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Hall of Famer [20540]
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Lamar Jackson is undeniably a great player...
Sep 12, 2017, 1:31 PM
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...but is that enough?
They really do have just Lamar Jackson and a couple guys. Gone are WR's Jamari Staples and James Quick, along with clutch TE Cole Hikutini - those guys could all play. They still have a couple of decent wide receivers but you'd be hard-pressed to find good players elsewhere on offense, either in their RB stable or on their O-line.
They really downgraded on defense with the losses of DE/OLB Devonte Fields, SS Josh Harvey-Clemons, and perhaps worst of all, that run-stopper, DT DeAngelo Brown. That dude was impossible to move and really anchored that 3-4 defense that Todd Grantham featured.
Oh, and along with those big hits on D, which were in no way replaced because Bobby Petrino doesn't care jack about his defense and doesn't trouble himself to recruit that side of the ball, he also lost DC Todd Grantham, who jumped laterally over to Mississippi State for almost exactly the same amount of money. Trouble, Bobby P. New DC Peter Sirmon - who was at Mississippi State before the Bulldogs grabbed Grantham - was brought in to replace him but is nowhere near as highly regarded. Mississippi State's D in 2016 ranked 110th out of 127 FBS teams and allowed 459.1 yards and 31.8 points per game...which is right about where Louisville is trending this year.
Their D looked bad against Purdue - arguably one of the 2-3 worst programs in college football over the last few years - and it looked really bad against an absolutely dismal UNC team that literally lost everybody who was any good on their roster from last season and somehow gave up 35 points to them.
Woof. That's bad.
I know the crowd is going to be frantic. The pre-game atmosphere will be the biggest thing Louisville has ever seen there.
But that can work against you if you can't compete - the air can almost literally get sucked out of the stadium if Clemson shows up landing body blows (see Clemson vs. FSU, 2013, where we got beat down 51-14, to see how that goes) - and is this Louisville team really ready for Big Boy football? I don't see it. I didn't see it down the stretch last year, when they fizzled in every game that mattered. I don't see it in terms of leadership - Bobby Petrino is a snake and even his own players know it - I don't see at the line of scrimmage, I don't see it in terms of athletes. Louisville will have by a lot the #1 player on the field; Clemson will have the next 20 or 25 best on the field before you even get to a Louisville player.
Actually, other than Lamar Jackson, I do not see a single player on either side of the ball who would start for Clemson. Zero. Not one. Most of their starters would not even make our 2-deep. That's not blind homerism, that's not invective, it is literally true.
Maybe there's something I'm not seeing, but this Louisville team does not match up this year like they did in years past. At all. Though I will concede Jackson is one serious equalizer.
Is Jackson really good enough to beat us on his lonesome? I guess we'll find out.
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Oculus Spirit [90819]
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Well...Lamar is gonna hear some racket noise from me!
Sep 12, 2017, 1:41 PM
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And Often!
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Head Coach [793]
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Re: Lamar Jackson is undeniably a great player...
Sep 12, 2017, 1:48 PM
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Lamar will be hit hard and often. Our team is still very mad about The Heisman outcome from last year.. Tigers 38 to 24.
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Orange Blooded [2035]
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Re: Lamar Jackson is undeniably a great player...
Sep 12, 2017, 1:51 PM
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I have to believe that Venables, the defense, and indeed the whole team will take it as a challenge to not allow one person to beat them..
Last year's defense was good...our defense this year is better and nastier..
Lamar is going to get HIT...a lot..and he will find it tough to find receivers running free..
Unlike Steele before him...a hallmark of Venables defense is disciplined play...it's why the GT option is no longer the mystery and nightmare it once was for Clemson
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Orange Blooded [2035]
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Re: Lamar Jackson is undeniably a great player...
Sep 12, 2017, 1:54 PM
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Jackson success last year didn't come until late in the game..when our defense was fatigued..
Because our O wasn't holding on to the ball...
If we avoid turnovers..I look for 4 quarters of what we saw last year against Jackson....Him frustrated..and not because Ben Boulware puts him in a headlock
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Orange Blooded [2702]
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This
Sep 12, 2017, 2:09 PM
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A lot of people look at the stats and think Lamar ran wild all game. He was pretty much bottled up the first three quarters and started racking up stats when the D was worn out.
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CU Guru [1746]
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I hope we can HIT him consistently...
Sep 12, 2017, 1:59 PM
[ in reply to Re: Lamar Jackson is undeniably a great player... ] |
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but he is an elusive guy....we had him dead in his tracks a few times in the second half last year and he just wiggled and made us miss.
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CU Guru [1746]
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While I agree with most everything..
Sep 12, 2017, 1:55 PM
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this is still a very good ball team and capable of winning. There is a ton of experience on the defensive side of the ball and talented guys...but you're right in that the coaching is very subpar.
They have some playmakers at WR and Petrino knows how to get guys the ball. Jackson is good enough to do most of it by himself. They'll get some points without questions.
I dont think the crowd or big game atmosphere will be a huge factor as most of our guys have been there done that many times over. But, we cant turn it over like we did last year and even last week. If we have multiple turnovers again then we may not come out of there with a win.
Also, Louisville circled them game after last season and they have literally been preparing schematically for our game since spring ball. They spent extra time putting in the work solely to beat us. We'll see what happens.
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110%er [5287]
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Re: While I agree with most everything..
Sep 12, 2017, 2:05 PM
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They put in the work to solely beat Watson's offense...but we aren't fielding Watson this time, nor the same offense (and they don't have a ton of great tape on our offense opened up with KB in the whole game either).
Expectations of new wrinkles by Lamar:
shovel pass
^if you think they didn't prepare that after the Pitt game, think again. They have the best player on the field to cause the confusion to do it like Pitt did. We'll now see if Venables scheming to stop it last year did in fact pay off. Watch the UNC game, you'll see Jackson, though not sure if he was actually supposed to, run the shovel pass in the game.
rub play
They pretty much ran one in the UNC game as well, just not as close to the defenders and noticeable as ours in the Championship...the announcers even stated it when they did it...went out to the left, one guy did a wheel route left while the other went out and hooked right but ran it in a way it pushed his initial defender backward, the defender covering the wheel route guy initially followed him instead, leaving the WR open for a gain. Don't think for one second Petrino hasn't been planning that one.
Slants and short passes. Lamar struggled with completions last year more so than this year thus far. I fully expect more fast short passes to counter the blitz (unlike AU's plan).
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CU Guru [1640]
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Re: Lamar Jackson is undeniably a great player...
Sep 12, 2017, 2:14 PM
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Relive the 1989 Gator bowl! Man vs Machine!
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