LSU’s passing game is outshining the rushing game through the first three games of the season.
Read that sentence again after recovering from hitting the ground.
The improved play of junior wide receivers Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry has much to do with the revamped LSU passing attack.
In the Tigers’ first three games, Beckham and Landry have combined for 576 receiving yards — 72.2 percent of senior quarterback Zach Mettenberger’s yards on the season.
Beckham leads the Tigers in all-purpose yards by a wide margin as well. At 234 yards per game, he’s already accumulated 63 percent of the 1,112 yards he gained overall last season.
In the actual receiving portion of the game, Beckham has proven himself to be in the elite category of LSU deep threats of the past.
Beckham currently averages 22 yards per catch, the highest of any LSU receiver since 2005 with 20 or more targets in a season. The closest comparison was Demetrius Byrd’s season in 2007 when he averaged 17.7 yards a catch for 621 yards on 35 catches.
The number shows a marked improvement from Beckham’s 2012 season, when he averaged only 16.6 yards per catch.
But what separates Beckham from other receiving targets in LSU’s recent history is the efficiency in the way he’s gobbling up his yards. Beckham is catching 75 percent of the balls thrown his way, the third-highest rate of any LSU receiver in the last eight seasons.
Since 2005, no other LSU receiver has been able to average more than 15 yards a reception and a catch rate more than 70 percent. In fact, Beckham’s catch rate combined with his yards per reception puts him in elite company with receivers throughout the Southeastern Conference.
Former Alabama receiver Julio Jones caught 71.6 percent of his targets in 2010 for 14.7 yards per catch. Former Georgia receiver A.J. Green’s best season came in 2009, when he caught 71.6 percent of his targets for 15.2 yards per catch.
At the current rate, Beckham’s production exceeds both Jones’ and Green’s, who were first round NFL draft picks and Pro Bowlers.
But for underneath routes, Landry has been the more effective receiver.
Landry has primarily worked out of the slot in the Tigers’ three receiver sets, where he’s also done most of his damage.
Landry leads the team in targets with 21 — Beckham and Landry have combined for 41 of Mettenberger’s 69 targets — and is catching the ball at the highest rate of any LSU receiver since 2005.
Landry’s catch rate sits at 81 percent, which ranks him just ahead of Early Doucet’s season in 2006 when the former third round pick accumulated 59 catches on 73 targets.
Landry improved his play from last year in two categories: the aforementioned catch rate — Landry’s catch rate last season was a mediocre 64.4 percent — and his yards per catch, which improved from 10.2 yards last season all the way to 14.5 yards this season.
The improvement in both categories has turned Landry into a first-down and red zone machine. Landry has already matched his touchdown total from all of last year, and 13 of Landry’s 17 receptions have gone for first downs.