Another agonizing defeat for LSU football saw quarterback Garrett Nussmeier replaced, once again, by backup Michael Van Buren Jr. in the second half.
In Tuscaloosa, the team was down 11 points to Alabama, and the offense had yet to produce a touchdown with six and a half minutes left in the third quarter. That’s when a change was made, which interim head coach Frank Wilson addressed in the postgame press conference.
“I thought he started the game off extremely well,” Wilson said. “As we went into the depths of the game, we just thought it was an opportunity for us to change it, to throw their defense off. And so we went with the change necessary.”
Nussmeier threw for only 121 yards with a completion rate of 86% before his exit from the game. He didn’t gain any yards in rushing, and he didn’t throw long either, with his furthest traveling just 20 yards.
This was Wilson’s first game at the helm after former head coach Brian Kelly was fired after the team’s 49-25 home loss to Texas A&M in Week 9. Nussmeier’s starting position was in contest after declining performances and sophomore Van Buren’s impressive late-game appearances. Yet, Wilson confirmed fifth-year senior Nussmeier would keep the spot last week.
While Nussmeier may be first on the field, it’s become more likely in recent games that he doesn’t finish there.
“He came up on the sidelines after every break, just trying to keep our spirits up and juicing us,” teammate Braelin Moore said. “Even though he wasn’t in the game, he was still right there with us.”
In his time off the bench, Van Buren went 5 for 11 and managed passing 52 yards.
“I thought he was solid,” Wilson said. “There were some things that were obvious: pushing the pockets, stepping up, delivering passes, escaping extended plays and picking those first rounds with his legs. I’d like him to have two hands on the ball in the pocket, so we don’t get that last one swatted away.”
The substitute QB most notably threw back-to-back 17-yard passes, one complete and one ruled incomplete upon review, in his first few minutes. On 3rd-and-13 in the fourth, he threw a 19-yard ball to Barion Brown to keep the Tigers on the field.
Unfortunately for Van Buren, he and the offensive line cost LSU 20 yards after two sacks and a fumble for the turnover.
“He was able to get out of the pocket and pick up some yards when we needed to,” Moore said. “It’s Alabama. It’s a hostile environment.”
His efforts weren’t nearly enough to keep the Tigers in the game, though, as they lost 20-9 surrounded by Crimson. In the home stretch of its season, LSU is still missing consistency in its QB.
