After the devastating hurricane, Ida invaded the state of Louisiana, displacing tens of thousands; LSU players went into its season-opener at the coveted Rose Bowl against the UCLA Bruins with heavy hearts.
On the other hand, the Bruins, who had already endured its first game of the season against Hawaii the week prior, came into its home state with confidence after securing its first win. Nonetheless, the 27-38 Tiger loss was due to many things, but they all were rooted in a single concept: preparation.
With starting sophomore quarterback Max Johnson, LSU Head Coach Ed Orgeron hoped to ease the pressure off Johnson in his first start, leading to Orgeron’s emphasis on establishing a solid ground game.
That did not happen, to say the least.
And it did not help that the Tiger backfield was depleted as it was announced junior back John Emery Jr. would not be suiting up due to academic reasons. With this, the Tigers’ double-edged sword was down to just one edge: Tyrion Davis-Price. Behind veteran Davis-Price, who only managed to rush for 30 yards, the Tigers backfield averaged a tick under two yards per carry on 25 attempts. Without the ground game, the pressure was put on Johnson, and with a one-dimensional offense, it made it very difficult for the Tigers to have any offensive production.
Johnson was forced to attempt 46 passes on the evening, completing just 26 of said attempts for 330 yards, a trio of touchdowns, and an interception. At times, Johnson showed great poise in the pocket, but on the same token, his inexperience shined. The inconsistency can’t all be put on the shoulders of a true freshman in his first start, as he often found himself with little-to-no time to throw due to the pressure of the Bruins’ defensive line. The offensive line, who was without veteran Austin Deculus, struggled immensely. Johnson found himself time-after-time on the ground in the backfield.
On the other side of the field, the Bruins managed to exploit the Tigers’ defense, running circles around them. With the combination of UCLA’s Zach Charbonnet and Brittain Brown, LSU failed to find any answers on stopping the swift duo. Between the two, they managed to rack up 217 yards on 28 attempts with two touchdowns. In total, UCLA lit it up offensively, putting up a total of 475 yards. Although it seems like a lot, just about half of these yards came off a handful of plays. Missed tackles, reads, and breakdowns in the secondary allowed for the extension of plays and overall lack of success defensively.
With the offense failing to string together long, successful drives, the defense was forced to remain on the field for a lot longer than they would have liked.