Opening loss exposes depth of Ed Orgeron's latest challenge at LSU
Ed Orgeron took the blame for LSU’s poor performance in a 44-34 season-opening loss to Mississippi State.
The Tigers appeared to be less well-prepared than their opponent, and at times they were terrible on both offense and defense.
The head coach should be the one held most accountable for a performance such as that. And the head coach will be the one most accountable for how the team recovers from that opening performance and performs in its next test.
“It’s my job to fix it,” Orgeron said Monday. “I guarantee you this week we’re going to fix it.”
LSU returns to Nashville to face Vanderbilt on Saturday night. Last season the Tigers paid the Commodores a visit and rolled to a 66-38 victory, but we saw last week that this season is much different than last season for LSU.
And Vanderbilt played well in its opener, hanging with No. 10 Texas A&M on the road before losing, 17-12.
The starting lineup that LSU used against Mississippi State featured as many players who were playing for FCS programs a year ago (3) as were in the starting lineup for the CFP championship victory against Clemson in January.
There was going to be a transition period. There were going to be growing pains. There were going to be bumps in the road. There were going to be even more clichés to describe how the 2020 team wasn’t going to be the 2019 team.
But it didn’t figure to be this bad – KJ Costello passing for more yards than any quarterback on any SEC team in any game ever had (623).
The Tigers didn’t just lose talent, they lost leadership, they lost confidence when 14 players went to the NFL, 3 others chose to skip this season then the biggest stud to stick around – cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. – was unexpectedly taken away less than 24 hours before the opener because of an acute illness.
LSU couldn’t run the football effectively with any consistency. That made things even harder of Myles Brennan in his first start at quarterback. The Tigers couldn’t defend or tackle the Bulldogs receivers effectively with any consistency.
Those two things did as much damage to the Tigers’ psyche as it did to their side of the stat sheet.
It’s up to Orgeron and his staff to help the players regain their confidence and a positive frame of mind as a foundation for fixing all the football shortcomings.
Orgeron has faced a variety of challenges since becoming the head coach at LSU and those challenges have often had a lot to do with the mental side of the game as the physical.
His first challenge was to salvage the 2016 season after the team’s performance during a 2-2 start led to the firing of Les Miles, one of the most successful coaches in the history of the SEC.
The Tigers pulled together and Orgeron directed a 6-2 finish.
In 2017 Orgeron had to prove he could handle the program and not just one team when LSU finally settled on him as Miles’ permanent replacement after vainly pursuing bigger names. That season didn’t start so great – a 37-7 loss at Mississippi State in the SEC opener and a home loss to Troy were part of a 3-2 start.
But the Tigers weathered that storm and wound up 9-4 with a bowl victory.
In 2018 LSU was a clear-cut Top 10 team and contending for the SEC West title before being manhandled by Alabama 29-0 for an 8th consecutive loss to the Crimson Tide.
The Tigers were getting better, but the question was whether the stagnant gap between LSU and Alabama was evidence that the ceiling on Orgeron’s program was unacceptably low.
Then came last season – a championship season, a perfect season, a validating season.
Orgeron showed conclusively that he could handle the job, that he could take the program to the loftiest height attainable.
But that was so pre-COVID-19.
So much has changed since Orgeron and the Tigers hoisted the crystal football back in January.
Then Mike Leach and Costello came into a mostly empty Tiger Stadium and exposed exactly what it looks like when so many really good players are removed from a team – even a team for the ages.
So Orgeron and the rest of us now have a clearer vision of precisely what the challenge is with this new team.
The Curse of Orgeron is long and strong and it permeates all.
I wish this website had a block button. I hate to feed trolls but this “Curse of Orgeron”nonsense is becoming quite monotonous and annoying. I realize you are trying to be annoying but its to the point where you sound like a really bad stand up comic who only knows one joke. The first time was funny. The second time got some smiles but after about the third to hundredth time, people just stopped responding or showing up to show.
By all means, keep trolling LSU, but please please please come up with some new material.
From your loving (and almost) admirer, BillCosbyAndFriends
The Curse of Orgeron manifests itself in a myriad of ways.
Don’t get your hopes up. When he’s bubbatime, all he can say is that Saban is going bald. You’d think if all you had to do all day was eat hot pockets and watch Pokémon in your mom’s basement, you’d find the time to come up with new material but apparently that’s too much of a stretch.
He’s JoeJort as well and spreads his Eeyore-esque cynicism around the SEC. I’d certainly be in favor of a block or moderation.
Did bayou buford’s momma have something with Orgeron? If there is a “curse of Orgeron”, it’s that we have to put up with BB’s nitwit COO comment on every article!
I believe in the curse…
It’s going to be a tough climb to get back up from all the player-losses and coaching losses…it’ll take time. Gotta get hungry again.
It’s not what I hoped but it’s about the outcome I thought would happen. We have a new PGC and DC who had to start the offseason at a new program doing zoom calls with a team mostly full of grad transfers and 18/19 year olds trying to get them caught up. No camp, limited practice, tons of players were out periodically with COVID, and it showed. Having our best player on the team out didnt help either.Just notice who had good games, they were all players with game-time experience: Jabril Cox, Jacoby Stevens, Terrance Marshall Jr., Damone Clark, Ali Gaye, and our special teams. Arik Gilbert and Eli Ricks both had good games but cant carry the team.
The State game outcome is why everyone begins the season with a cupcake game. That couldn’t happen this year and it shows.
But everyone doesn’t always start the season with a cupcake game. LSU was just beat by the better team on Saturday.
The game was closer than the final score indicates, which is saying a lot for a team as green as this LSU team. If there’s ever been a year to rebuild, it’s this crazy one. Looking forward to the Egg Bowl this year.
I think one thing we all have to remember is that this is such a totally different season. There will be more upsets like these especially at the first of the season. No team had spring practice, limited summer workouts and most found out last minute they were having a season so they were scrambling to put together a cohesive team. I don’t think this game against Miss State was saying anything about lack of talent at LSU, we all know differently that LSU is loaded.
But it does show what little time and lack of practices can do to a less experienced team or a newer team. LSU is still a formidable team don’t take them lightly. They will handle Vandy well, probably like 35-14, not last years destruction but good enough to prove LSU isn’t a bad team.
Best comment I’ve seen since Saturday. Hopefully this week against Vandy they look a little more in sync on offense and the defense steps up with Stingley back.
I want some of what he is smoking!
This year is over for LSU… time to pull a chase and sit this one out LSU fans.
Vandy 28 LSU 21
You quitter. Chase had a good reason, you’re just a sore loser. I hope you pull a Chase and move on from commenting here for a year or two.
I think you’re right. What a whacked season to try to orient all these freshmen and sophomores with only three starters.
I get what you are saying but that argument doesn’t hold water in this case if you consider a team with a brand new coach, brand new QB, brand new offense, brand new philosophy went on the road and executed pretty flawlessly.
So if Miss State can play that well without spring practice, limited summer workouts, and all new pieces, then why can’t LSU, a team that’s far more talented?
Far more talented? Hilarious. I wouldnt use the word talented to describe these kittens. It will be many many moons before LSU is good again. Bring back Les!
Depth was a big problem. Once Stingley was out the dominoes began to fall. Flott moved from corner to slot where he hadn’t practiced. Ward wasn’t even going to dress out due to injury but dressed out and played when he found out that Stingley couldn’t play. Evans a recent transfer from McNeese had to come in when Flott was injured and immediately got burned for a td. Having Cary Vincent opt out has hurt the cb depth. The young guys haven’t had much time to get acclimated yet.