BATON ROUGE – When your offense has been in the toilet for almost the first half of the season, improvement is measured by “almost.”
It almost scored on a 1-yard TD run, but the running back fumbled before crossing the goal.
It almost scored on a 9-yard TD pass, but the quarterback telegraphed an interception at the 1-yard line.
It almost scored on a 1-yard run, but the offensive coordinator was dumb enough to ask a quarterback with a gimpy ankle to score on a QB sneak. It resulted in a 2-yard loss, a fumble, and eventually a field goal.
Yes, No. 11 LSU should have won by at least 31 points over South Carolina Saturday night in Tiger Stadium.
Instead, the Tigers had to sweat it out to end in a 20-10 SEC victory over the Gamecocks, which only was secured when LSU’s defense stymied South Carolina and its 240-pound QB LaNorris Sellers one last time.
While the 5-1 Tigers managed a few offensive positives – they had 420 yards of total offense featuring a season-high 166 rushing yards, and quarterback Garrett Nussmeier’s arm strength returned after going A.W.O.L. in the first five games of the season – LSU head coach Brian Kelly honestly put the win in perspective.
“It’s not good enough,” Kelly said, “to say `Hey, we’ve arrived.’ We certainly have not. We’ve seen the bits and pieces that we’re looking for now; we just have to put them together.
“We found a way to win even though we had some catastrophic mistakes. But we overcame them and kept playing.”
When the season started, Kelly’s mantra was “playing to the LSU standard.”
Now, it’s settling for bits and pieces such as:
- A suddenly-healed (who knows for how long) Nussmeier firing the ball all over the joint. He winged a ball 60 yards in the air into the hand of Chris Hilton Jr., who couldn’t secure it for a completion.
Though Nussmeier’s decision-making harkened back to his younger gunslinger days as a Tiger – he completed 20 of 33 passes for 254 yards with two TDs offsetting two interceptions – it was somewhat of a relief to see him just rip throws downfield.
Also, he had the out-of-body experience of running for two first downs. He ran for 30 yards on four carries, including a 21-yard jailbreak from a collapsing pocket.
“There are some things that need cleaning up, but I thought he was a lot more aggressive,” Kelly said of Nussmeier. “He had that kind of demeanor you’re looking for as quarterback.”
- Sophomore tight end Trey’Dez Green, who suffered a sprained MCL in his right knee on Sept. 6 and missed two games, emerged from oblivion in a big way. He had eight catches (his first receptions since his two, including a TD, vs. Clemson in the Aug.30 season opener) for 119 yards and one TD.
“I’m still probably just 80 percent,” Green said. “I feel like my confidence coming into the game was kind of hesitant with my knee. But once I got my first catch, I knew it was all good then.”
- Nussmeir’s vast health improvement allowed offensive coordinator Joe Sloan to make more aggressive first-down play calls. On 31 first-down situations, the Tigers averaged 8.5 yards on 18 passes and 13 runs, by far the best numbers this season.
- LSU’s defense, the only reason why poll voters have squeezed the Tigers in the top 10 at No. 10 on Sunday, held Sellers to 143 yards total offense. They sacked him five times, reducing his 74 rushing yards to a net gain of 19 yards, and pressured him with blitz after blitz after blitz.
“Our defense did a great job of pursuing relentlessly,” LSU edge rusher Jack Pyburn said. “Guys were flying all over the place. You didn’t see any quit from this defense. It was a fight that was taught, and that’s something we pride ourselves on.
Sellers tipped his hat to LSU’s defense.
“They brought some pressure we did not see,” he said. “They dialed some stuff up. Kudos to them
The fact that the Tigers have faced a pair of dual-threat QBs in its last two games – Ole Miss’ Trinidad Chambliss and South Carolina – should prepare LSU well for its next two games and dual-threat QBs Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia and Texas A&M’s Marcel Reed.
“You keep rush lane integrity and you plaster your man when he scrambles,” LSU cornerback Mansoor Delane said of dealing with such QBs.
The Tigers’ upcoming trio of SEC games – at No. 17 Vanderbilt on Saturday, at home vs No. 4 Texas A&M on Oct. 25, and after a second open date at No. 6 Alabama – will determine if LSU can still dream about being a playoff team or again be on the outside looking in.
What gives Kelly hope is that if the Tigers get any kind of offensive consistency, they can be on the doorstep of the playoffs.
Since the SEC expanded to 16 teams a year ago and with the explosion of the transfer portal and NIL, the league’s parity has risen to unprecedented levels.
The nine other SEC teams besides LSU ranked in this week’s AP and Coaches polls – four teams ranked in front and five in back of the Tigers – have their imperfections.
Half of the league’s 22 conference games have had one-possession victory margins. There have been just four games with victory margins of 20 or more points, the highest at 24.
It’s why Kelly still has hopes his team can be a legit playoff contender.
But even with a defense allowing 11.6 points per game for the season, the Tigers aren’t going anywhere with an offense averaging just less than 20 points in SEC play.
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