Ad Disclosure
LSU is hoping to find ways to get Leonard Fournette going vs. Alabama this time
By Gary Laney
Published:
To Leonard Fournette, the story goes, it had to seem like the entire Alabama football community stood in front of him.
There was A’Shawn Robinson. There was Reggie Ragland. Heck, the drum major was in there. Avery Johnson. The Ghost of Bear Bryant was in the scrum.
Yet, Fournette’s job was to run right into it.
Or at least, that’s the myth you might here from some LSU faithful, particularly some Les Miles detractors, of what Fournette was up against when Alabama shut him down last year in a 30-16 Tide win. However, the reality was a little different.
Against Alabama, Fournette’s Heisman Trophy candidacy came to a screeching halt as the Crimson Tide defense consistently hit him in the backfield before he could get going, and he finished with just 31 yards on 19 carries. But it wasn’t because Alabama sold out to stop him, which is the common misconception about that game.
In reality, the Crimson Tide rarely got out of its base, seven-man front. The truth is, looking back, more often than not it was simply about Alabama winning the war at the line of scrimmage to get to Fournette.
The question is, can LSU do something to get Fournette going this time against one of the toughest, most physical fronts in college football? Under interim head coach Ed Orgeron, what has changed to free Fournette to run loose like he did last time out in a school-record, 284-yard rushing day against Ole Miss?
“Hopefully a lot,” Orgeron said on Monday. “We’re going to do some things with Leonard that he’s able to do. I think that whatever happened last year is the past. We have a great game plan for Leonard.
“But I will say this to you. It’s going to be very tough moving the football on this defense. They’re one of the best defenses I’ve ever seen.”
Good enough where, man-for-man, LSU is not able to physically dominate the Crimson Tide the way it can with other opponents. LSU entered the Alabama game last year unbeaten and ranked No. 2 with an offense that was able to impose its will on defenses with Fournette, even if everybody in the house knew he was coming.
But what happened against Alabama was quite the opposite. LSU couldn’t beg, borrow or steal ways to find Fournette running room, and the Crimson Tide was doing nothing special to out-scheme the Tigers’ offense. It was simply better.
On most plays, a proud LSU offensive line surged backwards as the Crimson Tide was in up-the-field attack mode and simply won the line-of-scrimmage war again and again, giving Fournette no room to even breathe.
But that was against a Miles offense that was more reliant on power football. Under Orgeron, the Tigers may be a little less predictable with their approach. They will spread a defense the width of the field and create space through formations to keep defenders guessing and on their heels.
“I’ll put it this way,” said center Ethan Pocic. “I think the way our offense has been more diverse and spread the ball more, I think it’ll help us.”
Last season, even if Alabama wasn’t lined up specifically to stop Fournette in the power run game, if the defenders were anticipating it and not respecting other options, it made it easy for the entire front seven to key on No. 7.
The Tigers weren’t able to keep the front seven from doing that because they weren’t consistently able to make the defense pay with anything else. Brandon Harris, then the starting quarterback, averaged 21 yards a completion, a great number. But unfortunately for him and LSU’s offense, he only completed 6-of-19 passes and missed on some other potential chunk plays and finished with only 128 yards.
Since Danny Etling took over the starting job earlier this season, the completion percentage in the passing attack has risen, and the ball distribution has improved. In three games under Orgeron, Etling is completing 64 percent of his passes — Harris was a 54 percent passer last year — and the new starter is finding more targets to throw to.
Perhaps that’s what LSU needs to free Fournette for the Crimson Tide defense to be more conscious of threats other than No. 7. And getting the defense to defend the whole field is Etling’s strength.
“I think that’s what every quarterback is asked to do,” Etling said. “Understand what you do well. Know who you are as a player. Kind of make sure you highlight those things when you play, and put your team in a position to win the game.”
Orgeron suggested that he thinks there will be plays available to the passing game.
“We think we can get some receivers down the field, but we’ve got to be able to protect (Etling) long enough to be able to protect the quarterback to get those plays down the field,” Orgeron said. “That’s going to be the key to the game.”
Show that you can complete passes consistently, and that might keep the front seven from focusing so much on Fournette.
In all three games since Orgeron has become the interim coach, LSU has broken a major school offensive record. In a 42-7 rout of Missouri, the Tigers set the school record for yards in an SEC game (634). In a 45-10 win over Southern Miss, LSU set a new modern-day standard for yards per play (11). And last week in a 38-21 win over Ole Miss, Fournette set the single-game rushing record.
But none of those teams were Alabama. This week, the Tigers will settle for just finding ways to get Fournette and the offense going.
