LSU football: Stock report after Week 3
LSU didn’t mess around in its SEC opener.
It jumped on Mississippi State right away. Its defense dominated. Jayden Daniels was nearly perfect, and so was Malik Nabers.
The No. 14 Tigers played wire to wire like a team that not only deserved its current ranking, but maybe deserved that preseason No. 5 placement that seemed misplaced during the season-opening loss to Florida State.
But that was then and now it’s SEC time, and LSU looks like it’s ready to contend for a second straight West division title.
It’s just mid-September and there’s a long way to go. But as SEC openers go, this was about as good a performance as Brian Kelly could have hoped for.
Player of the Week: QB Jayden Daniels
On most Saturdays, a wide receiver catching 13 passes (tied for 5th-most in school history) for 239 yards (4th most in school history) and scoring 2 touchdowns, all of which Nabers did, would automatically warrant Player of the Week recognition.
But this wasn’t an ordinary Saturday because Daniels was extraordinary. He set a school record (minimum 25 passes) with an 88.2 completion percentage (30-of-34) for 361 yards and the 2 touchdowns to Nabers. He also rushed for 2 touchdowns, carrying 15 times for 64 yards.
He broke the Bulldogs’ spirit early and never let them believe they had a chance to get back into the game. Daniels didn’t get the entire second half off as he did in the 72-10 rout of Grambling a week earlier, but he did give way to Garrett Nussmeier early in the 4th quarter.
Freshman of the Week: LB Whit Weeks
LSU played without injured starter Omar Speights, which gave other defenders – particularly linebackers – more opportunities to make plays. Weeks took advantage. He had a team-high 8 total tackles, 2 of which were solo, and a quarterback hurry.
Running back Kaleb Jackson was in contention to gain this recognition for a 2nd consecutive week, rushing 5 times for 19 yards (with a highlight crash into a State defensive back) and catching 2 passes for 15 yards. But Weeks had a bigger impact on the game.
Biggest surprise: LSU smothered State’s passing game
Yes, it’s no longer the Air Raid offense in Starkville, and Will Rogers’ transition in first-year coordinator Kevin Barbay’s more conventional system was bumpy through the 1st 2 games.
But the Tigers’ pass defense struggled badly against Florida State and even had a tough 1st quarter against Grambling before improving. Rogers figured to have some success, but he passed for a mere 103 yards (11-for-28) and backup Mike Wright tossed a 4-yard touchdown to Antonio Harmon long after the outcome was decided.
LSU sacked Rogers 4 times and pressured him consistently. The secondary stuck to the Bulldogs receivers. All in all it was a dramatically improved pass defense.
Biggest concern: None
OK, LSU didn’t take the ball away. It was penalized 6 times (mostly because of the offensive line). Jay Bramblett’s 2 punts covered a total distance of just 77 yards. State’s Lideatrick Griffin averaged 34 yards on 3 kickoff returns, but he’s perhaps the most dangerous kick returner in the country. And Jo’Quavious Marks broke free for a 52-yard run.
So if nits must be picked, there are the candidates. But overall nothing happened in any of the 3 phases that should be of significant concern to Kelly and his staff.
Developing trend: Logan Diggs as the bell cow
The Tigers have a whole bunch of capable running backs, and they’re holding early-season auditions for primary roles during the heart of the season.
Diggs, a Notre Dame transfer, is looking more and more like the No. 1 option, even with senior John Emery Jr. making his season debut Saturday. Diggs, who had 15 carries for 115 yards and a touchdown against Grambling, led 5 running backs with 9 carries for 41 yards and caught 3 passes for 30 yards. Emery, Jackson and Noah Cain all got touches Saturday, but Diggs appears to be the most complete back.
Key stat: LSU’s time of possession was 38:39
LSU did a lot of things well on offense and defense, and this stat touches on the overall dominance better than any other.
Daniels’ efficiency, Nabers’ playmaking, the running game’s steadiness and the defense’s dominance against the run and the pass all were key factors in the Tigers’ possessing the ball for nearly two-thirds of the game. LSU didn’t have a 3-and-out until its 2nd to last possession of the game and State went 3-and-out 5 times.
First impression about Week 4 (vs. Arkansas)
It’s going to be higher scoring than the Tigers’ 13-10 win last season in Fayetteville. The Razorbacks played that game without starting quarterback KJ Jefferson (shoulder) and LSU’s defense dominated 2 backups.
Harold Perkins Jr. announced himself to the country in that game, playing with the flu and finishing with 8 tackles, 4 sacks, 2 forced fumbles (the 2nd of which sealed the victory), 1 pass break up and 1 quarterback hurry.
This game figures to feature a lot more offense as Jefferson and Daniels trade big plays.
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Arkansas is more of a challenge than Miss State, but we get them in Tiger Stadium. Should be another win. Two other games of interest: Auburn at A&M, Ole Miss at Alabama.
The think the Aggies handle Auburn fairly easily. The Ole Miss Bama game will be quite interesting.
It becoming more evident that as the Tigers begin to meet their projections and the obvious weaknesses of Alabama, TAM and others, LSU will be the team to beat in the west. The upcoming game with Ole Miss will determine who will be in the drivers seat. Of course, even being down this year, Nick Sabin is still Bama’s HC, so don’t leave them out of the equation just yet. But it’s beginning to look more and more like this is the LSU team it was expected to be.
LSU apparently has what it takes to beat any and everyone this year, but I’m just not ready to completely buy in just yet. I guess I’m still a little shocked by that 2nd half against FL St, although I do think the Noles have as good a shot at making the playoffs as anyone (and far better than any other ACC team). I’m still blaming that overall performance on a combination of coaching/rat poison more than anything, but if that team ever shows up again we’re in trouble.
The rat poison’s tasting pretty good right about now. I know it’s not going to happen in this day and age, but hopefully Kelly can keep these guys from reading too much of their own press from here on out.
Can’t wait for OM vs AL. Hotty Toddy!!
It was awesome seeing them play a complete game, no slow starts for either unit! The defense played well, that Weeks kid is worthy of the hype. Josh Williams didn’t get many carries but he was solid in the blocking game. We need convincing wins like this moving forward, other than the Ole Miss game last year our wins were all fairly close. Arkansas will play us tough but out front 7 should do well, the Hogs oline looks like a liability
Daniels played at an elite level yesterday, but he really needs to stop sacrificing his body on needless runs into heavy pressure. I’ve thought Nussmeier was probably a better QB, but with the way Daniels is playing, I’m no longer in that camp. I believe Nussmeier is an excellent option as a backup. but I’m pretty sure you’d see some drop off if Daniels were to get injured and unable to play. He needs to be more careful.
I think if you honestly compare the two, Nuss has the bigger arm. And on his best days, he’s probably the more accurate passer.
The two issues that come up are that 1) in between those “best days”, there’s a lot of free-for-alls, and 2) Daniels has the edge in pretty much every other facet.
I think Nuss will be ready next year.
But yes: he needs to be more careful. Every now and then we forget how skinny he is. Then the camera pans out and we see his tiny-ass legs!???