Saturday night, the LSU Tigers took on the South Carolina Gamecocks in Tiger Stadium. While the team showed some massive signs of improvement since their loss to Ole Miss, they also showed they still have plenty of weak spots.
Coming off their bye week loss to Ole Miss, it was one of LSU’s main goals to be explosive on offense both with the run and pass games. While Nussmeier and his men showed signs of improvement in those aspects, they still struggled with the same little mistakes we have been seeing.
Turnovers, incomplete passes, poor decision making, and even a goal line fumble plagued this LSU performance, but it was the team's next man up mentality that kept the Tigers in the game for all four quarters.
The Tiger receiving corps was able to shine under a much more confident and accurate Nussmeier.
Sophomore sensation Trey’Dez Green had a career best game with 11 targets for 8 receptions and 119 yards, with a touchdown of his own.
The run game also showed lots of improvement with RB1 Caden Durham back in the game for the Tigers, picking up 70 yards. Nussmeier even ran for 32 yards, an abnormal but welcome sight from the Lake Charles native.
Green spoke about how the offense was able to bounce back from some early mistakkes.
“He [Nussmeier] kind of got in my ear a bit and was like ‘Next play mentality’. He just was helping me, that's my brother,” Green said of Nussmeier.
“I feel like when we're on one accord, and we stick together, we are the best offense in the country,” Green said.
Blake Baker's defense also had a night, holding a run-heavy South Carolina offense to just 172 yards. The Bayou Bandits did a great job of pressuring dual threat quarterback Lanorris Sellers, only allowing him to pick up 19 rushing yards.
The Tigers sacked Sellers a massive five times.
Cornerback Mansoor Delane spoke about how the Tiger defense overcame the challange on containing the nations best rushing QB.
“If he breaks out the pocket, corners, we have to plaster and rally into the ball. Have an effort too, a hungry defense is really important,” Delane said.
Despite some progress made for the Tigers, they still struggled in the red zone, having to settle for a field goal twice, and could only convert four of 11 third downs.
Pair that with a fumble in the endzone, and an interception, along with missed tackles on defense, and it shows this team still has a lot of work to do before heading to Vanderbilt next Saturday.
