The Allstate Louisiana Kickoff did not disappoint, ending what was a wild weekend of college football. After a slow and painful 7-3 first half, the LSU Tigers made a last ditch effort down 14 only to fall short by an extra point in a 24-23 loss to the Florida State Seminoles.
LSU’s mistakes are what cost them in the end, especially in the special teams department. Brian Kelly’s first game as the head coach of the Tigers will be remembered, but probably not how he and Tiger fans envisioned. Damian Ramos had a PAT kick to send the game to an unlikely overtime, instead a blocked kick sends LSU to an 0-1 start for the third consecutive season.
We’ll look at the good, the bad and the ugly from a disappointing night at the Caesars Superdome.
THE GOOD: Jayden Daniels Playmaking Ability
The offense wasn’t pretty, but Jayden Daniels’ ability to scramble was the most effective part of LSU’s offense on Sunday night. The quarterback rushed for 114 yards, including 71 in a first half that saw LSU’s offense put up just 3 points.
Daniels’ legs gave Brian Kelly’s team the best chance moving the ball downfield against a talented FSU defensive line that ate up the Tigers offensive line all night. Kelly said after the game that it was mostly scrambling, as opposed to designed runs, with Florida State playing a lot of man coverage that had the defensive backs running with their backs turned to the quarterback. Daniels took advantage. While his passing accuracy looked suspect at times, he bounced back in the second half with a pair of passing touchdowns that gave the Tigers a chance for their wild rally.
Related
THE BAD: LSU’s third-down defense
There were plenty of mistakes to talk about in this one, but we’ll leave that for our ugly portion. Florida State controlled the clock and the game with their ability to extend drives with third down efficiency. The Seminoles converted 11 of their 17 3rd down plays. The Noles felt almost guaranteed to convert in those situations in the first half, but LSU’s defense did make a key stop and secured a turnover in the 4th quarter when they needed it most.
Give credit to FSU’s quarterback Jordan Travis who did his best Bo Nix impression all night escaping pressure and avoiding sacks. Travis finished with 260 yards passing, completing 20 of his 32 attempts with two touchdowns.
Injuries & ejections: LSU suffered its biggest loss in the first quarter when defensive tackle Maason Smith suffered a knee injury and was seen on crutches on the sideline. Smith is arguably LSU’s best interior lineman and will likely miss some time. Kelly said he would undergo an MRI Monday morning.
Team captain Ali Gaye made one of the more boneheaded plays of the night, going high on Travis for what would be a targeting call and an ejection. It was made even worse due to the fact that Travis completed an incredible touchdown pass to Ontaria Wilson despite taking the big hit. Gaye will have to miss the first half of the Tigers’ next game. The only fortunate thing is that the Tigers will be heavy favorites in that cross-town matchup vs the Southern Jaguars.
Related
THE UGLY: Special Teams
Games can be won on special teams. They can also, very easily, be lost on special teams, and that’s what happened in this one. Ramos' game-tying extra point attempt was blocked, but he also had a 30-yard field goal blocked in the 2nd quarter. Replacing the rock-steady Cade York was always going to be a significant challenge, but his two missed kicks weren’t necessarily on him with the blocking failing to do its job ahead of him.
Another special teams blunder came on the punt return return unit. Malik Nabers muffed two punts, one late in each half, both of which were recovered by FSU. The Noles bizarrely blew both opportunities for points deep in Tigers territory. One came on a TOD with the Seminoles going on 4th and 2, and the other on a fumble near the goal line. Still, those plays crushed momentum that had appeared to be swinging in LSU’s favor both times.
All in all, the Tigers battled and gave themselves a chance to win a game they probably had no business winning. Fans won’t be happy with Kelly starting off his career at LSU 0-1, but there’s a whole lot of season left to improve upon this first impression. LSU should be able to bounce back for the first win in the Kelly coaching era next week at Tiger Stadium. But it only gets more difficult from there. Maybe this is a Florida State team that will prove itself as the class of the ACC, but this performance shows LSU has a long way to go before it can hang with the top-tier Southeastern Conference teams it’ll meet down the road.
Related
