1. LSU going up-tempo on offense
Ed Orgeron promised some offensive changes, and it looks like he has delivered on that promise if the spring is any indication. Steve Ensminger is back for his second year as the offensive coordinator, but Orgeron brought in former Saints offensive assistant Joe Brady to be the passing game coordinator.
Brady’s influence on the offense was evident during the spring game, with LSU showing many of the spread principles utilized so effectively by Drew Brees and Sean Payton in New Orleans. The folks over at And The Valley Shook have an excellent breakdown of the correlation between LSU’s offense during the spring game and what the Saints like to do.
It’s important to note that this was the vanilla-batch of the new offense cooking up in Baton Rouge, but it’s obvious that Orgeron’s goal is to be more diverse and, to put it simply, put more points on the scoreboard.
LSU’s pro-style, heavy offenses have traditionally worked well enough against every defense, except for one: Alabama’s. LSU is riding an eight game losing streak to the Crimson Tide, and under Orgeron the offense has manged a single touchdown and 10 total points in the three meetings.
Joe Burrow really seemed to turn the corner over the last few games of last season, and he looked comfortable in the new system during the spring. Burrow is an effective runner, something I’m guessing we’ll see a lot more out of him in 2019. He’s also good at keeping his head up and throwing the ball on the run, something that could be a staple of how LSU wants to attack. There weren’t any run-pass options that I noticed during the spring game, but that could be something the Tigers coaching staff is hoping to keep under wraps. It’s certainly a play that Burrow could run effectively, and could ultimately be one of the team’s bread-and-butter plays in 2019.
LSU will look a lot different on offense next season, but that could be the change that gets them over the hump.