BATON ROUGE – Did you think it could get any worse?
Sadder than Texas A&M nailing the coffin on Brian Kelly’s LSU coaching career by scoring 35 straight second-half points in a 49-25 bashing in which the Tigers’ wheezing offensive line allowed five sacks.
Sorrier than Alabama when LSU’s offense had five false starts, lost 27 yards, and scored just a pair of field goals on three red zone trips in a 20-9 loss.
More pathetic than Vanderbilt maintaining possession in the final 3:12 of a 31-24 win and actually ending the game by mercifully taking a knee (probably for the first time vs. the Tigers) on the last three plays starting at the LSU 1.
But somehow, in a season full of historically rancid offensive performances, the 2025 Tigers saved their biggest stinker for Senior Night on Saturday in Tiger Stadium.
Scoring their lowest point total against a non-conference game in 25 years, LSU and its D.O.A. offense crawled across the finish line with a 13-10 victory over Western Kentucky in the final home game of a disastrous year.
Not counting LSU’s final possession when quarterback Michael Van Buren happily knelt twice to kill the game’s final 62 seconds after the Tigers had to field an onside kick to dodge one last bullet, LSU’s other 14 possessions ended in seven punts, two turnovers, being stopped twice on fourth down, two field goals, and a TD.
LSU was 3 for 16 in third-down situations and 1 of 3 on fourth-down situations.
Former Tigers’ backup QB Van Buren Jr., making his second start in place of the injured Garrett Nussmeier, failed to convert 8 of 9 third downs and 2 of 3 on fourth downs. He completed a combined 6 of 12 passes on third and fourth downs, but five were short of the first down marker.
Then, to put the icing on the crumbling cake, LSU running back Harlem Berry fumbled, and WKU cornerback Dylan Flowers scooped and scored on a 71-yard return.
After WKU placekicker John Canno made it a one-possession game with his extra point, LSU suddenly had to recover an onside kickoff to preserve the win.
It was a stinging reminder of why this season was flushed down the toilet, why this team is the eighth in school history to start the season ranked in the top 10 of the AP and Coaches polls and finish in witness protection.
Frank Wilson, a superbly nice human being named LSU’s interim coach when Kelly was fired, wrote off the Tigers’ typically bad offensive performance to injuries and youth.
Not just for the WKU embarrassment, but for the whole season.
“Personnel-wise, you lose your starting center, you lose your left tackle, then you put a different guy in, then he gets out, until you bring an injured guy back in,” Wilson said of his team’s injury woes.
“When injuries start to occur, the playbook condenses to give yourself the best chance of doing whatever it takes to win the game.
“We’re a youthful offensive unit, especially up front, and I think that when you do that, it’s our responsibility to do the things that give you a chance to win. We can go out and try to be sexy and do things that don’t adhere and allow us to be our best version of ourselves, and it won’t bode well for you.
“And so, what do you do? You do the things that you can do with the personnel that you have, and sometimes it’s ugly and sometimes it’s tough.”
And often, it’s a lack of execution, like Van Buren not checking down to safety valve receivers but instead repeatedly throwing inaccurate passes into coverages vs. WKU that Wilson said the Tigers hadn’t seen on film.
It’s also the soft and confused offensive line, this time allowing Western Kentucky (which had just 12 sacks in its first 10 games) to record a season-high six sacks.
Sometimes, it’s nonsensical playcalling, such as in the third quarter when successive Van Buren runs of 16 yards and 3 yards put the ball inside the WKU 1-yard line with second-and-goal.
So, needing a half-yard, LSU interim play caller Alex Atkins stunningly had Van Buren throw an incomplete pass to 6-foot-7-inch tight end Trey’Dez Green.
It was well-covered by WKU, which had seen LSU try this play repeatedly in goal-line situations all season.
Then, on third and goal, instead of having Van Buren under center maybe 15 inches from the goal line, Atkins puts Van Buren four yards back in the shotgun. He fumbles the snap, falls on it at the 4-yard line, and LSU settles for a Damian Ramos 18-yard field goal and a 10-3 lead.
This combination of lousy play calling and bumbling, stumbling execution has lasted the entire season. It hasn’t gotten any better.
And for the most part, the reason LSU has managed seven wins as one of the worst 7-4 (soon to be 7-5) teams with a regular-season road smackdown at No. 8 Oklahoma awaiting next Saturday is a defense that has continued to keep the Tigers within striking distance.
LSU cornerbacks DJ Pickett and PJ Woodland picked off WKU QB Rodney Tisdale Jr. at the WKU 22 and LSU 45 in successive third-quarter possession.
All the Tigers’ offense cashed in was a Ramos field goal, which is par for the course. The 18 turnovers (14 interceptions, four fumble recoveries) caused by LSU this year have led to just 38 points, including eight field goals.
Too many Tigers’ possessions are also derailed by penalties. LSU’s offense has been flagged 43 of the team’s 78 penalties this season, including 20 false starts and 13 holding infractions.
LSU’s defense, unfortunately, has gotten used to not getting help from its offense.
“We came in at halftime (with LSU leading WKU 7-3),” Tigers’ linebacker West Weeks. “We said if they don’t score again, they can’t win the ballgame.”
Yet, LSU’s offense almost handed the 21½-point Hilltoppers a victory on an early Thanksgiving platter.
Hopefully by this time next week, the Tigers will have hired a new head coach, whether they’ve emptied the vault for Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin or Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz or someone else.
Whoever it is, the number one requirement is installing an offensive scheme that is unpredictable, scores beaucoup points, and keeps self-destruction at a minimum.
The 2025 Tigers are one game from possibly being the first LSU team since 1993 to score 25 points or fewer in every SEC game in a season.
The program direly needs a major resuscitation.
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com