West Virginia should remember Va. Tech
BATON ROUGE – Tiger Stadium is not a great place for a young quarterback just starting his career.
Such is the situation for West Virginia sophomore quarterback Geno Smith, who will start the second road game of his career tonight against No. 12 LSU in front of 92,400 fans. His previous start was at Marshall, which plays in a 38,016-capacity stadium named for a woman – Joan C. Edwards. If Tiger Stadium was named for a woman it would be Ma Barker. Just ask Tommy Tuberville.
“Marshall was pretty loud,” Smith said. “We played at Auburn last season, and it was pretty loud there. But I’ve heard that LSU can be really loud, too, and LSU has one of the better defenses in the country.”
The defense that Smith will scan shortly after 8 o’clock tonight on ESPN2 is sixth in the nation in quarterback sacks with 11 for 99 yards. Among the LSU players with sacks are guys like defensive back Tyrann Mathieu, who has two, and end Barkevious Mingo, who has one, who are as fast are faster than Smith and some of his receivers and tailbacks.
Smith, a Miami native, is off to a good start. He is No. 21 in the nation in passing efficiency with a 157.72 rating on 71 completions in 101 attempts for 800 yards and seven touchdowns with just one interception.
But the last time a first-year starter who played for a school from the state of Virginia came to Tiger Stadium, it was not pretty. Virginia Tech quarterback Tyrod “T-Mobile” Taylor played his first college game at LSU on the night of Sept. 8, 2007, on ESPN, and it was nothing to text home about. He completed 7 of 18 for 62 yards and was sacked twice as the No. 9 Hokies lost 48-7 to the No. 2 Tigers.
Veteran Sean Glennon also played quarterback for Tech that night, and he managed 2-of-10 passing for 16 yards with an interception. If someone did not believe LSU was a national power before that game, they believed it basically from then on as the Tigers went on to win the national championship.
The Tigers have the makings of a defense as good or nearly as good as the 2007 unit now.
“Our guys understand our blitz and pressure packages a lot better right now,” LSU defensive coordinator John Chavis said. “Yeah, we like to blitz. We take a lot of pride in being a pressure defense. We can play zone when we need to and when we want to. We’re bringing people."
FIVE THINGS TO LOOK FOR:
1.Track meet pressure from the LSU defense. West Virginia has likely not seen the kind of defensive speed it will see tonight in years.
2.West Virginia plays a version of the old Oklahoma defense, often using a three-man front, three linebackers and five defensive backs. It has worked very well for the Mountaineers over the years. LSU’s running game will have to do the job tonight for the Tigers to win, and West Virginia is No. 8 in the nation in rush defense with just 62 yards allowed a game.
3.West Virginia tailback Noel Devine is only 5-foot-8 and 180 pounds, but he is as explosive as any runner in the SEC. Throughout his four-year career, Devine has broken 12 runs of 50 yards or more, including two over 87 yards and five of 70 yards or more. LSU will have to tackle well.
4.The Mountaineers have two receivers – Tavon Austin and Jock Sanders – with more than 200 yards receiving already. The 6-3 Smith has already thrown for 800 yards.
“They’ve got really good speed at the skill positions, and they’re big and physical up front,” Chavis said. “They’ve got a young quarterback who is unbelievable to watch. He’s very poised.”
5.LSU tight end DeAngelo Peterson will play for the first time this season tonight after suffering a foot injury in August. The junior from New Orleans is a good receiver and could help Jordan Jefferson complete some short passes to go with the running game.
FINAL SCORE: LSU 17, West Virginia 13. Not much LSU offense but a lot of defense. Get used to it.
Such is the situation for West Virginia sophomore quarterback Geno Smith, who will start the second road game of his career tonight against No. 12 LSU in front of 92,400 fans. His previous start was at Marshall, which plays in a 38,016-capacity stadium named for a woman – Joan C. Edwards. If Tiger Stadium was named for a woman it would be Ma Barker. Just ask Tommy Tuberville.
“Marshall was pretty loud,” Smith said. “We played at Auburn last season, and it was pretty loud there. But I’ve heard that LSU can be really loud, too, and LSU has one of the better defenses in the country.”
The defense that Smith will scan shortly after 8 o’clock tonight on ESPN2 is sixth in the nation in quarterback sacks with 11 for 99 yards. Among the LSU players with sacks are guys like defensive back Tyrann Mathieu, who has two, and end Barkevious Mingo, who has one, who are as fast are faster than Smith and some of his receivers and tailbacks.
Smith, a Miami native, is off to a good start. He is No. 21 in the nation in passing efficiency with a 157.72 rating on 71 completions in 101 attempts for 800 yards and seven touchdowns with just one interception.
But the last time a first-year starter who played for a school from the state of Virginia came to Tiger Stadium, it was not pretty. Virginia Tech quarterback Tyrod “T-Mobile” Taylor played his first college game at LSU on the night of Sept. 8, 2007, on ESPN, and it was nothing to text home about. He completed 7 of 18 for 62 yards and was sacked twice as the No. 9 Hokies lost 48-7 to the No. 2 Tigers.
Veteran Sean Glennon also played quarterback for Tech that night, and he managed 2-of-10 passing for 16 yards with an interception. If someone did not believe LSU was a national power before that game, they believed it basically from then on as the Tigers went on to win the national championship.
The Tigers have the makings of a defense as good or nearly as good as the 2007 unit now.
“Our guys understand our blitz and pressure packages a lot better right now,” LSU defensive coordinator John Chavis said. “Yeah, we like to blitz. We take a lot of pride in being a pressure defense. We can play zone when we need to and when we want to. We’re bringing people."
FIVE THINGS TO LOOK FOR:
1.Track meet pressure from the LSU defense. West Virginia has likely not seen the kind of defensive speed it will see tonight in years.
2.West Virginia plays a version of the old Oklahoma defense, often using a three-man front, three linebackers and five defensive backs. It has worked very well for the Mountaineers over the years. LSU’s running game will have to do the job tonight for the Tigers to win, and West Virginia is No. 8 in the nation in rush defense with just 62 yards allowed a game.
3.West Virginia tailback Noel Devine is only 5-foot-8 and 180 pounds, but he is as explosive as any runner in the SEC. Throughout his four-year career, Devine has broken 12 runs of 50 yards or more, including two over 87 yards and five of 70 yards or more. LSU will have to tackle well.
4.The Mountaineers have two receivers – Tavon Austin and Jock Sanders – with more than 200 yards receiving already. The 6-3 Smith has already thrown for 800 yards.
“They’ve got really good speed at the skill positions, and they’re big and physical up front,” Chavis said. “They’ve got a young quarterback who is unbelievable to watch. He’s very poised.”
5.LSU tight end DeAngelo Peterson will play for the first time this season tonight after suffering a foot injury in August. The junior from New Orleans is a good receiver and could help Jordan Jefferson complete some short passes to go with the running game.
FINAL SCORE: LSU 17, West Virginia 13. Not much LSU offense but a lot of defense. Get used to it.
posted by Glenn Guilbeau at 5:09 PM
5 Comments:
I think you have summed up the LSU tiger football game against West Virginia,very truthful.
West Virginia is going to have a troubling time with the LSU defense players speed.
The LSU players are just about always going to be around the football,like extra shadows, or body's in another color.
It is very hard to play offense with other people hanging on you shoulders.
I to think, that it will be a low scoring game, because of the lack of the LSU QB ability, to mover the football consistently.
If Les Miles had a good QB,the LSU team could score more TD,but he does not.
There is still some LSU tiger magic left from the Bengal tiger NC glory days...A lot of the LSU fans have stop believing,buy the hardy few, are still feeling exited.
I will be very surprise if West Virginia beats the LSU tigers..No where do I see a good reason to think other wise.
The WV spread offense, that passes more then they run..I do no think so.
This LSU defense strength, is the pass defense,and do you know of a college football team, with more spreed then LSU!
No,it is a safe bet, that LSU will be 4-0 Sunday morning.
I am going to need drugs to get me threw this years LSU football season.
Les Miles is a horrible,horrible,horrible,head football coach.
What are we going to do now?
I keep remembering three years of the same LSU football Les Miles show:
Amateur QB, now playing,bad,bad,and bad...Now lets look at all the LSU football fans, in tiger stadium..See the life draining from their body's.
How long is this(Les Miles can not coach show)- going to last?
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