Upset alert: #6 LSU down 10 to MSST in 4th

Submitted by Justibro on September 26th, 2020 at 7:29 PM

Kj Castello is having himself a game in Mike Leach's offense. Under 4 mins left and MSST is up by 10.

bronxblue

September 26th, 2020 at 7:38 PM ^

LSU's defense looked absolutely rocked in this game.  Costello is a good QB and Leech runs a fun offense, but last year LSU was bailed out by a great offense and I wonder if this year's just really good one doesn't get them in trouble a couple more times.

NittanyFan

September 26th, 2020 at 10:24 PM ^

Ohio State did open 2015 at Virginia Tech.  USC opened 2005 at Hawaii.  Only 2 instances in the 2000s where a defending MNC started the season on the road.

That said, there have been a number of solid neutral-site game openers.  USC vs Virginia Tech in 2004, which was neutral-site but there were tens of thousands of more Hokie fans in Washington DC that night.   Alabama vs. Michigan, Virginia Tech, USC and Louisville in various years.  Florida State vs Oklahoma State in Houston.  

There was also 2001 Oklahoma starting at home vs. North Carolina, 2003 Ohio State starting at home vs. Washington, 2004 LSU starting at home vs. Oregon State.  Home games but legit opponents.  LSU was fortunate to win that 2004 game: missed Beaver Field Goal at the gun.

It was very bad in the 2005-2010 era (Florida opening against Charleston Southern and Western Kentucky!), but honestly most defending MNCs have played a fairly respectable opener.

RockinLoud

September 26th, 2020 at 8:37 PM ^

And Coach O was talking up the defense because he thinks a 4 man front on its own is somehow magically superior to the 3 man front Aranda ran. Turns out maybe Aranda was pretty good and Bo Pelini's defense has still been figured out since like 2013 when air-raid type schemes really started being adopted by many teams.

rs207200

September 26th, 2020 at 9:23 PM ^

Coach O is a great recruiter and motivator, but he is not a good head coach. 
 

There have been NO great head coaches that have failed at multiple stops (USC and Ole Miss for Orgeron) and then become great at their third stop. He was provided lightning in a bottle last year with an absolutely LOADED team:

a legendary quarterback and passing game coordinator combination

14(!) drafted players including 5(!!!) first rounders

 

Perkis-Size Me

September 26th, 2020 at 7:53 PM ^

Ed Orgeron is not an elite coach. I’d argue he’s not even a great coach. 

I’ll credit him in making a great hire in Joe Brady and proceeded to do the smart thing and got the hell out of his way. But this is still the same bayou bumpkin who got schooled at home by Troy, a Sun Belt team, at home a few years ago. Orgeron had all that famed SEC speed and athleticism at his disposal and still lost.

Outside of one year of catching lightning in a bottle with Burrow and Brady, he’s gotten curbstomped by Alabama every year he’s been there. He’ll get curbstomped by them again this year. 

I know he won that title. I can’t take that away from him. No one can take that away from him. He had a great year last year. But he won all of that on Joe Brady’s coattails. Now that he’s gone, I expect LSU to go back to being a 9-3 to 10-2 team that loses to Alabama every single year. 

BeatIt

September 27th, 2020 at 7:43 AM ^

 Brady and Orgeron road the coattails of a graduate Transfer from TOSU. If you think they win the Natty with the guy that started last night I have the answer for how life started. 

LSU doesn't even get in the playoffs without Now.they caught lightning in a bottle with Burrow not with any coaches. Good job Urban, he chose JT Barret over Burrow after watching them both in practice for 4 years. Just think about that lol. After 5 years Barret couldn't even hit a back in the flats in stride consistently. Let that sink in. OSU fans will respond with "C'mon man he holds all kinds of passing records. Yea not exactly like breaking QB records @ TTU or BYU. Till 2018 OSU QB's had logged a  300+ yard single game ONCE lol. Give me a break.

dickdastardly

September 26th, 2020 at 7:58 PM ^

With the sh!tshow that 2020 has become, I don't really know if many of these kids are putting their 100% effort into the games, especially the ranked teams with players that want to "stay healthy" for the draft. I know that argument can be made every year but this year seems to be ripe with "not really going to put my 100% effort. But that's might just be the beers talking.

Frank Chuck

September 26th, 2020 at 8:06 PM ^

Hey look...

Another top ranked, elite team/program (LSU) with a quality DC (Pelini) getting sliced up by crossing routes and vertical passing from an air raid offense.

Maybe someday Michigan will finally field an aggressive, dynamic, innovative offense that will blast elite teams (even with inferior talent).

I just looked it up: KJ Costello never passed for more than 381 yards (in a single game) in his 3 seasons at Stanford.

But in his first game as a QB for Mike Leach, he threw for over 600 yards and 5 TDs. (Granted, Mississippi State only ran the ball 15 times and Costello attempted 60 passes.) Did I already mention that it was on the road against the defending national champions? Sure, LSU lost a lot of players but LSU reloads with Southern talent.

I wonder if I'll ever see a Michigan QB put up video game numbers in a win against a ranked team in my lifetime. I'm in my 30s now.

Still waiting...

But at Michigan, we need the QB to be in his 4th season just to have 35+ pass attempts. Meanwhile, other teams can plug in transfers and scorch the opposing team, light up the scoreboard, and set new program/conference records.

Weird.

Maybe our coaches and system just aren't all that they're cracked up to be. Just maybe...

/Can you all tell I'm a bitter Michigan fan?

Frank Chuck

September 26th, 2020 at 9:42 PM ^

I'm well aware of Leach's faults.

Besides Washington owning Leach, there are other major blips. For instance, the epic chokejob against UCLA last season. I'll never forget that game.

But my post wasn't as much about Leach as it was about Michigan's offense lagging so far behind other elite programs.

I'm a broken record about this. No Michigan QB in program history has ever thrown 30 TDs in a season. Isn't that freaking stunning for supposed Mighty Michigan? Frankly, that's a mind-boggling fact and a strong indicator for why our program has struggled over the past 15+ years.