I have no idea what this LSU offense is, but the defense is championship-level good
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If you had told anybody entering the year that LSU would fail to hit 24 points in its first 3 games, you would’ve assumed that Garrett Nussmeier suffered a torn ACL like the internet speculated he did in August, or that he was struck by lightning. At the very least, there was no way that LSU would fail to score 24 points and enter Week 4 without a loss. Surely, that caught up to the team whose 2020s defense looked like a shell of its former 21st-century self.
Well, welcome to the new LSU. Or rather, welcome back to the old LSU?
Who knows? Who cares?
The version of LSU that took the field on Saturday night to kick off SEC play was tasked with fending off a back-against-the-wall Florida team a year removed from getting beat in The Swamp. The 2025 version of LSU did just that by picking off DJ Lagway a whopping 5 times en route to a disjointed 20-10 victory.
Go figure that the LSU defense accounted for as many touchdowns (1) as the LSU offense. It was such a lopsided showing between LSU’s 2 units that in the postgame interview on ABC, Brian Kelly was asked about what he needs to do to get his offense up to speed with the defense.
“Well, maybe sometimes you don’t, right?” Kelly said. “Maybe sometimes you play your game the way you need it to. We punted 3 or 4 times when I’m used to going for those … all that other stuff is just fluff. At the end of the day, how do you win football games?”
He’s right. The winning plan was making a young quarterback overwhelmed. That’s why you pay a defensive coordinator like Blake Baker $2.5 million, who had Lagway so flustered that by the end of the game, he threw a ball across his body to nobody, yet it still landed in the hands of 5-star LSU freshman DJ Pickett.
It was that kind of night for the Florida passing game.
To be fair, Nussmeier wasn’t exactly in peak form, either. His last throw of the night was a dreadful interception, wherein he casually drifted back and threw across his body to the middle of the field. It was the type of throw that you would’ve expected from 2022 Nussmeier, not 2025 Nussmeier, AKA the preseason Heisman Trophy favorite. Credit the Florida defense for putting Nussmeier in those spots. Granted, 1 interception wasn’t 5.
It’s not just Nussmeier. Preseason All-SEC running back Caden Durham and the LSU ground attack couldn’t muster much of anything until he busted loose for a 51-yard run just inside the 2-minute timeout. Without that run, LSU would’ve finished with 45 rushing yards.
Should it matter that LSU only had 10 first downs and just 13 points on a night in which it had such a decisive turnover advantage? It depends. It depends if LSU has serious offensive warts, or if it’s just finding its identity with so many new pieces around Nussmeier. But as Kelly said, the goal clearly became to play field position and trust that the defense could do the heavy lifting against Lagway. There was a similar feeling 2 weeks ago against Clemson.
At the time, nobody would’ve sounded off alarms for that offensive performance. After all, the goal was to turn that place into Death Valley Jr. and start 1-0 for the first time since 2019. LSU would’ve taken a 2-0 win that night if it meant getting to 1-0.
But through 3 games, let’s call it what it is. One unit is doing the heavy lifting and the other is being lifted. It’s a familiar way of life in Baton Rouge. You’d just have to go back to the Les Miles era to feel these types of flashbacks.
There’s perhaps a better question worth asking — when’s the last time that LSU had a defense this good?
It’s not just the 5 interceptions or the 1 offensive touchdown allowed per game so far. On Saturday night, Whit Weeks got tossed for targeting on the first drive, and his brother West Weeks, suffered a calf strain halfway through it and couldn’t return. As great as the Weeks brothers are, the Tigers didn’t look like a group that was missing 2 starting linebackers. It instead looked like a group that salivated every time that Lagway dropped back to pass.
Year 2 of the Baker defense has exceeded even the loftiest of expectations. Could it be the best LSU defense since 2011? That would be surpassing 2014 and 2016 units that both finished in the top 5 in scoring, but neither of those teams competed for a national title. This one, if it can maximize the potential of a decorated passing attack, might just do that. LSU has a long way to go to in order to warrant that type of consideration.
But just in case you were wondering, it’s been a decade since a team won a national title without a top-20 scoring offense. LSU fans should know exactly who that team was. It was 2015 Alabama, who wasn’t an offensive juggernaut historically, but it still had Heisman Trophy winner Derrick Henry, who fueled an offense that averaged 35 points per game.
For now, LSU isn’t worried about the historical hurdles. It’s worried about winning games by any means necessary. Right now, that’s happening with a unit that looks like it’s playing with 13 guys on the field. Don’t bank on that changing anytime soon.
There’s plenty of fluff left for the taking.
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.
