LSU is headed into the bye week on a sour note. After winning six in a row, the Tigers dropped one by a score of 38-23 at Texas A&M. LSU was in control in the first half, but a failure to put Texas A&M away allowed the Aggies to get back in it.
Once A&M was back in it, it took control. Marcel Reed and the A&M backfield ran all over LSU in the second half and the Aggies finished the game on a 31-6 run.
After the game, linebacker Greg Penn III said LSU wasn’t prepared for Reed entering the game. Texas A&M completed eight passes all night, but it didn’t matter. A&M ran it 46 times for 245 yards and five touchdowns.
On the offensive side of the ball, LSU struggled to get its own run game moving. LSU ran it 22 times for 25 yards — one of the worst rushing performances in program history.
That sits atop the list of needed fixes as LSU enters the bye week. Let’s jump right in and take a look.
LSU needs a run game
We’ve talked about it all year, but LSU needs a run game. It was an issue in the opening loss to USC, outside of a few bursts from John Emery Jr. More red flags were raised when LSU failed to get a consistent push vs. FCS Nicholls.
Then true freshman Caden Durham began to inject life into LSU’s ground game. Durham ran it 11 times for 98 yards in the win over South Carolina. A few weeks later vs. South Alabama, he toted it seven times for 128 yards. He crossed the 100 mark again at Arkansas.
But on Saturday, Durham was quiet. He caught four passes for 56 yards, but he was a nonfactor on the ground. Josh Williams didn’t add much either, running it seven times for 23 yards.
Both Durham and Williams had a decent run on LSU’s second drive, but apart from that, LSU had nothing.
LSU is a team with two first-round picks at tackle and two veterans at guard. The Tigers have a deep tight end room and a group of talented running backs. With Nussmeier’s arm, defenses can’t load the box either. All of that should lead to LSU being able to run the football, but for whatever reason, LSU can’t find any consistency.
Brian Kelly said LSU has spent a lot of time on the run game. Earlier in the year, right tackle Emery Jones Jr. joked Brad Davis wasn’t leaving his office. LSU is aware of the problem and knows it needs to be fixed. We’ll see if the bye week comes with any new ideas before LSU faces a strong Alabama front.
Allow Garrett Nussmeier to settle in
When Garrett Nussmeier is on, he’s among the best quarterbacks in the country. But when he’s off, he’s a turnover waiting to happen. In each of LSU’s last two games, we’ve seen two drastic sides of Nussmeier.
Nussmeier struggled to settle in vs. Ole Miss, throwing picks and missing throws deep. He eventually figured it out and led LSU to victory, but it was a rocky road to get there.
On Saturday, we saw the good version of Nussmeier early. He played one of the best halves of his career in the first two quarters, but what came next was a complete unraveling.
LSU OC Joe Sloan has to keep Nussmeier comfortable throughout the game. Part of it could have to do with LSU’s inability to run the ball. Nussmeier feels like he has to do it all himself and puts the ball in dangerous spots.
But LSU needs to get ahead of the problem. When it starts to look shaky, find some quick throws to get the QB in rhythm. Nussmeier now leads the SEC with nine picks on the year — that’s not a sustainable way for this team win football games.
Become more athletic at defensive tackle
It might be unfair to expect LSU to fix this midseason, but the Tigers have some of the necessary tools.
LSU’s defensive tackle group is well coached and overperforming expectations, especially with the loss of Jacobian Guillory. Gio Paez and Paris Shand get the bulk of the work and play sound football, but LSU misses quick twitch athleticism up the middle.
There are guys on the roster that have it, such as Jay’Viar Suggs. We’ve seen Suggs playing time increase in recent weeks. He got 21 snaps in the loss to A&M, totaling three pressures and a sack. Suggs has 10 pressures and seven stops on just 108 snaps this year. That’s the playmaking ability LSU needs at that spot.
There were times when LSU defensive tackles were in the right spot but just didn’t make a play.
Suggs, along with true freshman Dominick McKinley, could help solve that issue.
Be more explosive on offense
LSU’s explosive passing rate is fine. The Tigers rank top 25 nationally in 15-yard passing rate and top 50 in 20-yard passing rate. But if LSU is going to struggle to run the ball, LSU needs to be elite at finding chunk yardage plays.
LSU doesn’t have the ability to march down the field getting five or six yards at a time right now. The only way LSU can score consistently is Nussmeier finding receivers down the field.
When A&M took the explosive passing element away, LSU had nothing.
LSU must figure out how to maintain the big plays throughout the game.
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This article originally appeared on LSU Wire: 4 things LSU needs to fix if it wants to be a playoff team
