The world is often cruel to those who expect certain experiences to work out exactly as they imagined they would go. People’s expectations are often elevated for various reasons: blind faith, educated inferences, or hard facts to name a few.
Everyone expected Myles Brennan’s season debut to come a little easier for him, including Brennan. But after the team’s 16-game win streak was snapped, the expectations Brennan and the team were holding for Baton Rouge and the LSU fanbase shattered like a rock had been hurled at them.
Now, new expectations are ready to be set. It is Brennan’s task to ready his team to pick itself up and rise to meet them.
“Leadership is going to be crucial from here on out,” Brennan said. “This is the first game of many. We’ve got a long journey ahead of us. We’re not going to crumble and quit now.”
In their 44-34 loss to Mississippi State, the Tigers were outgained by a difference of 632 to 425 yards of offense. This came in part to a slow start by Brennan and his offense. Brennan completed six passes out of just 12 attempts for 119 yards and a touchdown. It seemed like Brennan couldn’t get into a rhythm in the first half, and that was evident in the time of possession. Mississippi State had the ball for nearly twice as long as LSU did in the first half, with the Tigers’ longest drive only lasting two minutes and 19 seconds.
“We just started slow as an offense,” Brennan said. “The execution, all across the board, wasn’t there. We just started slow, and that hurt us.”
“We dropped balls, we weren’t protecting,” Head Coach Ed Orgeron said. “Third downs, it looked like nobody was open. Myles was holding the ball. No excuses, we’ve got to get better. The execution was not there.”
This changed in the second half. LSU got the ball to start, and the offense looked much more in sync. Brennan was eager to push the tempo, utilizing a balance of handoffs to his running backs and short throws on quick reads to keep the Mississippi State defense off balance.
The tempo was reminiscent of the LSU offense fans had grown accustomed to seeing last season. A field goal and a Terrace Marshall Jr. touchdown catch put the Tigers in the lead for the first time that day.
“We just know that we needed big plays,” Brennan said. “Big plays fueled emotion in this game. We were coming out, we were getting the ball. We needed to drive down there. Our defense played their hearts out, and it was time for the offense to start clicking.”
The third drive was progressing much like the first two. However, unfortunately for Brennan and the Tigers, Mississippi State defensive lineman Jordan Davis got a piece of Brennan’s arm on a deep throw to a wide open Racey McMath, and Brennan’s pass was intercepted by Esaias Furdge. The energy fizzed out of Tiger Stadium.
After another Bulldog touchdown by K.J. Costello, the Tiger defense forced two consecutive turnovers, giving the offense great field position.
Brennan made some more good throws in the fourth quarter, specifically a fantastic throw and even better one-handed catch by Marshall to cut the Bulldogs lead to three. But the junior quarterback could not lead a miraculous comeback after falling behind again 44-34 at the beginning of the quarter. The Tigers were doomed.
A serious argument can be made as to whether this is Brennan’s fault. Over the game,
Brennan threw for 345 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions, one of which was the last play of the game once their chance of victory was out of reach. He finished with a 58.7 completion percentage and a 134.5 passer rating. To ask much more from Brennan in a game where the defense was downright awful is unfair.
But when Brennan said leadership would be crucial, he meant it. The decision as to where to place the blame is not relevant to him and his teammates, showing the team’s rooted maturity.
“Losing sucks,” Brennan said bluntly. “No one wants to lose. But we can’t blame anybody. We have to fix our mistakes and move forward. You can sit here and point fingers all across, but it’s not going to do anything. We need to stick together as a team.”
His head coach was quick to echo his sentiments and shoulder the wrongs of the team.
“I told them, ‘Put it on me,’” Orgeron said. “When they win, I give them the credit. When they don’t, I’ve got to take the blame. I’ve got to get better. I’ve got to coach better. I ask everybody to look at themselves in the mirror, see what we’re doing, let’s get better. And let’s stick together as a football team. We’ve got a lot of football left. I still believe we’ve got a good football team.”
He is not a quarterback who is going to be immature and dodge responsibility. Brennan knew he made mistakes, owned up to them and told others that nobody should be looking to criticize each other after a mistake-filled performance. This is not behavior indicative of a young, hotshot quarterback who was given the team. This is the attitude of a developed leader who has worked hard on every practice rep, down-to-distance drill and even understudy minute to become the man he is today. This is the Brennan fans should be expecting right now.
“I went out there and I gave it my all, just like this team did,” Brennan said. “I didn’t feel like I was trying to be anybody I wasn’t or do anything that I wasn’t capable of doing.”