BATON ROUGE, La. — LSU Head Coach Ed Orgeron says the Tigers spent several hours breaking down game film from Saturday’s disappointing 38-27 loss to UCLA.
“I do believe that the will to fight and everything was there, I just wish we would have coached them better. I’ve got to put that on me. I think offensively and defensively we could have done some things better in camp to prepare our guys to play a better football game. That’s the thing I’m most disappointed in, the preparation that we had as coaches going into the game,” says Orgeron.
Today, we learned that LSU will be without defensive end Ali Gaye and offensive lineman Cam Wire and Austin Deculus Saturday when the Tigers host McNeese.
Orgeron says a group that only managed to generate 49 yards rushing yards will have to grow up quickly.
“We won a lot of games with Austin Deculus and Ed Ingram. We won a championship with those guys. Those guys started as freshmen in the swamp. Those guys are good football players and I believe it. It’s a shame we lost our left tackle right before the season and I think that hurt us a little bit. Liam’s back but we have to have more continuity. They just got a new offensive line coach and I’m not making excuses for them but it’s different for the guys. It’s going to take time for them to gel. I believe in Brad. I believe in this offensive line. Some of these young guys are going to have to step up,” says Orgeron.
Quarterback Max Johnson threw for 330 yards, 3 touchdowns, and a pick but hesitated to make throws and was hit one too many times as a result.
“We came out there smoking. We were going, going, and going, and then all of a sudden, they started getting pressure on the quarterback. He missed several balls, some balls were low. He was really good at times, times he’s got to get better. Again, it’s not his first start but the first time he’s the man. He’s the quarterback and we’re going to give him time to get better, but he’s got to improve,” says Orgeron.
UCLA’s repeated success on crossing routes devastated the LSU defense Saturday and was the main topic of discussion in what Orgeron calls an “extensive meeting” following the game.
Orgeron says it’s an issue that popped up in camp and one the unit will heavily address moving forward.
“We came up with some drills to help our guys cover certain crossing routes that we had seen. We had seen some different stuff that they hadn’t seen. We saw some different stuff that we hadn’t shown them in practice. So, that’s coaching. I think we fixed that. We made a couple of adjustments, a couple of calls, a couple of formations that we can take the heat off the crossing routes. I know we made some adjustments this week. You know, I saw live action the first time with our defensive coordinator. He’s got to learn our players. Our players have got to learn our defensive coordinator and we’ve got to make a big jump this week,” says Orgeron
And what a week to make that jump.
Saturday, Coach O and Daronte Jones will be dialing up blitzes and coverages against Orgeron’s son and McNeese starting Quarterback Cody Orgeron.
“It is challenging but I’m going to coach the way I know how to coach. I may tone down a couple of the words I use because it is my son, but besides that Cody knows we are coming man… and McNeese is in our way. And he understands that,” says Orgeron.
LSU hosts McNeese Saturday night at 7 p.m.
