September 8, 2016
TREMENDOUS JOURNALISTIC LOSS
Sorry we did not get to print a newsletter last week… too busy attending to flood-related matters.
DENHAM SPRINGS FOOTBALL BROADCASTS
We will not have a broadcast of tomorrow night’s Denham Springs HS season opener against Tara HS. Next week, we’ll have an announcement in this newsletter about the status of the rest of the season
Good luck to Coach Nettles and the Jackets vs Tara.
PRAYING FOR DENNIS
Our heartfelt condolences are extended to Dennis Dearie, who recently lost his father. Please see an abbreviated Hey Ref in this newsletter
SPORTSCENTRAL
Central’s weekly show resumes tonight, 5pm—6pm, on Radio Amour, 91.9FM.
SULPHUR FOOTBALL
6:45 pm Friday night on SportsRadio 1310 KEZM, Lake Charles or on the net at KEZMOnLine.com
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THE WIZARDRY OF OS
Assistant Basketball Coach and Head Swimming Coach at Central High
What do I write about when you are reading this 5 days after LSU’s season opening loss to Wisconsin? Do I address the game, look toward to rest of the season, or look for something else to write about? How about all three?
I can’t NOT write about the Wisconsin game. Don’t worry, though, I have no plans on rehashing things you have been thinking or hearing all week. I actually want to dispute conventional wisdom I have heard since the game, and let some of you question my sanity.
The conventional wisdom is that Brandon Harris has not improved at all, and some people say he may have actually gotten worse. 12 of 21 for 130 yards and 2 INTs with a quarterback rating of 6.9 is undeniably bad.
What about 6/8 for 98 yards and 1 TD, though? Those numbers are undeniably good. Well those are Brandon Harris’ numbers against Wisconsin on 1st and 10. Full disclosure, I did not count the 1st and 10 at the end of the first half which was basically a strange one man Hail Mary. I also left out the last throw of the game which was on 1st and 15 because my point is that Harris was pretty good when the defense did not know exactly what was about to happen. Keep in mind I am not arguing Harris played great, but it is unfair to disregard when he is successful. Meanwhile, I don’t think it is fair that most people have been pointing to his first three throws and last throw while disregarding the rest of the game.
In case you are wondering, Harris was 4 of 7 for 19 yards on third down with 2 third down conversions (a 3rd and 6 as well as a 3rd and 3).
The other criticism from almost everyone I have heard is that he cannot throw a short pass accurately. Yet, his only touchdown pass was a perfectly thrown bubble screen that he had trouble throwing last year. On the next drive, he threw another accurate pass at the line of scrimmage to Dural from his own end zone. I wish I could point to some passes in the middle of the field, but these passes are not attempted in this offense.
I have heard many theorize that LSU does not attempt any passes over the middle because Harris is not capable. I guess I am thick headed. I never bought the theory that Russell Shepard was such an atrocious passer that he could never attempt a pass in his career at LSU without costing LSU the game. And I am selling the idea that Brandon Harris is so inept that a crossing route in the middle of the field is an automatic disaster.
I can hear you already. I do not argue that Harris is great in the pocket, and always makes great decisions in the pocket (especially after turning his back to the defense in a seven step drop). But you are not fair if you don’t acknowledge that a less mobile quarterback would have been sacked at least 4-5 times on Saturday.
Of course, Harris’ last pass of the game was egregious and inexcusable. But again, that was a poor decision, but not an inaccurate pass. He didn’t miss his target by 10 yards. He thought Chark would turn into the field and Chark stayed outside.
Still, that one play does not define the game for me. If Harris completes that pass and then LSU kicked a game winning field goal, LSU was still dominated by Wisconsin for 54 minutes of the game.
Again, I agree Harris needs to play better. But, I don’t think it is fair to insinuate that LSU does not call plays other teams run or plays LSU has run in the past because Harris is so awful. Furthermore, I watched UCLA, Houston, Texas A&M, Alabama, Texas, Notre Dame, Ole Miss, and Florida State play. Their quarterbacks operated out of a different style offense and their quarterbacks made some horrendous decisions and terrible throws. Yet, those teams threw for twice as many yards as LSU and scored a boat load more points than the Tigers. The difference between those teams and LSU is that those quarterbacks were given many other opportunities to make plays.
I would even go as far as saying that most of those quarterbacks would not have done much better than Harris should they trade places with Harris and play in LSU’s offense. That last statement is more to the point that I don’t think any of the quarterbacks for those teams are NFL caliber quarterbacks, yet they were very effective college quarterbacks on Saturday.
Meanwhile, I agree with all the conventional wisdom regarding the play of the offensive line, and this is the part of the article where I look forward to the rest of the year. I dare say that starting Harris or Etling at quarterback does not matter if the offensive line does not improve an insane amount in the next two weeks. To put the level of improvement necessary in quantifiable terms, the offensive line would need to go from a 10 on the ACT to a 30 in two weeks.
Everything LSU does on offense is predicated on dominant offensive line play, so I am not exaggerating the amount of improvement necessary. The improvement is possible, even if unlikely. But, how is it possible? It depends on the reason why the line played so poorly Saturday.
Was it because of injury? We know Tuehema has had an injured ankle, and Pocic had surgery over the summer. It was also rumored before the game that Clapp had turf toe. If those injuries are affecting their play, that would explain some of the issues and the coaches need to look to replace those three until they are closer to 100%. If injury isn’t the issue, then LSU needs to look at a new lineup.
Here is an outside the box suggestion that will probably not happen. Dillon Gordon made the Eagles roster at guard. During his career at tight end for LSU, he was basically declared offensive MVP for his run blocking prowess that LSU has been unable to overcome since Gordon’s injuries last year. Thus, I think LSU should play a backup lineman at tight end in base formations instead of Jeter and Moreau. LSU does not throw to the tight end anyway, and it is a concept that many teams (including the Saints) have used.
In case you are wondering, I also wish LSU would not treat a pass to Fournette in space like a trick play that will only work if attempted sparingly. But like I said in the beginning, I am going to write about something else now.
Let’s begin with the SEC. On the “best opening week of college football ever,” the SEC had possibly its worst weekend this century. To make matters worse from the perspective of an LSU fan, if it weren’t for Nick Saban and his protégés (Mcelwain and Smart), the SEC would be out of the playoff discussion.
Florida won by just enough to avoid making bad headlines, while Georgia’s performance against UNC saved the league.
You may think to yourself that I am leaving A&M out because they beat UCLA. That omission is intentional since the Aggies have a tendency to open strong and then fall off.
The list of embarrassing SEC performances is long. Tennessee’s win barely counts as a win. Kentucky’s implosion and Miss. States loss kill the argument about the depth of the SEC. Arkansas’ one point win against Tech is typical of their recent history and does not help. Of course, LSU’s loss was awful and will look even worse after the Badgers get handled by Ohio State and other teams on their schedule.
My conclusion from the first week is that the recruiting experts look pretty terrible. Every spring, the SEC puts 8-10 teams in the top 25 recruiting rankings. Yet many SEC teams look completely lost on offense, and not much better on defense when they play legitimate offenses.
I need to say something about the Saints before they open the regular season. I don’t know if the Saints picked the right 53, but their jumbling of the roster since cutting down to 53 players does not give me much confidence.
I am hopeful that Paul Kruger will be just enough to help the defense perform as a middle of the road defense in the NFL. But, at the time that I am writing, understand that I am completely shocked that the Saints have not found an available offensive guard to sign. Let’s hope a miracle occurs and Payton can scheme around inept guard play.
HEY REF
Veteran Louisiana High School Official
First things first; “Hey Ref” is not officially back quite yet. August was indeed probably the roughest one I’ve ever lived through. First off my house had almost 6 feet of water in it. And we’ve lost everything. I live off Frenchtown Road in the “Country Road” subdivision and had to be evacuated by boat as the water didn’t look like it was going to stop rising.
I had water in my driveway at 8:30am and by 10:30 water was coming into my house. We didn’t have much time to get out. Around noon as we kept going to higher ground word came to all of us to line up and get in a boat because the current was getting so strong that some boats were pushed into the woods. I saw at least two boats being rescued because they only had a 10hp motor. It was soon after that that the sheriff’s office put out the word only 50hp motors and up would be allowed to pick up residents.
For the first couple of days we stayed with one of my wife’s cousins. On the 16th I was able to get to my house and the grim reality that we’d lost everything. Then on Wednesday the 17th we stayed at my parent’s house. The next morning things would go from very bad to severally worse. I’d gone to the house to try and make heads ‘n tails of things before I received a call around 10:00am that my dad was not responding and was unconscious. I called the paramedics and 911 but it was too late. My father had a heart attack and died while I watched the medical team work on him for more than 30 minutes.
I hope to return soon since the NFL has just hit rock bottom with the sick going’s on with colin kaepernick. Spell-check is trying to get me to use capital letters but I feel this low-life, poor excuse of a human being doesn’t deserve the slightest effort on my part because I know who he is and what he stands for. My only thing I’d like to ask this idiot is “What have you done to reverse the so called oppression against blacks in this country”? He more than likely doesn’t live in ‘da hood and is relaxing in his multi-million dollar mansion with a water front view of the Pacific Ocean.
I want to “THANK” John for his patience as I work to get my life back to some kind of normalcy.