LSU football had its share of low points in the 2020 season, but a debacle of a loss to Kentucky on Saturday feels like it scraped the bottom.
A week after blowing a two-score lead in the fourth quarter, the Tigers got battered, bullied and flat-out embarrassed in a 42-21 loss to Kentucky. It only gets tougher the rest of the way with matchups looming against Alabama, Florida and Ole Miss.
With that in mind, here are my top three takeaways from a bluegrass disaster.
━━━━
1. ED ORGERON'S JOB STATUS IS ...
It's hard to believe LSU is less than two seasons removed from one of the greatest seasons (maybe even the greatest) in college football history -- because the current version of the team shows no shades of that group.
The Tigers were flat-out dominated in Kentucky, a statement that you'd be unlikely to hear even during the most frustrating of the Les Miles years. The results in a COVID-altered 2020 season could be explained away, but with a .500 record since that title season, the questions will be tough and the outlook will be murky for LSU's head coach the rest of the way -- if it wasn't already.
Related
The day started with reports that Ed Orgeron's seat was heating up. LSU Athletic Director Scott Woodward was in Lexington to watch the performance. He'll now likely be taking a long, hard look at the program and its leadership. The Tigers offense did appear to get untracked a bit in the second half. The running game even showed signs of life. But it was too little and too late to save LSU in the game. Was it enough to buy Orgeron the time to try to turn this ship around?
Miles was fired mid-season after an ugly loss to Auburn, with Orgeron taking over and ultimately hanging onto the job after a drawn-out coaching search. Woodward wasn't in charge at that point, and it's unknown how he'd handle a similar situation. With LSU following up a brutal loss to Auburn with an even uglier loss to Kentucky -- a mid-season change route feels possible.
The Tigers have games coming up against Florida, Ole Miss and Alabama. All ranked teams ... all potentially lopsided results. Time will tell.
━━━━
FREE CADE YORK
Would a field goal have changed the game on Saturday night? Definitely not. But if you have the best kicker in the nation (which I thoroughly believe Cade York is) ... why wouldn't you use him?
The Tigers turned the ball over on downs to end their first possession well within York's range. They were down 7-0 at that point. They called a timeout before running the play on 4th and 1. Kayshon Boutte was in the injury tent. The call was a quick out to Bech that fell incomplete and didn't look like it had a chance even if it was caught.
Related
If you don't trust the run game in that situation, that's gotta be a kick. What's more demoralizing for a defense than looking up after pounding run after pounding run only to see a goose egg on your side of the scoreboard. When you have a chance to get on the board early and a 4th down conversion wouldn't even move you into the red zone, you've got to take advantage of the advantages you actually have. LSU didn't, Instead it's the third time in six games York failed to register a field goal attempt ... and the inability to use their weapons in most phases has been the story of this season.
In fairness to Ty Davis-Price, the junior had easily his top performance of the year. He rolled out a career high 147 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 22 carries. Davis-Price pounded it on on 4th and goal for a touchdown that -- at least for a few moments -- appeared to give LSU a shot at a wild comeback. He did it again in the fourth quarter to cut the Wildcats' lead to two scores. The Tigers finally showed a bit of the "commitment" to the run game that Orgeron has asked for all season, but the die was cast early in this one. Why didn't they commit to it on the opening drive?
━━━━
RUNNING WILD
Even at its lowest points, what you never saw from LSU was a team getting embarrassed in the trenches (matchups with Alabama notwithstanding).
What happened in the first half was a team with a plan relentlessly battering a team that often looked lost in most phases. What happened in the second half was a defeated defense losing the will to fight. LSU has talented players up and down its roster. Eventually we'll see a lot of them playing on Sundays.
This is a proud group. They'll bounce back. Players won't want to let this tape sit and they'll come out hot the following week. But such a performance is often indicative of a larger issue -- and that seems to be the case here.
Related
The question to answer the rest of the way: What is driving the issues? LSU sent Bo Pelini packing after one season due to repeated and perplexing breakdowns in the secondary. Orgeron wanted to simplify and brought in Daronte Jones. Things looked like they stabilized after a rough opener against UCLA. Even in the loss to Auburn the defense's issues were driven more by Bo Nix's jitterbug lifestyle than anything else.
Kentucky didn't hide what it was planning to do. They punched LSU in the mouth early and often. When they didn't get punched back, they kept swinging until LSU was flat on the mat with no one to throw in the towel. The Wildcats ran for 330 yards. Believe it or not, that's only the second-most allowed in a game under Orgeron. Ole Miss ran for 402 yards in a game LSU won by three scores in 2019.
But if you can't stop the inside run game, you won't be able to stop much of anything else.
Something's gotta give.