Panthers Fire Joe Brady

[Dak Holliday]

Agree. Not sure about this, but I heard that Lebby might still be suffering collateral damage from the Baylor fallout. He was there and is married to Briles?s daughter.

[Todd4State]

It was obviously a combo of both. Ensminger coaching and adding some Brady concepts- along with the players being extremely talented and having another year of experience. Players get better with time and experience. 2015 Dak was a helluva lot better than 2012 Dak. Rogers last half of the season in 2020 vs Rogers last half of the season 2021. Fans too often get caught up thinking all of these great players are great as Freshmen when in actuality they arent.

I think experience is the most important thing a team can have. Most of our best teams were junior and senior laden and that's not a coincidence. That's why I would get so frustrated with Dan's recruiting when he would neglect positions for years. Eventually it leads to playing freshmen. And freshmen will play like freshmen.

You are correct though. Fans remember players at their peak and tend to forget what they looked like as players when they first got to campus.

Here's a good article on the transformation from '18 to '19.

https://www.pff.com/news/college-foo...to-unstoppable

"The LSU program underwent a change in offensive philosophy before the start of 2019 by bringing in the former New Orleans Saints offensive assistant, Joe Brady, to be the new passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach. In his move from New Orleans to Baton Rouge, Brady brought with him the spread offense with West Coast offense roots ? something drastically different from what they were accustomed to. It ultimately paid massive dividends, as they jumped from 53rd in expected points added per play in 2018 to first in 2019 (also known as EPA, expected points added puts yards gained on a play into context like down, distance and field position to give the best measure of per-play efficiency)."

"Brady and offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger put a heavy emphasis on increasing their run-pass option (RPO) from 11.5% in 2018 (over 7% below average) to 22.1% in 2019 (half a percent above average)."

"From last year to this year, LSU?s usage of 11 personnel has increased by nearly 20%, and they've virtually eliminated plays from 10 personnel (10% to 0%) and 21 personnel (22% to .6%) packages. Additionally, Brady and company have nearly wiped out any plays under center this season. Last year, 33% of the Tigers? plays were executed in non-shotgun formations. This year, just over 3% of their plays have not been in shotgun."

"Last year, the Tigers had over 300 dropbacks on which they had six or more pass-blockers, but they lowered that number to just 89 in 2019. Brady hit the nail on the head here. Not only does LSU bring in more EPA per play with five or fewer pass-blockers compared to plays with six or more, but they are allowing a pressure rate that?s 6% less with five pass-blockers."

Brady's fingerprints are all over the transformation.

No doubt Brady has a lot to do with it.

However, I have a feeling that the media probably overstates it because it's a better "story" for some young whiz kid to come in and show the curmudgeons how to do things with a new idea and then beat people like Saban with it. Same story as Moneyball. The only way to truly know is for someone that was on the team to confirm what happened. A media member just throwing stats out there and making a claim doesn't mean it's truly factual.

I think:

1. Brady should get some credit but the media likely gives him a little too much. I think his role was more of as a consultant than anything.

2. Ensminger probably doesn't get enough credit. Especially since he was willing to adapt at the very least.

3. LSU having a ton of experienced players who are uber talented at the same time is the biggest reason for the improvement.