10/7/2020
By: LSU Sports Information Da Boot Sports! MISSOURI AT LSU GAME MOVED TO COLUMBIA DUE TO HURRICANE DELTA BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (October 7, 2020) – The Missouri at LSU football game scheduled for Saturday night in Baton Rouge has been moved to Columbia, Missouri due to Hurricane Delta, it was announced Wednesday. The game will kick off at 11 am CT on Saturday on an ESPN platform to be announced. “Due to the pending impact of Hurricane Delta on Louisiana and the surrounding area, it is in the best interest for the safety of everyone involved to move the game to Columbia,” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said. “It was critical to relocate the game to an SEC campus where SEC COVID-19 management protocols are in place and readily applied. I appreciate the cooperation of the schools who are working closely to make the appropriate operational adjustments in order to prioritize the health and safety of our student-athletes while accommodating this change in the schedule.” The SEC continues to monitor the path of Hurricane Delta and remains in communication with member schools to evaluate its potential impact on other athletic events this week. Statement from LSU Athletic Director Scott Woodward “While we are disappointed to not play in Tiger Stadium this weekend, Hurricane Delta’s current path and the need to play in a venue with SEC COVID-19 protocols in place made this change an absolute necessity. I want to thank Missouri Athletic Director Jim Sterk for accommodating this on such short notice and Commissioner Sankey for his continued leadership of our conference. I also want to thank those in other cities and venues who reached out to assist, including Shreveport Mayor Adrian Perkins and his staff. Our thoughts and prayers are with all those in the path of this dangerous storm. Be safe.” 10/5/2020
By: LSU Sports Information Da Boot Sports! Coach O spoke to the media on 'Tell the Truth Monday' to discuss the 41-7 victory over Vanderbilt in Nashville... Below is the entire press conference.... Geaux Tigers! Opening Statement: ED ORGERON: Tell the truth Monday, really pleased of the performance of our football team. Went on the road to get a victory against Vanderbilt, and we did it. A lot of players played very well. Still some things to improve, but we made a lot of improvement from week 1 to week 2. Hopefully this week we make the same amount of improvement. On offense, 41 points. We scored 30 or more points in nine straight games, 300 yards passing for 11 straight games, zero allowed sacks at Vanderbilt. Got to give credit to Coach James Cregg and the offensive line, especially Cam Wire, who started at left tackle, played every snap, did very well. Very pleased with the play of the offensive line. Very pleased to see John Emery have his career best 103 yards rushing. Johnny made some great cuts to the outside, made some good runs to the inside. The thing I'm most pleased with is zero turnovers, and he has done a great job of taking care of the football. He's becoming a complete back. Myles Brennan, the first player in LSU history to have 300-plus passing yards in his first two career starts. Passing yards, 682, completions 50, TD passes 7. Most of any LSU quarterback in the first two career starts in school history. Pretty good start for Myles. Terrace Marshall had another big game. Jontre Kirklin, two touchdowns. I was so excited to see Jontre have those two touchdown catches. He's done a tremendous job for us, an LSU Tiger, right there from Lutcher High School. Eleven players caught passes versus Vanderbilt, spreading the ball around. We're plus 3 in the turnover margin. We have six take-aways in two games. Of six take-aways this year, four have led to points. A tremendous job by the whole team there. On defense, very impressed with the performance of our defense, especially the yards after catch, only 60 yards compared to 383 the week before. Tremendous improvement on assignments. Tremendous improvement on getting to the football. We had three sacks, two interceptions, seven first downs, 63 total yards in the second half. Tremendous job of making some adjustments and coming back and playing 60 minutes of football. Two stops in the red zone. Obviously, having Derek Stingley made a difference for us in the backfield. Flott had four tackles, two tackles for a loss. Second play of the game, when he came and made that tackle on that bubble screen, I knew we were ready to play just by the way we flew to the football and we tackled. Eli Ricks and Todd Harris each had interceptions. Special teams, all three of Zach's punts were down inside the 20. 2 of 2 on field goals, a 53 and a 31-yarder. 25 yards (average) on four punt returns, including a 48-yarder by Stingley. Pretty good job by a football team. There's some things to improve. Too many drops. Still we've got to improve on our effort. We cut our load down by a half for sure, but we still have to improve on that and making in game adjustments. I thought our coaching staff did a tremendous job. We still need to continue to improve in that area. On to Missouri. Missouri on offense is very, very complicated. Coach has a lot of shifts and motions, will run the triple option. First time I've seen a pitch in a while off of a dive, a quarterback in a pitch with a lot of different formations. So we have to play assignment football. Boot and waggle team. They run a lot of nakeds. Offensive line, good zone blocking team will cut you, and also run some gap plays. On defense, they're a three-four defense, will run some bear. They'll blitz you. They'll bring pressure, or they'll play man coverage and play zone. Well coached football team in Missouri. We're looking forward to this week of challenges, of us getting better as a football team every day. Q. Coach, obviously, you talk about week 1 to week 2 jumps. We saw that from Myles. Stats aside, the first week just getting comfortable, what made him, in your mind, much more comfortable when it came to the game plan and maybe how it played out with him in week 2? ED ORGERON: We simplified it, obviously. We simplified it. And he worked all week on stepping up in the pocket, not scrambling to his right like he usually wants to once he feels pressure. Sliding up in the pocket. I made him a little cut-up myself of Drew Brees. I don't know if that worked or not, but I know he studied it. I think we worked very hard on him staying in the pocket, stepping up, and making the right throw, and letting it rip. When he sees it open, let it go. That touchdown he made to Terrace, that free safety was sitting right there. That ball was right on the money. Q. You mentioned Cam Wire. Looked like he had a good day. Could you maybe just go through some of what you saw going back on film, sort of assessing his day in a little more detail. ED ORGERON: Yeah, I thought he was very good in his protection. Could finish his run blocks a little bit better. We were really worried about their defensive line. They had an excellent pass rush. We didn't have to give him as much help as we thought we had to, as far as chipping or sliding his way. I thought he handled that guy pretty good. Very mature. Cam has been in that program for a while now. He's gained weight, gotten bigger and stronger. Very proud of him. Q. Ed, you mentioned the drops there with the receivers. What do you think has led to that? What things in practice are you all doing to work with that? I know you guys got real creative last year with that. ED ORGERON: I do believe it's timing of the quarterback, and new receivers catching balls, nervous first game, taking their eyes off of the football, trying to get up the field before they catch the football. They're going to run today for some drops. All our receivers who drop the ball will run extra at practice, and will have extra catches on the jugging machine. Q. Just to bounce off of Cam Wire, checking on the status of Dare Rosenthal this week. On top of that, obviously, you've wanted a defensive line that's more aggressive in attacking for quite a while. I guess how pleased are you the first two games of the season how far they've come in that sense? ED ORGERON: First of all, it's fun to watch. Fun to be a part of. Travez Moore gave us a good pass rush, B.J. Ojulari. Ali continues to make plays. I thought Jaquelin Roy went in there and made some big time plays and some great pass rushes. It's good to see those guys putting the athletes in space and let them go make some plays. I really like at that. I think Dare is going to play this week. He was questionable going up to it. We thought maybe he could do it. Q. Coach, it was a bit weak for you guys on the secondary and just kind of the improvements in the younger guys. Can you talk a little bit about what you saw from guys like Elias and Cordale in their week 2 performance and maybe how Derek Stingley, how his presence kind of helps those guys. ED ORGERON: I think Derek Stingley's presence helped everybody, including me, to be honest with you. It gave us a lot of confidence. He's one of the best players in America. Also, it took the pressure off of Elias. It took the pressure off of Cordale. But you know what, that was their first time playing that many snaps in a game. So the second game, I think there was less nerves. They were a little more sure of the things that they had to do. I think they just stuck to the technique, didn't give up any big plays, which I was very pleased with. Q. Do you think John Emery's performance can give him a little bit of an edge, maybe getting some more reps, or that lead back row even with Chris Curry coming back Saturday? ED ORGERON: We'll have to see how healthy Chris is. Hopefully, those guys can share the reps back there, along with Tyrion. I still believe Tyrion Davis is an excellent back. I feel good about all three backs right now, and all three are equal in my mind. Q. Hey, Coach. Two questions. One, what breakout players have you seen so far that maybe you weren't expecting that you didn't really think were going to be this good in fall camp and practice? Two, what big differences have you seen with your offense and your defense that you didn't see against Mississippi State? ED ORGERON: You got to look at a guy like Ali Gaye, who had a tremendous camp but hadn't made any plays for us. You never can tell how they're going to play in the game, but he's played excellent the last two games. Now, he's got some things to work on, but he's a name that comes to mind right away. And Jabril Cox, it didn't surprise me, who's having an outstanding year. It was good to have Todd Harris back, good to see him get that interception. He looked healthy. And what was the second question? Q. Second question was what's the big differences that you saw on your offense and your defense in Vanderbilt that you maybe didn't see against Mississippi State? ED ORGERON: We played more zone. We didn't give up as many big plays. We didn't have as many busts as we did in the first game. We didn't have as many missed assignments or got beat just one-on-one. We barely got beat one-on-one. Now, maybe that had something to do with Mississippi State and their team, I understand that, but it looked like we were more settled down. We give the quarterback a lot more time in the pocket. We had no sacks compared to seven sacks. So that was the biggest improvement. Q. JaCoby said after the game Saturday that he held a lot of the guys on offense and defense on punishment. Can you elaborate and give some more details on that? Is he becoming -- we already knew he was already emerging as one of the team leaders, but is he becoming that team disciplinarian that's starting to hold guys accountable on offense and defense? ED ORGERON: I think he has great leadership qualities. I don't know anything about a team punishment. I don't know what you're talking about, and they might want to inform me of that. But as far as him being a leader, yeah, I think he's been a great leader. Q. I know we saw with Myles about waiting your turn, and I know there's other guys on your team that maybe had a chance to transfer but just stayed in the program. What does it say about Jontre Kirklin that he's a senior and he's finally getting his due there, especially against Vanderbilt? ED ORGERON: Perseverance. Jontre's come to work with a smile on his face every day. Like I said, Jontre is like one of my sons. I'm so close to him and his family. Him being from Lutcher and we recruited him. Outstanding young man. No one wants him to have more success in the program, and we all do. It's good to see it, but he's waited his turn. We tried to get the ball in his hand, played on wildcat, tried to play defense. He told me, you know what, Coach, I want to play receiver. I'm going to be a darn good receiver, and he sure is. I hope he has a great senior year. Q. Cade went through a small slump last year, but he said there might be an open competition in preseason. He started the year 4 for 4 and hit that career long 53-yarder and nailed that kick. How much confidence do you have in him at kicker at this point? ED ORGERON: A lot, and to be honest with you, I'm glad he's kicking well because Preston was right on his tail. There was some competition in camp, and the young man we have right behind him is an excellent field goal kicker. I'm glad to see that Cade's doing well. Cade knows that he has to perform well. He's done well so far. I think he's bigger and stronger and more confident. Last year he was a freshman, and it's hard for a freshman to come in the SEC and not be nervous. I think this time he has the steps down, he has the routine down, and he's more comfortable. Q. Coach, when did you realize Curry was not available for the game, and was that the John Emery you recruited and have seen? ED ORGERON: We were hoping all the way until up to game time that maybe Chris could go, although he didn't practice. We thought that maybe he'd be able to come around on Saturday and maybe give us some snaps. But Jack said he couldn't play, so I listened to Jack. If he couldn't play, he couldn't play. Yeah, that's the John Emery we recruited. It took him a little while for him to come. It's just like any other freshman. Everyone grows at their own pace. John is a terrific young man, a confident young man, hard working. Like I said Saturday night, he's gotten bigger and stronger in the weight room. I think Kevin Faulk has done a tremendous job with his development. He knows his plays. He hangs onto the football, and he's very eager. Q. How much of an advantage is moving Andre Anthony back down to defensive end with that pass rush and having his hand back in the dirt? ED ORGERON: He was kind of like the tweener in the three-four. He wasn't a four technique, but he wasn't that outside linebacker type. In the four-three, he's perfect. I think he's a good end. He's very smart. He does a lot of things for us. Plays very hard, makes plays. Still has some assignment stuff to do to get better. Also, on the cheater package, we can put him at the three technique and put more speed on the field. Q. Plans still to play Glen Logan this week? If so, how does that affect the defensive line rotation? And does -- has he been practicing? Like is he going to need to get back up to game speed, or is he good to go? ED ORGERON: He's good to go. He's been practicing. We're going to have him starting. He's been practicing every day, hasn't missed a practice. Doing second team reps, running individual, doing extra on his own. He's ready to go. I'll tell you, it's going to get a little tight there. He's going to have competition because Joe Evans is playing well, Neil Farrell is playing well. Ika had a sack, and then Jaquelin Roy is coming along. Jaquelin is probably the most athletic with the biggest upside of any of them, and he's only a freshman. I'm excited to see Jaquelin Roy playing the way he's playing. I think he's going to be an excellent defensive tackle for us. Q. Coach, when you dominate a game, you win 41-7, is it easier to go back and clean up, okay, big kick return at the end of the first half, second half running back wide open, could have been a touchdown if he caught it, those kinds of things that could hurt you down the road? ED ORGERON: Yeah, it grabs everybody's attention, especially the head coaches. Those are some things that we've got to look at personnel. I looked at it with Coach Mac this morning. What's happened is we got so used to everybody not taking the ball back, and I think we got a little lax. We need to stay in our lanes. We had four guys bust up right away. Some of it's personnel. Some of it's scheme. Some of it's technique. We've got to get it cleaned up, and we've got to expect every kick to come on out. Those backs coming out of the backfield free, we talked about it on defense last night. I even said it on the headset. We've got to clean that stuff up. Now, it was a lot better from the first game. Again, it's a new defense. Some guys that are blitzing have a rule in the back, and they've got to take it. It was a short split when we missed it. It should have been a switch call. We didn't get that switch call. We're going to work on those things in practice this week. Q. Hey, Coach, just curious. You talked about some of the adjustments that everybody is kind of making, playing with more confidence. Do you feel like your team is kind of getting back on schedule? Obviously, you lost the nonconference games, but do you feel about right for where you would be in a season in week 3 now? ED ORGERON: Yeah, winning makes you feel good, makes you confident. You've always got to look at your competition, and we all know that the competition is going to be a lot stiffer coming down the road very fast. So I'm always looking at competing at the highest level in the SEC and where we're at in order to compete at the highest level. We've still got a ways to go. We made a tremendous improvement over from week 1 to week 2. Now we've got to continue to make the improvement, and we cannot make the mistakes that we make and play the elite teams in the SEC and expect to win. Q. Back to Joseph Evans. He's a guy who obviously went from defense to offense and just back to defense. I mean, one, what has that been like for him? Two, what have you seen in him along the way to keep trusting him, I guess? ED ORGERON: He'll probably be starting at guard this week. Ed Ingram may be questionable this week. He'll probably be starting at guard. He's one of those guys that can play both ways. He comes out of his hips. He's very fluid. He's very smart. I haven't seen Joe have a bad day. Joe comes to work every day with a smile on his face. If you tell him to run ten gassers, he'll say, yes, sir, I'll run ten gassers. He does a lot of things well, plays hard, and still has a way to go. He has a cast on that hand, and he's been playing with one hand and playing the position very well. So I can't wait until his hand is completely healed so he can start using his hands. Q. To what extent would you say the SEC has evolved toward a passing league where defensive coaches maybe are spending more time worried about receivers, tight ends, and quarterbacks than they used to be? ED ORGERON: Well, it has, because of the spread obviously. It seemed like to everybody who was in the spread now. Everybody has great athletes. Everybody's throwing the ball deep. I watched the SEC on tape. I watched them on TV. There's some great players and some great coaches and some great schemes. But you know what, you can never lose sight in the SEC that in order to win the SEC, you have to be physical up front. The great teams are always going to be able to run the football. The great teams are always going to be able to stop the run. Q. A couple of questions, please, sir. Do you think -- doubling back to what you said about Myles, that him being able to navigate around the pocket is a giant key for him moving forward? And, two, after watching the way Arkansas defends Mississippi State, do you wish in hindsight that you had gone back and played more three-man line and dropped eight? ED ORGERON: First of all, yes. Myles maneuvering in the pocket with pocket presence, being patient and stepping up is something that we worked very hard last week on him doing it, allowing the routes to become open. Then when they become open, let her rip, throw it. Make a decision and let's go, and he did that. I thought he did that very well this week. Now, it wasn't like he was in a whole lot of the rest, but you know, on the double pass, he got hit pretty good. He got hit pretty good, and that was a pretty darn good pass that he threw. So a lot of improvement there. Still some improvement to go. It's got to start with the offensive line also. Obviously, when we go back and we watch the film, there's some things we could have did different. Number one, played the scheme better with better technique and better alignments, made adjustments within the scheme. Although it's man, sometimes you can switch stuff off because of splits and not switch stuff off and communicate better. We didn't do that. There's also some times where we could have played more zone. I will say this. On that third down and 20, we dropped eight, and we rushed three, and they completed on that play. Hindsight's 20/20. This is the first time that we had seen that offense live as far as myself personally, and I know we're going to be better at it next year. Q. I'm just curious about the receiver rotation. Do you foresee it being this deep all season, or do you foresee it kind of whittling down some of the guys? ED ORGERON: We're going to try to play as many guys as we can. I'm pleased with the play of Arik Gilbert. Hopefully, we can play him some at tight end, some at receiver, as he learns the position. One of these young guys -- I thought Kayshon Boutte made some good plays. As the play went on, he made some good plays, broke some tackles. Koy Moore has had an excellent camp for us, though he missed that crossing route. We've got to give him patience and give him time. So is Trey Palmer. Trey's got a lot of speed. As the season goes on, we've got to give those guys confidence and let them make plays. Q. Coach, what was the difference between -- during this COVID, between a home game at LSU and then a road game? Were those things similar, or what do you think from a sideline view? ED ORGERON: The home game at LSU, we're so dependent on the Tiger Walk and the energy, that it was difficult to match. Obviously, it's always going to be difficult to match. There's no place like Tiger Stadium. Going away, when we walked into the stadium at Vanderbilt, they were playing very loud crowd noise. Again, I got a little worried because we didn't practice crowd noise all week, which we usually do going to play an away game. But they could only play, I think it's 75 decibels loud when we're out there, which is not very loud. So it didn't affect us at all. It was kind of eerie going into the stadium with no fans and stuff like that. I think we learned our lesson from the first game that we have to create our own energy. I think the biggest thing is that you lose home field advantage. 10/3/2020 By: Terrill J. Weil Da Boot Sports! NASHVILLE, TN: The Tigers went into Music City looking to rebound from last week's 44-34 upset loss to Mississippi State and that they did. After a slow start, LSU would begin to take the game over in the second quarter, then dominate the Commodores in the second half, blasting Vanderbilt 41-7... The LSU defense made life miserable for Vanderbilt quarterback Ken Seals all night long, holding him to only 113 yards passing, putting constant pressure on him including three sacks, and intercepting him twice. Derek Stingley returned to the lineup and helped lead the secondary to a much improved performance, as they were able to eliminate most of the mistakes that lead to the big plays last week. On Offense, the Tigers rolled up 498 total yards, as they played with much more consistency and aggression. They were able to establish a strong running game to help a nicely balanced attack (32 rushing plays, 37 passing plays), against the Commodores' talented defense. Game review is below... 1st QUARTER: The Commodores won the toss and elected to receive the opening kickoff and the Tiger defense would register a three-and-out to start the ball game. LSU would fair no better with their first possession, with Von Rosenberg having to punt the ball away after the offense could only manage one first down. Vanderbilt would end up sputtering a short drive, going 39 yards in seven plays before LSU would stiffen to force a Harrison Smith punt. The Tigers would start the next drive from their own 15 yard line. Myles Brennan would finally begin to click as he would lead the offense on a quick 85 yard scoring drive. 85 yards in six plays taking only 1:44 off the clock, ending with Jontre Kirkland scoring on a wide receiver screen from Myles Brennan. Cade York would push through the PAT to give the Tigers a 7-0 lead with 6:09 left in the 1st quarter. Both teams would trade punts as we would head into the 2nd quarter with LSU holding a 7-0 lead. 2nd QUARTER: To start the 2nd quarter Vandy would go three-and-out quickly and punt it away.... Derek Stingley Jr. would take the punt and return the ball 28 yards to the Commodores' 38 yard line. Brennan would hit Terrace Marshall Jr. in the end zone for a 16 yard touchdown to put the Tigers up 14-0 with 12:28 left in the 1st half. It took the Tigers only four plays to go 38 yards for the score. The Commodores would mount a drive into LSU territory. Facing 4th and four at the Tigers' 40 yard line, Derek Mason would decide to go for it. Seals would be pressured and would throw an incomplete pass to turn the ball over on downs. With the Tigers taking over on their 40 yard line, Myles Brennan would over throw a wide open receiver on 3rd and 10. Randall Haynie would make a diving interception at the Vanderbilt 42 yard line. The turnover would shift the momentum as Vanderbilt would drive 58 yards in 8 plays, scoring on a eight yard touchdown pass from Ken Seals to tight end Ben Bresnahan with 5:07 to go in the half. 14-7 Tigers... LSU would waste no time shifting the momentum back in their favor, as Terrace Marshall would pull in a pass across the middle from Brennan and out run the secondary for the score and a 21-7 lead. The play covered 51 yards, ending a 3 play, 75 yard drive that only took 55 seconds of the clock. Vanderbilt would continue to scratch and fight as Dnovan Kaufman would find a hole up the middle on the kickoff return and return the ball to the LSU 42 yard line. From there, Seals would drive the Commodores down to the LSU four yard line where the drive would stall with 16 seconds remaining. Vanderbilt would line up for a 22 yard field goal, but Commodores' kicker Pierson Cooke would miss the chip shot pushing it to the left. Myles Brennan would take a knee to take us to the halftime break with LSU leading 21-7. 3rd QUARTER: LSU would receive the 2nd half kickoff, but could only manage nine yards in three plays, punting the ball to the Commodores. The Tigers defense would respond holding Vandy to a three-and-out.. LSU would begin their next drive at their own 41 yard line. From there Brennan would drive the Tigers 25 yards in seven plays setting up a Cade York 53 yard field goal attempt. York would boom the kick straight through the uprights with plenty to spare increasing LSU's lead to 24-7. Ken Seals would be sacked twice by the Tigers on their next possession as Travez Moore would take him down on 1st down, then Andre Anthony would drop him on 3rd down and 13.. Vanderbilt's Harrison Smith would punt the ball away to Derek Stingley. Stingley would do an incredible job of waiting, faking, and shaking to set up his blockers as he would return the ball 48 yards up the far sideline to the Commodores' 20. LSU's offense would be unable to put the ball into the end zone, settling for a Cade York 31 yard field goal with 7:10 to go in the 3rd quarter, giving the Tigers a 27-7 lead. The LSU defense would continue to play well, as they would hold Vandy once again to what seemed to be another three-and-out. However, Derek Mason would call a fake punt on 4th and five. Dshaun Jerkins (one of the up-men in the punt formation), would take the direct snap and scamper for seven yards and a 1st down. It would all be for none, as LSU would respond with a back-to-back, three-and-outs to force another Vanderbilt punt. LSU would begin to drive the nails into the coffin as they would end the 3rd quarter with a beautiful nine play, 85 yard scoring drive, as Steve Ensminger would dial up a flea flicker. Jontre Kirklin would make an outstanding 29 yard touchdown catch in the back of the end zone from Myles Brennan, extending LSU's lead to 34-7 with 46 seconds left in the 3rd. 4th QUARTER: Vanderbilt's offense would start the 4th quarter with a nice, time consuming driving that would see them set up with a 2nd and goal at the LSU nine yard line. Ken Seals would roll to his left while under pressure, throwing a pass into the end zone that LSU's Todd Harris would intercept and make a nice return out to the Tigers' 21 yard line with 11:16 left in the game. The LSU offense would continue to wear down the Commodores as they would control and dominate the remainder of the ballgame. Brennan would drive the Tigers 79 yards in seven plays, eating up 3:05 on the drive. John Emery Jr. who had a great night would score on a 12 yard sweep into the end zone, putting the Tigers up 41-7. Vandy would start the next drive at their own 30 yard line. On 1st and 10 Seals would throw deep down the near sidelines and true freshman corner back Eli Ricks would make a spectacular interception at the LSU 47. With 7:57 to go in the game, the Commodores' offense wouldn't see the football again, as Myles Brennan would complete a few nice passes to Koy Moore, then the LSU O-line would lead the way for redshirt freshman running back Josh Williams. Williams would carry the ball eight straight plays, eating up the clock and moving the ball from the Vanderbilt 37 yard line, down to their seven. There, Myles Brennan would take a knee twice to end the football game. A 41-7 victory for LSU. Myles Brennan played much better this week. He made better decisions and threw the ball with better accuracy. He would finish with 23-37, 337 yards passing, 4 TDs, 1 INT. Myles also spread the ball around really well tonight completing passes to 11 different players. The wide receivers showed nice improvement, running solid routes and making nice catches throughout the ballgame. The leaders here were Terrace Marshall who had 2 catches for 67 yards and 2 touchdowns, as well as Jonte Kirklin who added 65 yards and 2 touchdowns on three grabs. The offensive line played together as a dominating unit against a talented veteran Vanderbilt defense, as they opened up plenty of running lanes for the backs and did a great job protecting the quarterback as Brennan was never sacked. Chris Curry ended up missing the game due to an injury, which lead to John Emery Jr. having a huge night. Emery would rush for 103 yards on 12 carries,(an impressive 8.6 average), and a score. JaCoby Stevens lead the defense with 11 tackles. Jabril Cox and both defensive ends, Andre Anthony and Ali Gaye played great giving the Commodore offense fits. The secondary bounced back playing pretty well overall, and should continue to improve each week as they gain game experience. Special teams were solid as usual, except for one small bust on a kick coverage. Cade York and Zach Von Rosenberg continue to perform at a high level. With the win, LSU improves to 1-1 on the season. Look for the Tigers to continue to improve and hopefully perform better as the season goes on if they can remain healthy. This team is young and talented but they lack depth at key positions. The 41-7 victory will be a huge boost to the Tigers' confidence as they prepare for a good 0-2 South Carolina team next week in Tiger Stadium. ESPN will broadcast the game. Kickoff is set for 8pm CST. Photos by: Vanderbilt/LSU/SEC 10/1/2020 By: Terrill J. Weil Da Boot Sports! The Tigers (0-1) will look to rebound from last week's shocking upset to Mississippi State as they travel to Nashville to take on the Vanderbilt Commodores (0-1). Vanderbilt gave Texas A&M all they could handle and more as they nearly pulled off a huge upset themselves, but a late turnover aided the Aggies to a 17-12 win. LSU's defense will face a new Vandy offensive coordinator and a true freshman quarterback, Ken Seals. Seals played very well against A&M last week going 20-29 for 150 yards, 1 TD pass and 2 interceptions. Seals never seemed to get rattled and made good decisions all game long until late in the contest, forcing a pass into tight coverage which was tipped and picked off at the Aggies' six yard line killing the Commodores chance to take the lead. Seal also spread the ball around to nine different Commodore receivers with wide out Amir Abdur-Rahman leading the way with 72 yards on five catches and a TD reception. Cam Johnson is also expected to have a big year as well as tight end Ben Bresnahan who is a nice big target. Vanderbilt's leading rusher last week was junior running back Ja'Veon Marlow who rushed for 68 yards on 16 carries. However the Commodores plan to go running back by committee, with Jamauri Wakefield and Keyon Henry-Brooks being in the mix. The Vanderbilt offensive line lead by, Tyler Steen, Grant Miller and Drew Birchmeier did a solid job against the #11 Aggies only giving up two sacks and helping the Commodores' finished with 255 total yards, (105 rushing, 150 passing)... The LSU offense will hopefully show some improvement this week after a very inconsistent performance last weekend. Poor decisions by Myles Brennan, dropped passes by receivers, seven sacks given up, and a sputtering running attack plagued the Tigers all game long between flashes of a few nice plays made. The Vanderbilt 3-4 defense is lead by a very strong front line with depth. Defensive ends, Dayo Odeyingbo and Raashaan Wilkins Jr. along with defensive tackle Cameron Tidd provide a strong push. Their two senior outside linebackers, Kenny Hebert and Andre Mintze are athletic and fly to the ball, while inside Anfernee Orji and Dimitri Moore (last season's leading tackler) play the run tough. Last season the Vandy secondary finished last in the SEC in interceptions and passes defended, however the entire secondary returns with more experience and should show improvement. Seniors Frank Coppet, Elijah Hamilton, and Tae Daley along with juniors Allan George, Randall Haynie, and DC Williams have been impressive in fall camp and played extremely well against Texas A&M last weekend. For LSU to rebound and come away with a win this weekend, they will need to establish a strong running game. It's obvious that this season's passing attack is no where near what it was in 2019. Myles Brennan need to get rid of the football quicker and show better accuracy, while the receivers need to make the big catches. and please get Arik Gilbert the ball as much as possible. The Tigers will need to have a more balanced attack. The defense will need to play with more energy while winning the turnover battle, keep constant heavy pressure on Seals, and hopefully with the return of Derek Stingley, the coverage from the secondary will improve tremendously for the Tigers. This is a must win for Coach Orgeron and his team. MY GAME PREDICTION: LSU 31, Vanderbilt 20 **TALKING TIGERS with Jordan & Craig will be released Friday night as they will talk about the Tigers upcoming contest with Vanderbilt.. Tune in to see what the guys have to say..... Below is Coach Orgeron's press conference from Thursday afternoon. |
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