Now That Billy's gone, Can We Have an Honest discussion?

[Bandwagon King]

First off, I want to say I know Billy Napier is & always will be a living legend in Lafayette. He was an incredible manager, a great organizer, super recruiter & tremendous leader of men. IOW he had everything it takes to be one of those legendary coaches. I'm going to say something that might rub people the wrong way. What else is new? But just being totally honest, I didn't think Billy was the greatest play caller of all time.

And that is where I think Mike Desormeaux has a chance to prove himself & set himself apart as a great coach in his own right. I am hoping the Louisiana football team not only comes out with a super fierce aggression in the upcoming bowl game with something more to prove.

Personally I'm looking forward to Mike running a little bit more of a high powered spread offense, hopefully featuring a little more of Levi running out of the zone read to help him & his receivers get better looks when they do throw the ball. And to allow his running backs & offensive line more opportunities to not be so predictable. I believe this offense has so much talent for a G-5 school, if handled correctly, they can get big chunks of yards & score a lot of points consistently. Anyone else's thoughts?

[CajunVic]

Unlike you, I’m looking forward to Mike running the offense.

[CajunJack55]

Definitely wasnt a fan of Billy’s play calling.

[CajunEXPRESS]

Unlike you, I’m looking forward to Mike running the offense.

Yeah, I’m not going to pay attention to Billy play calling.

Having said that we’re not going to be running Levi as though he was Mike Desormeaux reborn in the bowl game. Billy didn’t need a broken up Levi. I’m pretty sure Billy took that into consideration by having him having very limited quarterback runs.

[FeelDaRage]

Levi is a better passer than Mike was too. That might also have some to do with him not running as much. Besides with Mike we pretty much ran a gimmick offense which is why he was putting up so many yards on the ground.

[Bandwagon King]

Yeah, I’m not going to pay attention to Billy play calling.

Having said that we’re not going to be running Levi as though he was Mike Desormeaux reborn in the bowl game. Billy didn’t need a broken up Levi. I’m pretty sure Billy took that into consideration by having him having very limited quarterback runs.

We have a corral full of running backs. I know this. Go look at the games. None of these teams were keyed on where Levi was going because they knew he wasn't going to run the ball. I'm not suggesting Levi run the ball 25 times in this game, but 5, or 6 runs off the zone read makes the defense get back on their heels automatically & they can't keep stacking 9 guys in the box all day run blitzing the hell out of you. And this being Levi's last game, I'm pretty sure he won't mind showing out a little bit more than he did in the championship.

[KajunKrazy]

First off, I want to say I know Billy Napier is & always will be a living legend in Lafayette. He was an incredible manager, a great organizer, super recruiter & tremendous leader of men. IOW he had everything it takes to be one of those legendary coaches. I'm going to say something that might rub people the wrong way. What else is new? But just being totally honest, I didn't think Billy was the greatest play caller of all time.

And that is where I think Mike Desormeaux has a chance to prove himself & set himself apart as a great coach in his own right. I am hoping the Louisiana football team not only comes out with a super fierce aggression in the upcoming bowl game with something more to prove.

Personally I'm looking forward to Mike running a little bit more of a high powered spread offense, hopefully featuring a little more of Levi running out of the zone read to help him & his receivers get better looks when they do throw the ball. And to allow his running backs & offensive line more opportunities to not be so predictable. I believe this offense has so much talent for a G-5 school, if handled correctly, they can get big chunks of yards & score a lot of points consistently. Anyone else's thoughts?

Agree. As a matter of fact when there was talk of billy possibly being looked at by lsuambr I told a friend that the post game shows would be harsh on Billy’s play calling and in game management there. I’m sure it’ll be just a rough in Fla I just never heard theirs.

[RaginDave]

We have a corral full of running backs. I know this. Go look at the games. None of these teams were keyed on where Levi was going because they knew he wasn't going to run the ball. I'm not suggesting Levi run the ball 25 times in this game, but 5, or 6 runs off the zone read makes the defense get back on their heels automatically & they can't keep stacking 9 guys in the box all day run blitzing the hell out of you. And this being Levi's last game, I'm pretty sure he won't mind showing out a little bit more than he did in the championship.

Just so you know Levi had 88 rushes on the year. Back out 24 sacks and that is 64. 64 divided by 13 is 4.9 rushes a game on the season. You want him to run 5-6 times a game. He basically did.

[CajunVic]

We have a corral full of running backs. I know this. Go look at the games. None of these teams were keyed on where Levi was going because they knew he wasn't going to run the ball. I'm not suggesting Levi run the ball 25 times in this game, but 5, or 6 runs off the zone read makes the defense get back on their heels automatically & they can't keep stacking 9 guys in the box all day run blitzing the hell out of you. And this being Levi's last game, I'm pretty sure he won't mind showing out a little bit more than he did in the championship.

Last game, what do you mean last game . .

[RaginDave]

Last game, what do you mean last game . .

Levi’s last game.

[zephyr]

First off, I want to say I know Billy Napier is & always will be a living legend in Lafayette. He was an incredible manager, a great organizer, super recruiter & tremendous leader of men. IOW he had everything it takes to be one of those legendary coaches. I'm going to say something that might rub people the wrong way. What else is new? But just being totally honest, I didn't think Billy was the greatest play caller of all time.

And that is where I think Mike Desormeaux has a chance to prove himself & set himself apart as a great coach in his own right. I am hoping the Louisiana football team not only comes out with a super fierce aggression in the upcoming bowl game with something more to prove.

Personally I'm looking forward to Mike running a little bit more of a high powered spread offense, hopefully featuring a little more of Levi running out of the zone read to help him & his receivers get better looks when they do throw the ball. And to allow his running backs & offensive line more opportunities to not be so predictable. I believe this offense has so much talent for a G-5 school, if handled correctly, they can get big chunks of yards & score a lot of points consistently. Anyone else's thoughts?

You will honestly probably not get a lot of kickback on the playcalling. I think that was honestly the biggest knock against Billy if anything. The offense would just stall at times during the game or he would completely abandon one thing that was working and lose any offensive balance we had. Obviously, he knew how to win games and that's what its all about.

[zephyr]

Last game, what do you mean last game . .

Settle down now. He's not talking about Des.

[zephyr]

Just so you know Levi had 88 rushes on the year. Back out 24 sacks and that is 64. 64 divided by 13 is 4.9 rushes a game on the season. You want him to run 5-6 times a game. He basically did.

He probably wants him to run like Des did where he averaged 15 or so carries a game. Of course, as effective as he was he also ended the seasons injured or played with injury every year because of the beatings he took.

[RaginDave]

He probably wants him to run like Des did where he averaged 15 or so carries a game. Of course, as effective as he was he also ended the seasons injured or played with injury every year because of the beatings he took.

Well I hate for facts to get in the way, but here is Levi's breakdown, without sacks taken out for the season by game:

Texas 6 carries
Nicholls 5 carries
Ohio 12 carries
Georgia Southern 5 carries
USA 10 carries
App 5 carries
ASU 6 carries
Texas State 4 carries
Georgia State 6 carries
Troy 9 carries
Liberty 5 carries
ULM 6 carries
App 9 carries

[Balanced_view]

some people was never going to be satisfied with Levi performances because he was not a perfect QB. running or throwing.