When a team loses a one-possession game, there will be a lot of good, a lot of bad, and a lot of ugly to choose from. And while losing to Ole Miss may make it seem like LSU is very far off from competing for the playoffs, the game was a play or two away from being in LSU’s favor.
The Good
This team competed. They never quit. The fight that this team showed, especially after getting down 17-0 and battling all the way back, was absolutely incredible. In that environment, on the road, with all of the emotions
in the game, LSU could have easily given up and just folded like laundry. It was very encouraging to see this team fight and overcome the deficiencies it showed to make the game competitive and have it come down to a fourth-down throw inside the 10-yard line.
Another good was Dilin Jones. Jones finished the game with 106 yards rushing and a TD on 23 carries, averaging 4.6 yards per carry. This was in a game where the offense just felt like it was stuck in mud. Fifty-seven of the 106 yards Jones had also came after first contact. The offensive line was nonexistent—more on this later—so the fact that Jones was able to break tackles, get yards, and keep the offense moving was fantastic.
Sam Leavitt’s playmaking ability. Yes, Leavitt is under fire for his play from Saturday night, and deservedly so. But if the criticism will fly for the plays he missed, then compliment him for the plays he made. There were plays out there in the second half that he made that only he would be able to make. The play on the first TD drive where he scrambled from one side of the field to the other. The touchdown pass to Winnie Watkins was an absolute dime, placed on the backside away from the defender. And on a fourth-down conversion on fourth-and-4, he scrambled through broken protection, ensured he didn’t take a sack, and fought to get the yardage for the first down to keep not just the drive alive, but the hopes of winning the game alive.
The last good is that Trey’Dez Green’s season is not over. Green was on track to have another impactful game. He finished with four receptions and 60 yards before leaving the game in the fourth quarter with what looked like a potentially catastrophic knee injury. His mother reported on Facebook that there was no major knee ligament damage, just sprains and bruising. So, while the offense will definitely take a hit without No. 7 being present for a little while, at least that will not be the final time he puts on the purple and gold for the Tigers.
Green was having another great performance in Oxford as well. His improvement with run blocking has really helped showcase his versatility and open up diversity within the offense. This offense will not be able to replace a playmaker like Green, so it will be good when he can return to the field.
The Bad
The offensive and defensive game plans to start this game were very questionable, especially on the defensive side of the ball. The offense I can understand because the first play of the game was drawn to produce a big-time play, but Leavitt came off of his reads too early—more on that later—and that made the play calling look questionable.
But the fact that it was nearly two drives in before the offense actually began to run the ball is worth questioning. This offense has a consistent running game for the first time in over five years, and it’s ironic that LSU fans and analysts alike are now asking for the team to run the ball when, during the Les Miles era, that was the one facet of the game that was done too much.
Lane Kiffin wants his offense to be run-first, but the fact that it feels like they are trying to do the opposite right now is surprising. This team needs to have a more run-oriented attack based on the consistency they are having with Jones and the inconsistency they are having with the offensive line and QB play.
Defensively, this game plan in the first half was abysmal. The defense came out in soft, off-ball coverage that made the reads for the best QB in college football easy to see before the ball was snapped. This allowed Trinidad Chambliss and the Ole Miss offense to get into a rhythm and attack the defense through the air, and before you realized it, the scoreboard was 17-0.
The second half was a completely different story. The defense attacked the line of scrimmage, confused the protection schemes of Ole Miss, shut down the run game, and only surrendered eight points in the second half after giving up 24 in the first. LSU cannot allow itself to start that way defensively going forward.
The Ugly
The offensive issues start at the line of scrimmage. The LSU offensive line has been having issues since Clemson, especially with interior pass protection. The issues on Saturday were amplified as the offense was not smooth. Sam Leavitt was pressured 16 times throughout the game. A lot of the pressure was coming through the interior. Interior pressure is the worst for any QB because they cannot step up or step into throws, making the passing game less effective.
Bo Bordelon had a PFF pass-protection grade of 12.6. This is one of the lowest grades for an individual category for an LSU player in the history of PFF. Will Echols can produce a highlight tape from the LSU game alone and would be a highly evaluated draft prospect. Jordan Seaton whiffed on some blocks, Alou Bah was beaten a few times, and Weston Davis whiffed and was stuffed at the point of attack without a lot of forward movement.
The bad offensive line play affected the running game, and when Stacy Gauge came into the game, his vision was not as good as Dilin Jones’, making the rushing opportunities he received negligible. Jones himself had to display special running ability and vision to make it through a lot of traffic created by limited push.
Another ugly was Sam Leavitt and his mechanics. Leavitt was rushed the entire night—not to be confused with a pass rush; he was rushing himself. Part of this comes from a lack of trust in the protection up front. He would move off of receivers’ routes a second too early before they would be open. His footwork was frantic a lot of times, causing passes to either fall short or sail. He would escape clean pockets and bail on throwing opportunities, missing wide-open receivers even while on the run.
The offense has explosive opportunities built in, but if the offensive line does not clean up the blocking issues and Lane Kiffin does not get Sam Leavitt to improve his mechanics, this offense will be an issue the team will have to overcome.
This game could have been won by LSU, and they really could have dominated had the offensive execution been where the coaching staff believed the team was able to operate. Defensively, if they would have taken the approach they had in the second half for the entire game, the result could have been in LSU’s favor as well.
Now the focus shifts toward Texas A&M, which is also coming off of a loss and has a QB who was a Heisman hopeful at the start of the season who is also struggling.
What are your thoughts on the current state of this LSU team, and how do you think this loss affects the overall season?
