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Tell The Truth Sunday: LSU is not a good football team

LSU is not a good football team, but they can be.

The UCLA Bruins put a 38-27 whipping on LSU that will either make or break this team. The team in "sissy blue" jerseys from the Left Coast took the 16th ranked Tigers and simply dismantled them. The national pundits were right--and in turn--the local crowd, including your neighborhood TigerDetails, not so much.

The scoreboard does not tell a fair tale, as the Tigers were never able to find a groove, make adjustments, compete at the line of scrimmage or match the energy of its opponent. One of three things are glaringly apparent after 60 minutes of action:

1) LSU is a below average team and is overrated.

2) UCLA is going to make a run at a national title.

3) UCLA is pretty good, which is more than enough to handle the product LSU put on the field last night. At the Rose Bowl mind you. In Front of a national audience. A year after an embarrassing season.

One would be wise choosing 'numero tres' in this pop quiz (that's number three for those that failed Spanish I class).

Getting outplayed stings, but getting out-coached is embarrassing:

Football is supposed to be a game of inches, but it looked to be a game of intergalactic light travel for LSU and its staff last night. I am not the brightest knife in the sky, but I can recognize when a team was out-coached, and LSU was out-coached on Saturday night. From the inability to maintain leverage, or even establish it pre-snap, to the poor technique on both sides of the ball, to the inability to make adjustments, Chip Kelly's staff took it to Ed Orgeron's newly formed assembly of coaches.

This game was lost well before the opening kickoff. It was glaringly apparent that this team was not ready to open the season; with issues that included getting plays off in time, alignment issues, miscommunication, fitness level, gameplan and effort — an inexcusable assortment of issues for a team that was supposedly going to rekindle the flame that set the college football world ablaze just two seasons ago.

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Poor in-game adjustments, no leverage, bad technique:

LSU was taken to school by a coach that has struggled for the better part of the last decade, against a team who hasn't been relevant since the Reagan administration. Perhaps nothing sums this game up better than what I am about to describe.

LSU couldn't figure out how to attack Cover 0. The Bruins brought everything it had at Max Johnson Saturday night, and the Tigers did not have an answer. UCLA routinely emptied its back seven on defense in what was essentially Cover 0, meaning there was no extra help, with every defender left in coverage being left on an island. While a sellout blitz can present some challenges, it should never be something an offensive coordinator can't solve — at least on this level. It took LSU numerous drives before electing to keep a back in for extra protection, ultimately leaving LSU with fewer blockers than Bruin rushers for a large portion of the game.

As bad as the in-game adjustments were on Saturday night, the team was even worse in regards to establishing and maintaining leverage on just about every play. And that is not an overstatement; UCLA outflanked LSU from start to finish in this matchup. Yes, players should know and understand leverage. However, the fact they were so bad says that the responsibility should not fall on their shoulders alone. We have seen this for two years now, and Bo Pelini is no longer here to shoulder the blame. The defense still looks poorly coached.

Sold a box of goods:

Ed Orgeron repeatedly shouldered the responsibility for Saturday's loss following the game, which was a 179-degree turn from what he has been saying up to that point. The national media didn't buy into it, but many local media outlets did. Personally, I fell for it. As a recruiting guy, I know what these players were capable of coming out of high school. What I am not as keen on is how they will be coached and developed. That stuff happens behind the scenes, whereas prospect development is front and center in the industry. I don't like eating crow, and I was served a big dose of it and without dipping sauce.

If one was to draw a projection based solely on Ed Orgeron's words in the spring and summer, one may conclude that LSU should be a national title contender. We heard many of the same things last year, but many wrote off the team's struggles to a bad hire in Bo Pelini and the COVID crisis. Those two issues had zero bearing on last night's contest, and there are no more excuses to be given. If the coordinators don't work out this year, their departure would likely be followed, or even preceded, by the head man himself. It is make-or-break time for Ed Orgeron.

Ricks and Boutte came to play:

Not all was bad for LSU, as sophomores Elias Ricks and Kayshon Boutte came to play. Boutte looks like he is poised to take the next step in his career as a budding superstar, while Ricks continued his ball hawking play from his freshman campaign with another pick on Saturday.

The outside corners as a whole played really well in coverage, but they weren't stellar in run support, which the defense needed from all 11 on the field Saturday night.

The trio of edge rushers (Ali Gaye, Andre Anthony, BJ Ojulari) will be a problem for opposing offenses this year. Yes, they lacked some situational awareness and were out of position against the run on occasion, but they played fairly well.

Where to go from here:

You can only go up from here. This was a really bad showing, and it will take a run of success for it to be forgotten. This team will likely improve, as players and coaches find their way, but how good can they be? It is difficult to see how the team that took the field Saturday night in Pasadena can turn the corner and turn into conference title contender by year's end. At this stage, 7-5 is a more realistic mark than a double-digit winning team, as I predicted.

The Tigers will have a couple of games to find their footing before back-to-back tussles with Mississippi State and Auburn. A loss to those SEC foes could spell the end for Ed Orgeron, but a run of four straight could also go a long way in quieting the naysayers, who currently have a lot of nay to say. Expect this team to get better, but I am not sure it will be good enough to keep this thing from unraveling.

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