LSU football’s defense is normally the team’s strongest point, but after Saturday night’s suspensions and injuries, the Tigers have a lot of things to reevaluate.
The defense gave up 464 yards and four touchdowns against Mississippi State and guys are looking to step up and perform better in the upcoming weeks.
The team was “so embarrassed” with the loss that many of the players, including senior nose tackle Greg Gilmore, showed up on Sunday, their day off, to watch film and correct their mistakes.
“Usually you don’t see it much, okay, and obviously that’s voluntary,” LSU coach Ed Orgeron said. “ I saw a lot of guys come by, talked to some, and I think that you see leadership coming on. I think those guys are very focused and detailed on what they want to get accomplished. They were very disappointed in the way we played.”
Orgeron said that the defensive line did better than he originally thought after going back and watching the film, but they still did not play to their highest potential.
“On the defensive line, we played pretty good in between the tackles,” Orgeron said. “There was a lot of runs outside the tackles that affected us. We got to cut a lot on the perimeter. Option responsibilities created big holes. So I think that we can shore up the things that were broken, and it wasn’t as much of a physical thing as it was alignment, assignment and technique deal.”
Technical issues have become a recurring problem for LSU this season, with 30 penalties through three games and nine penalties from the defensive side of the ball.
Two important member of the defense, senior linebacker Donnie Alexander and freshman defensive end Neil Farrell were ejected for targeting penalties within the opening minutes of the second half and will not be available for the first half against Syracuse.
“We talked and it was something, I guess, touching on penalties,” senior defensive end Christian LaCouture said. “That it’s, you know, unacceptable and they understood that. They understood that they made a mistake and we move past it. There’s nothing that you can do about it now, you know, they’re going to sit with their half game suspension and then come help us out.”
LaCouture said the both Alexander and Farrell understand their mistakes as something that costs the team big plays and both are ready to bounce back for the team.
With those half-game suspensions and the injuries of sophomore defensive end Rashard Lawrence and sophomore nose tackle Ed Alexander, Orgeron has to rearrange a thinning defensive line.
“Well, here’s what we’re hoping, okay; we’re hoping that we can move Greg Gilmore back to nose tackle,” Orgeron said.  “Rashard Lawrence may play this week. If he does, we can back up Greg with Glen Logan, who played 56 plays and did pretty good at nose tackle without much of a notice. And I thought Pete Jenkins did an excellent job of coaching him, and behind him will be Neil Farrell.”
Orgeron knows the thinning of the defensive line is definitely something that needs work and an area that needs to be recruited better. He asserts a need to gain more depth through the junior college ranks to get bigger, stronger and faster.
“I’m glad that we have Breiden Fehoko,” Orgeron said. “I wish Tyler Shelvin was eligible and 40 pounds lighter. I don’t know which one would be easier, but I think that Tyler is going to lose weight and be a good football player for us next year, and I think Breiden Fehoko is going to be a very good football player.”
The Tigers will have to make do with what they have this week, though. With the shuffling of players, they must make adjustments on the field.
The lack of depth in certain players this week does not affect the way they defensive line will play and practice, LaCouture said. Playing slow will not help them, and will most likely do more harm than good.
“If you play hesitant when people are playing full speed, people are going to start knocking you around, it’s not going to be good,” LaCourture said. “For us, we go out there and play full speed and whatever happens, happens. I think at that point, we’ll make an adjustment, but we’ve got to play with who we have at full speed. We’ve got to make sure we anchor the defense.