Standing still

Published 6:00 pm Thursday, September 19, 2019

LSU RBs doing more watching than running

It sometimes gets lost in the shock and awe of LSU’s newfound love of the passing game.

After all, what’s not to love about an offense that is leading the Southeastern Conference in yards and scoring? One that is leading the nation in passing percentage and has turned quarterback Joe Burrow into an overnight Heisman Trophy candidate?

The new offense wasn’t 30 minutes into its season unveiling against Georgia Southern before former star LSU running backs Derrius Guice and Leonard Fournette were taking to social media to wonder how much fun they’d have had with that offense.

Really?

Maybe they’d help. But the running backs aren’t getting much glory in the jazzed-up spread offense.

Burrow, in fact, opened some eyes after Saturday’s win over Northwestern State when asked about the mere 122 yards rushing the fourth-ranked Tigers managed while scoring 65 points, none of which came as easy as the fish in a barrel he found while taking aim at in the Demons’ secondary.

“I think this is who we are as an offense,” he said. “We are going to throw the ball to open up the run. We have run for over 100 yards in every game, but we are going to take what the defense gives us. We are going to take our quick passes and our deep shots and that is going to continue to work well for us.”

In his defense, he hadn’t watched the film.

On Monday, head coach Ed Orgeron was saying, “We’ve got to get better running the football.”

It’s definitely an oddity for an LSU team that could just as easily proclaim itself Running Back U. instead of DBU.

The perch atop of the conference’s offensive numbers is all the more amazing with the Tigers sitting next to last among the 14 teams in rushing yards with 346, or 115.3 per game.

Never mind — shocker that is — that only one team has run the ball fewer times than the Tigers’ 97 attempts. They’re also next to last in yards per carry with 3.6.

“What’s happened is we’re so good at passing the football, it’s kind of hard not to call the passing plays when they’re wide open,” Orgeron said. “So that’s what you’re seeing.

“At some point in time, they’re going to stop our passing game, and we have to run the football.

“I’d like to be 50-50 as far as run-pass,” Orgeron said. “Not yardage, (but) as far as calls, 50 percent run and 50 percent pass. It has to be balanced.”

They’re not that far from an even balance with the calls — 97 runs and 111 passes. But only 13 percent of the Tigers’ offense has come on the ground (208 rushing vs. 1,309 passing).

The spread offense, LSU’s version at least, was never meant to be pass-pass-pass and throw some more. The same principles that open the secondary by forcing defenses to account for every spread-out skill position player is supposed to open running lanes.

It hasn’t really happened. The Tigers’ longest run from scrimmage is 24 yards by Clyde Edwards-Helaire, the lone run longer than 20 yards in the three games.

John Robinson, the Hall of Fame former Southern Cal coach who serves as an analyst for the Tigers, meets with Orgeron every Monday morning with a laundry list of observations.

This week he suggested to Orgeron getting the stable of younger running backs more involved as there may be more upside with the likes of John Emery and Tyrion Davis-Price.

“He’s right,” Orgeron said, adding that he was reluctant to use them against Texas when it turned into a second-half shootout when he couldn’t afford to have a possession short-circuited by a fumble.

“But we need to get these guys more significant reps. We need to get them in the rotation … so they can be more prepared to win in the heat of the battle, and we can trust them to make the right play.”

He also added that Edwards-Helaire’s starting job is not in jeopardy.

The crux of the problem, he indicated, is lack of running room which is up the offensive line.

“It’s always good to be able to win and look at the things that you must improve on, and the guys see it,” Orgeron said. “We had some experienced guys up front that didn’t play very well, and they know it.

“Some spots we’ve got to get fixed, and some fundamental stuff that we’ve got to get fixed.

“Look out when we reach that standard of performance in all areas. I think we can be pretty good.”

LSU Tigers running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire (22) breaks away from a Texas Longhorns defender at Darrell K Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas on Saturday, September 7, 2019. (Dennis Babineaux/Special to the American Press)