The members of the LSU football team woke up the morning of Oct. 20 with everything going their way.
The night before, they dominated South Carolina to the tune of 38-14, scoring 35 unanswered points in the second half. Backup quarterback Marcus Randall replaced the injured Matt Mauck in grand fashion by completing 12-of-23 passes for 183 yards and rushing for 39 yards and one touchdown.
His performance terminated any doubts that the Tigers could not continue their dominance over the past six games where they outscored their opponents by an average of 36-8.
LSU was headed for its second consecutive Southeast-ern Conference Championship and a Bowl Championship Series bowl bid.
Fast forward one month.
Since the South Carolina win, the Tigers have gone 1-2. During that three-game span, which includes the dismissal of free safety Damien James, the Tigers are giving up an average of 30.6 points per game while scoring only 13.3.
LSU’s lone win during that period came from the graces of what head coach Nick Saban called “divine intervention” in a last-second, Hail Mary pass from Randall to Devery Henderson in a 33-30 win against Kentucky.
Senior cornerback Demetrius Hookfin said the Tigers’ defense has been put in tough situations with regard to field position, but he offers no excuse.
“That’s our job,” Hookfin said. “Go out there and stop the other team. It doesn’t matter about field position. We need to go out and stop the opponent.”
And now the Tigers are clawing to remain atop the SEC West with two tough games remaining.
“The most important thing that we have to do right now as a team is that everybody’s ego, including mine, has to be responsible for their fallings,” Saban said. “Because if you deny you don’t have something you can improve on, then you really do not have the right attitude to try to improve yourself.”
Besides that 75-yard “Bluegrass Miracle” and a shovel pass that resulted in a 70-yard touchdown in the first half of the Kentucky game, the LSU passing game has been shut down.
In the Tigers’ 31-0 loss to Alabama, Randall completed 6-of-17 pass attempts for 39 yards. The Tigers’ inability to move the ball downfield caused Saban to replace Randall with redshirt freshman Rick Clausen.
“I feel like our first couple of drives we moved the ball well,” Randall sadi. “We moved the ball on them like we thought we would. The big thing is just trying to find the pieces and level it all out. I still feel good about the team.”
Randall said a combination of penalties and turnovers have hurt LSU’s chances of creating enough offense to win games. He said he has matured as a quarterback and now has the ability to shake off bad plays and continue with confidence.
“We do not anticipate any changes [at quarterback],” Saban said. “But we will continue to work with both of our quarterbacks to try to develop them in the best way we can.”
Despite the Tigers’ decline from the top 10, they are still in place to reclaim the SEC West title and are poised to return to Atlanta for the SEC Championship game.
“We believe in our players, and we want them to believe in each other,” Saban said. “We still have an outstanding opportunity this season, in terms of what can be accomplished and what this team can accomplish, and that is what we want to focus on. The only thing we can do now is learn from it, grow from it and try to get better.”