LSU Tigers

LSU Football: It's past time to make some offensive changes

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Now that the first 2016 LSU football game is in the books, fans are wondering what is the next step after a surprising loss to an unranked Wisconsin team?

Let’s just allow the obvious elephant in the room to walk out of the door – Coach Les Miles is not getting fired, so we can end those discussions for now.

Offensive coordinator Cam Cameron just received a contract extension, so he won’t be packing his bags anytime soon either. I can only think of one resolution that will not cost the school millions: Is it time for a change at quarterback down in the Bayou?

If Saturday was a fan’s first chance to see LSU play, do you think that they recognize Brandon Harris as a third year starting quarterback, or would they feel bad for him, presuming he’s a first year guy playing his first road game?

Coach Miles, as well as coach Cameron, have been as patient as they could with Harris, but it’s time for a change. The reason stems from Harris’ inconsistent play on the field.  Although his completion percentage 57.1 for the first game, his misses are still well off the mark.

Harris also makes mistakes at very critical times. For instance, his 1st quarter passes to Malachi Dupre. All three of Harris’ passes to Dupre were higher than his 6’4″ frame could extend. The critical mistake came when he forced a pass in to a covered receiver, instead of throwing the ball away, which led to a game ending interception.

The staff also has some blame in this dysfunction. They are still getting the plays in to him too slowly, the lack of variety on offense makes it too predictable, and that predictability makes it harder for Leonard Fournette to get into rhythm. When Fournette cannot get into that rhythm, obvious passing plays get called, reducing the probability of success for that play, and play-action passes become less effective, making defenses more complex to read.

This sets the tone for Danny Etling to get on the field at quarterback. Etling comes from a spread offense at Purdue, where the passing game was heavily featured. The Boilermakers don’t have the type of talent that LSU has, nor do they focus on the running game as heavily as LSU.

Between his true freshman, and true sophomore seasons, Etling played in 13 games, completing 55.5% of his passes for 2,490 yards with 16 TD’s and 12 INT’s. Last year, while sitting out his required season at LSU, he should have been able to learn the verbiage and nuances of Coach Cameron’s Playbook throughout practice.

Etling could also get a gauge of SEC competition from the sidelines on game day. Because he was able to put up solid numbers on a less talented team, he should be able to handle LSU’s Offense more effectively than Harris.

The transfer quarterback hasn’t taken a snap from center since his sophomore year at Purdue in 2014. Fortunately for Etling and the coaching staff, LSU’s next two games should not be that rough, and are at home – Sept. 10 against Jacksonville State and Sept. 17 against Mississippi State (who had their own week one debacle).

While I do believe you are supposed to respect every opponent that you play, you can also be honest in your assessment of their talent as well. Jacksonville State and Mississippi State are two teams who the Tigers can bounce back against.

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These next two games can also provide a confidence boast to a unit who only scored one touchdown in their first game. Etling may not be the key to us winning a title, but he can be what we need to get this offense going.

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