College Football 2010 Rankings: No. 103 Louisiana

[VObserver]

_ I know what you mean, but it seems Brad hasn't proved himself solidly to the coaching staff at QB. Why aren't they confident enough to use that Lion's heart and team leadership and put him in at #1? There has to be a reason. I think it is a throwing accuracy issue that has allowed Chris and/or Blaine to capture their attention.

I want to get away from a dominant running type QB and start recruiting QBs because they can pass ("Have legs? Good for you. Now, put on these 15 pound ankle weights and figure out whether you want to pass it to all these fleet footed friends of yours or run for your life son."). There are too many other skill people that have to factor into the offense to keep defenses guessing, and keep not just drives alive in particular games... but seasons alive. I do not like counting on a running QB's legs when he is such a critical component to ball distribution to many, many other skill players.

Honestly, I do not know enough about the particulars on our current QBs. Chris did not do poorly last year. I was not overly impressed with our OL in pass blocking or run blocking. We were not real solid at RB, and our offense was trying figure out how to go from being a MD read option to a "little" more traditional. I think we stacked a lot on Chris's plate and judged the results. He actually did quite well. I'm not as concerned about who the coaches go with at QB. I am much more thoughtful about what offensive mentality they will key on and how well the whole group can execute it.

The read option with dive blocking is stale on me. We need pass protection like we seem to grant every other SBC offense and start spreading it around to our nice cast of receivers IMO. I do not want us to have to count on the "expected to be talented" running back corps. It will take IMO a passing attack... or constant threat of one... to allow these solidly credentialed backs to get their legs. If we could develop some underneath stuff, it also opens up the deep threat. You do not have to have a 4.3 WR to go deep. You have to cross up coverage with your brain... and a QB that gets enough short and medium reps begins to feel it and take command. We never give them the chance. We love the read option too much and piling big boys up and hoping a little RB can find his way around them.

I am major league serious about getting back to the old days of a super UL defense and special teams. The game changing moments we have to see in order for UL to be in postseason must come from defense and special teams. <---- now that... is oversimplification. _

J1M, I don't necessarily disagree with any of what you say except for this: Forget what the coaches see in practice: The TEAM does not respect Masson and will not follow him. I don't know why that is, it just obviously IS. Our best chance to win THIS YEAR is with Brad. If our coaches can't watch what goes on in games and on the sidelines and see that Masson does not have the respect of the team, they need to be run off, anyway. We don't have enough talent to win 7-8 games with our schedule behind a QB that is not THE leader of his team.

[cajunfan32]

_ "Losing Hall Davis and Garren Blount is huge"..

Umm, no its not. Hall Davis was an "ok" defense player for us. This guy saw his name in the draft and figured it was a 'huge loss'. Also, the inexperience at RB is fair, but he fails to tout what kind of talent is back there, and how many options we have. Brad McGuire is NOT going to be a running back. Maybe, MAYBE and H back, but not a tailback. I think this defense is going to surprise some people, and again, he failed to talk about the incoming JC's and other guys who are expected to contribute. He's also failed to talk about Ladarius Green being the best pass catcher and big play threat in the Belt (and the overall development of Pierre Hill and Javone Lawson, who came on late last season).

He also failed to say that even though we're losing some damn good Offensive line guys, we're stacked with depth there, and those players have seen playing time due to injury..

This guy is just another half ass reporter.. _

exactly. how many sacks did hall have for us? like 3? that's not losing much... Did this reporter actually say we are lacking depth at RB? yes we are inexperienced there but we have a bunch of young talent. Julian shankle, Draylon Booker, Aaron Spikes, Robert Walker all will have a opportunity to make an impact this year.

[Turbine]

_ Bustle got a one-year extension through the 2011 season. Looking at it right now.


igeaux.mobi _

Is this new? If so, silly move it's not even recruiting season. 10 years at the helm.

If Bustle gets to 7 wins he will have earned his premature reward, however if he only gets to 6 wins (again) his average after 9 years will be no better than Jerry Baldwin’s who was able to pull off a single game record improvement in his 3 years at the helm.

Bustle inherited a 3 win team and after 3-3 year stints it is time to take win production beyond the Baldwin (1 per 3) improvement threshold. 3 more wins than Baldwin over a 9 year period is not worthy of contract extensions.

jmo

[Just1More]

_ J1M, I don't necessarily disagree with any of what you say except for this: Forget what the coaches see in practice: The TEAM does not respect Masson and will not follow him. I don't know why that is, it just obviously IS. Our best chance to win THIS YEAR is with Brad. If our coaches can't watch what goes on in games and on the sidelines and see that Masson does not have the respect of the team, they need to be run off, anyway. We don't have enough talent to win 7-8 games with our schedule behind a QB that is not THE leader of his team. _

I did qualify my comment by not being sure which guy should come out as the #1. If our coaches cannot tell who should be the #1, then they will fail and we will have to kick them to the curb. I am pretty confident that no matter who takes the #1, if he cannot pass effectively, we are doomed.

It actually bothers me to think our team lets up because they may not like one or more of the players they are playing with. I know chemistry is a big part of the operation. But... if I were the coach... you would not want me to get a hint of a "preference" on your part. If you made me think you were ever letting up because of it, you'd walk funny for the rest of your life.

[Boomer]

Tempus Fugit-----Is this going to be year 2 or 3 AD---after des?????????

[cajunfan32]

_ Good to see you around these parts again.

I'd love to see Chris Masson take a major step forward from last season, and become an all conference QB. Of course I would. It's just hard for me to believe he can get the team to play as hard for him as B Mac does. Theres is something about McGuire, and MD had this quality, that fires up the troops. I think Brad learned a lot about being a leader and a football player first from Mike. As he gets older, those things are starting to show even more. For some reason, I'm just more confident with Brad in the huddle. JMO _

People seem to underrate Chris' performance last year. he passed for 2406 yds with 10 TDs and 8 Ints. Not the best performance but not that bad either. cut him some slack. It was his first year of real game action. This is the first true pocket passing QB that we've had in a while and I think he's the best option for us at QB. I love Brad and I do think we should implement him into the offense in some way (whether that is sharing time at QB or putting him in at H back). But I saw A LOT of potential out of chris last year. He's not the same type of run first QB that we always seem to have which is refreshing. Brad is a great athlete and can really help our team win some games but he's the same type of QB as Babb and MD. Dont get me wrong, they were good, but did they get us 7 wins? no. I believe in order to get 7 wins we have to be able to thow it more often and not have a run first QB. With Brad as our QB, I dont think we will have the passing attack that we need.

[Parrott]

That just means we owe him the money. That does not mean he gets to stay.

Turbine: This is the same one-year extension given a few months ago. Someone said it was a two-year deal, and I was just correcting them.

J1M: You're correct that he would be owed money. I never said anything about a guarantee that he would be here that long. As I've mentioned numerous times, the university would owe a significantly lower buyout to Bustle under this extension.

I have a copy of the extension and will go into further detail on the actual numbers soon on my blog.


igeaux.mobi

[ManAboutTown]

I'll take Graham Watson's synopsis - Louisiana Goes Bowling in 2010

[bigearl]

_ You are correct. _

Is this official?

[Just1More]

_ Turbine: This is the same one-year extension given a few months ago. Someone said it was a two-year deal, and I was just correcting them.

J1M: You're correct that he would be owed money. I never said anything about a guarantee that he would be here that long. As I've mentioned numerous times, the university would owe a significantly lower buyout to Bustle under this extension.

I have a copy of the extension and will go into further detail on the actual numbers soon on my blog.


igeaux.mobi _

10-4 Josh. I wasn't making the statement against yours. I was just making that comment. I want Bustle to succeed (bowling) this year and not be concerned over a buyout. But, I also don't want to hear people harping about the extension. I understand it was structured to not be as financially painful for UL if a coaching improvement has to be made. I look forward to your blog on it.