It was just a blip leading up to the LSU game, but Joey Ivie had an abductor strain and was listed as questionable. In a game where you needed "all hands on deck", I noticed that he didn't end of playing....AT ALL.
Trying to stop Fournette on the road is difficult enough, but not having Ivie really hurt. Bullard had to play more snaps inside which weakened our run defense, as he could have been very effective at DE at 285. We had to play Bryan and Clark a ton, who are decent but not ready to be big timers on the road at LSU yet.
Ivie was an absolute beast against Missouri, in the backfield constantly and very disruptive. Having him in there would have allowed us to have Bullard play more snaps at DE, give McCalister snaps on passing downs instead of run downs, where his lack of size can be exploited by a physical LSU OL, and made Bryan's snaps more valuable in occasionally spelling Brantley and Ivie.
JMHO, but if we get LSU again on a neutral field, with half a Gator crowd and a healthy DL rotation, I think we'll do a much better job stopping Fournette and getting pressure on the QB. Having Bullard at DE and Ivie at DT helps us stop the run and then McCalister is fresher for 3rd and 7 off the edge if he's only in there on passing downs and not being mauled by at 320lb OT on 1st and 2nd down.
Maybe we'll even have Anzalone healthy by then to help the run defense....
Trying to stop Fournette on the road is difficult enough, but not having Ivie really hurt. Bullard had to play more snaps inside which weakened our run defense, as he could have been very effective at DE at 285. We had to play Bryan and Clark a ton, who are decent but not ready to be big timers on the road at LSU yet.
Ivie was an absolute beast against Missouri, in the backfield constantly and very disruptive. Having him in there would have allowed us to have Bullard play more snaps at DE, give McCalister snaps on passing downs instead of run downs, where his lack of size can be exploited by a physical LSU OL, and made Bryan's snaps more valuable in occasionally spelling Brantley and Ivie.
JMHO, but if we get LSU again on a neutral field, with half a Gator crowd and a healthy DL rotation, I think we'll do a much better job stopping Fournette and getting pressure on the QB. Having Bullard at DE and Ivie at DT helps us stop the run and then McCalister is fresher for 3rd and 7 off the edge if he's only in there on passing downs and not being mauled by at 320lb OT on 1st and 2nd down.
Maybe we'll even have Anzalone healthy by then to help the run defense....
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