As we sit here on Monday, it's impossible to know in the here and now just how quote/unquote good No. 11 LSU's 51-10 win over Clemson Saturday night in Tiger Stadium truly is. Beating any power conference opponent by six touchdowns is exciting, of course, but will LSU's win prove to be impressive in the coming weeks? Remember, LSU beat these very same Tigers a year ago in Clemson, and all they had to show for it was a fired head coach and a loss in the Texas Bowl.
LSU was great on Saturday night, but they weren't perfect. That said, you'd rather learn your lesson coming off of a win rather than a loss, so before anyone goes out and books their hotels in Vegas for January's national championship, let's look at some areas LSU wasn't great at last
night.
Too Many Dropped Passes
The combination of Sam Leavitt, Landen Clark, and Husan Longstreet completed 22 of 36 passes for a respectable completion rate of 61 percent. Of the 14 incompletions, four were drops, and three came at Leavitt's expense. Jackson Harris dropped one, Tre Wilson had a perfectly placed deep ball go through his hands, and Leavitt's first quarter interception came because Malik Elzy couldn't hold on to ball. That will probably be rectified with time, but catching the ball is the whole point of being a wide receiver, and if the starters can't, expect Phillip Wright to get a few more opportunities.
Timing in the Passing Game
Building off of the drops, the passing game wasn't completely in sync against Clemson. Leavitt was just 16 of 28 last night, and some of those misses can be chalked up to the still blossoming chemistry between him and his receivers. Leavitt also had a couple of balls batted down at the line of scrimmage by Clemson's defensive front. Again, it's probably not anything to worry about, and I would expect to see the timing improve as the season progresses; but LSU has to go to Oxford in two weeks and will host Texas A&M the week after that, and they'll need the offense to be firing on all cylinders to get out of September undefeated.
Field Goal Kicking
Scott Starzyk made a 49-yard field goal in the first quarter, but missed a 48-yarder in the second. The old saying in the NBA is that it's a make-or-miss league, and Saturday night against Clemson Starzyk was 1-2. You don't notice that as much in a 41-point game, but a missed kick looms a lot larger in a one-score game.
This article originally appeared on LSU Wire: Three areas where LSU football can still improve after Week 1 win
