LSU was embarrassed by Tennessee 40-13 Saturday afternoon in Tiger Stadium. Long before the sun set for evening, a shadow loomed large over LSU's program, the shadow of former coach Ed Orgeron.
Brian Kelly is the coach now. But it’s Orgeron who left the talent cupboard bare. Sure, Kelly deserves some of the blame. More on that in a minute.
Coach O is making his rounds on radio/tv/podcasts. He’s attending other games around the country. No problem! Good for Coach O. But the Tigers are spending Saturdays without quality depth, and Coach Kelly is having to play a lot of young players that are inexperienced. It showed in an ugly way in the loss to Tennessee.
After winning the national title during the 2019 season the Louisiana native neglected his roster and took victory laps. He lived up the rewards of leading LSU to a national title. That victory lap is still costing the program. While Orgeron is no longer the coach of LSU, he's still impacting games by not managing the roster the way he needed to. To boot, he's still cashing checks signed by Louisiana State University. What a disaster!
Now, coach Kelly and his staff took ownership of the beatdown at the hands of Volunteers. The Tigers committed nine penalties in the loss and gave up 263 yards rushing on 49 attempts. That is utter domination from Tennessee. Rocky top amassed 502 yards of total offense. Wanna know how far off LSU is from Tennessee? The Vols committed 12 penalties for 107 yards and still beat LSU by 27 points. Gross!
LSU went for it on fourth down three times, and failed on every attempt. Tennessee was 3-for-3 on 4th downs. Criticize the decision-making if you want, but it’s no mystery why LSU went for it on 3rd down. Field goals were not going to beat UT. My main critique is how they went about trying to convert on those attempts.
The Tigers committed penalties that shouldn't be committed by a Power 5 football team. For example, an Illegal substitution penalty on defense? That's on the coaching staff.
The Vols have found their man in QB Hendon Hooker. LSU is searching for theirs. QB Jayden Daniels is still the same limited QB we've seen all season. He’s a QB that can't and won't take the time to go through his progressions. The Arizona State transfer's longest completion of the game was 23 yards. That’s risk-averse football, even if he threw his first interception of the season on the final play of the game.
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To put it mildly, the Tigers are stuck with Daniels. What? Why not go to Garret Nussmeier? The Bayou Bengals problems won't be solved with Nussmeier. He's been underwhelming in limited action this season. At this point, I say stick with Daniels until the final three games of the season. At that point play Freshman Walker Howard, which still allows him to keep his red-shirt status.Howard is the future. Nussmeier and Daniels will be transfers next season.
Remember, former QB Myles Brennan was on the roster until mid-august when they informed the 6th year senior the team was going with Jayden Daniels. Subsequently Brennan walked away from football. This staff decided Daniels gave LSU the best chance to win. I still think that was a mistake. One can't help but wonder, if Brennan were still around and playing quarterback in Baton Rouge, would the Tigers enjoy more production?
Stop wondering! Brennan was and is a way better passer than Daniels as a passer. Sure he's not as mobile, but Myles could read a defense, and get the ball out of his hands quickly. Daniels wishes he had that level of arm talent of Brennan.
That mistake falls at the feet of Kelley. No use in crying over spilled milk, I guess. It is frustrating, though, to think about how that poor decision has impacted this season.
The Tigers are at Florida this week, at home against Ole Miss and Alabama the following two weeks. Then back on the road the following week against Arkansas before hosting UAB on November 19th. LSU wraps up the regular season on the road in College Station against Texas A&M.
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How many games do you think the Tigers win in the final 6 games? Me? I’d put it at two. That’d leave them at 6 wins and 6 losses and a .500 regular season. Bottom line, the Tigers have a long way to go. Just three seasons ago the Tigers were the baddest cat in the college football jungle. Today, LSU is the prey.
Lagniappe: Suffice it to say, I believe in Kelly to turn this program around. It will be a major uphill climb. Two years ago Tennessee was 3-7 and LSU was coming off the greatest season in the history of college football.
Look how far LSU has fallen and how far the Vols have climbed. Kelly now has to get the Tigers to start climbing. There are a lot of rungs on that ladder.
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