LSU head coach Ed Orgeron met with the media after the loss to UCLA. Here’s everything Orgeron said about the loss, what’s next for the Tigers and where things went wrong.
Opening statement: “We didn’t perform like we’re supposed to at LSU. It’s my responsibility and I told that to the team. Obviously, we’re going to look at it schematically, where we got to get better, there was a lot of areas. Physicality at the point of attack, run the football better, stop the run, eliminate the explosive plays.
“Those are things we have to address and get better real quick. One game does not define a season, but we do understand that was a letdown for our fans. I take responsibility for it. Got to get better.”
On what he noticed on defense with issues: “There’s similar stuff. Crossing routes, missed assignments, those things continue to haunt us and hurt us. We have to get them fixed. I thought that we did a pretty good job in camp of getting them fixed, but obviously we’ve got to look at what we’re doing.
“Still eliminate those crossing routes and those busts in coverage and why we’re busting them. Then also, eliminate having open gap in the run defense. Whether we got knocked off the ball or it was an open gap, I need to look at it on film.”
On what he saw from the run game: “I agree. First of all, we’ve got to be more diverse. We have to have multiple runs with multiple sets, which we didn’t do tonight. We’ve got to get that fixed. It’s going to get fixed immediately. We’ve got to be more physical at the point of attack.
“Neither of those things happened tonight as far as what I can see, but again, I need to look at the film before I say anything that by physicality or point of attack, I just need to look at the film.”
On Max Johnson being under pressure and how he handled it: “I thought at times he handled pressure well. Scrambled and make plays with his feet, but at times he was off. We made some big plays, he threw some balls in the dirt, we missed some plays, then again, hot/cold. He made some good plays, but he wasn’t as consistent as we need as LSU’s quarterback.”
On what’s most disappointing about the game: “Obviously, the loss. I felt good about this football team going in. I feel bad for the guys on our new coaching staff, they wanted to do very good. They’ve been working very hard, but you look at, they had 50 yards rushing and they had 200-something yards rushing. They were all over the quarterback and they made some big plays and we gave up big plays on defense again. So, those are the things that are reoccurring. Got to get them fixed.”
On the passing game and John Emery Jr.: “John was unavailable for this game. I think it’s going to be week by week. I don’t know when we’re going to get him back yet. I’m not sure of it.
“Going back to the passing game, I wish we could’ve hit Kayshon Boutte earlier. I think that we had some wide receivers that were open, like you said. We were a second off with the pass or protection wasn’t there. It just wasn’t clicking.”
On losing the line of scrimmage battle to a team like UCLA: “First of all, they play physical football. They’ve got a better offensive line. They’ve got two good running backs that are very physical so tonight they played physical football. That doesn’t mean it’s any excuse for not playing physical. We should have been better on both sides of the football and we weren’t.”
On having two new coordinators and their performance: “I think the guys work hard. I think they’re trying. I think that we were off a little bit. We could have put our players in better positions in a lot of places. Then again, when you call something and it’s a good defense, and you don’t execute then you’ve got trouble. When you don’t win like that, it goes out to the one person, that’s me, nobody else.”
On if UCLA was tougher: “I’m not saying that.”
On not being physical enough: “We’ve got to look at it, see what’s happened. Maybe it’s the plays that we’re calling. Maybe we’re overloaded at one spot, maybe we’re not. Look at the techniques we’re doing, look at the personnel. Again, for us in the run game, we need more of a variety of runs. Use our athletes, get them in space a little more.
“I think on defense it’s a matter of fitting our gaps and understanding what we’re doing. It’s the first time in Daronte’s defense. Understanding the defense and the gap fits.”
On UCLA having a game under its belt: “It can go both ways. I felt like we were a little rusty. Came out on offense really good. Felt our guys needed to get a game underneath their belt. I thought their was a point in the game where we settled down, but we just couldn’t stop the big plays that they were making. We couldn’t stop making mistakes.”