No football team wants to get embarrassed at home by a top-10 team, but could having it happen once help LSU avoid replaying the same movie again?
That's what the Tigers are hoping as No. 7 Ole Miss arrives at Tiger Stadium two weeks after LSU suffered a 40-13 shellacking at the hands of Tennessee. It's a result that doesn't feel quite as bad considering the Vols took down Alabama as LSU went down to Gainesville for a dominating win of their own over Florida. The Vols now sit at No. 3.
"Two weeks later, it's, I don't want to say a different team, but it's a team that has confidence," head coach Brian Kelly said this week. "It's a team that knows that if they don't play clean, if they don't have an attention to detail, they'll have similar results that they did against Tennessee. ... if they take that knowledge into their preparation this week and into the game and their performance, then we should have one really fine football team."
And if this team can clean up some of its woes, particularly in the special teams department that has coughed up two fumbles in as many weeks, the Tigers could have a chance to make another SEC statement. Lane Kiffin's Rebels are still unbeaten, but the teams they've beaten don't exactly scream out "legit contender."
The long big name on that list is No. 19 Kentucky. Ole Miss dominated the likes of Tulsa, Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech, and was pushed by Auburn in a 48-34 track meet, the same team LSU held scoreless in the second half of a 21-17 victory earlier this month.
And even with the volume of the Tigers' loss to Tennessee, it only counts as one. That means should LSU find a way to upset Ole Miss, they'd be in a three-way tie for the SEC West lead after eight games. Not exactly the worst place to be in the first year of a head coaching change.
Even so, Kelly says that's not a topic he'll talk about with his team this week. Maybe this time next week, if things go a certain way.
"What we're going to talk about is how we play better at home in front of our fans, against a top 10 team," Kelly said. "I mean, our focus will be on ourselves more so than what that means."
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Wide receiver Jack Bech left early in the win over Florida and has been dealing with a back issue. He's had fumbles in the return game each of the past two weeks, and it's unclear if he'll continue in that role. Kelly described his back as "cranky" and he'll be day-to-day throughout the week.
"He's a tough guy. Hopefully we can get him loose enough where he can play," Kelly said.
One player who is expected to return this week is RB Armoni Goodwin, who has been dealing with a leg injury. He has been cleared to return by team doctors, and it'll be a question of how much work he's able to get in. That'll be determined throughout the week.
WHAT WAS THE DEAL WITH THE BIG PLAYS?
The LSU defense had a solid day against the Gators, with a few exceptions. The problem was those exceptions found their way into the endzone from far away. Florida scored touchdowns on a 51-yard TD to Justin Shorter, a 39-yard run by Montrell Johnson Jr. and an 81-yard run by QB Anthony Richardson.
"We tried to punch the ball loose twice on on Richardson," Kelly said. "You've got to tackle him. I mean, that's a commitment, you've got to go and wrap him up and bring him down on the ground. And, you know, so that was tackling.
"We gave up the big-play pass where we just need to stay on top,, and you know, we did not. We gave up run after the catch, and, again, that was a tackling situation. So we just have to be better at tackling. I think if we start there and really focus on just doing our job, we're going to be much better at the defensive end."
ON SUCCESS FROM TWO FRESHMAN OTS
Freshman LT Will Campbell was named SEC Offensive Linemen of the Week, and RT Emery Jones held up well in a starting role against Florida. Kelly couldn't remember ever starting two freshmen in any position along an OL, let alone both tackles.
"It's not necessarily the physical. And I know they have the physical because you cannot play in this league unless you have physical traits. These guys are too fast, they're too big, they're too strong. They'll walk you back to the quarterback if you're not physically strong enough and Emery Jones and Will Campbell physically have the traits to go in the weight room and be as strong as anybody and are able to move their feet to obviously get out and set these guys.
"They're gonna miss a couple, right? We got beat inside on a couple of times that they countered moved us, but these guys are extraordinary in their ability to move on to the next play. They focus and then refocus, so their mental approach to the game is so far above any freshmen that I'm used to having. They generally, you know, have that look in their eyes right about now that they're done. These guys are anxious for more and that's unusual."
DID THE OFFENSE TAKE A STEP FORWARD VS FLORIDA?
"I think it's got to be part of what we continue to grow towards. There's going to be times where guys just gotta up and make plays. And we had been kind of grinding it out, like, we were trying to fight for every blade of grass, and sometimes you just got to make some plays. ... The big touchdown throw to Jaray Jenkins. They jump offside, you know, that's part of our offense, take a shot down the field. You know, maybe earlier in the year we throw that out of bounds. So just staying at it and being consistent with coaching it and then telling our guys that look, sooner or later we got to step up and make these plays and they did on Saturday. And now we've got to be consistent at it. You can't do it one week and then turn it off the next week and expect to win."
