Scooter column: Plenty of blame to go around

Published 10:02 am Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Les Miles has formally declared an LSU football “crisis,” taking full blame for an ugly two-game losing streak and vowed to work through it — quoting here — “like there’s no tomorrow.”

Well, that’s one way of handling it, one way of looking at it.

Probably prudent. Tried and true.

But that’s no fun for you.

From the outside, “crisis” is a code word for “panic” and is traditionally followed by frantic “finger-pointing.”

It’s not wise for the team itself, mind you, and thus far there’s been no hint of it. But outside the football building, what else have you got?

Fortunately, as always, you are under no such restrictions.

So play the blame game. It might even be therapeutic for you.

It goes without saying, of course, that it’s all the coaches’ (Miles’) fault. But that’s an exercise for another day.

Who’s most at fault for this? Let’s rate them from worst to least.

Secondary: Gets the edge over the offensive line because it’s been a season-long head-scratcher as opposed to a recent development. Also, it was supposed to be a real strength of the team, with experience, talent and depth. And, at times, it shows. But a half dozen or so mental meltdowns a game is enough to get you beat. Think secondary and you think passing game. But this group has been equally mistake-prone in run support. Athletes this good should be better tacklers, although it hurts that they too often take bad angles or seem to fall hook, line and sinker for the most pedestrian of off-brand plays.

Offensive line: Of course, LSU was working around the secondary misadventures. The offensive line is more puzzling, perhaps, because it played so well in getting LSU to 7-0 and Leonard Fournette to the odds-on favorite for the Heisman Trophy. Both are distant memories now, and the guys up front are the biggest difference in 7-0 and 7-2. Where did they disappear to? Check the backs of milk cartons. It’s the great mystery of LSU’s sudden free fall. When’s the last time Fournette saw a real hole? Alabama, OK. That was a tall order — a wide one, too. But Arkansas left Baton Rouge with five of its 12 season sacks from that one long night.

Special teams: A season-long nightmare. Even on a night (Arkansas game) when the special teams managed to keep their nose relatively clean and even got some promising returns from freshman Derrius Guice, they still managed to provide the buzz-kill moment on a 40-yard Razorbacks kick off return immediately after LSU got Tiger Stadium rocking by cutting the deficit to 21-14. At least the kick was in bounds. It’s all the more glaring and puzzling this year because special teams have been a traditional strength of LSU teams.

Quarterback: It’s a big step forward for the position that it ranks this far down the blame list. At least losses this year have to be more of a team effort. Brandon Harris is better than at the start of the season and has made the position far better than anything you saw last year. But he’s not there yet. Far from it. LSU brought him along slowly, but when he was really needed, coaches still didn’t seem to trust the game in his hands — and he obviously wasn’t ready for that big stage in Tuscaloosa.

Miles preferred to remember that at one point last week Harris completed 14 of 16. But he also might have set a different tone early but for an awful throw to a wide-open receiver on LSU’s first play that would have gone for a big gain.

Bottom line: it’s still basically a remedial passing game — either dump off short or chunk it deep and hope for the best (while wide-open receivers in the intermediate areas become Maytag repairmen).

His decision-making on the read/option — unless, as some suspect, it’s not really an “option” but predetermined by coaching calls — has basically neutered what should be an ideal play for the Tigers. His shaky “pocket awareness” doesn’t help the offensive line’s protection of him.

There’s also something not quite right when coaches of a big-time college program don’t feel comfortable enough with a quarterback and team leader to let him talk to the media.

Linebacker: Sort of like the secondary, only less so. Plays well for the most part, but prone to a few ill-timed bad decisions or worse angles. Deion Jones has been a pleasant surprise and Kendell Beckwith is still the glue of the defense, if not always super glue.

Defensive line: They’ve hung in there pretty good, particularly when you consider this spot was the real question mark heading into the season. Depth, as expected, has been an occasional problem — you can tell when starting tackles Christian LaCouture and Davon Godchaux aren’t in the game. In a perfect world freshman defensive end Arden Key probably should be a pass-rushing specialist until he bulks up, but has played pretty well and looks like a real playmaker at times. They’ve basically done there jobs here, though.

Wide Receivers: Maybe the strength of the team, and thankfully so, since the Tigers’ passing game seems to be built around them making acrobatic catches. If he really checked, Harris might find that there’s more to the group than Malachi Dupre and Travin Dural , let alone introduce himself to the tight ends.

Running backs: It’s certainly not Leonard Fournette’s fault. But he and the offense really, really miss injured fullback J.D. Moore. Who would have thought going into the season that he’d be that big of a factor? For that matter, a lot of SEC teams would love to have Guice.

Scooter Hobbs covers LSU athletics. Email him at shobbs@americanpress.com

Arkansas wide receiver Dominique Reed (87) breaks free from LSU defensive back Dwayne Thomas (13) on a touchdown reception in the first half of an NCAA college football game in Baton Rouge on Saturday. (Associated Press)

Gerald Herbert