The sophomore tailback amassed 228 yards rushing and three
touchdowns in three quarters of work. He carried the rock only 19 times as the
Bayou Bengals walloped the Auburn Tigers, 45-21 in Baton Rouge.
Before the game, the talk was all about Auburn’s quarterback Jeremy
Johnson, who waited on the bench for two years before laying an egg against
LSU.
Auburn's Rudy Ford said before that game that tackling Fournette wouldn't be "that difficult," but boy was he wrong. Also, unbeknownst to him, he had just supplied locker room fodder for Les Miles, who pasted Ford's quote on Fournette's locker before the game.
LSU defensive line coach Ed Orgeron, quoted in CampRush, said it best: “That was the most dominant performance of any college player I’ve seen in my 30 years coaching,” Orgeron says. “It was unbelievable.”
After the game, all anyone could talk about was Fournette and
how he steamrolled Auburn’s defenders, breaking 11 tackles and created an ESPN
highlight reel.
Moments after LSU's four point loss in the last minute to No. 1 Alabama, the Tigers' defensive leader told reporters the tale of the tape.
“We let this get away,” LSU defensive end Sam Montgomery said. “We had tons of opportunities to maximize in the game. But we couldn’t put them away. Sometimes, it’s not the best team, but it’s the most disciplined team. It’s tough. It was slow death.”
At least it seemed that way for Bama, which had mustered barely a pulse in the second half, until the unflappable AJ McCarron took the Crimson Tide 72 yards and lofted a screen pass that went for a 28-yard touchdown pass with 51 seconds left.
The Tigers had blitzed on the play, sending the crowd of Tiger Stadium-record crowd of 93,374 into a hush.
LSU's much criticized quarterback finally played like LSU's coaches thought he could, finishing with nearly 300 yards and showing a dazzling display of nice throws.
“The receivers and the rest of the offense have known what we were fully capable of all year,” Zach Mettenberger said.
“We were finally clicking tonight. But as well as I played, I would trade 150 yards and three interceptions if we had won. It hurts; it definitely hurts.
Les Miles got outcoached by former LSU defensive coordinator Will Muschamp in a listless 14-6 loss to the rejuvenated Florida Gators in the Swamp on the first Saturday of October.
Tigers quarterback Zach Mettenberger has teased LSU fans with great throws and seasoned poise, but the cat's out of the bag -- dude can't get it done. Let me rephrase that, he needs ALOT of help to get it done, and Odell Beckham Jr. had the worse game of his career with at least two drops and a terrible fumble in the third quarter.
The game was won in the trenches as the Gators took advantage of an apparently fragile LSU linebacking corps and when two starters went down the Gators started chomping with misdirection plays, all runs.
In fact, after teeing off on Gators quarterback Driskell, the LSU defense seemed dumbfounded at Florida's second half adjustments.
Miles had that befuddled look on the his, the same one hehd in the BCS title game against Bama.
LSU's defense did what it was supposed to do, even handing Mettenberger and the offense a first and goal to close the first half. LSU's coaches didn't know what to do with it, though. Bottom line, Miles was outcoached.
The Alabama defense -- too strong, too fast for much of the night -- completely dominated the LSU Tigers on MOnday night to win the BCS National Championship.
Make no mistake about it, the better team won in a rematch of the Game of the Century.
Jordan Jefferson looked ill-prepared and played even worse than that. As good a season as the Tigers have had, they have not had the offensive support that they needed to be a BCS champion. Diehard fans knew it long ago, even against teams such as Florida and Tennessee. But here we were Monday night, hoping against hope that the vaunted Tigers defense could fine a way.
Jarrett Lee, the quarterback that began the season as LSU's starter, watched with anticipation from the sidelines, hoping he would get a chance to prove his worth. LSU coach Les Miles would have none of it, for reasons that have remained secret for much of the past few months.
As for the Tide, they rolled and rolled hard.
"They are unbelievable," said Alabama offensive lineman Barrett Jones, speaking of the Tide defense. "That defense is as good as any defense I've ever seen. They rush the passer, they have awesome linebackers and they're great in coverage. They really don't have any weaknesses. They have to be as good as any defense ever."
ON MOnday night, to conclude the 2011 season, LSU would have to agree.
It wasn't pretty. There were few style points, but top-ranked LSU still mopped the floor with Tennessee, 38-7 in front of more than 101,000 at Rocky Top.
For the first time, perhaps, we saw a less-than-confident Jarrett Lee, who looked shaky at times. He finished with 115 yards and two touchdowns but they were both short passes that didn't require a lot of moxie.
Don't get me wrong, we'll take it.
The win was the Tigers' sixth straight SEC victory and their seventh consecutive win by double digits.
"I felt like we did what we needed to do," LSU coach Les Miles told reporters after the game. "It wasn't our best game, but we did what we had to do to ensure victory. Our defense gave us turnovers and the opportunities to take the opponent out. Our offense late in the game gave us the football and ate up the time of possession and scored."
Matt Simms, making his first start in place of the injured Tyler Bray, was 6 of 20 for 128 yards and two interceptions, one of them being the play of the game by LSU cornerback Morris Claiborne. His 89-yard return to the 5 yard line put the Tigers in the driver's seat with their first score.
"It wasn't a really complex game," Tennessee coach Derek Dooley said. "In the first half, I thought we competed our tails off and had a couple of real bad mistakes that was ultimately the difference in the first half. In the second half, we had a couple of third-down opportunities where we didn't execute and they pounded us. I don't know any other way to say it."
Next up for the Tigers: The always-tough Auburn Tigers.
Mississippi State Bulldogs came out with fire in their eyes last night, trying to test the Tigers up front and in the secondary.
The offense looked pedestrian at times but the Tigers played it safe with a 19-6 victory over the Bulldogs.
The Tigers (3-0, 1-0 in SEC) were up to the challenge before a hostile 56,924 at Davis Wade Stadium. The Tigers were up against the SEC's best rushing attack.
"They came in averaging 300 yards rushing, and we came in trying to dominate and stop the run game," said LSU defensive tackle Michael Brockers, who had three tackles for losses, including a sack. "We were flying to the ball. Everyone was doing their assignments, doing what we need to do to win. We don't want anybody to score on us."
The Tigers ate Bulldogs quarterback Chris Relf for lunch and made running back Vick Ballard eat turf like another Vick, holding a Bulldogs' team averaging 321 yards on the ground to 52 yards on 34 carries.
"We didn't get into a rhythm," Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen said. "We got behind and had to throw the ball and play their game. Our playmakers have to make plays. We will be all right -- our guys always bounce back."
The lone blotch on the resume for LSU was Jarrett Lee's interception which happened because he overthrew the receiver but the veteran quarterback quickly regrouped.
Next up for the Tigers, West Virginia.
LSU starting quarterback Jordan Jefferson andsecond string linebacker Josh Johns turned themselves in to the East Baton Rouge Parish authorities on August 26 after police got arrest warrants charging them with felony second-degree battery for fight outside Shady's bar near the LSU campus.
The players, as is customary, broke their 10:30 p.m. curfew on the last day of training camp.
"Other arrests could be made in this case that are just as serious as the two already made," attorney Michael Bienvenu said. "This isn't over."
Jefferson's quarterback thinks the QB may be unjustly maligned. “It is more than unjust to destroy this young man’s career if it’s all about a bunch of nothing, which is what I think,” defense attorney Lewis Unglesby said Monday, according to media reports.
“ I have no criticism, nor knowledge base, to say what Les Miles is doing is wrong, but I want to make sure he is fully informed that there’s a whole other side to this, and that Jordan is not only presumed innocent, but I’m saying that he is,” Unglesby said, according to the Associated Press.
The good news: Jefferson may be able to come back in 2012, if he desires, and if ... if ... this all blows over in his favor.
Jefferson could also be redshirted and maybe, just maybe, return to LSU as a fifth-year senior for the 2012 season, according to The Shreveport Times. The plan was to redshirt Jefferson in his true freshman season in 2008, but he had to play as a true freshman in 2008 after quarterback Andrew Hatch was injured and starter Jarrett Lee continued to falter.
Pundits around the nation are keen on the Bayou Bengals for the 2011 football campaign. Les Miles has a ton of blue-chippers ready for the SEC and people are talking.
The Bleacher Report has '5 Reasons Why Les Miles can return the Tigers to SEC Glory'. The story says in part: "In addition to this, Coach Miles works tremendously under pressure, leading the tigers to 17 fourth quarter or overtime comeback victories and is an amazing 23-10 in games decided by just eight points or less."
The Aggies have been a formidable and royal pain in the Tigers' sides over the years. At USA Today, Les Miles says there's "great advantages" to having Texas A&M join the SEC.
The Shreveport Times is reporting at stellar receiver Russell Shepard could be suspended after in NCAA investigation into his off-campus living arrangements.
The vaunted LSU defense, which had begun springing leaks weeks ago, gave way to gushers of yardsSaturday nightas theArkansas Razorbacksupset the Tigers 31 -23. QuarterbackJordan Jefferson went just about the entire way, consistently facing 3rd and long and just as importantly, not letting the Tigers defense get any semblance of rest. And it showed. Razorbackrusher Knile Davis knifed through purple and gold defenders for 158 yards on 31 carries. Arkansas gained 465 yards on one of the best defenses in the country.
The Tigers will still be eligible for a great game, but the fantasy, the mirage of being the best team outside of Auburn is over.
The LSU Tigers, No. 9 in the polls, are licking their chops at their first true cupcake of the season: McNeese State.
The Tigers have won every game this season in a different fashion: A last-second defensive stand, winning drives, clock mismanagement, you name it.
But they have won.
It has not been pretty, but LSU -- in the five years that coach Les Miles has been there -- has not been terribly efficient with the football.
JaMarcus Russell routinely left 10 to 21 points out on the field, and they still only lost two games in his final two years.
But things have changed. A little.
LSU is in prime position to make a serious championship run, if they can get by the AAA powers: Auburn, Alabama and finally, Arkansas.
Now, with Auburn on the horizon, the Tigers can sharpen up some things against McNeese (and even expand their offensive package) and get ready to go up to Alabama.
Having resigned itself to a two-quarterback system from here on out, the 5-0 LSU Tigers are hoping one of them -- near-sighted Jarrett Lee or the numb-armed Jordan Jefferson -- can emerge with a hot game to win in Gainesville.
LSU with nary a loss and five wins over BSC opponents (which no other team in the country can say) can expect to crack the top 10 with a win.
If Florida comes out victorious, look for the Gators to lick their chops at another chance to take down Alabama in the SEC Championship Game and a shot at a national title. LSU coach Les Miles has been lampooned for the whole seven days since his team squeezed by an undermanned and ultimately unprepared Tennessee team. But Miles, bumbler as he is, is not a wobbler. Gators coach Urban Meyer, after losing to Alabama in the SEC Championship Game last year, quit then changed his mind. And you wonder why the teams play so wishy-washy? Lord knows what he'll do at season's end. At any point, someone has to win this game. And a quarterback has to find his way. LSU 21-FLA 20
Some how some way, LSU beat the Vols in the craziest game in Tiger Stadium history.
Les Miles did all he could to give the game to the Vols, but, as fate would have it, Tennessee's coach is as bottom-tier as LSU's. Who would have thunk it?
Thirteen players on the field on the last play? And what referee would have even called that?
Think about it: The game is done, over. And a zebra stops the hoopla to deliver the sweetest news to Tiger fans since boiled shrimp went for half price?
Seriously, the Tennessee Volunteers deserved to win this game: Let me say that again, and louder.
THE VOLUNTEERS DESERVED TO WIN THIS GAME.
LSU didn't. Let's be honest.
The LSU Tigers manhandled the Tennessee Tigers through three composite quarters but still were losing 14-10 with 10 minutes to go in the game.
Jordan Jefferson continued his three-game slump and even made worse decisions than the previous three games, if that's possible.
Backup quarterback Jarrett Lee may have taken the starting spot of Jefferson in the process, sparking LSU to a first down inside the 10 midway through the fourth quarter.
But he then threw LSU's final interception.
Tennessee quarterback Matt Simms struggled mightily against a steady barrage of blitzes by the LSU defense, but he finally settled down and started to pick the secondary apart.
After being down 7-0, the Vols scored the next 14 points, and even missed a field goal.
LSU's defense outplayed itself, but was simply on the field too long.
After the game, Miles shouldn't thank his coaching staff, or even his players. He should thank whatever voodoo priestess through the dust his way.
LSU got beat up by Alabama on Saturday, plain and simple. There were no theatrics, no strange plays. Don't blame the officiating, don't even blame the coaching. The better team won. Period. Nick Saban has Alabama looking every bit as good as the 2003 national championship Tigers. If you remember, they would knock quarterbacks out of the game, and would totally shut you down for long periods of the game. In the 4th quarter, LSU had 9 yards. Super sophomore eJordan Jefferson was knocked out of the gam; so was senior running back Charles Scott, rwho's season is ove. It was just alot of hard, hard hitting, and most of it was by boys in Maroon jerseys. Don't get me wrong. LSU's defense accounted for itself. It just couldn't stop Mark Ingram when it needed too; and Julio Jones, quiet for most of the night, caught LSU with a second-string safety guarding him. Toast. LSU is still a good team, but like a purple and gold-encrusted blueberry pie in the oven for a mere 30 minutes, it just aint ready yet.
Saturday night's LSU-Auburn game brought the Tigernation to its feet -- those in purple rose in elation; those in orange and navy got up to leave. LSU's 31-3,10 win,(okay, you know that last Auburn TD was bogus) was, to some, a long awaited eruption of offensive might, a groundswell of pent-up demand. Going away, LSU scored 31 points. They have yet to score more than 32 in a game this season. What explosion? Sure, Jordan Jefferson got loose. The super soph finally threw to his elite receivers. As a result Jefferson got most of the praise, accounting for over 310 yards (242 yards through the air on 21 of 31 passes and two touchdowns, no picks) deservedly so, but it was Russell Shepard that stole the spotlight. Shepard's 69-yard run ignited the crowd and left no doubts on who would win the game. But honestly speaking, LSU's offense bogged down for short periods Saturday. If Auburn would have gotten any semblance of an offensive flow, then I think LSU would have been exposed as usual. LSU needs to show consistency if they want to be considered an elite program this year. As a team though, they are coming together nicely. Enough can't be said about LSU's defense. They are really starting to look scary, 2 weeks after holding Florida to 13 points. Auburn only gained 193 yards total offense, and truthfully they had about 120 until their second-string quarterback (who should be starting, btw) came in and just started flinging it. Auburn coach Gene Chizik reaffirmed his support for senior signal caller Chris Todd this week as the Tigers get set to play a stout Ole Miss team. “Yeah, he’s the quarterback, but when it’s third-and-7 and he’s got five guys in his lap, that’s not [on] Chris Todd,” Chizik said. So, is it on you, Chizik? Huh? Huh? Huh? LSU has a cakewalk up next, but then prepares to face Alabama, No. 1 in some polls. The question, then is can the Tigers run the table?
If you needed any more omens that Saturday night's contest between No. 4 LSU and No. 1-ranked Florida was more than a football game, ask any number of Gator players. Evidently, LSU fans are literally calling some of them to spook them out before Saturday's game at Death Valley. ESPN reports that even coach Urban Meyer has gotten texts, and that this is not new, but went on last year as well. "They haven't been bad," said second-string quarterback John Brantley, who will likely start Superman himself, Tim Tebow, can't go due to his week-old concussion. ""[The calls are] just a little annoying," Brantley said. But just a little annoyance is all the Tigers may need to pull off the upset. I'm going with my Tigers-- and my gut -- on this one: LSU 21-Florida-17
Aaaah, you know the debate had to start in earnest once the season began to take shape: LSU's sophomore signal caller, Jordan Jefferson has shown signs of confusion and downright incoherence during the game. Quite honestly, he was shut down last game (against Georgia). And we simply can't have that this weekend against the No. 1-ranked team in the nation, Florida. Would the Tigers be better off starting Jarrett Lee? Lee, who definitely had a myopic condition when looking in the middle of the field, has been reduced to a bench-rider this year. But should he? Yeah, he know about the 16 TDs and 14 INTs, but dude beat Auburn. That's GOT to count for something, right? I for one kind of miss Lee, who exhibited leadership and intangibles in the face of considerable adversity and criticism. Under center last year Lee showed an ability to actually win with his arms and the gusto to take risks. The problem was many of them were unnecessary risks. Jordan, confused as he looks at times, has simply not given a game away. Yet. When he does then he can be vilified accordingly, but until then, let's let this thing play out. Literally.
Last night's game between formidable foes LSU and Georgia started as a defensive stalemate and evolved into a shootout at the very end. While LSU prevailed 20 -13 there were only a few reasons why they won, namely the legs of senior tailback charles Scott. The referees certainly made terrible calls but I can't say they directly caused the end result. Here are the main 5 reasons why the Bulldawgs didn't come up with the victory.
(1) Not enough Ealey When Washuan Ealey came into the game in the second half, UGA was nursing a goose egg and badly searching for momentum. After Ealey touched the ball, the Dawgs were driving toward the endzone, converting an improbable 4th and inches for the touchdown. UGA's other running backs, Caleb King and Richard Samuel, combined for 18 yards on 17 carries. Ealey, in two drives in the second half, rushed for double that amount, 33 yards on only 8 carries. Fans will never know what would have happened if he'd have gotten the ball earier and much more often.
(2) Not enough A.J. Green Outside of Alabama's Julio Jones, the 6-4 sophomore has no equal in the SEC. He is not only tall, but he can jump too. But he only caught 5 passes for 99 yards against LSU. He was targeted at least 3 more times, but no more, because Joe Cox just didn't throw to him enough. It's a shame too, because, LSU could hardly handle a big game from Green. From an offensive perspective, he single-handedly won the game with his awesome jump-catch in the corner pocket of the endzone with 1:09 left. But he, like Ealey, didn't see the ball enough. You can credit LSU's defense, but the more likely culprit was offensive coordinator Mike Bobo. Bobo failed to turn Green loose -- no end-arounds, no quick slants -- and that leads us to No. 3.
(3) UGA's penalties hurt Georgia, habitually one of the most penalized teams in the nation, lived up to their reputation Saturday night. While they didn't get a whole lot of penalties, the ones they got -- and the times they got them -- were huge. The excessive celebration penalty on Green? Crazy. So crazy that I refuse to believe it was on Green; it had to be on another UGA player. Green did next to nothing for the 1.3 seconds he had to himself before being mobbed by teammates. Not only did the penalty give LSU 15 more yards on the kickoff (which Trindon Holliday took back 41 yards), but a 5-yard penalty was added when UGA lined up wrong on the kick. Did it hurt? Absolutely.
(4) Georgia played it conservative Georgia has shown little imagination this year on offense, due either to Bobo's reliance on the defense and special teams to make plays (which they can and have) or his lack of faith in quarterback Cox. Georgia suffers, more than most teams, from an inability to be decisive on offense. One minute they try to play power-ground-game, the next they try to play pitch-and-catch with Cox and Green. Can they have it both ways? Sure, if the statistics showed that they could score both ways. But surely this squad is at its most dynamic when Cox and Green are playing wild and loose (did you see the UGA-Arkansas game?). Sure, defense dictates what you can do most of the time, but does it have to? Playing not to lose has caught up with you, Bobo. Let the Dawgs out.
(5) Well, see 4 reasons above Honestly, there aren't 5 reasons why Georgia lost. I believe if they would have corrected any of the 4 reasons above, things would have been different.
LSU beat the Vanderbilt Commodores 23 - 9 Saturday night in Tiger Stadium amid a rainy, slushy field. The offense, which looked poised to break out last week against Washington, barely could contain itself with energy on Saturday. Well, kinda. In any event, the defense needed this one much more than the offense, and they pulled it off. LSU's defenders kept Vandy's dangerous but young runners Zac Stacy and Larry Smith contained for most of the game, save for one gutsy Commodores drive in the 2nd quarter. LSU's Kieland Williams scored twice to allow the Tigers to escape with the win, but for the second week in a row, it was not overly impressive. Not with Florida putting up 56 points on Troy (Tebow had 5 TDs). Will the LSU offense snap out of it this week as UL-Lafayette comes to town? We hope so, because Georgia looks kinda dangerous.
What a stinker, wha - wow. We'll take it. That's what Saturday night in Tiger Stadium felt like after a 40-31 LSU win over Troy. “That certainly was not the recipe for victory we prescribed, but victory is sweet, and I promise you our football team is enjoying it at this moment,” LSU coach Les Miles said after LSU had completed the biggest comeback in school history, coming back from a 31-3 deficit in the third quarter. Quarterback Jarrett Lee had his seventh interception returned for a touchdown in the second quarter to make it 24-3 and send a swarm of LSU fans to the exits. “I’ve never been part of a comeback that big. That shows you a lot about our team. We played hard and fought back. Not one time in our minds did we think we were going to lose this game.” Lee completed 11-of-14 passes in the fourth quarter for 138 yards and a touchdown. The comeback started at halftime. “We go into halftime and we tell that defense that you have to come out and play like you finished the first half, and in fact, you’re our chance to win this game,” Miles said. “You guys play like that for the remainder of this game while we get it fixed on offense.” Troy's coach, well on his way throughout the 3rd quarter to his biggest win at the school and the program's biggest, said momentum turned suddenly. “We weren’t able to close the book on it and get the last nail in there,” Troy coach Larry Blakeney said. “(LSU) got some things done and some big plays in the passing game really hurt us more than anything as far as getting momentum back.
Instead of going to practice Monday morning LSU redshirt freshman quarterback Jarrett Lee needs to go to an eye doctor to get bifocals for his bad, bad case of far-sightedness. Can anyone else see it? He CANNOT SEE in the middle of the field. Isn't there a name for it? It's when you see a dot or something if you try to look straight forward. How else to explain Lee in overtime throwing his fourth interception -- the third pick of the game by Alabama's Rashad Johnson. Lee has now been picked off in 6 games this year and the opponent has returned it for a TD. That's 42 points. None bigger than the one he gave to Johnson right before the half that turned a 14- 7 lead into a 14- 14 tie. LSU lost this game because of Lee, plain and simple. The 27 - 21 loss to a solid but not spectacular undeated Alabama team is squarely on his shoulders. Even the coaches seemed to lose confidence in him. He ... I ... can't even write anymore ... it ... hurts. Too (whimper) bad.
Sat, Sep 5 vs McNeese State (CANCELLED)
Yesterday @ Mississippi State W 21 - 19 Final
Sat, Sep 19 vs Auburn W 45 - 21
Sat, Sep 26 @ Syracuse
Sat, Oct 3 vs Eastern Michigan
Sat, Oct 10 @ South Carolina
Sat, Oct 17 vs Florida
Sat, Oct 24 vs Western Kentucky
Sat, Nov 7 @ Alabama
Sat, Nov 14 vs Arkansas
Sat, Nov 21 @ Ole Miss
Sat, Nov 28 vs Texas A&M
