Well said Mili.
The last two years,
OSU has jumped out to early leads, forcing teams to play catchup and rely upon the pass. This defense is stellar all around in coverage and pass rushing, while many of those same standouts are not as effective against the run (Gholston, Worthington, Freeman, Laur at times).
Teams have put a hat on Laurinaitis with regularity, leaving Freeman to make plays. He executed well (other than a few big runs) vs PSU, he did not vs ILL. I would test him again if I'm LSU.
Horizontal rushes generally fail against
OSU's speed (sweeps, etc... option is a different beast). Running at them works at times, especially with some weaknesses up front (esp DT if Denlinger is still dinged up).
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I wish we had run the ball more to keep their DL honest.
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So does Pittman after his lone drive with the ball (where he ran over them).
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Why we gave a four year starter a soft zone and let UF's athlete catch the ball in space I'll never, ever figure out. The other three all had the same blueprint though: Run the read-option with the QB, attack the middle, not the edges, and force turnovers.
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Part of that was protecting limited safeties, as well as some injuries for Smith & O'Neal. But I agree attacking leak (as teams did all year) would have been a far better protection.