After an especially somber post-game preference immediately following LSU’s loss to Texas A&M last Saturday, head coach Brian Kelly was more positive about his team’s performance this week.
Kelly said the team played “exceedingly well” for the first 52 or so plays of the game, when the Tigers held a 17-7 lead, but fell apart in the final stretch.
“So what we did well is we prepared well, we came out emotionally, physically, did the right things,” Kelly said. “But we didn’t finish.”
Kelly compared it to how LSU came out with poor starts in earlier wins against South Carolina and Ole Miss – losing the initial fight but winning the battle. On Saturday, LSU was on the flip side of that trend.
During this bye week ahead of next week’s high-stakes matchup with Alabama, Kelly said the team has talked about how it can finish better. The Tigers have also worked on some problem areas that arose in College Station.
Here’s everything else Kelly discussed at Tuesday’s weekly press conference.
What went wrong in the running game
Taking out sack yardage, the LSU offense rushed for only 40 yards with a 1.9 average against Texas A&M. It was disappointing for the Tigers, as the struggling running game had one of its best performances of the season the week prior against Arkansas.
Having looked at the tape of the Texas A&M game, Kelly said the struggle was due to a combination of factors.
“We lost some individual matchups [blocking],” Kelly said.
He also said that the team made a handful of poor post-snap reads, choosing to run into a loaded box. In addition, the team’s running backs weren’t able to make plays in space to force missed tackles.
“We just collectively didn’t execute at a high level in the running game,” Kelly said.
How Garrett Nussmeier has responded to his poor performance
Quarterback Garrett Nussmeier had the worst performance of his career against Texas A&M, with three critical interceptions in the second half.
Responding to criticism of Nussmeier, Kelly pointed to the fact that he’s still in his first year as a starter. He drew a comparison to last year’s Heisman winner and current Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels, who also had poor performances in his first season with LSU.
“He’s up for the challenge of getting better,” Kelly said. “We’re working with him to get him to the level that he needs to be, and he’s excited about doing it. So I’m not really worried about loss of confidence with him.”
Going forward, with Nussmeier’s level of play having slipped in recent games, avoiding mistakes from the quarterback position will be paramount for LSU.
Why the LSU offense hasn’t run many screens
There’s been plenty criticism that the LSU offense hasn’t been diverse enough this season, with many noting the almost complete lack of the screen game.
On Tuesday, Kelly said the reason for that is LSU’s personnel.
“I have such pride in throwing screens,” Kelly said. “We’re not built for it right now.”
He went on to explain that screen passes require offensive linemen with the athleticism to get out in space, especially now that chop blocks are now penalized. LSU seemingly doesn’t have that this year.
“Those big guys are like elephants on roller skates,” Kelly said.
He also said screen passes are best run against defenses that send pressure, and defenses have often been dropping more defenders back into coverage against LSU to respect its downfield passing attack.
