The KEY Stat to LSU Stopping USC, Lincoln Riley's Offense | LSU Football Recruiting Update

how does the LSU defense Solve the Riddle That is Lincoln Riley we're talking about it it's locked on LSU let's go you are locked on LSU your daily podcast on the LSU Tigers part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day okay let's get it it is locked on LSU your team every day I'm your host Matt musona we're glad to have you aboard with us here thanks for making us your first listen every single day we are free available wherever you get Podcast today's episode is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account use the code locked on college for $20 off your first purchase terms apply download game time today what time is it game time lot to get into today Shay Dixon stops by for his weekly recruiting chat it is game week so how does LSU use this LSU USC game for recruiting purposes we'll delve into that one of the big questions we've had all throughout fall Camp is punting it's game week how big of a concern is it we'll delve into that here shortly you'll hear what Brian Kelly had to say but I told you this was coming and I want to start here today because as we have talked so much about this LSU defense and what we all hope are real sincere improvements uh that they've made throughout fall camp and at this point uh up into this season I think we are going to see an improved LSU defense as we've talked about I think the hold is greater uh than the sum of the parts I think Blake baker has gotten them playing fast and free and loose by simplifying things I think you've added some key additions J Brown I think is going to be your starting nickel I think you're going to obviously Gio payz is a starting defensive tackle for you jvr Suggs will rotate in so you've gotten better you have gotten better personnel-wise you've certainly simplified things with scheme and I think you just have a better overall feeling around this defense they will be better how much better I don't know but it may not manifest against USC and the reason is linoln Riley we can talk about everything that USC lost we could talk about losing Heisman winner Caleb Williams we could talk about losing running backs and offensive linemen and receivers we could talk about losing all of that but it just doesn't matter because the constant has been Lincoln Riley and since Lincoln Riley started calling plays at East Carolina back in 2010 that constant has been proven to be an elite college football play caller and Elite high level scoring offense as follow I have a list and you don't have to memorize it they're going to be a test or anything I'm just going to run through this so you can understand with context how good Lincoln Riley's offenses are okay and have been Lincoln riy first became a play caller in 2010 at East Carolina they averaged 36.8 points per game 2010 remember in 2010 LSU was still running around three yards in cloud of dust okay 36.8 points per game A year later they averaged 26 went down by 10 but that would be the low Watermark of his career next year went up to thir 31 A2 then 40.2 then 35.8 then Bob Stoops hired him goes to Oklahoma in 2015 43 and a half points per game then 43.9 then 45.1 then 48.4 then 42 then 43 and then in his final year at U 39 gets the USC job first year at SC 41.3 last year 41.8 y'all to say this simply since 2010 of course Lincoln Riley's second year in 2011 they averaged 26.2 but since Lincoln Riley became an offensive coordinator after those first two seasons there was only two times after Lincoln Riley's first you 36 26 31 those first three years of East Carolina there was only two times that Lincoln Riley's offenses have averaged under 40 points per game 35.8 in 2014 at East Carolina and 39.1 his last season at Oklahoma he's lost Heisman winners he had a Heisman winner in Baker Mayfield he had a Heisman winner in Kyler Murray he had a Heisman finalist in Jaylen Herz he had a Heisman winner in Caleb Williams now he's had Heisman winners that he's lost before and they don't miss a Beat because the constant is him so LSU has a real significant Challenge on its hands yes because I think yes's Got Talented players and all that stuff but mostly because Lincoln Riley has proven you can have as much turnover on a roster as you want you can lose Heisman winning quarterbacks and he's still going to come back and have Elite level offenses now that's not to say every game that Lincoln Riley has ever coached his offenses have never missed a beat I want to consider this a year ago when USC's defense was very bad we know but there were three times that year three times a year ago where USC was held below 30 points this is very important they lost 48-20 at Notre Dame they lost 36-27 at Oregon and they lost 38-20 in their finale at UC CA I should say against UCLA the one constant in all of those games was USC's inability to run the football I mentioned that game against UCLA when USC lost 38-20 they're cross toown Rivals by the way you wonder why Dan Lynn is now USC defensive coordinator Dan Lynn instead of UCLA defensive coordinator Dan Lynn last year when UCLA beat USC 38 to20 in the Coliseum you know how many yards USC ran for in that game you want take a guess sitting in your car at your desk wherever you are just take a guess how many how many yards did the southern California Trojans run for against their cross town rivals one year ago less than a year ago actually in calendar year three 22 rushing attempts for three yards you want to know how to beat USC you want to know how to limit a Lincoln Riley offense you stop them from running the football you don't think the defensive line and the line of scrimmage matters to these coaches tremendously in this game Lincoln Riley was on a an episode at ESPN Los Angeles a weekly interview he does there and the guys on the panel asked him what position group was he most excited to see not offense not defense just what position group are you most excited to see against LSU listen to what he said you know we've made obviously a lot of changes there I mean pretty much every single possible way you can change it we've changed it um from you know how we practice certainly the the size the nutrition Factor um uh you know it's been well documented obviously the weight and the strength that we've we've put on these guys and that we've brought in um certainly how we're playing not just call- wise but from a technique standpoint is very different as well and so yeah to see us get a chance to go put that on display is is important and I I think of any of the change that have happened that position room it's been the most extreme and so I think naturally for me that's the one that I'm most excited to see he was talking about USC's defensive line that position group the change has been the most extreme you don't think that he knows he watched Dan Lynn hold his offense to three rushing yards and said come here come here from the rose bol of the Coliseum and whatever you did there to stop our offense from being capable of running the football at all show show me do that here he understands the need to be able to control the line of scrimmage which couldn't do a year ago similarly if you're LSU you're hoping giop pz and Jacobian gillery and Shawn Washington and Jaylen Lee and jvr Suggs and Kimo macanoli and Don McKinley whoever's rotating there that interior defensive line you better be able to stop the run because if you can stop the run then all of a sudden now you can pressure or drop coverage against Miller moss and make his life even more difficult the key to that game we can talk all we want Garrett nus Meer Miller Moss which receivers are going to replace Brian Thomas and Malik neighbors all that stuff the bottom line is this game will be controlled at the line of scrimmage I think LSU's got a sincere advantage on its offensive line but you heard Lincoln Riley say how much they've invested in that defensive line this off season and the similar the similar is also true on the opposite side can LSU stop USC from running the ball and make Miller Moss beat him that's the key to the game when teams have slowed Lincoln Riley's offense it's because they've been able to stop them from running the football Utah did it in the Big 12 championship game or the excuse me the Pack 12 championship game two years ago that's LSU's charge stop USC from running the football and you can win that football game okay now uh if LS does control clock and if USC is able to limit LSU's offense might see the Tigers punt a little bit but who is going to do the punning for LSU um we still don't have that answer but we're going to talk about it next it's locked on LSU your team every day man I am so fired up y'all I'll be in that number coming up on Sunday there at allegion Stadium I'll be watching LSU USC man if you want to get to that game or any game you got to check out game time if you have not downloaded the game time app yet after all this time what are you waiting on by the way 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they're sports fans they understand it's game time take the guesswork out of buying tickets to your favorite Live Events with game time so download the game time app create an account use the code locked on college for $20 off your first purchase again terms apply create an account redeem with the code locked on College that's l c k d o n c o l l EG for $20 off G download game time today what time is it it's game time oh and by the way if you're interested in wagering on LSU and USC have you downloaded FanDuel yet you've hold us talk talk excuse me a ton about FanDuel America's number one sports book you better believe you're going to be placing action on LSU and USC you better get the FanDuel but right now we got a little something different for you with FanDuel now through September 22nd so you got about a month a little less than a month now through September 22nd all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get a thre week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV so NFL season's about to begin get on this then with the YouTube TV base plan you'll be able to watch every regular season Sunday afternoon out of Market game all you need is a Google account current form of payment and you can cancel anytime so visit fanduel.com lockon that's fanduel.com locked on one more time fanduel.com locked on to download America's number one Sportsbook that's FanDuel so we are very excited obviously about these offenses um both teams are going to see quarterbacks that have waited their turn and I understand all the excitement about that uh shoot I was wearing a nusb shirt on this sh on this show earlier in the week um but SC fans are excited as well and we're maybe a little cautiously optimistic about the defense both teams um one thing we haven't talked a ton about is punter and a lot of you may have laughed at me if you if you care to you can you can go back and you can find my preall Camp episode here where I listed the biggest questions of fall camp and one of them I listed and I said don't you laugh at me was and I want to spell out why y'all after the spring game Brian Kelly said Point Blank that he had hoped that pton Todd would have won the job but he wasn't nearly consistent enough and he put actions behind his words he went out and signed a transfer punter Blake oxendales Tech now is a believe I think he's a seventh year player now Ox andorf anyway anyway playing his final year of college football at LSU and trying to win the job and when Brian Kelly was asked two weeks ago about punter he said both are very talented got strong legs but we haven't seen consistency enough and they may use them both so Monday Monday of gameweek Brian Kelly again was asked about his punters and if he's made a decision Give a listen to what he said you know I think from a tactical standpoint you know limiting uh you know his ability to to field the football right I mean we we certainly want to stress um their returns uh by not kicking it straight down the middle of the field so you know what is that right I mean I think we've got two talented kickers uh I think they both have the ability to impact the game um you know I think I think from our standpoint I I think we have some things that we can do um that will allow both of them to impact back the game and it has a lot to do with you know trying to keep the ball from you know being kicked straight down the middle of the field uh and giving him uh an opportunity with space uh to return kicks him is Zachariah Branch USC's punt returner who was a freshman All America a season ago and y'all I don't think this has been talked about enough do you know how many times an LSU opponent returned a punt a year ago I'm not talking about how many times LSU punted how many times opponents returned a punt against LSU we we'll do this this exercise again if you're in your car having your morning coffee whatever you're doing right now say it out loud 13 games a year ago how many times not how many times else you punt how many times did an opponent return a punt two two for negative one yard as much as we have complained about special teams the past two years and rightfully so LSU has struggled mightily in the return game they've struggled at times the kicking game uh covering blocking for Pats um one thing over the past two years that has been incredibly consistent was Jay bramlet when Brian Kelly in that sound bite talked about tactical things we can do what he's talking about is placing punts where the opponent can't return it yeah zachari branch is a dangerous Return Man you want to know how to prevent him from hurting you don't kick him the ball but to do that you have to have accurate punters when Brian Kelly said there are advantages that both have here's what I think he means and this is a guess I want to be very clear this is a guess I think pton Todd I'm gonna give you a golf analogy pton Todd's the guy that could stand on the T box and pump a driver 350 yards right down the middle but if you put a a wedge or a putter in his hand it he looks like a baby giraffe I think Blake Ox andorf meanwhile is a guy who um maybe isn't the best off the te but you give him a wedge anything from inside 100 yards he could be deadly and so what I think they're going to do I think this is what they're going to do LSU's backed up at their own 17 yard line they need to Boom one to flip field I think that's Payton Todd LSU Drive stalls around Midfield you need a cofin corner kick to pin him inside the Red Zone I think that BL that's Blake Ox andorf it's not to say Ox andorf can't boom him we've seen him do it I mean I I was watching him in Fall Camp when he kicked the ball 70 yards in the air it would have been a 60 yard punt thereabouts um but he boomed one you from from where he kicked it obviously then the distance of the line of scrimmage after catch your few steps mean there about 70 yards in the air boomed one he can do it but I think he's the guy that if you need to cough and Corner one you need to angle kick you need to keep one away from your uh you know away from the return man I think that's probably ox andorf that's probably I think how they divied up here in the opener we'll see but zachari branch is a dangerous Return Man so is zavon Thomas zavon Thomas was a freshman All America two years ago in Mississippi State zachari Branch was a freshman All America last year at USC as a returner so both teams have guys that can be dangerous return men um for LSU the key is going to be you have to do what Jay bramlet was so successful at doing that's preventing your opponent from even having an opportunity to return the football so when Sunday night comes and an LSU Drive stalls don't get up and go take a leak or grab a beer stay you behind in your seat because you could see fireworks and you better hold your breath and pray too all right it is locked on LSU your team every day we're thrilled to have you board with us here um I want to wrap up it's uh our opportunity our weekly visit with Shay Dixon on three the Bengal tiger a huge opportunity for LSU on a national stage what does that mean from a recruiting perspective and with the Tigers missing on Jonah Williams are they done at safety we'll talk about that as we wrap up next locktown LSU your team every day man I am so pleased to be able to tell you about our friends over at 5H Hour Energy great new partner here on locked on LSU um whether you're going to be watching the game on Sunday night and you need to stay up late maybe it's that 2:00 feeling when you're at work you need to try five Hour Energy I'll tell you this uh maybe you're at work you get tired after lunch um maybe it's before your workout tons of reasons to try Five Hour Energy um I have for as long as I've done radio as long as I've done my current show but almost 14 years now I created a habit of taking a Five Hour Energy before every show um the amount of energy it takes to do a three-hour talk show to stay focus 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use our promo code locked on CFB that's locked on CFB and receive 20% off your order this offer is only valid until September 30th on one order and cannot be used with other promotions the code is not good on subscription orders go to 5our energy.com that's the numeral 5 5our energy.com we have the pleasure every week to visit with Shay Dixon of on three the Bengal tiger here on uh on locked on LSU I have the chance to visit with Shay on my my radio show and so share some of the highlights that he gave us and I wanted to aset the importance of this game against USC from a recruiting perspective now it is a neutral side game so Shay kind of explained you know whether or not you can have interaction with recruits and all but it's such a marquee event and opportunity in recruiting real site so both teams can give tickets or have tickets requested by recruits um but you will not be able to have them on the sidelines or interact with them uh but at like I said they can get tickets and get to the game if they're able to make it and LSU will have as I wrote in the article three players there at least three who are ranked number one in their State uh including Louisiana's number one player for next year who also happens to be the number one overall Prospect in the entire country uh a d lineman named Jem Stewart out of St H he's probably been a household name he was kind of like forette coming out of St H where everybody knew who he was in eighth grade and he was getting offers and all of that and now he's headed into his Junior season and the very first game he's going to see is the LSU USC one which USC is also a team that's heavily in the mix for him so uh it will be good to have him in the stands for that one obviously and even better if they get a win uh as to your question of what kind of impact could this have you know when whether recruits are there watching on TV given it will be the only game on at the time a lot of guys will be tuned in and certainly to see the result and I don't think that much of one because I look at LSU having lost let's just make it the Kelly era but but the past two season openers to FSU in Prime Time Time games in slots where it was the only game going on and they end the year with top five recruiting classes so they're ranked number three right now most of the classes put together I don't think this has any Major Impact one way or the other and I've always said that about one game um and I've said it before that LSU can sign 28 kids and if unless they went undefeated or lost one game you could pull them on what the record was and who they lost to and 15% of the kids would get it right I mean I just don't think many guys prospects view it the same lens as the Die Hard fan does I shared a story as well I remember I'll do this quickly in uh the 2011 championship game of course withell she lost to Alabama uh they had media day and the media day was in the Super doome on the field so they had table set up and all the players sat at tables and were available for interviews and uh Sam Montgomery they all- American defensive end from LSU was asked by some Alabama media about Bear Bryant and Sam said something to the effect of who does he play for I don't remember watching film on him he had no idea who Bear Bryant was and a lot of the Alabama media took it as a slide like they were incensed and I said no no you don't understand first of all bear Bryan died in 1982 that was a decade before Sam Montgomery was born and Sam Montgomery is a kid from South Carolina who loves basketball and plays Sonic the Hedgehog video games all day like he has no awareness of who Bear Bryant is or the the history of college football this F recruits look at it differently always have than than the way fans do one more from Shay of course Jonah Williams the safety out of Galveston pick Texas over the weekend so I asked Jay with that swing and Miss is LSU done at safety or are they still looking at that position I think that they very smartly took an approach to where they got J Thomas look Jay Thomas's dad played in the NFL Jay Thomas is a kid he's only played a year of DB and he's playing for destan one of the best schools in the state and starting uh and has some great testing numbers so you add arguably the best safety in Louisiana you've got him committed then they went to Tennessee and got the best safety in the state and TG Jim Coy who his dad grew up in New Orleans Frank Wilson had connections there yeah add a fourstar safety who's got serious upside and a real high high IQ guy a guy that I think one day he'll probably even if he doesn't play safety you can play linebacker and he's your next Greg pan or whomever is out there kind of running the defense for you so you needed two safeties this cycle because we've talked about it before you've got Jacob Bradford best safety or excuse me bla Bradford Jacob this CL bla Bradford next year one of the best safeties in the country uh number one on on three uh right now and he's out there I think that ultimately he probably does end up at lsq and a commitment from Aiden Hall already in out of bed in a car he's the top five safety and then we saw what they have as true freshman that they've just brought in with guys like desan Spears and then even kylin Jackson who's entering year two as a red shirt freshman and others so this felt like a sandwich year where it was like hey go get good players that don't have to start but you can develop and that you feel like have high up high upside so then you could swing for the fences on the Jonah Williams well no big deal if you miss because you had a couple of guys I will say and I've already said his name I think they can flip Jacob Bradford he's committed to Houston he's got an offer plays here at Catholic High obviously sorry I had to and is someone hey look he someone the staff feels like is a good enough player to join the roster develop him and he'll stick around he won't hit the portal and then you'll be able to have a guy who in a couple of years has given you rep so like I said when you've got the built-in talent that Louisiana does and the roster expands from 885 to 105 in scholarships depending on how you want to disperse them out if you want to go to that number or not you've got the ability built in to just say let's take more Louisiana guys because how often do we see Jacob Bradford go to Houston and have a great career or whomever go to whatever school and you know Don Tavian Wick out of plaman goes to Virginia and plays for a few years and he looks really good and he gets drafted in the third round and now he starts for the Packers like it's one of those things where I think that a state like Louisiana or a school like LSU benefits maybe more than anybody when it comes to expanding a roster and then taking the approach of let's stick kind of within driving range here of four to seven hours let in them to Dallas of of guys we really want to build our roster around great perspective there from Shay you mentioned Jacob Bradford think about a guy like jar Bernard Converse from Evangel right on the border line being an LSU offer decides you know LSU didn't give the offer goes to Oklahoma state starts for four years has the co year comes plays one season in LSU now he's doing great with the Jets the state's littered with examples guys I would have loved to have gone to LSU didn't get the offer out of high school went elsewhere and now with the portal they come back maybe for a year or two but what if you could have them in your program for four or five years grow them develop them and maximize them in Baton rge the entire time that's kind of what Shay's alluding to there we'll see if it changes okay y'all that'll do it for us here on this um edition of locked on LSU uh thanks so much for being here of course thanks for making us your first listen today now go check out locked on college football from nil deals to the never ending conference 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