One of the cool things about SECN is getting to watch all the other games in the conference. I watched the LSU game from this weekend and here is what I saw:
LSU's offense did not look good at all, at least in the first half. They didn't manage a first down until their third possession, over 8 minutes into the game. Jenkins is not very scary as a QB, missing open receivers and throwing the ball away at the first sign of pressure. If ULM could tackle they would have had four or five sacks.
LSU likes to line up with two tight ends and only 1 receiver out wide. They ran it between the tackles on first and second down out of this power set, and only threw on third and five or longer. SEVERAL times ULM stuffed the run on 1st and 2nd down forcing 3rd and long. This is not last year's LSU offense by any means. They only managed a field goal in the first quarter, then scored a TD in the 2nd quarter after ULM missed an easy tackle on a run up the middle.
The defense is good, but honestly ULM's offense is terrible. Lots of dropped passes and missed assignments. Make no mistake though, Dak is going to get hit. They ran a bunch of corner and safety blitzes and ULM's QB got roughed up pretty good. Granted, ULM's QB is not mobile, so maybe Dak can avoid that pressure a little better. LSU's DB's didn't look great. They left a lot of receivers open, ULM just couldn't make a catch.
LSU's special teams looked Ho-hum as well. Brad Wing is gone, and the new punter's just alright. Graham should get a chance at some returns. Delahoussaye is a good kicker and won't miss many.
Before I watched this game I have us no chance, but after watching LSU I think we have a shot. They don't run a spread offense, which is good for us. If we can put 21 or so on the board we'll win it in my opinion.