Colonels show improvement, but fall short

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS

Quarterbacks. In the team’s biggest game of the season, Drew Brees was nothing short of amazing, completing 70 percent of his passes for 322 yards and two touchdowns. The most important stat for Brees was no interceptions. He entered the game with an unclean road record in 2011. He left with that resume significantly mopped up.

Grade: A+

Halfbacks. How many times can one team get stuffed on 2nd and short or 3rd and short situations in one game? If Guinness kept track, the Saints would surely be world record holders.

Grade: C-

Receivers. Marques Colston has had a slew of good games in his career. I don’t know if any were as good as Sunday’s. The Saints’ possession threat was just a complete nightmare for the Falcons. With him gashing the Dirty Birds in the middle, the edges were set for Robert Meachem and Jimmy Graham, who both had big days.

Grade: A

Offensive line. The run blocking was slightly worse than miserable, but Drew Brees was clean. In a pass-heavy offense, that carries a lot of weight.

Grade: B+

Defensive line. The Saints’ front wasn’t really setting the world on fire in regulation. In overtime, things changed and the group got what may be the biggest play of the season, stuffing a fourth and inches play.

Grade: A

Linebackers. Scott Shanle had a nice day for the Saints, recording eight tackles with an interception. It overall wasn’t a bad day to be a Saints’ linebacker, even with Jonathan Vilma still injured.

Grade: A-

Defensive backs. How lame is it that the Falcons were able to get down the field in nanoseconds on not one, but two late half drives? The answer is not as lame as the fact that they did so by running basically the same play over and over again. These guys aren’t very good. You know that by now, though.

Grade: D

Special teams. John Kasay is slowly, but surely showing some signs of aging. But he was huge Sunday, drilling countless clutch kicks to help the Saints win.

Grade: B+

Coaching staff. The Saints’ offense continues to be brilliant and the team is continuing to win games. But all of this is in spite of a pitiful defense that continues to regularly be gashed for close to 450 yards every game, if not more. It sounds nitpicky in such a huge win, but defense wins championships, folks. Need reinforcement? With all of that offense on the field Sunday, where was the game won? On a big-time defensive play on a fourth and 1 play.

Grade: B+

Overall winning a road game in Atlanta is incredibly difficult, no matter what. But when both teams are in the thick of the playoff chase, it’s even more impressive. Defense, no defense, a big win is a big win and the Saints should be proud. Worry about the future when it comes, enjoy being first place in the NFC South today.

Grade: A

LSU TIGERS

Quarterbacks. Jordan Jefferson wasn’t the world’s greatest Saturday, but he did enough to push LSU to the easy victory. Don’t forget Jarrett Lee, though, who led the team on a touchdown drive, even showcasing his running skills in the process.

Grade: B

Halfbacks. LSU racked up 291 rushing yards and more than seven yards per carry against the Hilltoppers. Sometimes it’s Spencer Ware, sometimes it’s Michael Ford and sometimes it’s Kenny Hilliard. Saturday it was Alfred Blue, who shined in the rout. What depth!

Grade: A+

Receivers. Rueben Randle hit a couple vertical passes down the field, but this is a tough group to grade because LSU ran the football two and a half times more than they threw.

Grade: B+

Offensive line. It was a little troubling to see Jordan Jefferson get sacked for a safety, but the LSU offensive line took complete control of the game in the second half, they always do.

Grade: A

Defensive line. Believe it or not, Western Kentucky has one of the best halfbacks in America. But if Trent Richardson only got 80 yards against the Tigers, there’s little reason to excuse the d-line for allowing Bobby Rainey to pop them for 100 yards. Les Miles said it best, his team sometimes looked uninspired Saturday. That started along the defensive front.

Grade: C+

Linebackers. Rainey got 100 yards, but he averaged just 3.8 yards per carry. Once he got through the line of scrimmage, he didn’t go much farther than that thanks to the LSU backers who also picked off a pass in the game.

Grade: A-

Defensive backs. Even in the most vanilla of defensive game plans, the Tigers still were able to choke the Hilltoppers’ passing attack, limiting the Sun Belt Conference foe to fewer than 100 yards in the air.

Grade: A

Special teams. Long a strength of the team this season, LSU’s special teams struggled against Western Kentucky. Punter Brad Wing had just a 34 yard punt average and Odell Beckham fumbled both a kick and punt return, losing one for a rare LSU turnover.

Grade: C

Coaching staff. You just knew coming into the game LSU wouldn’t play overly well. That always happens when a superior opponent plays an inferior one the week following a big-time matchup. Knowing it’d take a miracle to be defeated, LSU executed a vanilla game plan and rolled to a 33-point win. With an Alabama win now in the Tigers’ back pocket, who cares that the team was a little rusty? Style points mean nothing to those who are undefeated. Unless of course, if you’re Houston in which case beating Tulane by what felt like 80 points on Thursday is par for the course.

Grade: A-

Overall without doubt, this was the shoddiest performance LSU had all season, things just weren’t overly sharp in any aspect except rushing offense. But when you’re playing “poor” and are winning games in blowout fashion, you know you’re a whale of a squad. The countdown continues and three more wins would get the Tigers to the big game in New Orleans.

Grade: A

NSU COLONELS

Quarterbacks. LaQuintin Caston has always been efficient as a runner. Saturday, he hit a couple passes. Sure, he threw two picks. But being diverse on offense was the difference between the team being routed and suffering a close, hard-fought loss.

Grade: B+

Halfbacks. Caston got most of the carries, rushing for 177 yards on 22 carries. Jesse Turner and Marcus Washington weren’t too bad in their own right, combining for more than 80 yards, but also more than five yards per carry.

Grade: B+

Receivers. Caston completed 21 passes to 10 different receivers. Sure, a lot of those passes were to tight ends and halfbacks, that’s still better than the team has been able to muster in any other game this season.

Grade: B

Offensive line. It’s amazing to me how this unit is either the hero or the goat. After struggling so heavily at times this year, the Colonels’ front stood strong, allowing Nicholls to rush for 276 yards. Caston was also reasonably well protected, only being sacked three times, a low number for him.

Grade: A

Defensive line. The Colonels limited Lamar to fewer than 100 yards rushing and piled up three sacks. That’s a good way to get a solid grade if you’re a defensive line.

Grade: B+

Linebackers. The Colonels’ backers have actually been pretty stout all year long. There was nothing about their play Saturday to change that assessment.

Grade: B

Defensive backs. The Colonels didn’t give up chunks of yardage, but Lamar had a 100-yard receiver and piled together three passing touchdowns. That’s just not good enough.

Grade: C

Special teams. Nothing kills a team more than a special teams unit that allows negative plays. Nicholls lost by eight points Saturday. The Colonels’ special teams allowed a kick return for a touchdown and also a blocked kick return for a score. Those are just killers, especially for teams who need to play near-perfect to win.

Grade: F

Coaching staff. Wins haven’t been plentiful, but Nicholls isn’t giving up and is getting better. Colonels coach Charlie Stubbs has shifted the team’s line a tad in recent weeks and it seems to be paying off. That’s a good sign for the future.

Grade: B

Overall when you’re a one-win team, you obviously have flaws. So when you have a game within your grasp, you just can’t give it away. Nicholls did Saturday, outgaining Lamar by 170 yards, but losing on the scoreboard. Nicholls can’t seem to shake learning that the hard way.

Grade: C