In offensive rebuild, LSU took a hard look at what Oklahoma does

There’s no telling just how much of what LSU has in its current playbook that Riley has done, but the Tigers admit they studied a lot of OU.

ATLANTA — Ed Orgeron loves Oklahoma’s counter.

He beamed with excitement when asked about the conversation Orgeron and Lincoln Riley had about it at last year’s NFL Draft at Monday’s first Peach Bowl press conference.

It’s a play everyone sees when watching Oklahoma—the guard and tackle pull around the center and opposite guard and tackle, who are blocking down to create a lane for the pulling lineman to come around.

Though that’s only one play, Orgeron did give a sneak peak into just how much he and the LSU offensive staff studied Oklahoma this offseason.

“Obviously, anything that we do, I do believe (Lincoln Riley) won’t be surprised by what we’re doing,” LSU’s head coach said Monday.

This is an offense that rose from ESPN’s Bill Connelly SP+ No. 30 offense in 2018 to SP+ No. 1 offense in 2019. The LSU offense rose from the 83rd offense in yards per play (5.3 yards per play) in 2018 to No. 3 in yards per play in 2019 (7.5 yards per play).

Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow was quick to dismiss that LSU studied that much of Oklahoma, and said that they built this on their own with adding in what the New Orleans Saints—where passing game coordinator, wide receivers coach and Broyles Award winner for the best assistant in college football, Joe Brady, spent the last two seasons—and Penn State did.

Though Burrow dismissed the idea of studying a lot of Oklahoma, his offensive coordinator, who admitted he is too honest at times on Monday, was quick to say otherwise—including the week of the Peach Bowl.

 

“Well to be honest with you, in our research during spring and summer, we spent a lot of time on Oklahoma,” LSU offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger said. “We spent a lot of time on the counter series, a lot of time with their RPO’s and we’ve watched them a bunch.

“No, I think they do a great job offensively. I’ll be honest—last night, two nights ago, I had our defensive graduate assistant send me over 150 plays of their offense and we watched it and it’s basically, what (Lincoln Riley) does, it’s almost triple option. It is a passing game but their play action, their running tight end on a route and he’s blocking and running and you better account for everybody and the quarterback run. They’re pretty good at it.”

It was clear early in the season that LSU spent time on Oklahoma in its offensive rebuild:

Oklahoma is aware that teams take from what they do offensively, but football is a copycat game and the Sooners are one of the most innovative offenses in all of football, regardless of the level.

With that said, they’ll admit they watch a lot of what other teams do, too.

“I think that’s part of college football,” said Oklahoma co-offensive coordinator and inside receivers coach Cale Gundy said. “Everybody watches a lot of film. There are a lot of good coaches out there. We feel like we have great coaches on our staff but there are always great ideas that you see on Saturday and Sundays on film and TV that you don’t mind adding to your team as well. Everybody has a little bit of that in them.”

There’s no telling just how much of what LSU has in its current playbook that Oklahoma has done, but it is telling that in a year with a Heisman Trophy winning quarterback behind center that has elite arm talent, arm strength and a great mind, that the Tigers’ offense went from middle-of-the-pack or below to maybe the best in all of college football.

Why wouldn’t you take a hard look at Oklahoma did with Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray as well as the New Orleans Saints with NFL passing yards and touchdowns record holder Drew Brees?

Oklahoma and LSU will kickoff in the College Football Playoff at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl from Atlanta on Saturday at 3 p.m. CT on ESPN.