3 plays personified the sad ending of the Garrett Nussmeier era at LSU
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By the end, it was inevitable.
Garrett Nussmeier’s benching in favor of Mississippi State transfer Michael Van Buren Jr. was something that LSU fans had plenty of time to brace for, especially after Brian Kelly‘s firing, though it’s still baffling how quickly things changed for LSU quarterback over the last 2 months. After the Clemson win, he was the Heisman Trophy favorite for a legitimate national contender. Never mind the fact that he had NFL folks salivating at his ability to make next-level throws. Everything was ahead of Nussmeier.
During LSU’s 3rd consecutive loss on Saturday night at Alabama, 3 plays showed exactly why there’s nothing ahead for Nussmeier at LSU.
Down 2 touchdowns but with the ball to start the second half, Nussmeier put LSU in position to potentially make it a 1-score game. He even bounced back after getting his helmet ripped off on a rare scramble. But on 3rd-and-goal from the Alabama 8-yard line, Nussmeier did the thing that made Kelly turn shades of red that were deeper than the sea of Crimson that he saw at Bryant-Denny Stadium. He didn’t see the play clock winding down and he took a delay of game penalty.
Bad? Sure, but trying doing that on the very next play.
Nussmeier again didn’t show urgency getting out of the huddle. Blame that on the first game with a new play caller if you will, but it’s still up to the quarterback to get to the line and not have the same exact pre-snap infraction happen, much less on a goal-to-go situation in a 17-3 game. This time, though, interim coach Frank Wilson called a timeout to bail out Nussmeier.
Bad? Sure, but try spinning into a 3-man pass rush 14 yards behind the line of scrimmage on the very next play.
Or don’t. Take it from Nussmeier, who had plenty of 3-man pass rushes get home with LSU’s lack of a ground game, but perhaps none as embarrassing as that one. After that stalled LSU’s drive, he was shown on ABC cameras getting an earful from Wilson, who then did the thing that Kelly couldn’t — he pulled the plug on Nussmeier.
It was an afterthought that LSU made the kick to make it an 11-point game with 8:54 left in the 3rd quarter. Shoot, the LSU defense didn’t allow a second-half touchdown and continued its mostly impressive season, even without captain Whit Weeks. LSU’s offense, which still hasn’t scored more than 25 points vs. an FBS opponent all year, had plenty of help from Blake Baker’s defense again on Saturday night.
As LSU’s defense prevented the College Football Playoff-bound Tide — don’t tell convince yourself under any circumstances that Alabama is missing the Playoff — from putting the game away, Nussmeier might’ve had as much on-screen face time as Van Buren (it didn’t help matters that Nussmeier’s beard seemingly blended in with his eyeblack). It was a tough sight to see for those who expected big things from Nussmeier in 2025.
The NFL Draft folks will be left to determine how much of Nussmeier’s 2025 regression was related to his multiple injuries, how much of it was related to poor offensive line play, how much of it was related to poor play-calling and how much of it was related to him not seeing the field the way you’d hope a 5th-year, son-of-a-coach quarterback should’ve.
There’s no denying that even the biggest Nussmeier apologist can’t defend what he was in 2025
Before that 3-play sequence happened, LSU great Booger McFarland gave a blunt, but fair, breakdown during the ABC halftime show. Essentially, it was “Ty Simpson makes plays like an NFL quarterback and Nussmeier doesn’t.” Greg McElroy pointed out on the broadcast the timing issues with Nussmeier and why, banged up receivers or not, he was missing throws that have to be made.
The 3-man rush sack was what took the cake, though.
Is LSU’s offensive line what it was last year with Will Campbell and Emery Jones Jr.? Certainly not. Is it also a 5th-year, son-of-a-coach quarterback’s responsibility to not spin directly into a 3-man pass rush and turn 1st-and-goal into a long field goal attempt? Certainly, it is. Even an interim coach could see that.
As Sean McDonough said on the broadcast, getting chewed out was hardly new for Nussmeier, but having it lead to a benching was certainly a first for him at LSU.
Three years ago, he was the redshirt freshman who threw the ball without fear in relief of an injured Jayden Daniels the second half against eventual-national champion Georgia in the SEC Championship Game. Three years later, he was unrecognizable against the Alabama team who’ll likely play for a conference title. It’s too bad. It’s too bad for someone who stayed not only when Kelly got on board, but stayed after Daniels came in and won the starting job. His return for 2025 fueled preseason national title buzz thanks to some urgent transfer portal spending. Nussmeier did the things that college football purists would salute.
But likely the final meaningful snaps of his college career were anything but commendable. They were casual. They were sloppy. They were disastrous.
Outside of Week 1, it’ll be difficult to find the positive in Nussmeier’s 2025 season. He’ll end with a quarterback rating outside the top 10 in the SEC, and along with fellow preseason darling-turned-benched-quarterback DJ Lagway, Nussmeier will be tied for 14th in the SEC with just 7 completions of 30 yards. Mind you, he had 23 last year.
Nothing about Nussmeier’s 2025 season felt like a progression. It instead felt like a painful reminder that these days, the life of a decorated preseason quarterback often fails to meet expectations. Blame it on NIL if you choose, or just blame it on the reality that not everyone is capable of handling the weight of expectations.
Nussmeier fell short of that. His college career will end without any of that aforementioned hardware. That was his reality well before Wilson benched him on Saturday night.
It just took that inevitable 3-play sequence to reach Nussmeier’s anticlimactic LSU ending.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.
