How the secondary shut down KeAndre Lambert-Smith

Oct 22, 2024 | Uncategorized

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Photo by John Adams/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The Penn State transfer had no answers for the Missouri defense on Saturday.

Coming into the game as the fourth-ranked wideout in terms of yards per game in the Southeastern (SEC) conference, few imagined that KeAndre Lambert-Smith’s account would include just two catches for 16 yards on Saturday. Four different players were primarily in coverage on the Penn State transfer, and all of those players walked away with positive numbers.

KLS was targeted five times on Saturday, which is his lowest amount of targets in SEC play up to this point. Prior to this game, Lambert-Smith had been targeted at least seven times in every conference game. On top of that, 16 yards for Lambert-Smith was his lowest total of the season, his previous low being 30 yards against Cal in a game where he picked up a touchdown.

Per PFF, Lambert-Smith’s 53.0 offense grade is his lowest of the season by nine points. Now for the most telling statistic, his average depth of target (aDOT). All season, Lambert-Smith has usually been targeted at least ten yards down the field but on Saturday his aDOT was 7.8, meaning defensive coordinator Corey Batoon’s group made sure to keep him intermediate and didn’t let him beat them deep.

So how did they accomplish that? There’s only one way to find out. Let’s take a gander at the film.

This first play by Nick DeLoach is exactly why he is earning reps as a potential CB2 in this defense, this is man-to-man coverage and he’s like glue here to pick up the pass breakup. This is a concept that has worked really well for Auburn this year too, as this exact play is what got Lambert-Smith a 67 yard touchdown against Arkansas earlier in the year.

As opposed to DeLoach, the Arkansas defensive back jumps the route instead of staying with KLS thus causing a huge play. Patience is a virtue here, and patience was the reason Lambert-Smith was a none factor.

On the first drive of the game, Lambert-Smith picks up one of his two catches in the game and this one was a minuscule nine yard pickup when Auburn needed a lot more than that. Missouri does a great job of knowing where the sticks are and keeping a guy who normally likes to go to the second level on his routes closer to the line of scrimmage. Thanks to this, it’s a reception but ultimately a nothing play for the opposition.

In football, making the opposition play the game you want them to play is often a recipe for success. This mantra was imposed by Mizzou onto KLS in a very methodical way, and it worked. A player who thrives on getting past the sticks was blocked from doing so thanks to press coverage and limited access to the second level. Even the most potent of defenses like Georgia were unable to do what the Tigers were able to do against Auburn’s star man, and this is something that should give Tiger fans a lot of hope for the rest of this season.

A lot of people will talk about Brady Cook’s comeback and what it means for the rest of the season, but the defensive performance against KeAndre Lambert-Smith showed that Missouri was able to make an SEC teams star man a non-factor for the entire game, something they haven’t shown all season. Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia and Texas A&M’s Le’Veon Moss being key examples of that unfortunate fact.

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