2018 FB G7: Louisiana 17, App St. 27

[Stabil123]

Are you seriously going to make a blanket statement to this fan base? Would think a man like you would be more worried about lawsuits than preaching about this football game.

Your comments and advise might make sense if it was fact based. In that regard, FYI I'm not in any dam lawsuit and never have been. Regarding my remarks if the shoe fits wear it.

[BananaHammock]

Your comments and advise might make sense if it was fact based. In that regard, FYI I'm not in any dam lawsuit and never have been. Regarding my remarks if the shoe fits wear it.

Your response was what I wanted. See what happens when people make blanket statements.........most times they're wrong.

[covcaj]

There is no doubt that the offense today was not what we were hoping for. And yet, we scored more than twice as many points as any App opponent other than Penn St. There is little doubt that App has the best defense in the conference. I say this only to offer some perspective.
I am more intrigued by the apparent improvement in the defense and would hope we would get some analysis from Mr. Bear.

[basinbear]

We are reacting instead of over thinking......once a,defender "gets it" he reacts quicker....I enjoyed it yesterday....we are seeing a lot of youngsters grow up.

[fanof71]

Several observations from attending the App Game...

1) App Defense is as advertised. They are extremely fast, physical, play till the echo of the whistle is gone...deep and can run like deers. This is a P5 defense in G5 clothing...very impressive live and in person.
2) UL walked on that field expecting to win. I think the "new day" for UL football dawned yesterday at 330pm est. Very impressed with the attitude, physicality, and workmanship of the team.
3) QB played in general was a fail, but that was due in large part to the App defense.
4) UL Defense came to play. They threw 4 balls that I can think of to Garren's side, he picked one, almost had another pick, swatted one a way, and had great coverage on a post pattern in the first quarter where he was flagged. Not a bad days work. Jacquet had his moments as well, swatting a ball or two away, both in one on one coverage. He also ran down the App back who broke free for the 60+ yard gain.
5) Offense worked the left side of the App defense pretty good yesterday, pulling another lineman or tight end to that side would have helped break a few runs. Overall, OLine held its own yesterday, again, you see it live, you get a better context.
6) There is nothing like an on-campus game. Advantage App. Their students show up, the area supports them both with attendance and funding. For App athletics, its really the only game in town.
UL should send its game day folks to Boone for a weekend and learn what a "game day experience" should be. I sat in student section with my daughter, during the game, the students didn't sit, didn't have a mass cell phone usage until half time, responded to video board, and were totally into the game. Of course, the product on the field has something to do with that, but there is a deep and appreciative football tradition at App that goes way, way, deeper than anything UL can dredge up. Weather was tolerable, no issues during game, so stadium was basically full. They know how to do this at Boone, about time UL learned how to do it as well

[covcaj]

We are reacting instead of over thinking......once a,defender "gets it" he reacts quicker....I enjoyed it yesterday....we are seeing a lot of youngsters grow up.

Thank you for your reply. It does seem that the defense has significantly improved since the start of the season. How much of the improvement would you give to

1. At least somewhat better talent than we originally thought.
2. Familiarity and experience with the new defensive scheme allowing for quicker reactions.
3. Coaching

I am really interested in your thoughts on this staff as coaches, i.e., teachers. They are showing they can recruit, but I don't see us regularly beating App State, GA Southern, or Ark St on talent alone. I was always critical, after the first season, that Hud's staff did not seem to be coaching up his players. Do you have any concerns in that regard with this staff?

[Rainman66]

So in year three we'll be at the same level as Houston, Boise, UCF, and USF?

I do, outside of Boise, those others have not been extremely consistent. I could argue that App State is as successful as two of those in their short time as a D1 member.

[Cajunsmike]

Several observations from attending the App Game...

1) App Defense is as advertised. They are extremely fast, physical, play till the echo of the whistle is gone...deep and can run like deers. This is a P5 defense in G5 clothing...very impressive live and in person.
2) UL walked on that field expecting to win. I think the "new day" for UL football dawned yesterday at 330pm est. Very impressed with the attitude, physicality, and workmanship of the team.
3) QB played in general was a fail, but that was due in large part to the App defense.
4) UL Defense came to play. They threw 4 balls that I can think of to Garren's side, he picked one, almost had another pick, swatted one a way, and had great coverage on a post pattern in the first quarter where he was flagged. Not a bad days work. Jacquet had his moments as well, swatting a ball or two away, both in one on one coverage. He also ran down the App back who broke free for the 60+ yard gain.
5) Offense worked the left side of the App defense pretty good yesterday, pulling another lineman or tight end to that side would have helped break a few runs. Overall, OLine held its own yesterday, again, you see it live, you get a better context.
6) There is nothing like an on-campus game. Advantage App. Their students show up, the area supports them both with attendance and funding. For App athletics, its really the only game in town.
UL should send its game day folks to Boone for a weekend and learn what a "game day experience" should be. I sat in student section with my daughter, during the game, the students didn't sit, didn't have a mass cell phone usage until half time, responded to video board, and were totally into the game. Of course, the product on the field has something to do with that, but there is a deep and appreciative football tradition at App that goes way, way, deeper than anything UL can dredge up. Weather was tolerable, no issues during game, so stadium was basically full. They know how to do this at Boone, about time UL learned how to do it as well

I was disappointed with the result as there are no such things as moral victories. However, I was more encouraged about the future of the program after this contest than any other game this year. App plays big boy football and our guys fought them to the end, particularly defensively. Offensively, I attribute the result to their DL handling our OL for much of game. Very evident on the third and fourth down plays in the fourth quarter on the App 12 yard line. I know some question the decision to run at them but Billy believes you can't win long term unless you can pick up short yardage plays by running the football. OL has improved greatly but they need to take it to another level to have success against a physical team like App. As far as game day experience goes, App has it due to their winning tradition. Would love to forecast what our game day experience would be a few years from now with consistent success preceding it.

[ULGrad@HOU]

Coach Napier has my complete support and I believe he is capable of getting this team to where we want it to be. He also is not above criticism. I'm sure he would admit, he is learning and he makes mistakes too. At 3rd and 2, at the 12, we ran Mitchell off the right guard/tackle and got nowhere. I think most would say Ragas is our tough inside runner. What do we do, we run the exact same play again with Mitchell and fail again. Tactically, not a good call. So many other possibilities at that point.

[Ragin4U]

There are always fans who say we should pass after a run fails, or run after a pass fails, or should have gone left or right. Hindsight is always 20/20 and its easy to pick apart a play call after the fact. I repeat that if we cannot get 2 yards on 2 plays, we dont deserve to win.

[Cajunsmike]

Coach Napier has my complete support and I believe he is capable of getting this team to where we want it to be. He also is not above criticism. I'm sure he would admit, he is learning and he makes mistakes too. At 3rd and 2, at the 12, we ran Mitchell off the right guard/tackle and got nowhere. I think most would say Ragas is our tough inside runner. What do we do, we run the exact same play again with Mitchell and fail again. Tactically, not a good call. So many other possibilities at that point.

Agree with that view. In post game, he said he questions himself about some things that happened offensively. I immediately thought about that sequence when I heard those remarks. I just believe in the long term he wants to be able to consistently pick up third or fourth and short by running the ball. No doubt it was a questionable decision to try it yesterday at this stage against that defense.

[ninacajun]

Coach Napier has my complete support and I believe he is capable of getting this team to where we want it to be. He also is not above criticism. I'm sure he would admit, he is learning and he makes mistakes too. At 3rd and 2, at the 12, we ran Mitchell off the right guard/tackle and got nowhere. I think most would say Ragas is our tough inside runner. What do we do, we run the exact same play again with Mitchell and fail again. Tactically, not a good call. So many other possibilities at that point.

I think the thing we fail to think about as fans is what led to the play call in these situations. The coaches have broken down an extensive amount of film to see how the defense will line up against the formation they want to use in that down and distance, then chose plays both run and pass, that they like and worked on all week in practice before narrowing it down by weeks end to the plays they think can be best executed. All offensive plays are designed to work when executed correctly. Sometimes you fail due to poor execution, and sometimes you fail because the other team is better, sometimes they stunt out of the predicted alignment and you end up with a “look” you weren’t expecting. My main point is there are so many variables we don’t think about as a casual fan sometimes. And I’m not saying we can’t be critical as fans, or that coaches don’t make wrong decisions. I guarantee the best coaches second guess themselves when they don’t get the desired outcome...they just have to do it less frequently than inferior coaches.