LSU Football '08: No Repeat, No Surrender

LSU has been remarkable on third downs since Les Miles has taken over. But having JaMarcus Russell and fifth year senior Matt Flynn taking snaps had much to do with that.

It didn’t hurt to have guys like Dwayne Bowe, Buster Davis, and Early Doucet catching the ball either.

With guys like Demetrius Byrd, Brandon Lafell, and Terrance Tolliver, the talent at WR doesn’t take much of a hit. Also, the Tigers have an effective pass catching tight end in Richard Dickson but refer back to No. 1. Someone still needs to get these guys the ball.

Being spectacular on third downs has led to great success but expect a bit of a drop off in ’08.

In ’07, LSU was 104 for 223 on third downs. That’s 47 percent, so the Tigers were close to converting half their third down attempts compared to 35 percent for their opponents.

You could also throw in LSU’s insane fourth down conversion percentage. The Tigers were 13/16 on fourth downs in ‘07. That’s 81 percent compared to opponents 6-21 or 29 percent.

This leads to a bit of a side note on people that call Les Miles a gambler on the field and that some even call careless. If you are converting fourth downs at an 81 percent clip, is it still a gamble?

I’ll take 81 percent odds into any casino thank you very much.

Maybe Miles knew when you have a smart quarterback like Flynn and a battering ram named Jacob Hester, it’s wasn’t much of a gamble.

Miles won’t have either in ’08 so expect the fourth down conversions to come back down to earth a bit.

One more thing about third downs, when you keep drives going, you increase your chances of red zone appearances and being able to turn those opportunities into points.

The Tigers had 75 opportunities to score in the red zone last year. They failed just five times. 49 of those 70 were touchdowns.

If the Tigers can’t find themselves in striking distance they’ll have trouble pulling off…

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?