After issuing a public apology to WBRZ-TV sports director Michael Cauble on Monday, LSU football coach Brian Kelly was more willing to discuss the issues plaguing the Tigers' offense, which has scored an SEC-low 60 points in three games.
Cauble is the sports reporter Kelly went off on Saturday night after the first question asked to him during the postgame press conference was about the problems with the offense.
It was expected that the Tigers would have another explosive offense with quarterback Garrett Nussmeier returning for his fifth season, but Kelly said the Heisman candidate is playing through an injury.
“He’s been slowed a little bit with a torso injury, and he’s fighting through it and he’s getting better and he’s not really going to shut it down until he gets to the bye break,” Kelly said.
Kelly said Nussmeier has been dealing with this torso injury since the preseason, which explains why he didn’t throw at two different practices that the media were allowed to see. It was explained at the time that Nussmeier was on a “pitch count.”
This is the first time the public is hearing about this injury. We knew that he had a cranky knee that flared up, but nothing about an upper-body injury.
Nussmeier has not appeared on the injury report this season. Kelly says that’s because he’s been able to practice fully.
“We’ve limited him a little bit during the week because of the tightness that he’s had in his torso, it’s an upper body injury that you want to be careful with how many reps he’s getting throwing the football,” Kelly said.
Kelly added that they haven’t worked on throwing deep passes. And this injury may have resulted in his underthrow on the first series of the Louisiana Tech game that resulted in an interception.
Kelly also admitted they were a little more conservative on offense because the defense has been playing so well. The Tigers punted three times last Saturday when the analytics told the coaching staff to go for it.
“We have a top ten defense, I believe in the country, and we need to play to that strength, and sometimes you have to pull back a little bit here and there,” Kelly said.
LSU will face better offenses later on in the schedule, and Kelly admitted they will need to be more aggressive on offense.
The offensive line remains a talking point as well. Starting center and right guard Josh Thompson are experienced, but the other starters only have a handful of starts under their belts.
Related
Kelly still believes in them.
“I’m bullish on this group, I think they are going to be really good, as we continue to develop, they are going to be a good group, but we have some work to do,” Kelly said.
The Tigers host Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday night. The Lions are an FCS school, and it’s a game the Tigers should be able to score 40 or more points.
If they don’t, Kelly will continue to be asked what’s wrong with the offense.