Saints, LSU score big with weekend wins

New Orleans Saints:

Quarterback: Drew Brees had one stray throw, but he was very good against a subpar opponent, getting the Saints a much-needed fourth quarter off heading into the bye week.

GRADE: B+

Halfbacks: Aside from a 50+ yard run from Julius Jones, the Saints still struggled to consistently move the football on the ground. That’s a problem that still needs to be fixed.

GRADE: C+

Receivers: Lance Moore and Marques Colston combined for 14 catches. That’s as steady as a 1-2 punch can be.

GRADE: A-

Offensive line: The holes in the running game aren’t there, but they are protecting Drew pretty well. This unit still can improve, though.

GRADE: B

Defensive line: Carolina can’t throw the football, so the Saints did the wise thing and piled the line of scrimmage and took away the run. It’s one thing to draw it up, but another to execute it, and that the Saints did.

GRADE: B+

Linebackers: Like the defensive line, the linebackers made the plays they needed to, which kept the Panthers out of offensive rhythm.

GRADE: B+

Defensive backs: Alas, the first pick-6 of the season for the Saints defense, this time coming from Jabari Greer. The Panthers used three quarterbacks. None of the three had any success whatsoever.

GRADE: A

Special Teams: Garrett Hartley made two field goals, the Saints punted well and they had good kick coverage. The only way the Panthers could have won this game is if they made a big play in special teams. They didn’t and they lost.

GRADE: B+

Coaching Staff: Some teams have problems after big wins, but the Saints didn’t, building on the Steelers win with a big-time performance.

GRADE: A

OVERALL GRADE: Let’s be honest. The Saints should beat the Carolina Panthers – and they should beat them 98 out of 100 times. But with that said, they should beat the Browns and the Cardinals, too, and they didn’t, so this was a great way to take care of business and beat the team on their schedule.

TEAM GRADE: A-

LSU Tigers:

Quarterbacks: Jordan Jefferson showed why people were excited about him in August. And when Jefferson got knocked out of the game, Jarrett Lee hit a long pass and 3rd and long to seal the win. It wasn’t perfect, but it was turnover-free. That’s all LSU needs.

GRADE: B+

Halfbacks: LSU used what seemed like a half-dozen backs (including a punter) and rushed for more than 200 yards against the mighty Alabama front. The LSU running game is back.

GRADE: A-

Wide Receivers: LSU had a few costly drops again, but they caught the big ones in the second half. Still would like to see more consistency from this group, though.

GRADE: C+

Offensive line: LSU allowed just one sack to go with those previously mentioned rushing yards. It’s not often that Alabama’s front gets bullied, but in the second half, that’s exactly what happened.

GRADE: A

Defensive line: Holding Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson to just 125 rushing yards combined is something that isn’t done very often. Drake Nevis was a monster all game long for the LSU defense.

GRADE: A

Linebackers: The CBS announcers said LSU linebacker Kelvin Sheppard was so emotional that he nearly cried in the pregame address he made to the team. Sheppard backed it up, picking off a pass, recovering a crucial fumble and making countless big tackles to disrupt Alabama’s offense.

GRADE: A

Defensive backs: Patrick Peterson held his own on Julio Jones, despite his 10 catches (he only had 89 yards). And LSU did a good job keeping the other receivers out of the game. All of this is without mentioning that the defensive backs were injury depleted throughout the game.

GRADE: B+

Special Teams: Josh Jasper hit a few clutch field goals and also had yet another long run on a fake punt. LSU clearly won the third phase of the game Saturday.

GRADE: A-

Coaching Staff: Les Miles gambled and rolled 7s and 11s to earn the biggest win of his LSU career. Whether there’s a method to the madness or not, Miles is so unconventional that he confuses not only himself sometimes, but the opposing team. No one on the planet expected a tight end reverse on a 4th and 1 play. Leave it to the Mad Hatter to prove us all wrong when everyone had again counted him out.

GRADE: A

OVERALL GRADE: LSU hadn’t beaten Alabama since 2007, so that’s obviously a huge accomplishment. The key to the win? Mistake-free football. LSU has had an addiction all season with shooting themselves in the foot. Against the Tide, the Tigers had zero turnovers and committed just five penalties. That’s as good as it gets right there for LSU, who is back in the national championship race.

TEAM GRADE: A

Nicholls Colonels:

Quarterbacks: Landry Klann and LaQuintin Caston didn’t throw an interception, but neither was able to consistently hit passes down the field, either, in what was a truly average performance.

GRADE: C

Halfbacks: How do these stats sound? 36 carries for 46 rushing yards. Not good, right? Those were the Colonels’ rushing numbers in Saturday’s loss.

GRADE: D+

Wide Receivers: Three Colonels were able to haul in three passes for the game, but big plays just weren’t available in the passing game thanks to a stiff Stephen F. Austin defensive attack.

GRADE: C+

Offensive line: The Colonels’ quarterbacks were consistently picking themselves off the ground Saturday. That’s not good, especially when you cannot run the football, either.

GRADE: B

Defensive line: Stephen F. Austin surpassed 100 yards on the ground, but this group still was probably the strength of the defense Saturday.

GRADE: B

Linebackers: There were no big plays in the running game and that was thanks in large part to the team’s linebackers filling the gaps and keeping the Stephen F. Austin players in the box.

GRADE: B-

Defensive backs: The Colonels allowed 341 yards passing and three touchdown passes. That eliminates the two interceptions the unit got in these eyes.

GRADE: D+

Special Teams: Nicholls allowed a kickoff return for a touchdown and also fumbled twice on kickoff returns of their own. This one’s pretty easy.

GRADE: F

Coaching Staff: Nicholls, frankly, just isn’t very good this year. They are in a rebuilding period and it’s going to take time. But that doesn’t mean anything happening right now is first-year coach Charlie Stubbs’ fault, because win/lose/ draw, he’s placed new life into that program.

GRADE: B

OVERALL GRADE: You can’t allow a kickoff return for a touchdown and two separate long passes of 60 or more yards and expect to beat Stephen F. Austin. The Colonels were good on most plays. But it was the 2-3 big plays that they weren’t that made a big difference.

TEAM GRADE: C-