The LSU football schedule is the seventh-toughest in the Football Bowl Subdivision, according to ESPN’s Football Power Index, but the “easy part” is now over.
According to ESPN, the Tigers (6-0, 4-0 Southeastern Conference) have a 3.5 percent chance to “win out” this season because of their first-ranked, hardest strength of schedule remaining in 2015.
The No. 5 Tigers set forth on the latter-half of its schedule on Saturday against Western Kentucky University for the first of the final five games.
Four times in his career, LSU coach Les Miles started a season 6-0. In two of the last three instances, the Tigers improved to 7-0.
LSU has fate on its side, along with sophomore running back Leonard Fournette, who may change the final destiny of the Tigers football season by himself.
“It’s all business from here,” Fournette said. “We have to stay disciplined, stay focused and not forget about what our dream is.”
Fournette became the first running back in SEC history to rush for more than 1,000 yards in the first five games of a season. He’s broken numerous rushing records this season on the way to his current 1,202 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns on 150 attempts thus far.
Fournette’s spotlight and hype opened LSU’s offense — mainly the passing game — to opportunities for success Tiger fans dreamt of last season and were weary about for this season.
Stopping Fournette is key to opposing defenses, so most teams are packing multiple men close to the line of scrimmage, which is something sophomore quarterback Brandon Harris loves.
“I have to execute the passing game,” Harris said. “I dare people to put nine men or ten men in the box. We will still throw the ball. I get real motivated when people say I can’t do something. We are going to continue to roll.”
Regardless of Fournette’s track on a historic season, LSU, the SEC’s highest-ranked team, has flaws and weaknesses.
Special teams and defending the passing attack of opponents are the key points of emphasis going forward for LSU.
Senior safety Jalen Mills stepped on the field on Saturday for the first time this season. Mills’ presence will certainly contribute to the weakness in the defensive secondary, Miles said.
“I think Jalen Mills being back certainly will help,” Miles said. “I think our guys know where they’re at and recognize with some adjustment and some improvement, that we can be a team that plays for the title. So that being said, there’s a lot of work to be done.”
“We’re not near that at all. But defensively, I think one of the areas that we have to stop having those breakdowns, and I think that we’re good there. I think we’ll do that.”
Mills is expected to help with communication breakdowns within the secondary. He’s known as the groups “quarterback.”
“They’ve played pretty good [so far],” Mills said. “There’s just been a lack of communication. Communication is key. We have to keep progressing and never go backwards.”
Even though LSU sophomore placekicker Trent Domingue and the special teams unit scored the go-ahead touchdown against then-No. 8 Florida, special teams blanketed some of the teams’ success thus far. How good the LSU team could be is questionable because of how poorly the special teams performed lately.
Is the bad performance going to continue? Who knows. But Miles doesn’t think so.
“Special teams executed kickoff coverage much better,” Miles said about the kick coverage against Florida.
Florida returned the second punt-return touchdown against the Tigers this season in the third quarter. Senior punter Jamie Keehn booted the ball down the middle of the field, making it difficult for LSU to defend, Miles said.
“And punt coverage was, you know, you hit a ball out in the middle of the field, and it’s a much more difficult position to cover,” Miles said. “We want a big kick, and we want it into the boundary, and sometimes that huge leg is not easily controlled…We’ll take that under advisement and get that fixed.”
You can reach Christian Boutwell on Twitter @CBoutwell_TDR.