After its 34-29 loss to Mississippi State on Saturday night, the LSU football team (3-1, 0-1 Southeastern Conference) was left with more questions than answers.
Some of the biggest questions were concerning the Tigers’ young offense that failed to keep pace with the Bulldogs (4-0, 1-0 SEC).
“I’m not sure [why LSU came out slow]. [Mississippi State has] a real good defense,” said sophomore receiver Travin Dural. “We were prepared for it, but they hit us with things we weren’t expecting.”
LSU had one of its worst offensive showings of the season. The Tigers were held to just 89 yards rushing and averaged 2.5 yards per carry as a unit, their lowest mark of the season. Although they posted 430 total yards, 159 of those came within the final three minutes of the last quarter.
After three solid games from their quarterbacks to start the season, the Tigers struggled to produce at the position in their first SEC game.
But with 3:43 left to play in the game, LSU coach Les Miles sent in true freshman quarterback Brandon Harris to replace sophomore Anthony Jennings. The sophomore quarterback struggled throughout the night, making errant passes that sailed out of bounds and throwing the ball into the ground short of the receiver on multiple occasions.
Jennings finished his night with 13 completions on 26 attempts for 157 yards and no touchdowns. He was sacked three times and rushed on many other attempts, which prevented him from finding a comfortable rhythm. Jennings got banged up on a sack in the fourth quarter, and Harris replaced him on the next drive.
In the 2:21 Harris was on the field, he put up numbers that dwarfed Jennings output. Harris was 6-for-9 for 140 yards and two touchdowns, both coming to freshman receiver Malachi Dupre.
Harris’ success will give Miles and his coaching staff some tough decisions to ponder throughout the week leading up to New Mexico State.
“[Harris] definitely gave a strong performance when he came in,” Miles said. “He certainly made a case today that we need to look at a bit more seriously.”
LSU’s running backs were averaging 185.7 rushing yards per game coming into the matchup, but the Tigers attempted just 36 rushes over the course of the game, with 13 of those coming from Jennings and Harris. The longest run of the night came from freshman running back Leonard Fournette, who broke away for a 20-yard gain.
Fournette’s long run was the exception to the rule, however. The running backs picked up only 76 yards, led by both Fournette and senior running back Kenny Hilliard. Senior Terrence Magee and freshman Darrel Williams both had only two carries for four yards.
Hilliard scored the only rushing touchdown of the game for LSU on a 1-yard run early in the fourth quarter.
“We had some mistakes on the offense as far as the offensive line to tailback and fullback communication,” Magee said. “There are some things we could have cleaned up and done better on the offensive line.”
The lack of production in the run game and pressure on Jennings and Harris stems from the slow start and shaky play by the offensive line.
The line, led by experienced players in seniors La’el Collins and Elliott Porter and junior Vadal Alexander, had one of its poorest performances to date. The line started out weak and then improved at halftime in each game this season, but the mediocre play was continuous throughout the entirety of the game against MSU.
The line couldn’t contain a veteran Mississippi State defense that racked up three sacks and six tackles for loss. LSU couldn’t open holes for the running backs, contributing to the Tigers’ worst rushing performance of the season.
The combination of unstable quarterback play, low production by the running backs and a porous offensive line resulted in LSU’s first loss of the season.
“When you suffer a loss like this and things go wrong, you want to start pointing fingers,” Magee said. “That is not going to happen on this team. We are going to accept it as an offense, as a defense and as a whole team. Everyone is going to look at themselves, try to get better and develop as a team.”