LGT FINAL G1: Louisiana 40, Grambling 10

[Million$Mullet]

Was like you the first year or so. By his last year, I started getting giddy by the end of the season when going for it on 4th. I’ll give Napier this much, his time here was right time, place, players, few injuries later years, confidence and luck.

If anyone questions the value of healthy difference making O-lines, Napier recruited and/or built that. That’s where the confidence came from. Multiple guys that went on to play on Sundays.

Hud recruited that

[Jacob81]

So after being underwhelmed with our rushing I was looking at the box score sober for once. Haha. Our 3 top RB’s had 16 carries for 105 yards. 6.56 per carry. I feel better now. Just need double the carries.haha

[Hudsheen#Fired]

Seeing this quote has me thinking Des is finally adapting.

“We threw it a lot in the first half because they were loading the box,” Desormeaux said. “We have good players on the perimeter. We’re not going to run into bad boxes. I’m not living in that world anymore. We’ve done that for too long.
That’s a lot of what we’ve done this year: ‘All right, we’re not doing this anymore. We’ve got good players, we’ve got experience, so we’re going to let our seventh-year quarterback make good decisions and get the ball where it needs to go.’ ”

[moorecajun]

Seeing this quote has me thinking Des is finally adapting.

“We threw it a lot in the first half because they were loading the box,” Desormeaux said. “We have good players on the perimeter. We’re not going to run into bad boxes. I’m not living in that world anymore. We’ve done that for too long.
That’s a lot of what we’ve done this year: ‘All right, we’re not doing this anymore. We’ve got good players, we’ve got experience, so we’re going to let our seventh-year quarterback make good decisions and get the ball where it needs to go.’ ”

I agree.

[zephyr]

This was as sharp a passing game as we have had in a while. Ben made really good decisions and throws. Love the TE curls in the middle.

Didn’t see the push from the OL in the run game that I was expecting, hope to see it next week, but it also looked like Grambling was loading the box, daring us to throw.

On defense, we are improved, but still have a ways to go. They say the biggest improvement is from Week 1 to Week 2, so let’s see how it goes next week.

I agree. I would have thought we'd see a little more production from the running attack considering all the talk about how big our OL is and the opponent. Now, with the transfer portal, I get that Grambling may have some more talent up there than they'd normally have but I would have thought that we'd have been more successful in the running game.

[zephyr]

I wanted to pound the rock more than miss direct all night. I want to run 65% of the time. Guess it’s not in Des’ dna.

38 passes 28 rushes. Probably 10 or 12 passes were glorified runs.3-5 yards. Just give those touches to bill davis.

I just don't think its our strong suit. We have not been as strong of a running team over the last couple of years and I don't think this year will be that much different although I'd like to see more success. I suspect that had we been more successful earlier in the game running the ball, we would have continued to do so. They just had no answers for our receivers.

[zephyr]

So Ben is making the decision to hand it off or throw the wr screen? It lines up with coaches presser today. I’m not upset about the gameplan. I want to feel like we can run the ball successfully when we want too.

We were successful with the screens. They weren't just for 3-4 yards. If its taking advantage of a better matchup, I'm all for it considering we don't seem to be getting much of a push up front. At the end of the day, I'd love to see us doing both extremely well and becoming very balanced on offense.

[zephyr]

I like our offense and the personnel to run it. I’d just like to take some of the wr screens out and lean on the defense with those 3 backs and 330lb OL we have. That way we can own the 4th quarters.

We didn't own the fourth quarters the last two seasons with those same players and that philosophy. We didn't seem to wear anybody down and our running game was really no better late in the game than in the beginning.

[Swamp]

Week 1 2024

[Jacob81]

We didn't own the fourth quarters the last two seasons with those same players and that philosophy. We didn't seem to wear anybody down and our running game was really no better late in the game than in the beginning.

But the theory would be stay committed to the run throughout the game and the 3-4 yard carries become 6-8 in the 4th because you’ve worn down the defense.

[Ragin9221]

But the theory would be stay committed to the run throughout the game and the 3-4 yard carries become 6-8 in the 4th because you’ve worn down the defense.

To me your forcing a situation. Dont force it, the best coaches are able to scheme and adapt to what the defense or offense is doing. If they putting 8 guys in the box i definitely need to throw the ball.

[zephyr]

But the theory would be stay committed to the run throughout the game and the 3-4 yard carries become 6-8 in the 4th because you’ve worn down the defense.

I think the Des quote supplied earlier was a better explanation of why you don't apply that theory in absolute terms. They noted that Grambling was loading the box and playing the run hard. At that point, why not use your outside options for which you have matchup advantages there as well. It only makes sense. That's why the deep ball, when used, was highly effective. Why sit there and try to fit a square peg into a round hole if that's where the defensive concentration is? Just so that you MAY wear them down in theory late in the game in a potentially closer game when you've shown over the last couple of years to not be able to do that? This is just not a team that will average 200+ yards rushing a game on 40+ rushing attempts like in the past. We have to be ready to adapt our philosophy in reaction to what the defense is doing.