BOL Round Table

I know , I know, its been 24 hours and I'm supposed to be focused on A&M. But I got so tired of the comments from people at work today (mostly butt hurt Barners) b'n and g'n about Chavis's "prevent" defense on the last drive. "They were playing so soft...blah blah blah blah"

So I just went back and watched the final drive on youtube to see just how soft the LSU defense was. Keep in mind, I only saw the TV shot (no end zone shot like most game films have) so I am going by just what I could see..... (plus I only took about 5 min to do it b/c my wife thinks I am over here working on a research paper for grad school)... which I am but needed a break.

feel free to use the following in your arguments against idiots this week (and correct me if you see differently, please!) Chavis is a dang good defensive coach. Just like our offense had to prepare for the two minute drive with no timeouts, LSU had to have a plan to defend a team with no timeouts and they knew we had to throw it....

so here goes..

first of all, Bama lined up in what I call double twins (2x2) meaning two receivers on each side, and a single RB, on each play of the drive.

Play #1
LSU shows 6 men at the LOS, only two corners in the picture, meaning there are 3 deep secondary players you can't see. They bring 4 of the 6 and drop the other 2 under the #2 (inside) receivers. This is probably as "prevent" as they got on this drive. It appears to me they were playing a generic "Tampa" coverage (no MLB dropping deep middle), where the corners were flat players (under outside WR), and the 3 deep were responsible for just that, deep thirds. Not a bad call in the situation considering Bama is pretty much gotta throw to the sidelines and try to get out of bounds. Also, by showing 6 like they did, their was the chance it could screw up our protections. Great job by the OL to pick up the look and great throw by AJ, great catch and run by Norwood.

Play #2
LSU only shows 5 this time, but they are man on the short side (boundary) with safety help over the top. They look to be playing some type of quarters to the field. They only rush 4 of the 5 showing, but they run a zone pressure from the field (meaning they blitz the OLB, and the ILB drops to replace him). So they are bringing 5 rushers. Not a bad call on the boundary, b/c obviously the easiest throw is to the short side of the field to get out of bounds. We run what appears to be what I call a "smash" concept, meaning #1 runs a hitch and #2 (Norwood) runs a corner. Great read by AJ to hit Norwood on the corner route (we ate this up vs. Matheiu in the BCSNC if I recall). Again, I could be wrong on the coverage, but just calling what i can see.

Play #3
Basically the same look as Play #2, except opposite direction. Meaning the Man free look to the field, and the quarters look to the boundary. Probably not the greatest call in the world, Norwood is able to run a comeback route (I think?) vs. the softer coverage. They bring 5 once again (simliar pressure to play #2) except this time its more of a twist with an inside backer. Again, nothing you can call "PREVENT" defense

Play #4
They bring 5 and play Cov. 2 Man (man to man coverage with 2 safeties free over the top). One of the rushers is responsible for the RB and does a good job picking him up. Pretty aggressive call at that point in the game, but also pretty sound against the pass with athlete on athlete and help over the top. Probably what made AJ hold on to the ball a little bit longer. I'm betting if Chavis could do it over, he would have called this a little bit earlier in the drive.

Play #5
We all know what happened here..... they essentially brought 7 and played man.... and Bama had a great call. The WR's ran off the DBs, nobody peeled with the back, and it was perfectly executed. Great call by Nuss.

Sorry for the long post, and probably incoherent rambling at times in that....but just wanted people to know that Chavis had some good calls in that drive....certainly was not in "prevent" mode at all. we just executed to perfection. OL was flawless, WR's ran great routes, Yeldon picked up blitzes, and AJ made the right reads and great throws.

so tell the Barners and other people who are mad we won to STFU. haters gonna hate. RTR