Welcome everyone to the latest edition of #4Downs breaking down what went right and what went wrong for the LSU Tigers! This week, we look at LSU’s big win in Oxford over Ole Miss.
1st Down: DBU Gets Accredited
LSU’s secondary came up big on Saturday night against Shea Patterson with three different players getting interceptions against one of the better QBs in the SEC in terms of statistics. Add that to some solid PBUs from Greedy Williams; it looks like the self-proclaimed DBU has gained some accreditation.
You can put a lot of that on the fact that Shea Patterson was injured for much of the second half, but it’s a pretty big confidence boost for a group that features a lot of youth and inexperience. As a postscript, the Rebels will be without Patterson for the rest of the year with a torn PCL.
2nd Down: Key’s Comeback Complete
Whatever workout/diet plan Arden Key is on that helped him drop 20 pounds in four weeks, I want in on. He’s trimmed down and had a solid game with six tackles, two of them being sacks.
We had been waiting for quite some time for the junior to have one of those good defensive games and we got it on Saturday and was a key reason why the Tigers defense won the day.
3rd Down: Guice and Williams Lethal Combination
The last few weeks LSU has had a hard time getting things going in terms of the run game outside of big jet sweeps. That’s changed with the performance from Derrius Guice and Darrel Williams. During the Coach Orgeron show on Wednesday he stated that the passing game would predicate on the running backs and has taken a likening to it as the season has progressed. They stuck to that routine and wound up having Williams do something no Tiger had ever done: have 100 yards receiving and 100 yards rushing.
Guice was the big story though with his third game for 250 rushing yards off 22 carries. It wasn’t just the amount of carries he was getting that led to that kind of run game, it was all about some huge chunk plays including a 59-yard run to help get this team into ideal field position. When the star that the offense revolves around can play like this, it leads to a win.
4th Down: Silly Penalties Rear Their Ugly Head
It had been a while since we’ve seen the Tigers commit silly penalties. However, that’s what we saw Saturday with 8 penalties for 89 yards. It’s still down from what LSU did during the first three games of the season, but it’s something that reared its ugly head once again and with a big game against Alabama in two weeks, there will be a lot of players running laps before the trip to Tuscaloosa.
-Clint Domingue
-Clint Domingue