LSU head coach Ed Orgeron spoke at length, and repeatedly, this offseason about some of the specific trouble points his team was working hard to fix for this season.
They ran the drills, they learned the keys. The team appeared ready for a showdown with UCLA. But then the game started and those concepts they drilled produced gash plays instead of defensive stands in a 38-27 loss that felt more one-sided than the final score indicated.
"Everybody was pumped up, ready to go," Orgeron said. "We wanted to win this game for the state of Louisiana, south Louisiana, we knew they were hurting. So we were more disappointed than anybody.”
Related
So what went wrong? Orgeron will be the first to take the blame on himself, and he conceded LSU's fresh-faced coordinators must do a better job putting players in the right positions. That need was a large part of what drove an overhaul of the offensive, defensive and line coaching personnel over the offseason.
Some of that falls on the execution, of course. Once the game starts, all the coaching in the world can't make a tackle in the open field or set the edge on a stretch play.
But the issue wasn't a lack of scouting, preparation or "want-to." In fact, there were some instances where some extra preparation might have actually come back to bite the Tigers.
Speaking on SportsTalk with Kristian Garic on Mike Detillier Tuesday, Orgeron pointed to the coverage on crossing routes as an issue throughout the game. But there were no exotic coverages. UCLA just got lined up quickly, at times managing to outflank the LSU defense and put them in disadvantaged positions. Pace is a staple of a Chip Kelly offense, and LSU didn't handle it well. But one specific thing Orgeron pointed to was the "release" of the tight end off the line, which was done differently than what was scouted leading up to the game.
The change confused the Tigers defense at points, most notably on a 75-yard touchdown to Greg Dulcich that got UCLA on the board one play after the Tigers jumped out to an early 7-0 lead. A review of the play will show all the linebackers keying on the run as UCLA quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson bluffs the stretch handoff and rolls out the opposite way. The problem: It was not a run. The linebackers follow the run action, and the backside safety sits in run support as the tight end releases free downfield. Dulcich escapes the tackle attempt by Major Burns and sprints in for a tone-setting score so fast that many LSU fans might have been caught still celebrating the Tigers' own scoring drive.
“We have to be more vocal. We have to have some signals. But it really wasn’t like we were switching off people or nothing like that. We had crossing routes. We had the guy man-to-man, but they changed the way they did it," Orgeron explained. "They changed the approach of the tight end. I won’t go into that, but the release was a lot different than what we showed him, so he thought it was run. Ended up being pass.”
Orgeron didn't elaborate on what was different with how the tight end was releasing on those plays. In that particular case, UCLA lined up in a heavy formation for the hard play-fake to the strong side. As Dulcich releases he stays in tight to the line, appearing as if he's working across for a kickout block on safety Todd Harris, but then does the unexpected and cuts upfield into the open space.
The delay allows the tight end to work across the single high safety cheating to the run side for the longest chunk play of the night, but it was far from the only one. UCLA had six plays of 20-plus yards that accounted for more than half its total yardage in the game. The chunk plays surrendered last year were a major point of frustration, and played a part in the departure of defensive coordinator Bo Pelini after just one season in Baton Rouge. He was replaced by former Minnesota Vikings assistant Daronte Jones, who has drawn high marks throughout his first camp while implementing his system.
Some criticism has been levied at the coaching staff and team for not looking prepared. In this case, the prep burned them. Had the keys been correct and the play been a run, it'd have been stopped cold. Not the case this time, though.
“You have two new coordinators and obviously they had great ideas and obviously they had gameplans that they thought would work. … We could’ve put our guys in a lot better position a lot of times," Orgeron said. "But there were some times that we practiced the exact same situation and our guys didn’t perform like they should. So it works both ways."
Another thing Orgeron will be quick to point out: These are not excuses. What they are is the explanation. In order to fix those issues, the players and coaches first must identify and understand what went wrong.
The first game of any season always comes with unknowns, particularly in college where roster turnover is high and simple changes in schemes and personnel can make all the difference.
Related
That's what burned LSU on a Saturday in Pasadena. Orgeron also pointed out that it's not a "talent issue." The prep and execution by the players, along with the communication and gameplanning from his new staff all has to be better. There's no reason to think that can't happen, with a pair of lower-level matchups upcoming the next two weeks. Knowing that, LSU spent 8 hours on Sunday going over the film, and altogether spent a good bit more time this week on fixing the existing issues. If all had gone to plan, more of that time would've been spent preparing for the upcoming matchup with McNeese State and Ed's son, Cody Orgeron. LSU has leaned more heavily into that prep as the week progresses.
LSU is now looking forward to see if more practice make perfect. They'll learn from the opening loss, but they won't dwell on it.
"You can't let [UCLA] beat you twice," Orgeron said.