LSU just played one of its best games of football this season on both sides of the ball against Auburn.
On Saturday, LSU defeated Auburn in Death Valley 48-18. It was an impressive win after coming off a high-scoring affair against Missouri a couple of weeks ago.
The offense continued to look unstoppable as Jayden Daniels totaled 418 yards and three touchdowns. With another outstanding performance by Daniels, his name continues to climb up the leaderboards as a top candidate for the Heisman Trophy.
His main target, Malik Nabers, led the team in receptions with six and added 89 yards, including a touchdown.
One of Daniels’ favorite targets this season, Brain Thomas Jr., had a quiet game, but senior receiver Kyren Lacy had a breakout game. Lacy led the team in yards with 111 on four receptions, also bringing in a touchdown.
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It was a great performance from Lacy as he was struggling with drops and consistency, but after Saturday, Lacy might’ve cemented himself as a true third option.
The offense started hot with an opening drive touchdown from Nabers and was up 17-0 after the end of the first quarter. The offense got a little stagnant at the end of the second quarter with an interception and a punt but got back on track and put up 28 points in the second half.
Something that needs to be pointed out is the performance and consistency of Logan Diggs. After his performance on Saturday, Diggs has now eclipsed over 90 yards, in five out of his last six games and got a touchdown in four of those.
The addition of Diggs has been an underrated pick-up for LSU as now a balanced attack for the Tigers has made the offense unpredictable and unstoppable.
No one had any doubts that the offense would continue its domination. The biggest question for LSU has been its defense and how it would continue to improve going forward.
Against Missouri, the defense allowed 39 points and over 500 yards last week, but made some plays that could give them some momentum.
When LSU played Auburn, it had one of its best performances of the season on all three levels of defense. LSU only allowed 18 points and cut the yards down significantly from the previous by only giving up 293 yards.
For one, being able to contain what Auburn’s strength, the run game was key. Only allowing 139 yards total for five different rushers and their leading rusher having only 69 yards was outstanding.
The team was able to make open-field tackles and limit the big plays. The defense racked up five tackles for loss, getting in the backfield and forcing Auburn into second and third-and-long situations.
An improved passing defense was also key to victory. Now it does help that Auburn is a run-heavy team, but quarterback Payton Thorne threw the ball 23 times which was the second most all season long.
Obviously, Auburn was trailing so it’s common that teams begin to be more pass-heavy later in the game, but Thorne only completed 52% of those passes.
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And a big part of that was the defensive backs being able to locate the football and make a play on it. LSU racked up five pass deflections against Auburn, that’s a big stat for LSU.
Many teams have been able to exploit one-on-one coverage against LSU’s defensive backs, simply because whoever was guarding them wasn’t able to find the football and make a play. But against Auburn, they were able to do so.
Another factor that played a big role in LSU’s defensive success was their pressure on the quarterback. Whether it was Maason Smith, Harold Perkins, Paris Shand or Ovie Oghoufo they were able to get in the backfield and disrupt the game.
They added two sacks to the stat sheet: one from Perkins and another from Shand but when you can apply pressure and make the quarterback uncomfortable, it takes a lot of stress on the linebackers and defensive backs who have to cover out there for so long.
And finally, the ability to get off the field on third down. Auburn was 3 for 12 on third down. Getting stops and giving the ball back to your high-power offense is the recipe for success.
There have been weeks where many fans were praying that LSU’s defense would get off the field and they are now showing the ability to get those stops.
