The School: Louisiana State University
Record: 5-1 (2-1 in the SEC)
Ranking: AP #10, Coaches’ Poll #10, and SP+ #17
Mascot: Mike the Tiger, both a typical mascot and the real-life badass tiger (Mike VII). Seriously, the enclosure is one of the coolest on-campus features that I have ever seen.
Location: Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Born on the bayou…
Coach: Brian Kelly. He of the poor scissor lift decisions and horrible fake accent (#fam-uh-ly) even though we had all heard him talk for 15 years before he debuted
his attempt at sounding Cajun.
Conference: The S-E-C
All-time vs. Vanderbilt: 25-7-1
In the Last 10 Years vs. Vanderbilt: 3-0
In the Last 5 Years vs. Vanderbilt: 2-0
The Last Time We Saw These Guys: Vanderbilt dropped a very close game in Baton Rouge at night. The Commodores forced a 3-and-out then immediately scored on a 63-yard deep shot to Quincy Skinner Jr. LSU would tie it up on their next drive before a string of punt-downs-punt-punt-downs drives that saw LSU go for at the Vanderbilt 3 and fail before the Dores would face a similar result on 4th and 2 from the LSU 20. LSU scored a TD before forcing a punt to go into halftime up 14-7.
Vanderbilt’s first drive after the break was 12 plays and 46 yards with Brock Taylor cutting into the lead with a 47-yard FG. LSU would answer with a 10-play 77 yard TD drive. A Commodore 3-and-out was followed by a FG drive spanning 6:08 ended with a FG that gave Vanderbilt only 10:41 to play down 24-10.
Vanderbilt gave themselves a chance with an impressive 10-play and 75 yard TD drive that included a 9-yard Jesse Mirco run on a fake punt for a 4th and 9 conversion. Unfortunately, Vanderbilt’s defense could not stop LSU from running out the last 5:47 on the clock.
Is Vandy Favored?: Yes! For the first time since 1948 the Commodores are favored over the Bayou Bengals. The line opened at 1.5 and has crept out to 2.5. It is the first time since 1978 that Vanderbilt has been favored over a Top 10 team, which is a span of 77 games. It has been 51 games (back to the 2018 game against Tennessee) since Vanderbilt was favored in an SEC game.
Most Potent Offensive Threat: Barion Brown. The Kentucky transfer is a burner at WR. He does only have 27 catches for 261 yards on the season, but LSU’s leading receiver Aaron Anderson is just ahead of him at 23 catches for 305 yards. Brown’s speed means he could give the Tigers’ struggling offense a sudden burst at any moment. His QB Garrett Nussmeier is highly talented but has struggled to find consistency or explosiveness thus far.
Most Potent Defensive Threat: Weeks brothers. West is the oldest brother and leads LSU in total tackles (40) and also has half a sack. Whit is generally considered as the more talented of the starting pair (a third brother has appeared only twice without recording a stat) has 26 total tackles and a full sack along with a fumble recovery. The two LBers have led the Tigers to having the 19th best rushing defense in terms of yards allowed per rushing attempt. LSU is 51st in opponent’s passing yards per pass attempt and 4th in opponents points per game at 12.2.
Matchup to Watch: Diego Pavia and the Vanderbilt offense against the LSU defense. I just pointed out how good LSU is at minimizing yards and points. The Pavia/Beck/Kill formula has been grinding out 3-6 yards on most every play then hopefully adding some chunks when the defense makes a mistake. LSU has been preventing opponents from doing any of that.
Interesting Fact: Did I mention that they have a LIVE FREAKING TIGER on their campus?! They used to bring Mike onto the sidelines, but that practice ended in 2016 except for a ridiculous revival using a non-Mike tiger last season by a group led by Louisiana governor Jeff Landry. Landry did not even attend LSU and received pushback from the university.
Bonus Fact: LSU’s Middleton Library was in such disrepair for about 4 years (2016 to 2019) that portions of the basement were in such disrepair that they were unusable for storage due to frequent water intrusion when it rained. I can only say through 2019 because that was the last article written about the issue, but the library has not been significantly remodeled either. Current plans are for a new library to be built by 2029.
If LSU wins, we: start to accept that this may not quite be the dream scenario. VA loss to LSU puts Vanderbilt in basically a string of 5 elimination games for the CFP. There might be a path with one more loss, but it would be a long shot. Winning out would be a long shot. The season could still certainly be a success though with 8 or 9 regular season wins still squarely on the table.
