272… That is how many penalty yards the LSU football team has given up in their first three games.
The Tigers lost by 30 to Mississippi State last weekend, giving up 112 penalty yards to the Bulldogs.
Two players were ejected for targeting, senior linebacker Donnie Alexander and true freshman defensive end Neil Farrell Jr.
Senior defensive lineman Christian LaCouture says the two know what they have to do.
“This is something that has to stop and it is costing us big plays and they understand it. These guys, Donnie has played a lot of ball and Neil it is his first play in the game as a freshman. I don’t really think he meant to, he kind of tripped over someone but I really understand that everyone makes mistakes, you know at some point you know it is a critical point in the game but they are going to bounce back, those guys are team guys, they know they didn’t mean to,” LaCouture said.
Farrell and Alexander will sit out for the first half against Syracuse this weekend but Coach Ed Orgeron did not let the team off easy.
The players who committed the nine penalties against the Bulldogs ran nine sprints and half yard dashes this week.
Offensive tackle Toby Weathersby says the punishment will make the Tigers more careful in the future.
“It’s a penalty run, you know it’s a consequence for everything, so of course we don’t want to run again. Therefore, we are going to be more careful next time,” Weathersby said.
LaCouture says the Tigers are moving past the Mississippi State game and looking forward.
“I understand it was a critical loss, we understand that but if we can do the things we need do, play like we need to play, then we can still do the things we need to do at the end of the day. We understand that it was a critical loss but you need to get past and you need to focus on one game at a time like Coach O says, then we still have everything in place for what we want to do at the end of the year,” LaCouture said.
Major adjustments will have to be, starting with the game against Syracuse this weekend.