Les Miles had said he would visit other staffs, study spread systems

[jbcarol]

To call LSU's offense "vanilla" in its Week 1 upset would be an insult to the flavor

Miles promises there's much more to LSU's offense than meets eye[/url

Tigers only managed 257 yards of offense in their 16-14 loss to Wisconsin, and did not show much creativity in the process as Brandon Harris worked the ball to only three targets not named Leonard Fournette.

Fans peppered Les Miles with questions about how to get the offense going during his radio show on Wednesday night, and he promised that the playbook is not as boring as it appeared in the season opener. The trouble was LSU didn't have a chance to get to most of the plays in the book because the offense spent so little time on the field.

Wisconsin dominated the time of possession battle by a margin of nearly a quarter, holding onto the ball for 37 minutes to LSU's 23.

"To me it's not the playbook, it's having enough opportunities to continue to move the chains and get enough plays on the field," Miles said. "We didn't have snaps. We had more offense to call, but we only had 50-plus snaps."

In fact, it was 50 snaps right on the dot —

[jbcarol]

Cody Worsham ‏@CodyWorsham 2h2 hours ago

Hmm. LSU Athletics Commitee defers the motion to increase Les Miles' $100,000 postseason incentive to $200,000. Will address later in year.

https://twitter.com/CodyWorsham/status/774322648343990272

[jbcarol]

Former [and some still] offensive coaches finally weigh in: Is scheme the problem with LSU's passing game?

"They obviously are old school."

'He's not going to stick his head in the sand and act like there's nothing going on'

They're calling for change in Baton Rouge. They've been calling for it, clamoring and stomping, yelling and screaming, for coach Les Miles to change LSU's offense from the old-school, run-heavy attack that has won him 76 percent of his games in 11 years with the Tigers.

That season-opening loss to Wisconsin last weekend in Green Bay only increased the volume.

The call for change is louder than it has ever been under Miles — and more public. You might hear it during the home opener against Jacksonville State at 6:30 p.m. Saturday in Tiger Stadium.

The call for change isn't just bellowing from Bourbon-filled bars or sizzling off fiery message boards. It's seeping out of the LSU athletics administration building.

At the end of a drama-filled November, Miles promised change to his boss, athletic director Joe Alleva. At the beginning of the 2016 season, Miles delivered to his boss a sloppy passing game with an erratic quarterback, a receiver who dropped several passes and an offense that didn't crack the 260-yard mark.

The Tigers passed for 131 yards in their 16-14 loss to the Badgers, continuing an unsettling trend. LSU has been held under 150 passing yards in 15 of its past 27 games, a startling figure for this period of high-scoring college football.

Another stunning statistic: LSU has averaged 169.3 passing yards per game over the past two seasons, including the season opener. That's fewer during than all but two "Power Five" conference teams (Boston College and Georgia Tech).

Just once in the past eight seasons has LSU's passing offense finished in the top 70.

Former Mizzou OC Dave Christensen said. "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again. I'm not here to critique Les Miles. I think he's tremendous. I just don't think they're doing anything different than they did last year."

Rick Neuheisel, the former Washington and UCLA coach-turned-analyst: "They believe in coming downhill and winning at the line of scrimmage. That's Les' background. This is a guy who believes in establishing the line of scrimmage.

"They've done that, done it as well as anybody. What has to happen is they've got to find ways to get (quarterback) Brandon Harris to be more of the piece of the offense rather than a guy who needs to make plays on third down."

There are others schools, even in the Southeastern Conference: Arkansas and Alabama [sic].

"There's all this talk about how Alabama has got up to some modern standard, whatever the heck that is," Trevor Matich said. "The core of Alabama's offense, when they won the national championship, was still the old-style, old-school, smash ball into a phone booth with a quarterback to make the right decisions."

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/Michael_Carvell/status/774676079751618560

[jbcarol]

 Ross Dellenger ‏@RossDellenger 11m11 minutes ago

#LSU's drive with Etling

Plays: 6
Yards: 70
Passes: 5 (FIVE)

LSU's 6-play, 70-yard drive is longer - by 21 yards - than they had in four quarters against Wisconsin.

[jbcarol]

Miles: 'We're going to need both' Danny Etling, Brandon Harris at quarterback

Miles said Monday he was not ready to publicly name a starting quarterback for Saturday's SEC opener against Mississippi State.

Purdue transfer Danny Etling entered the Tigers' game with Jacksonville State late in the first quarter, leading the LSU offense to three straight touchdowns on the way to a 34-13 victory. Etling completed 6 of 14 passes for 100 yards with a touchdown and an interception, and also added a score rushing.

Etling replaced much-maligned starter Brandon Harris, who was 1-for-4 for 8 yards passing before being pulled. The move to Etling prompted noticeably cheering [sic] from the crowd at LSU's Tiger Stadium.

Nevertheless, Miles said during his weekly press conference Monday that he wanted to speak with his team first before revealing his plan at quarterback. He said that despite his promising debut, Etling is not yet the unquestioned starter.

"I think basically exposing (Etling) to the things that we need to have him do and allow him to show us that he can continue to do what he's done," Miles said, via NOLA.com. "And then in the same vein make sure that Brandon Harris gets that opportunity -- because we're going to need both the guys, but make sure he gets that opportunity to compete and see how he's coming, and let's not turn a blind eye to a very talented quarterback on our team already."

Harris, a junior, was the Tigers' primary starter in 2015, but played inconsistently in some of LSU's bigger games. He started the season-opener vs. Wisconsin, going 12-for-21 for 131 yards and a touchdown passing, but also threw a crucial interceptions in the closing minute of a 16-14 loss.

Etling, a redshirt junior, started parts of two seasons at Purdue before transferring to LSU.

[jbcarol]

James Haralson ‏@jamesharalson 2h2 hours ago

Booger McFarland (@SECbooger) on @1045espn's #YMD: "If he doesn't start Danny Etling Saturday, his team will quit on him." on Les Miles

Ross Dellenger ‏@RossDellenger 1m1 minute ago

Miles: "I can't imagine Danny Etling will not take the first snap." #LSU

So .. Danny Etling will star for #LSU on Saturday.

[jbcarol]

Injuries force movement, different combinations on LSU's offensive line

Les Miles regretful of first-quarter reverse calls

Tigers used at least five offensive line combinations, incorporating reserves such as center Andy Dodd and guard Garrett Brumfield, but they did not allow a sack.

Four of the line's five starters at least briefly went down with injury.

Go go gadget plays

Miles and offensive coordinator Cam Cameron opened up their bag of tricks Saturday, but the gadget plays were not the highlights of a successful first half of offense.

LSU ran a reverse to receiver D.J. Chark on its first play, but Chark was dropped for a loss of 4 yards. Leonard Fournette's halfback pass, while a sharp throw, floated just out of reach of receiver Travin Dural. Wide receiver Malachi Dupre's pass off a reverse sailed well over the head of wide-open quarterback Danny Etling.

All of that came in the first quarter.

"Just a feel about the counter-action (by Mississippi State) and making sure that they were not just running to the ball," Miles said when asked about his reasoning for the gadget plays. "And I would like to have those reverse calls back if I could get them back right now."

Perhaps the first-quarter trick plays were in response to two weeks of slow starts on offense.

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/RossDellenger/status/778219438755545088

Danny Etling's life is changing.

He's being noticed more on LSU's campus.

"I guess," Etling said, "the days of being anonymous, like last year, are a little bit over."

He's taking more snaps in practice.

"I'm a little more sore during the week," he said.

He's the victim of more fake Twitter accounts, too.

"I don't have Twitter," the Tigers new starting quarterback clarified this week.

LSU is changing Etling's life. And he's changing LSU's offense.

It's the same playbook, coach Les Miles and players say, but it's different, eh, pages. Even defensive players can see that.

"He's opening up the playbook because Danny is able to do the things he can do," end and outside linebacker Arden Key said.

Etling cemented his role as LSU's starting quarterback with a 19-for-30, 215-pound [sic] outing in the 23-20 win over Mississippi State...

It goes beyond the play calls. It's the formations, too. Cameron is diving deep into parts of a playbook that he's been unwilling, possibly unable, to use with guys like Anthony Jennings and Brandon Harris.

In the first half against Mississippi State, the Tigers used four-receiver sets on four plays. That's been a rarity the previous two seasons, outside of late desperation drives.

They also flashed a unique formation using their top two tight ends. Foster Moreau and Colin Jeter aligned on either side of the line in wing back positions, tucked just behind and just outside of each offensive tackle.

The real kicker here: They didn't block. On the three plays LSU executed in that formation, Moreau and Jeter ran pass routes. Moreau even caught his first career pass...

Just call him The Facilitator, a smart kid whose Flynn-like qualities have opened up so many doors, err, playbook pages, for this squad.

Cameron also placed running back Leonard Fournette in a wing back position on Saturday, and the fourth-year coordinator tried a handful of gadget plays and reverses, too.

Etling's addition has even altered LSU's typical conservative nature under Miles. For one, he threw on 9 of the first 13 plays of the game and 11 of the first 12 third down attempts.

That's not the half of it. Up 23-3 in the third quarter, Etling threw three straight passes. Up 23-6 in the fourth quarter, Etling dropped back to pass on six plays of a 13-play drive. Instead of milking the clock, Miles and Cameron allowed Etling to sling it.

[DeltaBoy]

He might be the best QB they had in quite a few years.

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/JimKleinpeter/status/780168743397621760

LSU tight ends coach

[Inhogswetrust]

Been told he has a 16 mil buyout.

#NotGoingAnywhereSoon

Obviously you wrote a check for that amount.

[LSUFan]

Obviously you wrote a check for that amount.

Talked to two big boosters about this about 3 weeks ago, his responses was, "Oh no, we got the money"

Sho did.

Later Les!

"Nobody puts Less Miles on a football, than a Les Miles team" - Signed, Me.

[DeltaBoy]

Talked to two big boosters about this about 3 weeks ago, his responses was, "Oh no, we got the money"

Sho did.

Later Les!

"Nobody puts Less Miles on a football, than a Les Miles team" - Signed, Me.

Stone Cold Truth Austin 3:16

[jbcarol]

Pat Dooley ‏@pat_dooley Sep 25

All of you fellow hacks who said when they kept Les that they'd be going through it again this year, well done. #RonHiggins

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/RossDellenger/status/780587297074884609

"It's a new day," guard Will Clapp said, "and a new way around here."

Ed Orgeron ran his first practice Monday as LSU's interim coach, replacing Les Miles after the university fired him Sunday as the Tigers slipped into a 2-2 hole. University leaders also fired offensive coordinator Cam Cameron, replacing him with Steve Ensminger, previously tight ends coach.

Ensminger shouted play calls to his offense Monday, with Orgeron nearby watching the unit and reporters looking on from afar. LSU opened the 30-minute walkthrough to media members; it was believed to be the first open in-season practice in at least 10 years, one of many changes unfolding around the program.

On that list: the offense.

"You can expect ... a new style of play on offense, and obviously we don't have a lot of time to change things, but we are going to tweak things around," Orgeron said in his introductory news conference.

"We're going to spread the ball out a little bit, do some different things, change the style of play," he said later Monday.

LSU's practice today, alone, was one-third of its normal time under Miles. Freshness for games is focus.

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/ESPN_SEC/status/781415284578004992

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Eric Zeier played for LSU assistant Steve Ensminger more than 20 years ago, but the former Heisman Trophy contender has no doubt that the same offensive principles that worked for their explosive Georgia offenses in the early 1990s can still thrive today.

We're about to find out whether Zeier's theory holds true.

"Without question it would work," said Zeier, who developed into an All-American while working under quarterbacks coach Ensminger and offensive coordinator Wayne McDuffie. "The wrinkle that we didn't have, and this was because of the quarterback, not because of the scheme -- so, me -- we didn't have the zone-read implemented into our offense. But everything else we did in terms of today's offense. It translates very well to today's football."

When Zeier's college career ended in 1994, he was the SEC's all-time leading passer -- he now sits fifth on the list --

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/Michael_Carvell/status/782002008257626112

Ed Orgeron is even playing along, telling the media at his introductory press conference "you can expect a new coaching staff, a new style of offense."

But how much can a new staff  —  particularly one that has been on the same campus as those recently fired — actually change in such a short period of time? And what should LSU's new offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger implement to get the Tigers' offense moving?
Simplify everything

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/RossDellenger/status/782444859269447680

LSU finished with 634 total yards, a school record against an SEC opponent.

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/RossDellenger/status/783818240644435968

University leaders fired both Miles and Cameron together as a packaged deal, and leaders pulled the trigger four games into 2016 to "salvage" the season, he said during a meeting with The Advocate on Wednesday.

"There was a degree of demoralization that our student-athletes were showing. We just weren't getting better," Alexander said. "It was clear that our student-athletes had their concerns, not to mention the fans, not to mention the concerns that kind of spread from last year. (We were told) things would change. And they pretty much stayed the same. We wanted to give our student-athletes and students the opportunity to salvage this year."

He called out Miles for the subject of this thread which was started waiting for this to happen or for LSU to show marked improvement on offense.