The No. 2 LSU gymnastics team recently fell to No. 1 Oklahoma and No. 8 Georgia in a pair of disappointing late-meet losses. Despite the letdowns, a lot was learned after their unique and surprising start to the season.

Vault

Though usually consistent on this rotation, the Tigers have shown a bit of the opposite throughout their first two meets. Compared to what was seen last season, like in the team’s win on March 14 against Auburn, where it displayed a six-stick rotation, LSU has particularly struggled to put up vault landings with minimal movement thus far.

While it has managed to earn an average score of 9.765 across the two meets, much of the team’s deductions stem from extra steps, hops and even a fall in the majority of the 12 vaults that have been seen.

While slight steps are a common part of the sport, the large deductions that LSU has taken from these mistakes are uncharacteristic of the team.

Despite competing vaults with high difficulty and start values, a look back at both recent showings and future competitors tells fans that cleaning up on landings seems to be what LSU needs to gain an edge in its overall score, especially considering that the Tigers have trailed no more than 0.175 points behind first on the event.

Uneven Bars

Unlike vault, the Tigers seemed to have sparked lots of talk about the high-scoring performances that they’ve earned on bars. Even with the losses of all-around standouts Aleah Finnegan and Haleigh Bryant, the current lineup is proving to be just as impressive with an average score of 9.834.

Among these 12 scores, six are 9.900 or higher, with a pair of near-perfect 9.950s. Despite the rockiness seen in other aspects of the Tigers’ performance, doubts about the team’s bar work have yet to surface amid the rotation’s excellent start to the season.

Balance Beam

The 2026 season seems to be especially different from its recent predecessors when looking at the Baton Rouge beam performances. Historically not an event that has exactly stuck out as a top rotation for the Tigers, their current season results say otherwise.

Still without a fall on the event thus far, LSU has managed to earn a scoring average of 9.854, its highest of all four events. Though held back by small deductions on wobbles and missed connections throughout the routine, the Tigers have started off strong in an event that can give them a competitive edge over many teams they’ll face this season.

Improving even more than what they’ve already done in the off-season will give the team room to make up for errors on other events, just like against the Gymdogs, with a 0.250 point deficit to win the event.

Floor Exercise

Above all other events, the most unusual change in the trends regularly seen from the team is the struggle they’ve had on the floor exercise. Only managing an average score of 9.685, the team that normally has an electric floor rotation has struggled to break 9.900 in scoring.

In fact, only two of the 12 routines LSU has competed so far have scored 9.900 or higher. The plagues of dissatisfying landings on tumbling passes prove to be the biggest struggle as LSU has suffered falls, out-of-bounds violations and landings with multiple steps that are contributing to deductions.

While performances wouldn’t exactly be considered sloppy or low on difficulty, it’s the small mistakes that have added up to give the Tigers a slower start to the season, especially against Georgia.

Scoring 0.650 points lower against the Gymdogs than against Oklahoma in the Sprouts Collegiate Quad, LSU will have a rather reflective week ahead of its home matchup against Kentucky.

Even so, it’s still very early in the season to say where exactly the Tigers stand against the top SEC and NCAA teams.

The quick onset of surprising mishaps may have given fans slight doubt on the currently ranked No. 2 team, but if LSU can focus on perfecting small details in its performance, an early turnaround could be exactly what is needed to stay on track for a championship run.