My buddy Shane and I were coming home from work yesterday and we were listening to sports radio. Upon hearing the news of Gary Crowton leaving Oregon for LSU, we both chuckled. After a hard day of work, it always great to hear news like this.
It looks like Crowton is following my advice by getting out of Eugene. He needs to make sure to stay at LSU for only one year. Most likely he won’t. I want LSU fans to know why Gary Crowton is going to cause you pain when he stays more than one year.
First of all, let me preface these comments by saying that Gary Crowton is a great person. I’m sure he is a great husband/father. But because of what he did to BYU football, just thinking of his tenure here in Provo makes me cringe.
The news of Crowton’s hiring is circulating around the internet. LSU fans are gitty about this hire. Here are a few for you to enjoy:
Not many agree with me that this will be a bad hire. It looks like David James and I are in agreement.
Let me explain why I think this will be a bad hire.
Crowton runs a version of the spread offense. When he gets a new job, his first year has been great. Let the stats explain.
Chicago Bears
1999: Bears record was 6-10. Their offense scored 272 points (17/game), 7th worst in the NFL. 31 TDs, 7th worst in NFL (source). Leading passer: Shane Matthews
2000: Bears record was 5-11. Their offense scored 214 points (13.4/game), 4th worst in the NFL. 22 TDs, 3rd worst in the NFL (source). (The thing that you want to do from an offensive standpoint is you want to score points.) Leading passer: Cade McNown
It’s safe to say that he didn’t have the greatest quarterbacks to run his offense. Get this though. In 2001, the Bears went 13-3 with Jim Miller as the quarterback. They scored 338 points (21.1/game), good enough for 11th in the NFL.
BYU
2001: BYU went 12-2. They scored an amazing 608 points (46.8/game). Luke Staley was the leading rusher in the nation. However they got killed in their last two games. Everybody loved Crowton as head coach. What a great season! But it was a terrible watching them get killed by Hawaii and Louisville. Coincidentally, Luke Staley was injured in the two games BYU lost.
2002: Their record was 5-7. BYU’s first losing season in 30 years. They scored 272 points (22.7/game).
2003: BYU went 4-8. They scored 196 points (16.3/game). They didn’t score a point in the game versus Utah, the first time they went scoreless in a game in my lifetime.
2004: BYU went 5-6. They 267 points (24.3/game).
BYU went from scoring 608 points in 2001 to a low of 196 points in 2003! This was against average teams in the Mountain West Conference. He was the head coach and offensive coordinator at BYU.
Oregon
2005: Oregon went 10-2. They scored 414 points (34.5/game).
2006: Oregon went 7-6, losing their last 4. They scored 383 points (29.5/game).
There you have it. The only year he improved upon his previous year while at the same program was 2004. BYU couldn’t have gotten any worse after a terrible year in 2003.
The truth is Gary Crowton has a good offense. But smart teams are going to figure it out. Guess who was coaching Utah when BYU went scoreless in 2003-Urban Meyer. Most of the coaches in the SEC are almost as smart as Urban and they will shut down LSU’s offense. LSU has great athletes and he will find a way to make them look bad.
The Las Vegas Bowl was a great game this year. For most fans, I am sure it was a boring game. BYU almost shut out Oregon and won the game 38-8. Watching Oregon play brought back bitter memories of when Crowton was at BYU. They looked clueless out there. BYU’s secondary was injured. They didn’t have most of their best players playing because of injuries. Crowton failed to take advantage of his highly athletic receivers. Instead he was worrying about which quarterback to play on which down.
Be ready for an undisciplined offense that fails to make any adjustments-during the game or season.
LSU will probably have a great year with their athletes. They will score a lot of points. But don’t expect them to stay that way. Not with Crowton as the offensive coordinator. The numbers don’t lie.
Comments
Josh, Thanks for your comments about Crowton, but I think we at LSU will do just fine. You point out that Oregon went from scoring 34.5 points a game in 2005 to 29.5 points in 2006. If we average that many points, we won’t lose a game!!
Jerry
I also think LSU will do just fine… for roughly one season.
I have been unable to find stats from Louisiana Tech. If anybody knows where I can find them, please point me to where they are.
LSU doesn’t seem to be suffering too much today, January 7, 2008. The offense looked pretty last night.
You’re right Lance. LSU looked great last night. I mentioned they would do well this year. It would be nice to see them up against USC though. Now about halfway through next season you will see LSU start losing games, if history repeats itself.
Yeah, Crowton seriously hurt LSU, hurt them so bad they ended up in a National Championship with all kinds of broken school records and a nice big shiny Championship ring to go with it. Something neither you, nor your precious BYU will ever see the likes of again (other than that fluke in the 80’s) But yeah good call, bringing you’re gilded bias to the bat and hitting it way off.
You truly are a visionary.
Dane, you sound kind of like I did after Crowton’s first year at BYU. If you read the post more carefully, you will notice that I did say that they would do great the first year. Only time will tell if my theory is right. The country will start hearing LSU fans complain about their offense by the end of year.
As an Oregon fan I can say the biggest problem that I had with Crowton was his inability to design plays to get to the playmakers on the team. He had a set group of plays he liked to call, and he would call them no matter what. He couldn’t seem to recognize a players strength, and adjust his play calling to match. That in my opinion is huge in college football because you are dealing with young players who are continuously growing and changing from the time you sign them to the time they leave your program.
Just wait till Gary has to develop his own QB, you LSU fans will forget that national championship faster than you can say “3 years of rebuilding”
Just a thought. I played for Gary his first year and we dominated until the main part of our offense broke his leg. Nobody wins in Hawaii. I went on my mission and came home and we sucked. Because of Gary? No the legend on his way out didn’t recruit anyone decent. It takes 4 years until you can see recruiting results at BYU. I played for Bronco his first season and his second and we sucked the first and did well the second. Why cause Gary’s recruits were good. Gary is a great coach, a great guy and I am ashamed people like you think you know anything about football. People hate BYU because of people like you. Why do you have to say anything about him? Do you feel better dogging on a man who won a national championship and just beat Auburn last night? Maybe you are so smart you deserve to pass judgment. Oh ya thats why you are on ESPN and this page is so popular. I am not a member of your church but shame on you becuase you make them look bad. He is of your faith and doing great things and all you can say is crap. Get a life.