DL. In my synopsis of the game i posted last night, I mentioned that the DL just looks sluggish and slow to come off the snap with no explosiveness whatsoever. We have talent, even in the secondary which was torched. I also mentioned S. Thomas in that review. He got burned several times and by my estimation, he cost us 2 TD's directly. He also made some nice plays and tackles. Savion Brown was probably our best CB on Saturday but he almost got burned on a deep pass that was overthrown. Why? because he got all twisted up and basically had to rotate his hips 360 degrees to get back in place and by that time the receiver had developed some space. Its not athleticism, its just overall fundamentals.

Even with the long TD passes, I wasn't that disappointed with our secondary. I could see that they had speed and athleticism. Boise was the best QB/WR group we'll see this year. But you are right, our DL and the lack of pressure off the line once again killed us. Our secondary definitely lost assignments... but in the past it was both the athletes and the fundamentals. I think it's more on just fundamentals right now.

It gets old blaming the offense... but I was much more aggravated with our play calling, false starts and lack of execution on offense. AJ played well for his first UL start.

[ManAboutTown]

Athletically, I think the defense is fine with the exception of the DL. In my synopsis of the game i posted last night, I mentioned that the DL just looks sluggish and slow to come off the snap with no explosiveness whatsoever. We have talent, even in the secondary which was torched. I also mentioned S. Thomas in that review. He got burned several times and by my estimation, he cost us 2 TD's directly. He also made some nice plays and tackles. Savion Brown was probably our best CB on Saturday but he almost got burned on a deep pass that was overthrown. Why? because he got all twisted up and basically had to rotate his hips 360 degrees to get back in place and by that time the receiver had developed some space. Its not athleticism, its just overall fundamentals.

Savion Brown was our best CB? He was abused more than anyone. Troy McCullom was the ONLY person making plays in the secondary.

Thomas has good coverage several times, he has just not been coached to find the football in the air. It happened at least 3 times.

Atheltic ability is irrelevant when your coaches have you in no man's land.