News#9 LSU Wins a Thriller Over #3 South Carolina 23-21!
The tigers made a statement Saturday night and its for all those doubting the tigers at this point. Don’t count the 2012 team out just yet. Freshman running back Jeremy Hill had 17 carries for 124 yards and 2 touchdowns as the leading rusher for the tigers. Zach Mettenberger was 12 for 25 for 148 yards but did throw 1 very costly interception. Tiger running back Spencer Ware played a big role for the tigers with 14 carries for 55 yards. Sophomore receiver Jarvis Landry led team in receptions with 4 catches for 55 yards.
The most notable aspects of the offense was offensive lines ability to open up holes for the running backs and give Mettenberger just enough time to make throws with his arm although it helped that LSU constantly used quick outs and gadget plays to get the ball out of the quarterbacks hands quickly. The LSU receivers did not have many dropped passes which were so abundant in the first two SEC contests.
#8 LSU Tiigers Face the #3 South Carolina Gamecocks Saturday 7:00 ESPN
The offensive line lost a key starter in Chris Faulk early in the season and despite the problems that face the LSU offense already they may have more. Josh Williford may play but certainly will not be 100% come Saturday night. In addition, Alex Hurst will likely not play against South Carolina. Look for freshman offensive lineman Trai Turner to step in.
The offense must have some success in order to avoid having the same situation as last week in having the defense wear themselves out by the time the game enters the 4th quarter. The offensive line will need to do a spectacular job on South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney in order to give quarterback Zach Mettenberger time to run the play.
The defense must slow down the gamecocks top running back Marcus Lattimore and force quarterback Connor Shaw to seek other options.
#8 LSU Tigers Host the #3 South Carolina Gamecocks Saturday at 7:00 ESPN
For the first time in the 19 year history of playing one another South Carolina will be ranked ahead of host LSU. The tigers will try to slow down the red hot gamecocks a week after they clobbered the Georgia bulldogs 35-7.
LSU will try desperately to find some offense against #3 South Carolina. Hopefully they will experience more success in the friendly confines of Tiger Stadium than they did in Ben Hill Griffin stadium last Saturday. The crowd could play a big part in giving the tigers some much needed confidence which has to be lacking after their loss at the hands of the gators.
Junior quarterback Connor Shaw has thrown for 733 yards, 7 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions. Shaw passed for 162 yards including 2 touchdowns this past weekend. Junior running back Marcus Lattimore rushed for 109 yards and a touchdown. Senior receiver D.L. Moore led all receivers with 1 reception for 62 yards a week ago against Georgia.
LSU Football Falls to 5-1 as Florida gets the Victory 14-6
The tiger defensive performance was impressive but the offense couldn’t muster up much of anything.
The defense was on the field far too long Saturday in Gainesville. Key stops by the defense and their ability to set the offense up with good field position whether it was through turnovers or dominating play was useless when the offense constantly failed to execute.
The tiger offense was successful in their opening drive with a field goal by Drew Alleman. The only other score was on a fumble recovered by LSU on the Florida 7 yard line. Four plays later the tigers Drew Alleman added his second field goal only 24 seconds before halftime.
More to come…
#4 LSU at #10 Florida 2:30 Saturday on CBS from Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
At first glance, I predicted that LSU at Florida was a game where the tigers would suffer their first defeat of the 2012 season. Expected to be an improved gator squad they were not expected by many to challenge for the SEC east division title. Now it appears as if this game means a whole lot more than first thought. It seems that the tigers certainly have a cause to be more focused after 2 weeks of little media respect due to sub par performances at Auburn and at home against Towson.
LSU was expected to have more of a swagger and confidence about them and bring in a dominant team. However the last 2 weeks the tigers have been less than impressive. There is little doubt that the success of the LSU offense Saturday could depend on whether Zach Mettenberger has time in the pocket to hit his receivers for some short to medium gains in order to force the gator defense to defend the entire field. The offense will simply not be able to run the ball all game without some consistent passing (Note for the Alabama game in November as well). In the second half I look for the LSU offense to become more conservative if the game is close which I suspect it will be.
Sophomore Jeff Driskel struggled a year ago against the tigers in Baton Rouge. Still a young quarterback it will be very interesting to see how he is affected by the tigers dominating defensive line. The gators are much improved especially on defense under Will Muschamp.