By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
BATON ROUGE – It’s not an open date week for LSU, but the next best thing.
After intense games against Clemson, Ole Miss and Texas A&M, and avoiding a trap game with a second-half rally against Louisiana Tech, the 11th-ranked Tigers will be an overwhelming favorite Saturday night when McNeese rides over on I-10 to pick up a guarantee check.
Wasn’t that long ago that McNeese caused LSU some extra effort to salt away comfortable wins. But with NIL, the talent level gap has greatly expanded, so Tigers coach Lane Kiffin didn’t kid anybody in his Monday media session.
“No disrespect, anything at all, but these games over years, like I told the players, this is not about the opponent. This is about us practicing very well and going and playing really well, and not looking at who they played and what division and all those things,” he said. “These guys play hard, have good players, and so this will be much more about us playing really well and the challenge to us all week to get better on fundamentals.”
This contest sends the Tigers (3-1) into October, a month that has a reduced degree of difficulty than September or November. SEC games next month are against Kentucky on the road, Mississippi State and at Auburn – not top-end conference foes.
But the November back-to-back-to-back gauntlet of Alabama, Texas and Tennessee will push LSU to the limit. While there’s an open date before hosting the Crimson Tide, this week’s visit from McNeese provides Kiffin the chance to rest banged up starters and audition reserves who are either needed to contribute immediately because of injuries or be ready to step up when starters go down.
Case in point, starting quarterback Sam Leavitt, hobbled with a hamstring injury that had him limping badly through much of his action in last Saturday’s 35-6 domination of Texas A&M.
Monday, Kiffin stopped short of saying Leavitt might sit out the McNeese game, but said his workload will be very limited this week.
Other Tigers are also on the no-contact list and might not have shoulder pads on Saturday night. Kiffin said having already lost defensive standouts Whit Weeks and Dashawn Spears to injuries (Weeks had surgery Monday on his fractured leg and his status is TBD; Spears, hurt at Ole Miss, is done for the season), he’s “freaked out” by what more injuries could mean for the Tigers’ postseason ambitions and his approach to practice and Saturday’s game reflects that.
“I’m human, with what’s happening with these freak injuries,” he said. “I took our guys out earlier Saturday than I did in previous home games (which were blowout wins over Clemson and Louisiana Tech). Because of what’s been going on, and it just freaked me out. So, we’ll be extremely careful this week all around.”
Looking down the road has the LSU coach considering prudent lineup changes this week.
“I’ve been going through that all day yesterday,” he said. “I don’t know where we’re going to end up on that. We’ve got seven conference games to go.”
The quarterback position obviously is front and center. Behind center finishing the A&M game was Elon transfer Landen Clark, who seems likely to be the starter against McNeese while Leavitt looks on.
“Landen’s done a great job. He goes into the games (and) he finds a way to make plays,” said Kiffin, who said he didn’t mean to compare Clark to his quarterback at Ole Miss last season, Heisman Trophy candidate Trinidad Chambliss – but couldn’t help doing so.
“I’m not saying he’s Trinidad, but in the same way with Trinidad, but we called it Trini-magic whenever we went into scrimmages or games, all of a sudden these things happen, and Landen has done the same thing. He performs really well.
“He was our third quarterback for the mock game, and had to be the Clemson quarterback, and ran around and made some plays against our first defense. It’s a good weapon to have, regardless of Sam’s health.”
ROOKIE HONOR: Defensive tackle Deuce Geralds has been named SEC Freshman of the Week for his performance against the Aggies.
Geralds, a true freshman from Suwanee, Ga., had five tackles and a pair of sacks as the Tiger defense allowed only 11 first downs and 197 total yards.
Geralds has started all four games and has collected 13 tackles and 4.0 sacks for 19 yards in losses. He currently ranks fourth in the SEC in total sacks (4.0) and sacks per game (1.0).
LSU’s defense leads the nation in sacks (19) and ranks No. 2 in rush defense (47.5 yards per game) and No. 3 in total defense (226.8).
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com