Though it’s only one game into a grueling football season for LSU, the team has yet to make headway on its offensive production.
The Tigers finished last in the Southeastern Conference in 2009 with only 771 plays run.
Saturday’s season-opening performance was no different, as North Carolina ran a whopping 79 plays compared to LSU’s 57 — a major reason UNC was nearly able to pull off a shocking comeback.
The Tar Heels had the ball for almost 10 more minutes, sporting a 34:35 time of possession in comparison to the Tigers’ 25:25.  
It also didn’t help that LSU had five turnovers — four fumbles and an interception — including two costly fumbles deep in UNC’s territory in the second half.
“What you saw was a number of opportunities squandered,” said LSU coach Les Miles. “If anybody turns the ball over [five times] … they are going to have fewer snaps on offense. That really is the piece that we have to get fixed.”
LSU ran an average of 59 plays last year, only two more than Saturday night’s performance — something offensive coordinator Gary Crowton didn’t have in mind when he spoke Aug. 10 at LSU Media Day.
“We didn’t get enough plays last year,” he said. “We’re trying to get [junior quarterback] Jordan Jefferson to be faster at getting plays from the sidelines and getting the snap count so the play clock isn’t running down.”
Jefferson did his part Saturday, breaking the huddle with 28 seconds left on the play clock compared to about 18 seconds last year, but the rest of the offense failed to do its duty.
The 28-second average largely exceeded Crowton’s expectations. Jefferson said Crowton spoke to him this summer and wanted him to break the huddle with anywhere from 20 to 25 seconds.
“That gave us more time to analyze,” Jefferson said. “We should have left that game with about 80 plays, but we had some setbacks.”
Turnovers or no turnovers, the Tigers were still the spitting image of their 2009 selves against the Tar Heels on Saturday.
Despite only turning the ball over 14 times last season — eight interceptions and six fumbles — the Tigers had fewer offensive snaps than their opponents in nine of 13 games and ran 139 fewer plays — an average of 10 less per game.  
LSU’s 771 play total last season was its lowest since its 746 plays in 2000.
Like 2009, the offense’s inability to stay on the field and keep the defense on the sidelines was represented by Saturday’s time possession differential. The LSU defense was on the field for 9:10 longer than its counterparts, which could have played a role in its tired legs on UNC’s final drive.
“We got to try and have more plays … to keep our defense off the field, to keep them fresh,” said LSU sophomore center P.J. Lonergan.
Fortunately for LSU fans, the Tigers had the same problem in the 2009 season opener at Washington but corrected it a week later for the start of SEC play against Vanderbilt.
The Huskies ran nearly twice as many plays as the Tigers with an 83-48 play disparity.  
But LSU bounced back against the Commodores in a 23-9 victory, running 72 plays compared to Vanderbilt’s 63.
Coincidentally, the Tigers travel to Vanderbilt this weekend in attempt to reverse their offensive misfortune.
“We just need to make sure we hold onto [the ball] for as long as possible,” Jefferson said.
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Contact Sean Isabella at [email protected]