Hello Tiger Fans. It’s football season! Tomorrow the Purple & Gold will take on the Chattanooga Mocs at 6:30 pm CST. After seeing how LSU played vs. BYU last Saturday, it made me hungry to see more of what we can do. The seven days of waiting between last Saturday and this Saturday have been filled with thoughts of the BYU game, excitement to see more of our Bayou Bengals and day dreaming about the college football playoff. And, yes, I am that confident.

A few things I’m anxious to see if we can improve on this Saturday are:

• Run to Pass ratio. A closer look at Danny Etling’s arm would be nice.
• Scoring in the red zone. No Field Goals and no turning the ball over inside the 10 yard line.
• I want to see our kickers boot it all the way to the end zone.
• I would like to see Canada’s expanded playbook. Coach O said that Canada only used 10% of his playbook against BYU. I’m ready to see more.

Here are a few players that could have a breakout game:

• Grant Delpit at Safety. Delpit’s got the swagger of Jamal Adams and the Honeybadger and arms almost as long as my entire body. He may not make every tackle but he’s always around the ball.
• Derrick Dillon at Wide Receiver. He caught two passes vs. BYU and if we throw the ball more I’m sure he can make some plays. I expect him to be one of the breakout wide receivers of LSU’s loaded roster.
• K’Lavon Chaisson at Outside Linebacker. He’s 6’4, 240 pounds and possibly the most athletic of LSU’s true freshmen linebackers. He had three tackles in his college debut vs. BYU (more than any other freshman on our team).
• Foster Moreau at Tight End. He’s the only player with experience on this list, although you probably didn’t expect me to name him. The reason I say this is because he has the talent and I’m hoping LSU uses their tight ends in the passing game more than ever before.

For the past few years, offense has been LSU’s struggle but that BYU game really showed me a change. Many of the top offenses in the nation going in to the season struggled in their first game. LSU was full speed from the first minute to the last. Hopefully, we’ll see on Saturday if LSU can keep a healthy balance between run and pass and score in the red zone.

Its hard to imagine that we can top last Saturday’s defensive performance, but our plethora of freshmen have gained new experience and knowledge about playing a Division 1 college football game. All we can do is get better. Although I expect we may give up more than -5 rushing yards!

Chattanooga had a sloppy game in a 27-13 loss to Jacksonville State University last Saturday. Their defense allowed 184 rushing yards and 366 total offensive yards against a weak offense. LSU’s running backs should have a field day. The Chattanooga offense scored only one touchdown in sixty minutes versus a Football Championship Subdivision opponent. If you ask me, this game should be non-competitive from the 3^rd quarter on.

It is worth mentioning here that Alabama QB Jalen Hurts had stats considerably worse than Danny Etling’s last Saturday. Hurts was 10/18 for 96 yards. Granted, he was up against the then No. 3 team in the nation, but if LSU can keep their run game under control and Hurts continues to struggle with the vertical passing game, I like our chances more and more against Alabama. Also, Florida and Texas A&M both lost on Saturday. Should be another interesting year in the SEC.

FINAL NOTE: If everyone gets their 15 minutes of fame, I got mine this week. The Advocate published an article about my story and my blog. I was really honored. Check it out online:
http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/entertainment_life/article_d635116c-8c2e-11e7-9828-33a9a3cbd9c4.html
I would love to write for The Advocate myself one day! Thank you Aunt Carol for mailing me a hard copy right away!

Geaux Tigers!