LSU's Matt Canada new to SEC, but not to former SEC quarterbacks
The reclamation project known as the LSU passing game is underway, as Matt Canada is the team’s new offensive coordinator.
Canada inherits a Tigers aerial attack that hasn’t finished better than 11th in the SEC since 2013, when quarterback Zach Mettenberger assembled a passer rating of 171.5 and a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 22-to-8.
Anthony Jennings — he’s since transferred to Louisiana-Lafayette and hasn’t played much better — was the leading passer on the bayou in 2014 but put together a pitiful rating of 118.3 with 11 TDs and 7 INTs. In 2015, it was Brandon Harris compiling a rating of 130.5 and throwing 13 scores against 6 picks.
This season, Danny Etling took the majority of the snaps and was average at best. Rating? 135.8. Ratio? 9-to-4.
While this is Canada’s fifth destination as a coordinator at the FBS level, this is his first stop in the best conference in America. That being said, he’s familiar with some of the talent that’s come in and out of this league.
From 2013-15, Canada was the OC at N.C. State. The starting QB his last two years in Raleigh was Florida transfer Jacoby Brissett, who lost his battle in Gainesville with Jeff Driskel. Brissett thrived for the Wolfpack — more so than he ever did for the Gators — with 43 touchdowns and just 11 interceptions.
Brissett was a third-round pick of the New England Patriots last spring. Driskel, by the way, was only a sixth-rounder to the San Francisco 49ers.
In 2016, one-time Tennessee signal caller Nathan Peterman was the top-rated passer in the ACC (161.2) for Pitt. Even though Canada coached him for a lone season, Peterman (below) improved across the board statistically.
Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Peterman left the Volunteers to go to the Panthers because his path to playing time was blocked by Joshua Dobbs. Yes, Dobbs has enjoyed a stellar campaign on Rocky Top. Still, he’s only the 20th-rated passer nationally — Peterman is No. 9. Plenty of scouts believe Peterman is the superior pro prospect, too.
The Bayou Bengals swung and missed trying to get Lane Kiffin to make a lateral move, but Canada is still considered a great hire.
“Canada arrived at Pitt more as a replacement for Jim Chaney, who left (for Georgia) after one year at Pitt, rather than as an offensive guru that was going to bring a lot of fireworks to Pitt’s offense,” Steve Flinn told Saturday Down South. He has covered Pittsburgh since 1990 and attended every Panthers home game since 1980.
“Canada was fired from N.C. State, so no one saw this coming, that he was going lead an offense that set the record as the highest-scoring offense in Pitt history.”
The depth chart in Baton Rouge at the game’s most important position currently features Etling, Harris and a couple of relatively unheralded recruits. Harris was the last quarterback of note to sign with LSU out of high school.
“I think one reason (Canada) was successful was that he used the resources he had to the best of his ability, taking an average team and designing a system that allowed them to overachieve to their strengths,” Flinn said.
Aside from QB, Canada will have riches at his disposal at the skill positions. Tailback Leonard Fournette is leaving early for the NFL, but Derrius Guice — he holds the program’s single-game record for rushing yards, not Fournette — returns. Receivers Malachi Dupre and D.J. Chark are juniors and would be wise to stay in school.
“This was certainly not one of Pitt’s most touted offenses, personnel-wise,” Flinn said. “Running back James Conner is a star but wasn’t the next Tony Dorsett. QB Nate Peterman was respectable but not the next Dan Marino. After Tyler Boyd left for the NFL last year, the team was missing a featured wide receiver. Jester Weah settled into that role as the season went on but was no Larry Fitzgerald by a long shot. They made good use of senior tight end Scott Orndoff, but he was no Mike Ditka.”
Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
The Tigers have been stale offensively for quite some time. Ex-coach Les Miles (above) wasn’t interested in 21st-century football.
“We still don’t know how Canada did it, but he mixed a blend of jet sweeps, unorthodox formations and play calls that always seemed to keep the opposing defense off guard, even though they knew what was coming,” Flinn said.
When Ed Orgeron was just the interim coach, he promised to open the playbook a little wider. But any sort of wholesale change to the offense couldn’t be done midseason, so he had to wait until he got the job permanently.
After the interim tag was removed from his title, Orgeron focused his attention on Kiffin, who impressed during his three-year run coordinating the offense at Alabama. However, Kiffin wanted to be a head coach again so badly — previous stints at Tennessee and USC were disasters — that he took a pay cut to go to lowly FAU.
Orgeron may not have been able to talk Kiffin into ditching crimson for purple, but that doesn’t make Canada a consolation prize.
Even if the Bayou Bengals corral a top quarterback like four-star prospect Myles Brennan, a New Orleans native presently committed for the class of 2017, more than likely Canada will have to make some chicken salad in Year 1.
Harris — creole-country fans are cringing at the thought of him starting again next season — didn’t show any improvement, but perhaps better coaching is the answer since he didn’t get much during the Miles regime. A safer bet is Etling serving as a bridge for a bit longer until a higher-ceiling youngster is ready.
Canada got more out of Brissett. He got more out of Peterman, too. Let’s see if he has another rabbit in that hat of his.
John Crist is the senior writer for Saturday Down South, a member of the FWAA and a voter for the Heisman Trophy. Send him an e-mail, like him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.
