Even after a convincing 65-14 victory over the weekend against Northwestern State, LSU head coach Ed Orgeron still noticed there was still room for improvement headed into their SEC opener against Vanderbilt.
“When we looked at the film, we didn’t play as good in some spots that we wanted to, especially on the offensive line and the defensive line.” Orgeron said on Monday during his weekly presser, “Some spots we’ve got to get fixed, and some fundamental stuff that we’ve got to get fixed. Got the Tell the Truth Monday today to get those things fixed and looking forward to that.”
When you look at LSU’s performance through the first quarter of the season, it would seem that there shouldn’t be much to be concerned about. Hearing what Orgeron said on Monday was just about the opposite of what the Tigers fanbase believes, but the third-year head coach loves being in this kind of position.
“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 mentioned, “We had some experienced guys up front that didn’t play very well, and they know it. I talked to them about it today. They’re going to be hungrier this week, must improve. Again, the LSU standard of performance is very high. They understand it. I think they see it before I do sometimes, which is good.”
Defense Down One Safety
While on the surface, LSU’s defense has been underwhelming in the last two games and the first half saw the Tigers allow 14 points. It was far from ideal, but the injuries that they have suffered has caused some of the struggles and on Monday, we found out that Todd Harris was ruled out for the rest of the season after going down with a knee injury suffered last Saturday.
“We will use this year as a redshirt. It’s unfortunate. It was an unfortunate accident. He just landed on the ground wrong.”
When it comes to who will replace him, the word is that JaCoby Stevens will be put in his spot during practice this week ahead of the SEC opener in Nashville. You add the fact that Glen Logan and Rashard Lawrence likely won’t be ready to go, the usually vaunted defense is getting thinner by the day.
Derek Mason and O’s West Coast Relationship
When you look across the spectrum of college football it seems like everyone knows each other through some kind of six degrees of separation. In the case of Ed Orgeron, who has had stops across the country at various top-level programs, has a relationship with a lot of current head coaches and that includes current Vandy head man Derek Mason.
“Derek Mason has a lot of respect from myself. I think he’s an excellent football coach.” Orgeron said, “I knew him when he was at Stanford. We go to the SEC coaching meetings, he’s one of the best guys there. He’s easy to talk to. He’s a good guy. He’s very personable, and I wish him the very best.”
Orgeron then went on to discuss what Stanford’s program was like when Mason was in charge of the Cardinals in the early 2010s. “They had great defenses. They were an attack defense. I do believe they led the league in sacks every year. Turnovers, they were ferocious. They were very multiple. They ran out of a three-four. They were very hard to block, very creative.”
Well Wishes to Brees
If there’s anyone who wants the state of Louisiana to succeed more, you might hard-pressed to find someone more committed to the process than Ed Orgeron. During his press conference, the former defensive line coach for the Saints in 2008 was asked about Brees’ injury and he “felt bad for him, his family, the Saints, and the state of Louisiana because I know how much he means to all of us. I was talking to some quarterback recruits last night, and to remind them how much that they mean to their team — not in a selfish way, but the quarterback is the man, especially when he’s a great one
“I’m still going to have to remind Joe to run out of bounds. He ain’t going to want to run out of bounds. I’ll have to remind him to do it.” Orgeron mentioned, “
Joe means a lot to our football team. Joe is becoming an elite quarterback, and I’ve been a part of three Heisman Trophy winners, Gino Torretta, Carson Palmer, and Matt Leinart — and I’ve seen a lot of similarities or maybe some things even better than I remember those guys doing.”
Heisman Aspirations
Three weeks into the 2019 season, it’s clear that Joe Burrow has thrown his name into the hat when it comes to the Heisman Trophy race. Through three games, the former Ohio State Buckeye has racked up 1,122 yards, 11 touchdown passes and an impressive 83% completion percentage. The Tigers head coach said that he is that good to win the trophy, but he needs to do one thing to secure the bag.
“You have to win the big game. I think that you have to win the big game. You have to take us to the SEC Championship and take us to the Championship. Not to say that you can’t win it without it, but if you do those things, you’ve got a good chance of winning.
“Who says that we can do that? I don’t know. But I’ve been a part of three National Championship teams, and that was a big part of those guys winning the Heisman, I’ll guarantee you that.”