By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
BATON ROUGE – Nobody needed to prep LSU head coach Brian Kelly for Tuesday’s open date press conference.
He knew the questions he was going to be asked were the same ones he had before he and his staff reviewed the game film of last Saturday’s second-half collapse at Texas A&M in a decisive 38-23 loss.
The Tigers (6-2, 3-1) led 17-7 at halftime despite two missed field goals but had no answers in every phase of the game in the second half when the Aggies (7-1 overall, 5-0 SEC) outscored LSU 31-6.
“For 52 of the first 73 plays, our guys played exceedingly well,” Kelly said. “It was the last 23 plays. So, this is much more about how you finish a game. We came out emotionally and physically and did the right things but we didn’t finish. You got to finish in this league.”
LSU’s offense produced 429 yards, including 405 passing yards and two TDs from starting QB Garrett Nussmeier. But he also threw three interceptions in the second half leading to 17 A&M points.
Part of the problem was that LSU’s rushing game was a massive failure, with only 24 yards on 23 attempts. The Tigers’ mostly veteran offensive line, featuring a collective 149 college starts from tackle to tackle, got manhandled by A&M’s D-line.
Kelly placed the blame on the offensive line and Nussmeier.
“A lot of the run game for us is based upon individual matchups,” Kelly said. “We lost some individual matchups that made the run game less effective.
“The quarterback is instrumental in reading whether he has a loaded (defensive) box or not. And then just making good decisions based upon when we should throw the ball and when we should run based upon those numbers.”
Nussmeier, making his ninth college start, never got comfortable. A&M’s defensive disguises kept him guessing.
“It’s the process of a first-time starter at quarterback,” Kelly said. “In (2023 Heisman Trophy-winning QB) Jayden Daniels’ first year (as LSU’s starting QB in 2022), we threw for 86 yards against Auburn. We barely got out of Arkansas after a 13-10 win. We got our butts kicked against Tennessee (a 40-13 loss).
“Many people were calling for his job here in Baton Rouge earlier in his (Daniels’) tenure. Now, they’re ready to put up a statue in Washington right now (where Daniels is having a fabulous NFL rookie year).
“It’s the life of the quarterback at any level, whether it’s college or the NFL. His dad is a quarterback coach (for the Philadelphia Eagles), so he’s built for this. He’s not a guy that is going to shy away from it.
“We’re working with him to get him to the level that he needs to be, and he’s excited about doing it. I’m not really worried about loss of confidence with him. He knows what this looks like, and he knows others that have been here that are having incredible success in the NFL right now having gone through a similar path of development.”
After the A&M loss, LSU linebacker Greg Penn III said he and his teammates weren’t prepared to face A&M backup QB Marcell Reed.
Reed, a mobile dual-threat QB who replaced struggling pocket-passing starting QB Connor Weigman, accounted for 132 of the Aggies’ 195 total offense yards on 26 offensive snaps in A&M’s final six possessions of the game. He led the Aggies to four straight TDs and a field goal, rushing for 62 yards and 3 TDs on 9 carries and completed 2 of 2 passes for 70 yards.
“You don’t run a defense expecting the number two quarterback to come in,” Kelly said. “We prepared for Connor to play, and so a lot of the reps were focused on the offense that Connor is part of.
“But throughout (preseason) camp, throughout spring ball, throughout the season, we have a defense and a structure that stops quarterback runs, that stops read option. We just didn’t execute it as well (vs. Reed). That’s the fact of the matter.”
LSU’s placekicking operation, which had been consistently excellent all season, fell apart vs. the Aggies. After placekicker Damian Ramos made just 1 of 3 field goals in the first half, he lined up for a 36-yard field goal with 4:53 left in the third quarter that would have given LSU a 20-14 lead.
Instead, long snapper Slade Roy fired a snap off the chest of holder Peyton Todd who was looking at Ramos to see if he was ready. A&M flipped the error into a 60-yard scoring drive that gave the Aggies for good at 21-17 with 1 minute left in the third quarter.
“The snapper, the holder and the kicker have to work in unison,” Kelly said. “I don’t know what happened, but they were out of sync. It was a bad night. To have a night like that when they were so good all year is troubling but we’re going to get it fixed. We got some work on it today.”
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com