The Tigers come into tonight’s tilt reeling off a home loss against rival Auburn 24-19. Quarterback Bo Nix run over, around, and through the Tiger defense last week. Mainly on 4th down and beating the Tigers for big yardage down field. While Kentucky remained undefeated and beat rival Florida 20-13.
This will be the Tigers first trip in Lexington since 2007, when LSU lost in triple overtime 43-37. The Tigers would go on and win the National Title later that year. The two teams last met in 2014 with LSU winning 41-3 in Death Valley.
LSU hopes to keep the receiving touchdown streak with Kayshon Boutte alive. That streak currently sits at seven games and is currently tied for the most consecutive games Jarvis Landry and Dwayne Bowe.
Keys to tonight’s game.
Tempo, Tempo, Tempo: Something that has been preached since taking over as the head coach. Ed Orgeron wants to go fast on offense and control the tempo of the game. He wants his offense to dictate what the opponent’s defense does.
Control the LOS: The Tigers have struggled on the offensive side of the ball controlling the line of scrimmage getting man handled in some games. However, on the flipside, LSU leads the SEC, and is third in the Nation in sacks.
Run the ball: The Tigers have become one dimensional in their play calling, and lost their identity of being “Mean, Tough, Nasty” they have gotten away from running the ball, and completely stopped in the fourth quarter against Auburn with a lead.
Kentucky won the toss and would defer until the second half.
Tigers come out and look to go tempo early, however the Wildcats look like they have something to counter that. Linebacker DeAndre Square blitzing from the middle linebacker position scrapes off the edge and hits Max Johnson on his blind side causing a fumble, Kentucky recovers.
Kentucky takes over at the LSU 44 and nine plays later on 4th and 3 quarterback Will Levis finds a wide open Christopher Rodriguez running a swing route out of the backfield. UK 7 – LSU 0
Kentucky kept the scoring onslaught going. This time with a reception by Wan’Dale Robinson UK 14 – LSU 0
Quarterback Levis would add another score for the Wildcats with his feet. This time from one yard out. UK 21 – LSU 0
The Tigers would get back to what made them feared by opponents and started to run the ball. Ty Davis Price was a man on a mission tonight for the Tigers. Kentucky did not look like they wanted to tackle him on initial contact. The running back had over 140 yards rushing on 22 carries and two touchdowns. “I thought he ran the ball very well” said Ed Orgeron. “With that offensive line, I thought he ran the ball very hard.” UK 21 – LSU 7
The Wildcats would answer the LSU rushing touchdown with another rushing touchdown of their own. Levis again in for the score. UK 28 – LSU 7
JuTahn McClain caught the LSU defense out of position with a 25 yard receiving touchdown. The young running back leaked out of the backfield on a swing route and went right up the sideline for the score. UK 35 – LSU 7
LSU would not go away, and continued to hang around. Max Johnson hit Malik Nabers on a 41 yard touchdown strike. The catch by Nabers was incredible! It deserves to be dissected and scrutinized for years to come. Nabers defender was hanging on him and he somehow still was able to jump and pull down the ball at the back of the end zone after a half bobble and get a foot down. It was amazing. My description does not do it service. UK 35 – LSU 14
Ty Davis-Price ran left, he ran right, and he ran up the middle. He was in from two yards. TDP had most of the touches in this game. A big surprise from last week where the elder statesman of the running back room disappeared from the game in the fourth quarter. UK 35 – LSU 21
The Tigers closed the gap and got within a 14 point lead. That would be it. Kentucky would put the nail in the coffin after a Christopher Rodriguez 18 yard score.
Final UK 42 – LSU 21
At 3-3, the Tigers have a meat grinder for a remainder of a schedule. With a loss to Kentucky the heat under head coach Ed Orgeron’s seat is starting to heat up. “We need to stay together” said Ed Orgeron “I have a lot of confidence, we need to go to work, just like always and plan against Florida.” When asked about turning things around, and getting the Tigers back on track
