Close the doors to the secret bunker, batten down the hatches and get a nice bottle of whiskey, LSU fans.
It’s gonna be a long football season.
After watching the 41-7 drubbing LSU received from Auburn on Saturday night, it’s clear to me what a lot of LSU fans may not want to admit.
This team just might not be good.
Sure, LSU has plenty of young, highly recruited talent, but right now they are just that — young.
There is one constant a team needs to succeed in the Southeastern Conference: good play in the trenches on both sides of the ball.
LSU came into the season thinking it had the trenches figured out. But as it turns out, the offensive and defensive lines have been utter disasters up to this point.
The middle of the defensive line is a sieve, with teams pouring blockers and runners through the heart of LSU’s defense. Fans, it doesn’t matter if senior linebacker D.J. Welter or 2001 Ray Lewis is lining up behind this defensive tackle rotation. If blockers are consistently getting to the second level, the linebackers, whoever they may be, can’t do anything about it.
Mississippi State ran the ball up the middle 25 times for 164 yards and a touchdown. On third down with three or less yards to go, LSU is giving up an atrocious 6.9 yards per carry.
Basically, even when the Bayou Bengals know what is coming, they can’t stop it.
With an ineffective defensive line, LSU’s pass defense has struggled against competent passing teams. SEC quarterbacks have thrown for four touchdowns with no interceptions for a 184 quarterback rating and 268 yards per game.
Luckily for LSU, its next game comes against Florida, whose passing offense is further in the dumpster than the Tigers’ offense. Freshman quarterback Treon Harris is now suspended for the LSU game after being accused of sexually assaulting a female after the Gators’ win against Tennessee on Saturday.
And Tiger fans, before you get on your high horse, remember starting safety Jalen Mills has his court hearing next week for allegedly physically assaulting a woman this summer outside an apartment. Mills has started every game this year for the Tigers, despite the case being ongoing.
But even with the defense potentially getting a break against an inept Florida offense, LSU’s offense will have to prove it can consistently move the ball with a quarterback battle that is back to square one after the Auburn debacle.
Les Miles and the LSU coaching staff have bungled the managing of this situation so completely that it now has two young quarterbacks devoid of confidence battling for a position with one, Jennings, being the whipping boy of an overzealous fanbase.
Harris came in against Auburn and did exactly what 99 percent of freshmen quarterbacks are bound to do — struggled mightily with a hostile crowd and unfair expectations.
The freshman quarterback was expected to be the savior after beating up Mississippi State’s backup secondary and a cupcake New Mexico State team, but in his only other experience against a somewhat difficult opponent, Wisconsin, Harris experienced struggles in limited action.
Sophomore quarterback Anthony Jennings is hated by the fans and has already been benched once by his coaching staff, making me doubt whether the much-maligned quarterback has any confidence left to lead a team.
Both have now been benched six games into the season. By giving into the fans’ demands and starting Harris against Auburn, Miles set Harris up to fail. Now the coaching staff has to pick up the pieces of the young gunslinger’s shattered confidence and tie Jennings’ name to this sinking ship of the season.
With Florida and Kentucky on the horizon I would hope, the Tigers should be able to get to six wins.
But with a murderers’ row of SEC West opponents still on the docket, LSU could easily go winless in its division for the first time since the SEC split into divisions in 1991.
If that does in fact happen, trust me — you’ll be glad you brought the whiskey.
Trey Labat is a 22-year-old history senior from Mandeville, Louisiana You can reach him on Twitter @treylabat_TDR.