Why LSU's offense will be better in 2022
LSU’s offense was erratic in 2021.
There were good times and bad times; more bad than good.
There were absences due to injury and other factors that didn’t help.
But mostly the Tigers were just an average offense at best.
They averaged a mere 17 points in losses to Auburn, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Alabama and Arkansas, topping out with 21 against Kentucky and bottoming out with 13 against Arkansas even though the game went into overtime.
But LSU scored enough to upset Texas A&M (27-24) in the regular-season finale and prevailed against Florida in a shootout (49-42) in the last game before Ed Orgeron became a lame-duck head coach.
So it wasn’t all bad.
The Tigers had an explosive passing game – at times – as Kayshon Boutte led the nation in touchdown receptions before suffering a season-ending ankle injury midway through the schedule.
The passing game naturally dropped off after that, but Boutte and most of the other key pass-catchers return.
The offensive line was destabilized by a series of absences during the season and that was a major factor in the offense’s mediocrity.
New coach Brian Kelly was initially concerned that his line would be even worse than Orgeron’s last, but a series of personnel upgrades recently led Kelly to be much more optimistic about that unit.
A better line, which seems a realistic possibility, likely would lead to a better offense. A comparable or worse line would be problematic.
The Tigers are looking for more good than bad, and more consistency, which would lead to a more productive offense.
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Louisiana online sports betting is officially live in much of the state. Louisiana joined the handful of other SEC football states with legalized sports betting in January 2022.
That challenge has fallen on Kelly, a new offensive coordinator (Mike Denbrock), a new quarterback (Myles Brennan, Jayden Daniels, Garrett Nussmeier or Walker Howard), a presumably healthy Boutte and a bunch of other players taking on more prominent roles as well as a few newcomers.
So there’s a lot of change related to the Tigers’ offense in 2022.
That change should translate into improvement, but just how much improvement remains to be seen.
Passing offense: Better
A better offensive line will make it easier for whoever the quarterback is to operate comfortably from the pocket compared to what Max Johnson had to work with last season. The key is whether whoever wins the job plays well enough to keep the job and provide continuity throughout the season.
Brennan appears the favorite to start based on experience, leadership and performance, albeit in just 3 starts in 2020. Daniels’ dual-threat skills might earn him a regular role as a change-of-pace element.
Boutte figures to be the most explosive player on the offense and he also leads what appears to be the deepest position on the team.
LSU returns its top 3 pass-catchers from last season (Jack Bech, Boutte and Jaray Jenkins) as well as Malik Nabers, Brian Thomas Jr. and Chris Hilton Jr. Kyren Lacy, who arrives as a transfer from Louisiana, and true freshman Landon Ibieta could also be factors.
The Tigers completed barely 59% of their passes last season, which ranked 10th in the SEC. They’ll be more efficient and more productive this season.
Before being injured, Boutte was on pace to finish with 18 touchdown catches, which would have easily led the SEC.
The variety of receiving threats will limit how much attention defenses can devote to Boutte and the passing game could be the defining feature of the whole team.
Running game: Better
This is a little trickier than the passing game because the running backs aren’t as skilled and deep as the receivers, though it’s a group with a lot of potential.
Ty Davis-Price ran for a school-record 287 yards (and 3 touchdowns) in the victory against Florida last season, but overall the Tigers’ running game was average at best.
Davis-Price barely managed a 1,000-yard season and no one else could match Corey Kiner’s 324 yards.
Davis-Price and Kiner are gone and the top returning rusher is Josh Williams (107 yards).
The return of John Emery Jr. after being ineligible last season, the arrival of Penn State transfer Noah Cain and the presence of veterans Armoni Goodwin, Tre Bradford and Williams provide a variety of options.
If any running back separates himself from the pack, that would be a pleasant surprise. More likely the Tigers will take more of a committee approach than last season and surpass what Davis-Price was able to do almost single-handedly last season.
LSU had the 2nd-worst rushing offense in the SEC, averaging 114.0 yards per game and 3.3 yards per rush. The Tigers’ 9 rushing touchdowns tied for 12th.
The bar for improvement in the running game is set pretty low and LSU will clear it fairly easily.
Kicking game: Worse
Cade York made 15-of-18 field goals last season, then departed for the NFL.
He provided the Tigers with dependability and excellent range, which will be difficult to replace.
LSU has a highly-regarded freshman in Nathan Dibert, the No. 6 kicker in the 2022 recruiting class, poised to take York’s place.
Dibert has the potential to match York’s accuracy and range, but expecting that in his first season might be expecting too much too soon.
The Tigers’ return game has plenty of room for improvement though. Last season, LSU’s longest punt return was 24 yards and its longest kickoff return was 28 yards.
The Tigers have plenty of candidates to replace Trey Palmer as the primary return specialist. It will be up to Kelly and new special teams coordinator Brian Polian to identify the best options and create better return opportunities than the Tigers enjoyed last season.
Overall: Better
LSU will be more consistent on offense in 2022 than it was in 2021. The Tigers mostly will be very good on offense and even in the games in which they’re not as good, they still will be better than they were in their not-as-good games last season.
The Tigers averaged just 26.5 points per game last season, which was 3rd-worst in the SEC.
They’ll score much more than that this season.
I believe the offense will be much improved over last season.
9-3, even 10-2 is an achievable record this season.
LSU has some talent. It will be interesting to see what the new coach can put together. Anyone who overlooks LSU is in my opinion making a serious error.
I love Ed Orgeron. My dream is he becomes a color commentator. But you have to think there’s probably a massive coaching upgrade this season as well.
Woodward should bring Coach O back in something like an ambassador role.
That’s just me talking. Highly doubt they do something like that.
You can’t be serious.
Coach zeeerO a color commentator? They would have to have a live translator or close caption it. Lol.
Brad Nessler: I have no idea how Stetson Bennett was able to escape that defender to throw an 18-yard first down pass.
Ed Orgeron: *garbled Cajun gibberish* aw Bobby Boucher. Geaux Tigers.
Brad Nessler: That’s right, Ed.
If the OLine is really better, then the offense will be better. The skill position talent is there.
CBK doesn’t seem as concerned with it as he did when he first got here. That tells me he is much more confident about that position as far as the starters. The key is having quality backups.
I just thought of something. Next year will mark LSU’s 20 year mark for the 2003 BCS title.
Wonder if Saban partakes, depending on the time or weekend?
Maybe the 25 year mark, if he’s retired.
I’ve ragged on Notre Dame plenty, but that was always from the perspective of media hype and them continually faceplanting on large stages. However, I believe CBK is a good coach and I think he’ll have LSU ready to compete sooner rather than later. It was noteworthy that a number of coaches seemed to not be interested in joining his staff, but I still think he’ll do a good job with the talent LSU has access to and putting them in positions to succeed. I always chalked up ND’s faceplanting to them being overrated by the powers that be and stacked up against clearly superior opponents, more than an overall failing on CBK’s part.
It is going to be fun to watch. I think a lot of SEC fans are extraordinarily interested in whether Kelly can compete in the SEC. That is not a slight, and I wish Tiger fans the best. But Kelly’s experience at LSU and the SEC is going to be very different than his experience at ND.
I think you’re looking at it from the wrong angle. Les Miles brought a 28-21 record from Oklahoma State to LSU and won a national title at LSU. Ed Orgeron brought a 16-27 record from Ole Miss and USC to LSU and won a national title at LSU. Brian Kelly brings a 263-96 record to LSU. Who is the best coach of the three?
You might be right. I just recruiting for ND is a specialized thing that doesn’t necessarily transfer to regular college recruiting. Then throw into that the hyper competitiveness of SEC schools recruiting against each other. He is going to have to prove his chops as a recruiter. Not saying he cant do it. Just saying it is unknown.
i’ll admit, in presenting those two examples, common sense suggests that kelly will be ultra successful in br. however, what’s the barometer of ‘success?’ i would think an avg reg season w/l record of 10-2 would be regarded as successful…which it should. however, let’s say there’s a couple 11-1 or even a 12-0 reg season record thrown in the mix of a 10-yr run by kelly, but no title. would you still consider kelly to have had a successful time in br?
i’d guess that most lsu fans would probably say ‘no,’ as they’ve experienced some nice, recent success in getting titles. however, titles are extremely tough to get….save bama over the last 15 yrs. a lot of breaks had to happen in ’03 and ’07 in lsu getting those two titles (more so in ’07). those were really good lsu teams, but they needed some breaks.
You could say that Les Miles’s experience at LSU and the SEC was going to be very different than his experience at OSU. You could say something similar about Orgeron and USC. The point is their W-L records improved dramatically at LSU.
bayou tiger, “The point is their W-L records improved dramatically at LSU.” How were Ole Miss, MSU, Arkansas and Texas A&M as a football team back then? Were they ranked and highly competitive? Then You look at Nick Saban and he is not folding any time soon. Then UGA finally won it all. You are forgetting how much improvement the other SEC teams are now than back the days that only two or three SEC teams were top 10 teams.
@TrueLefty…2007, the year Miles won his natty, was a record-breaking year for the SEC in bowl games. Nine teams went bowling and posted a 7-2 record. The SEC was very competitive in those days. Arkansas had won the West in 2006, Florida had won the natty in 2006. MSU was 8-5 in 2007. Arkansas was 8-4 in 2007. True, Ole Miss wasn’t any good. A&M wasn’t in the conference. Do I need to tell you about 2019?
true. 2007 was a very strong year in the sec. one could even argue that uga was the best team at the end of the season…as opposed to the team that actually won the title.
@PTheRicker…Yeah, we heard that a lot in 2007 from Georgia fans. We’ll never know.
@bayou Dont forget how Arkansas had Darren McFadden in the 2005, 2006, and 2007 seasons. He was one of the greatest college RB’s of my lifetime.
I agree with this take. I didnt take much stock in his staff not wanting to join him down here though. Like most supporting staff, theyre not looking to make a lateral move professionally, moving across the country to rebuild a program when their current employer is giving them a promotion. Can you really blame them?
I believe ND will be much better without Kelly as the HC there. It is that Kelly was holding ND back.
Doubtful, but you never know. You need to worry about your middle of the SEC East or lower Missouri team
agree. a lot of variables involved…
As far as I recall, the staff that Kelly invited all got promotions. House is almost certainly an upgrade over Freeman as DC, although not as a recruiter. Denbrock is at worst an equal to Tommy at OC. I’m pretty happy with the quality of Kelly’s staff and how well he indentifies coaching talent, which was Orgeron’s biggest downfall.
It has now been 4,907 days since the University of Florida last won a championship in football
How long was it between 1980 and 2021 for UGAs?
Not relevant. It’s been like 180ish days.
Kirk, it’s not irrelevant because of the fact that you chose to go back to the last FL natty, 2008. Why do you say someone else can refer to the length of years it took UGA to hoist a trophy? (For the record it’s been 13 years for the Gators while it took your Bullpuppies a, heck, everyone knows how long it took.
Geeze kirkm… would you please stop with that? I mean, seriously.
Naa
Kirk can’t help himself. He is all giddy and giggling over Georgias NC. As he should be. Congratulations Kirk. Giggle away. You deserve it.
Does Kirk have his own bedroom upstairs or is he “living on his own” in the mother-in-law suite in the basement?
I see Emery being LSU’s next great back. There’s a reason TDP and Kiner left
TDP3 left because his stock wasn’t going to get any better in 29
Better in 2022. Kiner saw an opportunity to be the starter at Cincy.
It seems to me that the WRs and the RBs are pretty loaded. Offensive output will depend mostly on the offensive line and improved QB play. There has been so much change on so many SEC teams this year…. I think successful wagering will depend more on luck than analysis.
Two star offensive linemen transfers turn into road graders and the Kelly magic shocks the SEC and goes 12-0. SEC coaches are dumbfounded.