Greetings all!

[LSUwiggz]

Really frustrated that I only just found this board - been reading through all the posts and I can't be happier over how congenial and welcoming Syracuse fans have been. I admit I knew very little bit about your program (apart from the historical, obviously) until you made it onto the schedule. Between what I've seen on this board and what I'm hearing from friends who went to the game, I'm really starting to regret that I couldn't make the trip. Hopefully our fans continue to behave themselves, but a start time of 11am (our time) should keep them from getting too much momentum, especially if they're still dealing with the aftereffects of Friday night.

I wanted to offer my services in case anyone had questions about our team, individual players, whatever. I feel like I'm getting pretty good sense of your team based on a number of comments I've found down the board, and I'd be happy to return the favor...

Looking forward to you guys making your way down here so that we can return the hospitality and - who knows - with the basketball team we're fielding this year, we might even bump into one another in the tourney at some point.

 

[LSUwiggz]

Well, one thing that seems to be a bit of a mystery (understandably so) is our passing game. There's a little context that needs to be put in here.

Brandon Harris, our QB, is a true sophomore. Our last two games were his second and third starts, respectively. Our coach favors a strong ground game that keeps the ball out of the opponents hands and wears down the defense - last year, for instance, when we played ranked teams Alabama, Ole Miss and Texas A&M our opponents had the ball for 24:00, 21:44 and 18:47 respectively. The philosophy is predicated around keeping the opportunity for turn-overs few (0 so far this season) and our defense fresh and its worked pretty well. It also protects our young QB while he gets his feet under him. That does not mean that he's not capable, though, not by a long shot.

The most potentially dynamic thing about our passing game is our WR's. LSU has never been known as a prolific passing team under Miles but it hasn't stopped us from producing a ton of NFL players at that position (Dwayne Bowe, Brandon LaFell, Rueben Randle, Odell Beckham Jr and Jarvis Landry to name a few), and this team isn't any different.

Junior Travin Dural (6'2", 203), the only draft-eligible player in the rotation came into this year with only 44 career catches, but averaged over 20 yards a catch. He's also our primary jet sweep option - big time play-maker. He had a 90+ yard scoring run against Mississippi State called back in our opener for a hold that took place on the opposite side of the field.

The other starter, true sophomore Malachi Dupre (6'3, 190) came into this season with just 14 catches from his freshman campaign - for 318 yards and 5 TD's, averaging over 22 yards per catch. He was the #1 rated WR in the country coming out of high school in 2014.

There's a lot of competition for the #3 spot - currently sophomore John Diarse (6'1", 210) currently holds the edge over sophomores Trey Quinn (6'0", 195), D.J. Chark (6'3", 185) and true freshman Tyron Johnson (6'1", 189), primarily due to his blocking ability. For what its worth, Trey Quinn currently holds the national HS record for career receiving yards (357 catches for 6,566 yards and 70 TD's) while Tyron Johnson was the #2 WR prospect in the nation coming out of HS in 2015.

As you can see, our passing game has a ton of potential as our young players get more and more comfortable, and its a luxury to have a ground game like ours to lean on... but sooner or later, we're bound to explode through the air. Despite Syracuse's outstanding rush defense and questionable secondary, I don't think this is the game where it'll happen - the coaches seem to have a plan to bring Harris along, though Miles did say in his talk show this week that he expected to throw it more on Saturday.

 

[texascpa]

All I know is that I'm up an hour early because of dreams I had of this game. Why would it wake me and keep me up? We kept Fournette to 40 yards on 7 carries, but Harris torched us with his feet. Ugh. I need to call coach Bullough and tell him to watch Harris taking off on the first play. I think we'll be so focused on Fournette, Miles will tell Harris to forget the read and just keep it. And we won't have an answer for it.

 

[LSUwiggz]

All I know is that I'm up an hour early because of dreams I had of this game. Why would it wake me and keep me up? We kept Fournette to 40 yards on 7 carries, but Harris torched us with his feet. Ugh. I need to call coach Bullough and tell him to watch Harris taking off on the first play. I think we'll be so focused on Fournette, Miles will tell Harris to forget the read and just keep it. And we won't have an answer for it.

You know, its funny you say that. In the game against MSU (remember, we missed out on a game due to weather - see my avatar), Harris barely ran the ball at all, but in the Auburn game there were very clearly designed run plays based on some of what we had done vs. MSU. Clearly the staff has a larger offense they are implementing, step-by-step.

The base appears to shotgun or pistol, starting with a jet sweep in motion which the QB may or may not hand off to - then it may or may not go to the RB, turning into either a read option or a counter the opposite way from the way the sweep was set up, usually pulling a Guard or a Guard and a Center. A couple of those really caught Auburn with their pants down, but the real value of it is that the defense has to stay disciplined, stay in their lanes, which keeps them from swarming the ball carrier. Think of it as a triple option with the jet sweep replacing the FB dive. Rumor is that this is the week the passing options out of that offensive set-up with flex their muscles a bit, but many fans remain dubious.

The guy I'm really excited to see is true freshman RB Darius Guice. He was a 5* last year (and from my old HS) who has unbelievable ball skills and, at 220, is quicker than Fournette if lacking his power. He got his first real carries against Auburn last week - 6 for 55 yards and he's deadly catching the ball out of the backfield. I'm really hoping to see more of him tomorrow.