The news keeps getting tougher and tougher with each passing week ever since the second half collapse against Texas A&M in more ways than one. A month ago, LSU was undefeated in the SEC and had among the top recruiting classes in the country.
Just fast forward to late November, the Tigers are now unranked at 6-4 (3-3) after three straight losses to Texas A&M, Alabama, and Florida by a combined score of 100-35 and they have also lost the commitment of the number one quarterback in the entire country in Bryce Underwood, who announced that he was going to flip to Michigan just two weeks away from Signing Day.
Brian Kelly perfectly explained last week what the mood of the program after the Tigers’ crushing 42-13 loss at home to Alabama and before a shocking upset loss to Florida on the road.
“Look, nobody’s in a good mood. The food doesn’t taste good, nobody’s happy being around each other, but we have to be better. I made it clear that I have to be better, our coaches have to be better, and our players have to be better.”
LSU HC Brian Kelly
LSU has also made headlines this week not only for dropping three consecutive losses that have knocked them out of SEC title consideration and a College Football Playoff berth, but a lot of that frustration was captured on the sidelines with Brian Kelly having heated exchanges with Chris Hilton and Kyren Lacy having a heated exchange with the head coach.
“This is about a guy that’s anxious and wants to make plays and has to let the game come to him. Matter of fact, that was the conversation we had on the sideline and understanding that these are the things that we talked about in practice and they’re still showing up in the game. Let the game come to you and he clearly understood that.”
LSU HC Brian Kelly on the heated Chris Hilton interaction
“I love that about our players. Any competitor wants the football. You have to be able to measure it by making sure that the emotion doesn’t take over what you’re trying to accomplish at that time.”
LSU HC Brian Kelly on Kyren Lacy yelling for the football at Brian Kelly
The last few disappointing weeks have carried onto the recruiting trail as well by not only losing Bryce Underwood, but potentially also four star wide receiver Derek Meadows to Michigan.
Fans, players, and the coaches are frustrated with how the season has flew south, but there is one thing that can help the Tigers get positive momentum back. It is pure and simple. That is winning.
“If you don’t win a championship here, it is a failure and I agree with that, but we still have a lot to play for. 6-6 is a lot worse than 8-4. We still have two more games. Everybody can doubt that us, but we know we have to finish this the right way and get into a good bowl game and do what we have to do. That’s really the bottom line.”
LSU OT Will Campbell
Will Campbell along with Garrett Nussmeier, Josh Williams, and Greg Penn conducted a players only meeting to help reignite the rest of the team.
“What the players only meeting was about, this was shared to me through our leadership council was that we got to play better. We got to stop talking about “We should have had this.” We got to play better and stop making excuses. Feedback was collectively from everybody was that we need to play better and stop making excuses. Go out and play and perform and execute.”
LSU HC Brian Kelly
“When you go back and look, not a lot of people pay attention to that, but we’ve led going into the fourth quarter out of three of the four losses that we have. We have to finish games, and that’s something that we haven’t done, and it’s not a coaching problem. It’s not a scheme. It’s none of that. It’s us.”
“We have to be able to do the little things right, and when you don’t, you don’t deserve to win, quite frankly, I think against Florida, we had 13 negative plays. Whether that’s penalties, missed assignments, whatever you might call it. You don’t deserve to win an SEC football game on the road in a hostile environment against a good football team with a good coaching staff. This isn’t high school football. If we want to win, we have to do the little things right for four straight quarters.”
LSU OT Will Campbell
To get this program back on track, the first step is to do just that in consistently getting the little things right this week at home against Vanderbilt.
LSU is playing for pride as there has not been a LSU team that has lose four games in a row and it is going to be a challenge to do so as the Commodores are not like your normal Vanderbilt team this season.
In fact, the Commodores are bowl eligible for the first time since 2018 at 6-4 and for the first time since 1955, Vanderbilt has defeated both Alabama and Auburn. Now, they are coming in for a rare trip to Baton Rouge where they have not played at since 2009 and have not won at since 1955. Vanderbilt also is searching for their first win against LSU since 1990.
What has given LSU’s defense massive problems has been its inability at times to stop the rushing quarterback. Whether it has been Marcel Reed from Texas A&M or Jalen Milroe from Alabama, the Tigers haven’t had the answer on defending the dual threat quarterback and unfortunately, LSU will face another one in Diego Pavia. Pavia has been the leading catalyst for the Commodores’ soaring success with 1,843 yards passing and 15 touchdowns plus 628 yards rushing and five touchdowns on the ground.
“This is truly assignment oriented football. You have to be disciplined. Much like that offense needs to do, they want to catch you being undisciplined. The big focus is to be disciplined in getting your job done in all three phases inside, outside, and on the perimeter.”
LSU HC Brian Kelly on defending Vanderbilt’s option attack
LSU’s offense wants to attack Vanderbilt’s defense with its passing game. Garrett Nussmeier has been having a rough couple of weeks with the turnovers, but he still ties the SEC lead with touchdown passes (22), 2nd in total touchdowns (25), total offense (309.4 yards per game), and passing yards per game (312.6). He has four different receivers in Kyren Lacy, Aaron Anderson, Mason Taylor, and CJ Daniels that have 35 or more receptions this season.
The biggest question mark of this offense is the health of its interior line with Garrett Dellinger and Miles Frazier being ruled questionable. The offensive line suffered last week in the loss to Florida. Despite outgaining the Gators and controlling the time of possession, Nussmeier was sacked more times in that game (7) than the entire season combined (6).
Doing the little things right against a disciplined Commodores team will be ever crucial if the Tigers want to get back to winning football.
This Vanderbilt team is having a season worth remembering for Commodore fans and are playing for house money while it is the opposite for LSU. Another loss will put the Tigers in a downward spiral for the rest of the season.
However, a win may not solve all of LSU’s problems, but it certainly is a good start especially how depressing the last month has been. After all, winning is the best medicine.
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