Stephen Lew
By Hunt Palmer
Saturday night’s game was a virtual copy of LSU’s wins over Clemson and Florida.
The defense dominated the majority of the game, and the offense did just enough to earn a win. It’s not a work of art, but it is effective against teams with average to below average offenses.
The Pro Football Focus grades from the effort were not surprising. The guys who made headlining plays showed up at the top of the list. The offense showed up on the lowest grades list.
Let’s dive in.
HIGHEST GRADES
- Trey’Dez Green, TE – 83.8
- Tamarcus Cooley, S – 80.7
- Mansoor Delane, CB – 78.8
- Caden Durham, RB – 75.5
- Ahmad Breaux, DT – 74.2
Green’s breakout effort was not surprising in the least. Now that he’s healthy, he’s going to be a huge piece to the Tiger offense. The jump ball is fun to watch, but it’s not all Green can do. He caught eight of his 11 targets for 119 yards. He made all three of his contested catches and had 43 yards after the catch and forced two missed tackles. He was fantastic.
Cooley graded 86.2 in coverage thanks in part to a great play to come over the top and intercept LaNorris Sellers. He also broke up another pass in the game. Cooley is part of a really tough secondary that South Carolina struggled to separate from all night long.
Delane made the play that essentially sealed the game, the fourth down pass breakup with six minutes to play. The decision to throw at him was questionable at best and flat dumb at worst. Delane answered the bell. He was only targeted twice. Neither was completed. Delane added three tackles and a pressure of Sellers. He’s a star.
It was great to see Durham back in action, and he produced after three weeks off post-ankle sprain. Durham graded an 80 on seven pass protection snaps. He forced three missed tackles and had 70 yards after contact. How many yards did he have in the game? 70. That’s not great news in regards to run blocking, but Durham runs hard.
Breaux was also on the injury report all week. He played, and he played well. Breaux saw 27 snaps, and 15 were against the run. He graded 74.8 against the rush and got back to hit Sellers once on a pass attempt.
LOWEST GRADES
- Davhon Keys, LB – 29.9
- Bauer Sharp, TE – 41.0
- Weston Davis, RT – 44.6
- Nic Anderson, WR – 50.4
- Zavion Thomas, WR – 53.4
Keys only played 23 snaps. He missed a tackle and graded 31.8 in coverage. This was not a case of a lot of bad reps. He just didn’t play a ton, so the poor reps were exacerbated.
Sharp dropped a pass and was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct on the Green touchdown. His blocking grades were also low, 50.4 in the passing game and 52.5 in the running game.
Davis has graded low every week. In 30 pass blocking reps, he graded a 30. He was also flagged for holding. That’s just a real problem on the right side of LSU’s offensive front.
Anderson only had one catch for two yards. He didn’t have a drop. The low grade feels fairly insignificant in terms of the flow of the game.
Same story for Thomas who had one catch for six yards.
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