Film Study: LSU officially puts the country on notice it's a playoff contender

Louisiana State University has officially put the Southeastern Conference on notice behind wins in contests most figured it would lose. In an offseason where the Tigers were almost criminally disrespected by the majority of the media and pundits alike, supporters of the Purple & Gold have got to be feeling great about the direction of a young team that’ll only improve on a weekly basis.

The overplayed narrative of “LSU has no quarterback” just goes to show how uninformed most of the media are as the Tigers weren’t provided the benefit of most even believing their young QBs could improve. Better yet, it should come off as major disrespect to one of the best coaching staffs in the country as most didn’t believe the coaches could formulate a plan to get the job done regardless of who’s under center.

But none of that matters now because LSU is looking scary good behind the most complete roster in the conference. That’s right: the offensive line, running backs, receiving corps, front seven and secondary are all laden with future NFL players not only at starter, but along the two-deep as well.

Offensive speaking, which becomes a double entendre after my crushing of my fellow media members, it becomes easy to see why I believed QB Brandon Harris could lead the most explosive offense in the SEC when you take into account the personnel he’s surrounded by.

But Harris is getting it done in a manner I didn’t expect: with the quick game.

I spent a great deal of the offseason analyzing how I felt LSU’s staff would formulate its concepts based on whichever QB procured the starting job between Harris and last season’s starter Anthony Jennings.

After countless hours in the lab, I wrote that I expected offensive coordinator Cam Cameron — if Harris were to be named starter — to harken back to his early days as the OC of the Baltimore Ravens where he exploited the right arm of one Joe Flacco on vertical throws on just about every series in an attempt to not only lessen the traffic in the box for the run game, but to help the quick-passing game, too.

I expected it to be a Shotgun-based, Cheetah personnel-grouped outfit designed at spreading the field and allowing the most ferocious rushing attack in the league more room to operate.

I speculated that if Jennings got the nod, he’d be called upon to deliver strikes in the quick game behind a more traditional approach while occasionally taking shots vertically out of heavier personnel groupings: “U,” “Ace” and “Queen personnel.” Thus far, after wins over Mississippi State and Auburn, two teams with a ton of talent on the defensive side of the ball, with Harris receiving the keys to the kingdom, the staff has meshed both approaches in what has to be one of the better coaching jobs I’ve seen.

While Harris hasn’t lit the world on fire by any stretch of the imagination, he’s been exactly what one would want from an offense that wants to let the skill position players shine while taking care of the ball.

It all begins and ends with the run game behind megastar Leonard Fournette — the most talented football player in the world — the severely underrated Darrel Williams, the Tigers’ next star at the position in Derrius Guice and fellow true freshman Nick Brossette.

Establishing the run behind the most talented line in the country sets up the quick game as there will rarely be a light box for the Tigers to operate — especially after rolling up 266 and 411 yards on the ground against State and Auburn, respectively; the Tigers let that be known right away against Auburn.

Look at how physical the Tigers made this inside-zone jaunt look; everyone got a hat on a hat — with right guard Will Clapp (No. 64) dominating a second-level defender and helping to form an organic cut-back lane. Cameron does a fantastic job at oscillating between zone- and man-blocking concepts, which helps the play-action game tremendously as it’s hard to key in on one concept.

They also revealed some run-pass options that make it even easier for Harris to have command of the offense.

There’s two ways to look at this play: a run-pass option or a dynamic play-action fake. There’s an age-old adage that reads: If you really want to sell play action, you better pull your interior linemen; this play works due to the severe threat of a run from the Tigers.

Another way Cameron has forced defenses on its heels is by having it defend 53-yards wide; the Tigers have a vast sweep series that comes at you from numerous personnel groupings. Travin Dural, LSU’s most accomplished receiver, is a monster on Jet Sweeps and adds a super speed element to the edge-bending run game.

This is already a tough play to deal with as you have to respect the threat of a possible vertical throw, but providing Dural a convoy with that much space is frightening for any defensive coordinator.

Another aspect that’s hard for DC’s to account for is the detached run game. Cameron has installed a few different option packages for Harris, but you can also tell that he’s been taught to take off and create with his legs if his initial read isn’t there.

How can you possibly account for this? When all else fails he’s able to manufacture an explosive play with his legs and keep the drive going.

All this adds up to much easier to navigate concepts in the passing game that are directly tied to LSU’s success on the ground; it’s a beautiful thing.

Case in point.

LSU fans are inherently pessimistic, but if you support the Tigers and aren’t excited about the prospects of this young team, you might need to be checked for a pulse.

Many are thinking you need some elaborate pass scheme to win in this day and age, but check around the league, there’s really no all-world QBs or passing schemes dominating, it’s teams that are playing sound defense and establishing the run that are beginning to separate themselves.

And LSU is at the top of the heap.

This is going to be a fun season, folks.