STARKVILLE, Miss. — After giving up almost 300 yards and 23 points in the first half of Saturday’s game against Mississippi State, No. 10 LSU looked to be in for another wild shootout.
Then the Tiger defense hopped in a time machine and turned the clock back a couple years to a time when even the best offenses struggled to score against it.
By forcing two turnovers and holding the Bulldogs (2-3, 0-2 Southeastern Conference) to a field goal the rest of the game, the LSU (5-1, 2-1 SEC) defense allowed senior quarterback Zach Mettenberger and the explosive Tiger offense to turn what was a competitive game into a 59-26 beating.
LSU junior defensive tackle Anthony Johnson said schematic adjustments from defensive coordinator John Chavis along with some words from locker room leaders set the unit up for success in the second half.
“Me, Ego Ferguson and Lamin Barrow took charge of this defense at halftime and said, ‘They won’t score no more,’” Johnson said. “We came out and they only scored three points the rest of the game. We just had to keep fighting.”
Much like in previous weeks, LSU’s young secondary struggled to prevent Mississippi State from ripping off big plays through the air early.
LSU sophomore safety Corey Thompson looked helpless trying to cover junior Jameon Lewis on a 20-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Tyler Russell in the second quarter. On the Bulldogs’ next possession, LSU freshman cornerback Tre’Davious White was burned for a 59-yard strike that gave the Bulldogs a 23-21 lead.
White made up for his error in the fourth quarter when he intercepted an errant pass from sophomore quarterback Dak Prescott and returned it to the Bulldog 5-yard line, setting up an easy touchdown that extended LSU’s lead to 45-26 and sucked the last hopes for an upset out of Davis Wade Stadium.
Coupled with a late fumble recovery by sophomore linebacker Lamar Louis, the Tigers pushed their turnover total to nine for the season. Even after that effort, the LSU defense is on pace for its lowest forced turnover total since 2009.
Johnson said it is important for the young players on defense to stay loose when they are called on, no matter what they are being asked to do.
“Honestly, [the younger defensive players] just need to get the heebie-jeebies off their backs and loosen up a little bit,” Johnson said.
The Tigers also struggled with the most fundamental aspect of defense: tackling. In the first half, Mississippi State averaged more than eight yards per carry on the ground as Prescott and senior running back LaDarious Perkins rarely went down at first contact.
LSU sophomore linebacker Kwon Alexander said the missed tackles were the single biggest cause of the Tigers’ struggles in the first half.
“If we would’ve tackled more, it would’ve been a big game for us,” Alexander said. “When everybody comes to the ball, we are trying to wrap up, but people keep hitting him, so he’ll keep bouncing out. It’s something we need to fix, and we’ll fix it.”
Despite having the luxury of the third-highest-scoring offense in the SEC playing behind them, the Tigers want to maintain the high defensive standard set in previous years.
“You don’t want to make any mistakes, because that isn’t what the best defense in the country does,” Thompson said. “That’s what we want to be, so we don’t want to be giving up anything.”
Don’t Call It a Comeback: LSU’s second-half defense makes a stand against Mississippi State
By Cole Travis
October 6, 2013