It took nine games, but the LSU football team has finally established a downfield passing attack.
At least temporarily.
Through eight games, LSU quarterbacks were 16-of-54 on passes thrown 10 or more yards downfield — screen passes and other short throws that went for more than 10 yards were not counted — including 1-of-8 on Oct. 23 against a depleted Auburn secondary.
With the Tigers on a bye week before the Alabama game, something clicked with junior quarterbacks Jordan Jefferson and Jarrett Lee and the LSU receivers.
LSU coach Les Miles said during a Nov. 3 press conference he was confident the passing game would come to “fruition” against Alabama.
Whatever it was, it worked.
Jefferson and Lee were 4-of-7 against the Crimson Tide on throws of 10 yards or more. Jefferson connected on throws of 12-, 19- and 75-yard plays, while Lee had a 47-yard completion. LSU is now 20-of-61 on passes of 10 yards or more.
Jefferson said he had no idea why it took so long for an aerial
attack to develop, as did perplexed senior wide receiver Terrence Toliver.
“We had to open it up eventually, and I’m happy we chose this game to open it up because it was very important for us,” said Jefferson, who finished the Alabama game 10-of-13 for 141 yards and a touchdown.
The weapons have been there. LSU boasts three wide receivers who earned five-star labels out of high school — Toliver and sophomores Rueben Randle and Russell Shepard.
But the receivers struggled early with drops and took time to establish rapports with Jefferson and Lee.
“It just took some games to [get] comfortable,” Lee said. “We know the talent we have.”
The sudden outburst could be a fluke for LSU. Miles said the downfield approach implemented for Alabama had “been there all year … but that we needed to execute better,” despite a 32.8-percent success rate on throws of 10 yards or more.
“Our football team recognizes when they see us practice that we can throw the football, and we’re coming,” he said. “It just needs to stay there.”
After managing only 95 yards in the first half against Alabama, LSU exploded for 338 yards in the second half.
The passing game opened up the run for junior running back Stevan Ridley, who racked up 60 of his 88 yards in the second half.
“[Miles] kept the playbook open, especially in the second half,” Jefferson said. “I just feel like he had a lot of confidence in us in the second half, and he knew we were going to make plays looking at the preparation we had.”
Even with the explosion against Alabama, LSU is still only averaging fewer than seven downfield pass attempts per game.
One reason for this low rate has been LSU’s offensive line. The line has only allowed 15 sacks all year, but largely because of short, quick throws and screen passes.
“To throw the ball down the field, one of the main factors in that is obviously time,” said junior left guard Josh Dworaczyk. “For those deep passes, you have to sit back and give the quarterback time.”
Miles said the line played extremely well against Alabama,
despite losing sophomore right tackle Alex Hurst and junior lineman T-Bob Hebert to injury. Rarely-used junior lineman Greg Shaw replaced Hurst, while redshirt freshman Josh Williford replaced Hebert at right guard.
“Our offensive line gave us good protection without mistake — and when a mistake was made it was different — but without mistake, I thought they were very, very good in protection,” he said.
The offense hopes the new dimension of stretching the field can earn a little respect from opposing defenses and help to open up the running game for Ridley.
“Teams do need to respect us a little more in that aspect, but it is in our game plan, and we do plan to use it in the future,” Lee said.
Jefferson disagreed, adding most teams will consider the Tigers’ passing game as a mirage.
“I don’t think we’ll probably gain too much respect from this,” he said. “Teams are still going to look past us.”
 
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Contact Sean Isabella at [email protected]