Tag: Jake Peetz

Five reasons Kansas State could beat LSU

Playing devil’s advocate, five reasons that LSU falters on Tuesday

LSU will face off against Kansas State in the Texas Bowl on Tuesday night. It’s the final bowl game of the season before the championship next Monday.

Kansas State comes into this game with a 7-5 record. Outside of their loss to Texas in the final game of the season, four of those losses came against good teams. For the most part, this is a Kansas State team that took care of business when they were supposed too.

They are coached by Chris Kleiman, who’s in his third-year of the program after running a dynasty at North Dakota State in the FCS.

LSU will be coached by Brad Davis in what is the final game before Brian Kelly assumes that roll. Davis was hired by LSU in June to serve as the offensive line coach. Davis will remain in that position as Brian Kelly takes over.

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With all that being said, Kansas State is the favorite tomorrow. To put it mildly, LSU is dealing with a lot of adversity right now. It’s difficult to imagine them winning this game unless some unexpected names step up. On the other hand, Kansas State has some good things going for it. Here are five reasons the Wildcats could take care of LSU in the Texas Bowl.

Ed Orgeron calls the offense “the same story”

Same old story for the offense

On Monday Ed Orgeron discussed the issues with the team, which is usually the case on a Monday following a loss. The defense has shown improvement in recent weeks.

In the last two games, the Alabama Crimson Tide and Arkansas Razorbacks were held to 20 points or fewer. More often than not that should result in a win. Especially when your offense is averaging 30.5 points per game heading into those matchups. The only problem is you mustered up a total of 27 points combined.

Orgeron called it “the same story.” Slow starts and slow finishes are really the stories of the offense in the last three weeks for the Tigers. In the first half of the last three games, they are averaging just eight points. Against Florida, they put 21 points, just three points shy of the next three games combined.

What about the finishes? Well, they averaged 6.7 points per game against Ole Miss, Alabama, and Arkansas. Through the Florida game, LSU averaged 14.7 in the first half and 17.7 in the second half. It seems as though when they flipped the switch on defense, they turned out the lights on the offense.

That isn’t the case but we know that Ed Orgeron is a defensive guy, he came up coaching the defensive line. His offense is run by two rookie play-callers so this sort of issue can be expected. However, it hasn’t been an issue until the last month.

They need to use the game against UL-Monroe as a time to try out some new wrinkles. If they have any hope in beating the Texas A&M Aggies and getting to bowl season, what they have brought to the table lately just isn’t going to cut it.

The Monday After: LSU needs to find a way to finish

Do you trust LSU to win the final two games?

The theme of this season has to do with finishing, the LSU Tigers have shown the inability to finish out games. After the first month of the season the Tigers found themselves 3-1. Everything was still in front of them despite an early embarrassment against the UCLA Bruins.

When the calendar changed to October, the wheels started to come off for LSU. They lost at home to Auburn, something that hasn’t happened since 1999. In that game they held the lead but couldn’t find a way to finish the game. Instead they relied on four Cade York field goals to be their offense, the last coming with 3:26 to go in the third quarter. Auburn scored 14 in the final 18 minutes of the game to win. The LSU offense finished with three punts and an interception to lose 24-19.

The very next week it was Kentucky, not much you can say about that game because the Wildcats did whatever they wanted in that game. The team didn’t look prepared for what Mark Stoops’ team was going to do. Then the Florida game happened, and as we have seen the Gators haven’t looked the same since the Alabama game. Ole Miss completely shut down the offense and only allowed LSU to score 10 points late in the game with backup quarterback Garrett Nussmeier.

The open date couldn’t have come at a better time due to the fact that this team was reeling. Losers in three of the last four games, and could have been four straight if a play or two goes the other way. Just the way things go in the game of college football.

When Ed Orgeron and company rolled into Tuscaloosa, everyone expected the Crimson Tide to blow them out. It didn’t happen. In fact LSU had a real opportunity to win that game. They led 7-0 for most of the first half, it wasn’t until Max Johnson turned the ball over twice that allowed Alabama to take control of the scoreboard. In the third quarter the Tigers trailed 20-7 after really making life difficult on Bryce Young and the Tide.

It was a 14-play 89-yard drive by the offense that got LSU back in it. The drive capped off by a Max Johnson to Jack Bech 8-yard touchdown throw. The Tigers were down just six points and you had to like their chances based on how the defense was playing. In the final seven minutes of the game LSU had the ball on three different drives. Two of which ended with a pass into the endzone that wasn’t caught. They just couldn’t finish against the Tide.

The failings in the Arkansas game are well documented. After two drives that resulted in two punts where the offense had 13 snaps and 39 yards, Johnson was pulled in favor of Garrett Nussmeier. It paid immediate dividends as he led the team on back-to-back scoring drives to take the lead at 10-3. The next six drives were anything but successful. Punt, fumble, punt, punt, missed field goal, interception. The team couldn’t finish and it allowed the Hogs back into the game.

The offense would tie the game up in the fourth quarter, where it would remain until halftime. Nussmeier and the offense held possession of the ball for 10:55 of the final quarter. Time of possession clearly in their favor but they could only muster those three points at the beginning of the final quarter. LSU would turn the ball over on downs at the Arkansas 38-yard line and then punt with just 0:17 left in the game. In overtime Nussmeier was intercepted in the end zone and Cam Little sent everyone home on a 29-yard field goal.

The problems with this team go so far beyond the quarterback play. They don’t have a full compliment of their offensive line. Receivers don’t do enough to get open. The playcalling is atrocious. There is a stench on the offensive side of the ball that likely won’t get better until they rid themselves of Ed Orgeron, Jake Peetz, and DJ Mangas.

They could still win the final two games and get to bowl season. At this point, do you trust them?

Five LSU takeaways from the OT loss to Arkansas

“The era is almost over”

It was another numbing loss in Baton Rouge on Saturday night. For the first time in six years, the Arkansas Razorbacks took home the Boot trophy. It also marked the first time Ed Orgeron had lost to the Hogs.

Seems like that it is a common occurrence in and every week. This marks the first time LSU lost at home to Auburn or they lost to Arkansas for the first time in six years. It was the first time they lost to Kentucky in over a decade. Too many of these sorts of instances.

With all of that said we broke down our five takeaways from the game.

LSU head coach: “We’re too predictable on offense, too predictable on defense”

Ed Orgeron addressed the media and admits to being too predictable on both sides of the ball.

LSU Tigers head coach Ed Orgeron met with the media as is customary on Monday. He confirmed the report that quarterback Myles Brennan has entered his name in the transfer portal.

On the topic of self-scouting, Orgeron stated that the team is too predictable.

“We’re too predictable by formations,” Orgeron said. “We’re too predictable on first down. We are very, very predictable on defense. We need to have more variety on first down. We give them the same looks over and over again. There’s not much disguise.”

I am paraphrasing here but Orgeron said whatever formation they line up in is what they run the play in. He also mentioned they are not making the right adjustments and over the last week and this week, the emphasis has been on adjustments.

This just shows how lost it seems that Ed Orgeron is as the head coach. In week 10 of the season, they are now getting to adjustments and adding wrinkles to their playcalling. This falls squarely on the head coach and the poor hires he has made over the last two seasons.

Jake Peetz looks to be overmatched week in and week out as the offensive playcaller. The same goes for Bo Pelini last year and Daronte Jones this season. In a year where the Tigers and more specifically Ed Orgeron needed a huge year, he opted to go with two coordinators getting their first shot at playcalling.

He hired them based on limited time working with Joe Brady and Dave Aranda. As the season moves on, the LSU administration is one step closer to getting the next head coach in the building to hopefully fix this mess that Orgeron has created.

Ed Orgeron points to presnap process and the run game as top issues

Two key areas that Ed Orgeron mentioned that need to be addressed.

LSU head coach Ed Orgeron met with the media on Monday where he took responsibility for the loss. “Ultimately, I’m responsible for the performance of this team.”

This came off the heels of CBS Sports and 247Sports analyst Josh Pate calling out Orgeron for not taking any blame following the game Saturday night.

“Things that we need to fix on offense, pre-snap process,” Orgeron stated on Monday. “Our run game, we need to be more physical. Redzone, very disappointed. We were very disappointed in our performance in the redzone and third down.”

The pre-snap process is something that I alluded to when discussing the biggest issue at LSU. The defense has been doing their job since the opening game loss against UCLA. On Saturday against Auburn, they held them to just 10 points through the first three quarters.

Eventually, they broke through but not to any fault of theirs, except not being able to get Bo Nix to the ground. The offense has to be better and it all starts with that presnap process.

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Orgeron said on multiple occasions on Monday that “we’ve got to get that fixed.” Mostly when discussing the issues presnap for the offense. Getting the plays in quickly and running that play. When changing the play before the snap they are giving Max Johnson no time to get it set up before burning timeouts.

The running game hasn’t just been a struggle, the team just downright refuses to run the ball despite everything that Orgeron says in his weekly pressers. Looking at the play calls, especially in the fourth quarter, they had one designed run call. None of which came with a lead late in the game.

When asked about the run game he stated, “we need to be committed to it. I think that we need to make a recommitment to calling the run plays we’re practicing.”

Opponent Car Yards YPC TDs
UCLA 25 49 2.0 0
McNeese 36 124 3.4 1
Central Mich 24 95 3.5 1
Miss St 27 63 2.3 0
Auburn 25 33 1.3 0

It really isn’t a matter of the lack of a running game, it comes down to when they do it. Teams are committing just three or four men to the rush, leaving room for the backs to run. The only problem is that the offensive line plays with zero physicality. They are constantly getting bullied at the line of scrimmage.

How do they fix it? Not sure they can fix it with the personnel that they currently have. They will need to figure out how to get their backs in space. One thing for certain is the running back averaging 5.2 yards per touch needs to be on the field more. Corey Kiner has been on of the lone bright spots in the backfield this year.

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Tell the Truth Monday: What is the biggest issue at LSU

Let’s tell the ugly truth on this Monday following the loss to Auburn.

When LSU head coach Ed Orgeron takes the podium on Mondays for his weekly press conference following a game, he calls it “Tell the Truth Monday.” It is time to tell the truth even if it is a tough pill to swallow, we are discussing the No. 1 issue for the football program and it is the offense.

When looking at the No. 1 problem with the LSU football team, it seems like it begins and ends with Ed Orgeron. He stood before the media on Monday and took full responsibility for the loss against Auburn. It absolutely is on Coach O, however, I am going to point the finger elsewhere while still placing this at the feet of the head coach.

The biggest problem for the Tigers is their offensive coordinator Jake Peetz, the next “Joe Brady.” The offense looks unprepared at times, the team using timeouts because they can’t get the play call in or just flat out aren’t ready for the next play. An issue that is expected with an offensive coordinator that has never called plays before.

His passing game is putting up some healthy numbers but they are so one-dimensional that teams don’t have to try very hard to figure it out. In the first 20 minutes of the game against Auburn, they were lighting it up through the air. However, when the game was on the line they were outscored 14-0 in the final 18:26 of the game.

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In the fourth quarter of the game with a two-score lead at 19-10, Peetz called zero run plays on the three drives with the lead. He didn’t call a run play until there were less than three minutes remaining, facing a second and 10 from the LSU 42-yard line. Of the 19 offensive plays in the fourth quarter, Johnson threw it 17 times for 50 yards with a game-sealing interception on fourth down. They averaged 0.4 yards per play.

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Against Power Five programs this year, the LSU running game is averaging just 1.9 yards per carry. That number puts them last in the SEC by almost a full yard and No. 112 of 120 teams against Power Five opponents.

Corey Kiner leads the team in yards rushing, yards per attempt, yards after contact, and runs of 10+ yards. Not to mention he is the only one to score a rushing touchdown this season. Yes, the lack of a push up front is hurting the running game but when you won’t bother playing your best running back, that falls on the offensive coordinator and head coach.

Three reasons why changes need to be made at the top for LSU

Is it time for a change?

The Ed Orgeron era seems to be coming out of its heyday.

After LSU lost to Auburn in Death Valley for the first time since 1999, fans are a little frustrated with the sixth-year head coach. LSU is barely sitting above .500 after their 15-0 national championship season back in 2019, and the train seems to be continuously slowing down.

There has been obvious regression on both sides of the ball, and little effort seems to have been made to change things around Baton Rouge. LSU can’t afford another breakeven season.

Unfortunately, the Tigers are staring a very tough schedule in the face. Their next five opponents are a combined 20-5. The road ahead looks grim for LSU if they can’t get things together.

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Here are three reasons why changes should be made in Baton Rouge.

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Wide receivers need to improve on pass catching to help out the offense

Time for the LSU WRs to step it up for the offense.

For the LSU Tigers offense to be even better than they have been, the wide receivers are going to need to step it up. Even top wideout Kayshon Boutte admitted they all need to do better.

“We really talked about it every day. We talk about it and preach about it every day and things we can do to improve on it is catching balls after practice and practicing more with the quarterbacks.”

Looking at the distribution, it is led by Boutte. As it should, the team needs to find more ways to get the ball into the hands of their playmakers. Palmer didn’t play against Central Michigan but still ranks No. 2 in the number of targets along with freshman Jack Bech. The biggest issue being the number of drops between the top four most-targeted receivers, seven between them.

Receiver Targets Receptions Rec % Drops Drop %
Kayshon Boutte 28 19 67.9 3 13.6
Trey Palmer 13 10 76.9 1 9.1
Jack Bech 13 10 76.9 1 9.1
Jaray Jenkins 9 3 33.3 2 40.0
Deion Smith 9 7 77.8 0 0.0
Koy Moore 8 5 62.5 0 0.0
Devonta Lee 7 5 71.4 1 16.7
Brian Thomas Jr 5 3 60.0 2 40.0

Going up against the Mississippi State defense, they will have ample opportunity. The Bulldogs give up the most passing yards per game, and second in the number of touchdown receptions allowed. This is where Boutte could shine for the Tigers, he leads the nation in touchdown receptions.

Much the reason that the LSU offense has moved him around a bit. Boutte has played 44.7% of his snaps from the slot. The defense will have to account for him all over the field, dependent upon where Jake Peetz wants to line him up. Bech is another player who can line up at every wide receiver position and even as an inline tight end.

Look for Boutte and Bech to take advantage of mismatches in the Bulldogs secondary on Saturday. Especially if the run game continues to go missing.

LSU Offense: Orgeron wants to go ‘warp speed’ against Central Michigan

Hopefully this plan works for Ed Orgeron and the LSU Tigers.

Going into fall camp, there was a level of optimism going into the 2021 campaign. The team was going back to the Joe Brady offense they helped win them a national championship. To do so, the LSU Tigers hired two Joe Brady assistants from Carolina in Jake Peetz and DJ Mangas.

The only problem is that during the two weeks to open the season this offense has looked like anything but a Joe Brady system. These two coaches are in their first season with the Tigers, so one shouldn’t expect them to hit the ground running as soon as the team broke camp.

After watching the team struggle to move the ball consistently against UCLA and McNeese, it is time to speed up the offense with an up-tempo approach.

When speaking with the media, LSU head coach Ed Orgeron states the offense needs to kick it up a notch.

“I think it’s more we’re trying to love over, get the perfect play for the perfect defense,” Orgeron said when discussing the issues on offense. “We had a discussion and we’re better off sometimes going to what we call ‘warp’. Go fast and attack the defense and we’re going to practice that this week.”

Going up-tempo or ‘warp’ could be a way for the offense to disguise some of its weaknesses. More specifically the weaknesses with the offensive line. They have allowed five sacks and countless pressures in protection. Going faster will help the team in that regard.

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Going faster with no substitutions won’t allow the defense to catch their breath and that is where mistakes can happen. It interesting idea just a couple of weeks into the season. The real question is do they have enough time ahead of Mississippi State to get it installed to their liking?

Just one more aspect to follow in this week’s game with Central Michigan.