It was a disappointing showing last week for the LSU Tigers in Gainesville as they fell to the Florida Gators 27-16.
On the verge of losing four consecutive games, LSU got the job done this week by defeating the Commodores 24-17. It was a much-needed win for the Tigers as they improved to 7-4 on the season, but it also gave the team confidence to finish the season.
Here are three takeaways from the game:
LSU established a balanced gameplan
Quarterback Garrett Nussmeier has gotten a lot of criticism these past couple of weeks due to his play on the field. With four touchdowns and five interceptions in the three-loss stretch, it was not a good stint.
In those three games, Nussmeier threw the ball over 42 times in each game. It’s not a good recipe for any team to have its quarterback throwing the ball that much, and to fix that pass-heavy offense, there must be an ability to run the ball. LSU had that against Vanderbilt.
The Tigers combined for 145 rushing yards, allowing Nussmeier to not throw as much.
Nussmeier threw the ball 37 times and completed 28 of them for 332 yards. It was one of his most efficient games of the season, and it was with the help of his running backs Josh Williams and Caden Durham.
While Durham had a solid game with 58 rushing yards, it was the sixth-year senior Williams who stepped up, rushing for 91 yards on 14 carries and finding the end zone twice.
“He ran through the faces of a number of defenders,” head coach Brian Kelly said. “It was physicality, it was want-to, it was desire. It was all those things in one. It was just a guy that was committed to, no matter what, the first guy is not going to bring me down.”
The defense got off the field on third down
All season, the LSU defense has struggled with getting off the field on third downs. This week it was different. The Tigers forced Vanderbilt into 10 third-down situations, and the Commodores were only able to convert on two of those.
“In order to win a ball game, you got to get off the field on third down,” sophomore linebacker Whit Weeks said. “And we haven’t been the best of this so far this season, so two of 10… I mean, that’s pretty good. That’s something to smile about, for sure.”
What allowed their success on third down was the communication on the defensive end and trusting everyone to do their jobs.
Defensive end Bradyn Swinson mentioned the importance of everyone doing their job to succeed on the field.
Everybody just doing their job, everybody having good eyes,” Swinson said. “If you just do your job, everything is going to fall into place.”
And that’s what happened against the Commodores. Outside of a few big plays, LSU contained the Vanderbilt offense. Quarterback Diego Pavia only threw for 186 yards and one touchdown. The Tigers also contained the most important part of the Vanderbilt offense in their option run game and held them to 122 yards for four different rushers.
The offense took care of the ball
The worst thing you can do as an offense is give the ball away, and these past weeks that’s what LSU has done too often. Not converting on fourth downs, throwing interceptions and fumbling has hurt the Tigers week in and week out, but this time, LSU cleaned it up.
Nussmeier did not throw any interceptions or fumble the ball this week, which allowed LSU to maintain consistent drives throughout the game.
The Tigers led in possession, having the ball for 34 minutes compared to Vanderbilt’s 26 minutes. LSU decided to simplify the game plan on both sides of the ball, but on offense, it made a bigger difference for everyone.
“I just thought we were simpler, Kelly said. “We ran four verticals probably more times than I can remember in a game, but we had the check-downs. We had other avenues to get the ball out, and I think that really helped our players stay locked in on the call and be committed to the call.”
