I’m not gonna lie to you. Every time I watch LSU’s offense this year, I grow a little more jealous.
Turns out LSU has been doing it wrong all these years. For more than 100 years, the minds behind LSU’s offense told us that if we just run it a few more times, the passing game would open up. Just one more toss dive they said. Just one more battering run into a loaded box. It’ll make it easier on the quarterback! Just one more run, baby! Just. One. More. Run.
We have been hoodwinked, bamboozled, run amok and flat-out deceived!
The run does not set up the pass. The pass sets up the run. LSU’s 2019 offense is proof of what the nerds have been saying for a few years now at the professional level. Passing is king, play action works no matter what and you should throw on early downs.
It’s not that Georgia lacks the personnel to do those things. It’s not even that Georgia doesn’t do those things. Play action is a staple. The Dawgs threw as often as they ran on first down against South Carolina.
What Georgia lacks is a commitment to fully incorporate that mindset into its offensive scheme. Sure, executing better than it did last Saturday is bound to make things better, but ask yourself if you think this team has the slightest possibility of scoring 42 points on 48 offensive plays against Florida in a few weeks.
You can stop chuckling now. We return you to our regularly scheduled manball, already in progress.
Get The Picture 
LSU is discount OU right now. I think Bama blows them out because Bama’s defense will get off the field in that game, but LSU’s won’t.
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You know something? You may be right.
You know something else? If LSU were still running their offense from last season, they’d have even less of a chance.
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How was their offensive philosophy different last year to this year? Obviously they’re putting up gaudy numbers now, but they averaged a solid 29 PPG last year, if you toss out the crazy OT game against aTm.
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Against FBS opposition, LSU is averaging 50 ppg this year. Last year that number was 32.5.
To put it another way, in those games UGA outscored LSU in 2018 by about 5 ppg. This year, the margin is more than 16 ppg, in LSU’s favor.
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How will LSU’s fan base feel about the margin of victory in all those games if they just end up losing to Bama like we did and come up short? I don’t think margin of victory means anything in the regular season.
It’s clear to me now that Clemson beat Bama because of their great front 7. Sure putting up points helps. But defense still wins championships because the D gives you a chance against the most elite teams in the CFP.
Until OU wins a shoot out natty on pure offense, I will never be convinced otherwise.
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Why look at facts and titles when you have STATS?!?!
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I guess I don’t understand your point here. Are you saying LSU would be in better shape now if they stuck to last year’s ground and pound offense?
LSU hasn’t beaten ‘Bama in years. You really think they have a worse shot this year because of the change in the offensive scheme?
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I agree LSU has no better shot than last year. I disagree that we should be jealous or be considering wholesale changes to our offensive scheme. Improving our play calling a bit and getting some receivers open in man seems like lower hanging fruit than copying what LSU is doing. I’m not sure you are really advocating that, but I still like Kirby’s general philosophy and want to see how the rest of this season plays out.
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I’m not urging slavishly copying LSU’s offense, but “Improving our play calling a bit and getting some receivers open in man seems like lower hanging fruit” is only true if the staff is willing to pick it.
BTW, last year Alabama beat LSU 29-0. Total yardage was 576-196. You really think it’ll be that lopsided this year?
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I think the staff is way more likely to tweak the play calling work with existing talent than adopt an entirely different offensive philosophy. As to the LSU-Bama game, who knows how lopsided it will be, but I just don’t think it matters. Winning is the only thing that counts at the end of the season. I do think it could be really lopsided again though. I mean, everyone is saying LSU is in peak form right now, but I saw a team trade touch downs for 3 quarters with a UF team whose offense has looked dysfunctional all year. Vandy put 38 on LSU, much of it through the air. LSU’s DBs have looked really, really bad. Tua and his receiver corps may score 70 on LSU this year.
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The Clemson front 7 was great. Their receivers also made some great plays in 1 on 1 coverage. Clemson was on fire that night. I don’t think you just scheme players open, you scheme players to get matchups they can win and then make a play.
I heard a SC coach or player this week say the DB’s intentionally took away the slants and middle of the field routes. Apparently those quick throws are a big part of what Fromm does well. They challenged UGa receivers one on one up the sidelines. The last play before the missed kick stands out in my mind. Fromm threw to likely his #1 read and it was a 1 on 1 ball. The throw looked like it was in a place the receiver could make a play but the receiver wasn’t in position to go up and get the ball.
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We get it. He throws slants.
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Yeah, I got that part already, the numbers are undeniable. But I don’t follow LSU football closely enough to know what they’re doing differently now. To be honest I probably wouldn’t understand the X’s and O’s of it anyway, but are they running different formations? More RPO?
I’m working of of the assumption that it’s schemed and not just some sudden infusion of talent. Maybe they’re just imposing their will better this year than last? 🙂
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The linked article gives a pretty good clue as to the new direction. Greater emphasis on the passing game and much more use of RPOs to get receivers open.
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They are saying that Joe Burrow could very well be a top 5 NFL pick in the upcoming draft. The guy is now a weapon in the new offensive scheme. Just watching them shred UF last weekend was like watching a video game. I dont think their receiving corp is as good or deep as Bama’s and their D is suspect but they are playing a brand of football that gives them a chance. They have lost 8 straight to Bama trying to be Bama and that shit is not working.
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He may certainly be right, LSU could fail next month against Bama. But I don’t see anything to justify how he can be so confident, Bama’s defense isn’t the Great Wall it has been in the past. They have looked soft against both the run and the pass, at times. If this game weren’t in Tuscaloosa, and they weren’t likely to get the usual Bama bump from officials, I would bet Geaux Tigahs to win this game. I still think they might/will win straight up, just not going to put much cash on it.
Florida and AU’s defenses look as good as The Tide’s to me so far. It is not going to look like those 9-6 battles of the past, I am expecting a delicious, shootout-type game. And yeah, I am jealous about that. Both of those coaches got out of the box offensively, and it is a beautiful thing.
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If Alabama blows them out we must remember Saban changed their offense also.
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He adapted to a Qb, and set of wrs, he was fortunate to sign.
If hurts had beaten UGA in the natty, Tua would have left and you wouldn’t be seeing this pass heavy offense from Alabama.
And they wouldn’t have gotten beat 44-16 by Clemson in the natty.
That happened because they were too dependent upon the pass to generate points.
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They scored on lessnin the Natty than we did against 2-3 SCar.
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So when you say he adapted , you mean he changed . Saban took out his qb because he knew he could not beat ga. Ok I get it now
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If we’re going to recruit all of this skilled talent, when is Kirby going to take the governor off and let it do its thing?
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Kirby just wants his F-150 to be able to get through the mud. He’s not worried about street-racing his BMW on the interstate.
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Or maybe we’re the guy with a lift, super swampers, and bog lights that never actually leaves the pavement….but looks damn good in the driveway !
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Cue Derek…
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Are you suggesting we’ve inherited LSU’s castaway offensive philosophy? When Kirby says ‘we need to be more explosive’ and keeps using that word, do we not think it means what he thinks it means?
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Needing to be more explosive and actually being more explosive are two different things.
LSU is first in the SEC in offensive plays of 20+ yards. UGA is ninth. Against FBS opposition, LSU has twice as many of those plays as UGA does.
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Sorry, when I said ‘castaway offensive philosophy’ I was referring to LSU PRE- this season. The one that continually struggled to produce a QB and an explosive offense. I hope we don’t end up going there and that Kirby can embrace the right balance of innovation (hey lets scheme some receivers open shall we?) and identity (we are a tough, run oriented yet explosive offense like we had with Sony and Nick)
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Can there be any doubt that a typical rpo play working changes everything?
This play is run by everyone now and has been for some time.
If there’s anything unique about that play, it’s the defensive alignment. Not sure if they are wanting to line up that way or not, but it’s apparent that they are way out leveraged.
This particular play is an example of bad defense, not great offense.
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Seems like it could be a chicken-or-the-egg type of discussion. Does the offense look great because the defense is bad, or the defense looks bad because the offense was great?
The play-call seems to put the safety into a bind where he has to step down to defend the run or hang back to defend the pass. The play still requires Burrow to read & react very quickly and he still has to put the pass on the money (assuming he doesn’t hand off), and the o-line still has to do their jobs too of course.
For those more knowledgeable about these things, what happens if the safety stays with the receiver and the corner comes down to fill the running lane?
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This play is also an illustration of what the rpo nuho does . Florida is not aggressive bc they don’t know if it’s pass our run , when teams go with tempo like that , many times u see the d get misaligned because they are thinking too much , and gassed , the safety has got lead in his boots.
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Just a funny coincidence, I distinctly recall the drive home from Auburn in 2006 when we pulled the big upset Stafford’s freshman year. Richt was talking about the offensive game plan and saying how he went to bed the night before thinking it was terrible, but too late to change it. He said, “I mean, who tries to use the pass to open up the run……” Of course, Battle being Auburn’s leading receiver helped, but maybe it was a bit of a precursor to today’s successful college offenses.
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Yes ! And also, STAFFORD ran all over their asses keeping on zone reads. STAFFORD !
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In 2017, UGA scored 42 points against Florida with a total of 41 plays, including a whopping 7 passes.
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It’s amazing how LSU’s players magically learned to get open and catch over the off season. I heard some morons think it’s because of “scheme”.
I wish our players would just start getting open. That’s all they have to do. Try harder.
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LSU hired an OC from the Saints, we promoted a WR coach who had a reputation as a bad OC to be our OC. I think coaching may have something to do with the difference in offensive production this season.
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Brady wasn’t an OC for the Saints, but he clearly took good notes on their plays. He’s basically turned Burrow from a 52% passer into Drew Brees.
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“It’s not that Georgia lacks the personnel to do those things.” Are you saying Georgia’s wide folks are as good as LSU’s? today?
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Jefferson was the only receiver on their roster who had an elite 2018 season. Talentwise, they’re comparable. And wideout is one of the positions where youngsters can contribute more quickly.
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There are dozens of teams across the CFB landscape that figure out a way to scheme getting talented freshmen WR’s running free in space, but people act like Georgia’s youth is the reason the receivers aren’t open right now. Richard Johnson of Banner Society charted all of Fromm’s throws in the South Carolina game and for the life of me I don’t get why we throw so much to the sidelines. It’s a big part of the lack of explosive plays. When you give the defense an extra defender in the sideline, the DB can play inside leverage and pretty much kills any opportunity for YAC.
I also don’t get the comments on here that just because LSU might not beat Bama running this offensive scheme isn’t a reason to be a tad envious of it and how successful it’s been. Hell – I’d rather get beat by the greatest coach of all time knowing I threw out an offensive scheme that at least gave me a chance to score points rather than man-balling my way into a 4 TD loss that never had a chance, but what do I know?
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The USC defense took away the middle of the field and challenged Fromm and the receivers to hit passes on the outsides. therefore, Fromm threw more to the sidelines. He was off and didn’t hit many and our receivers didn’t make the catches. Bad day for both. I have not seen Fromm that off in the past; and hopefully we won’t see it again. I can tell you every defense will try to do the same.
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Everyone overlooks the absence of Cager in the analysis of our passing woes. I don’t discount our inability to throw more to the middle, or Fromm being off target on a few passes as an issue but we throw that boundary pass because of our uncommon success with Wims, Holloman, and Cager. The INT on the the throw was due to a miscommunication between Landers and Fromm. I think it would have been a completion had Cager been the target. The INT to Simmons hit hit him, squared up, in the face mask; shouldn’t even be considered an INT charged to Fromm. He threw a terrible pass for the other INT, perhaps a bad throwaway, and he missed a wide open Swift late in the game.
I don’t see how we could not get a slot guy (Blaylock/Robertson/Cook) open and away from a defender when they 2-3 yards in space on the line. Those guys are quick as rabbits, come on. And a TE releasing down the seam, or hooking for an 8 yard deep throw. I don’t buy the excuses, we ran 95 plays and couldn’t get a guy off the line through alignment, motion, and speed?
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Our youngsters have contributed, obviously, but our Jefferson (Cager) is probably out for a while, or at least far below 100 percent. In the rain its gonna be interesting. The advantage, in the rain, is said to go to the offense because the receivers know where they are going….I hope they do. There is some evidence that has not always been true.
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Robertson caught 50 passes for Cal as a freshman. He’s been at UGA going on 3 years (learning to block, apparently). I don’t think he forgot how to catch the ball. And Bama’s freshmen receivers certainly haven’t had trouble getting open/catching the ball. I don’t think their 5 stars are any better than our 5 stars. So, if the talent is basically equal, what else can it be?
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“And Bama’s freshmen receivers ” Who are these freshmen receivers you allude to? The three starters are juniors I believe.
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Not this year, but in the past, their freshmen receivers ran wild. Look at the freshman for Clemson that killed Bama last year. Being a freshman isn’t that much of a disadvantage when you put them in situations where they can succeed.
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“We are not creating space, so the windows that we’re having to throw the football into, in many cases it looks like an NFL game, where you’ve got elite defensive backs where your window is extremely small,” Zeier said.
“How do you help receivers get off the jam? Get them in motion, get them moving, so you don’t allow a defensive back to come up and get in your face where that first step you’ve got a problem,” Zeier said.”
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Ed Zachery. Call some plays to help your players get open. After a quarter or two, you should be able to tell that throwing at the 6’6″ monster at DB is a losing proposition. Maybe some motion/rubs/whatever help your guys get open. I didn’t see any of that last weekend. Just “m0ar manball!!1!!”
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Devonta Smith was a fresh when he burned our Sr. safety to take the natty from us. The receivers and their coaches have to get better, it’s painfully obvious.
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Just for informational purposes….LSU starts O freshman receivers….O
Chase and Marshall are sophs, Jefferson is a Junior.
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Oh, I’m not saying having mainly freshmen WRs is optimal. But other teams have overcome it, and I believe we could as well.
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Here are some facts.
2018 Clemson
2017 Auburn
2016 Clemson
2015 Ole Miss
2014 Ole Miss, Ohio St
2013 Auburn, Oklahoma
2012 Texas AM
2011 LSU 9-6
So the last time a team has beaten Bama with a pro style offense was 8 years ago , and did not score a td.
The rpo, spread offense makes the d line up and defend the width of the field . Also the o line is allowed to block 3 yards down the field. This slows the d down bc interior d line believe it’s a run when they get a double team. Plain and simple if the safety takes the inside run fake burrow throws the ball on the slant in the area he just vacated.
Meyer went to Paul Johnson (navy ) to learn how to block and Scheme this part of his offense and won 3 titles with it . The rpo is an option offense . Uga has a great o line and great running backs and good enough wr to pull it off now. We just do it maybe 30 or 40 % . Fromm would put up huge numbers and the defense would have to stay honest.
2013
Ga Southern 26- Florida 20 UGA 26 Florida 20
Gs 429 rush 0 pass 0-3 Uga 156 rush 258 pass .
Southern loses to wofford , Samford, app st , furman .
Same coach is now at Army. Im sure they have better athletes than Oklahoma and Michigan that is why both of these games have gone to ot in the last 2 years . What I am sure of is this : if Army lined up and ran our offense with their personnel vs those 2 teams they lose by 40. So they use scheme to compensate.
David Pollack said College Football should change the rule ( o line 3 yards down the field) because the offense has so much of an advantage . Nick Saban gave in . Fields looks a little better in this O
We are going to change sooner or later. Take your pick KS
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