LSU’s win over UCLA featured another second half turnaround just like the week before against South Carolina.

The Tigers turned a tie game into a comfortable 17-point win, but the issues that plagued them in the first half were familiar ones.

Still, LSU continues to show glimpses of the team it could be if it nails down consistency.

“We’re going to keep working with them, and they’re going to turn the corner in terms of listening and trusting,” head coach Brian Kelly said.

Here are our takeaways from the win.

LSU’s defense continues to start slow

LSU emphasized all week leading up to Saturday’s game that the team needed to start faster after falling down 0-17 in the early going vs. South Carolina.

The team even restructured its practices, starting them with 11-on-11 drills to simulate the suddenness of jumping right into game action.

For the offense, it worked. The unit marched down the field and scored a touchdown on the opening drive.

The defense, however, once again took its time to find its footing, allowing 17 points and 198 yards in the first half before allowing zero points and 83 yards in the second half.

“The mistakes are maddening,” Kelly said. “We got to clean them up.”

It’s clear that the recipe for defensive success for LSU may just be to create chaos; the Tigers have proven adept at getting to the quarterback and also at forcing turnovers.

At the moment, that explosiveness is coming at the expense of big plays. LSU allowed eight plays of 15 or more yards, with four of those coming on third downs.

For LSU to become an elite defense, it has to both prevent big plays and create some of its own. It hasn’t found that balance, especially in the first half of games.

“Now we just got to figure out how, next week, to come out in the first half and not play sloppy for a quarter and a half,” sophomore linebacker Whit Weeks said.

Mason Taylor is the team’s most valuable weapon

Last week at South Carolina, junior tight end Mason Taylor became LSU’s all-time leader in receptions by a tight end. On Saturday, he set another tight end record for the most receiving yards in school history.

It’s a stunning accomplishment for a player that, as good as he’s been since his freshman season, has always gone under the radar.

“Nobody talked about him coming into the season,” Kelly said. “You were talking about everybody else but Mason Taylor.”

No, Taylor isn’t as explosive as Kyren Lacy or as outspoken of a leader as Josh Williams, but his role just might be more integral to the current offense.

On Saturday, Nussmeier looked his way four times on third down, and Taylor converted three of those opportunities into first downs.

“I’m the type of guy who kind of gets hidden and pops out somewhere,” Taylor said.

He’s the ultimate safety valve for Nussmeier, and he continues to be endlessly reliable.

He’s also versatile; he has the skill to block, the speed to get loose in the seams and the awareness to find soft spots in zone coverage in the middle of the field.

The team may need to adapt without Harold Perkins Jr.

After the game, Kelly said that the team was still waiting on a more detailed diagnosis on Perkins’ knee injury, which he suffered in the third quarter.

“We’ll do all the diagnostic testing tonight and tomorrow,” he said.

However, it seems possible LSU could play at least one or two games without the All-American linebacker, which would force the defense to change its scheme slightly.

The Tigers would likely use fewer formations with three linebackers and rely more on their defensive backs. Given how the defensive backs have been the root of some of LSU’s problems – missed tackles and poor pass coverage – that may not be a good thing for the Tigers.

However, LSU is also expected to have senior linebacker West Weeks back next week after sitting out with a foot injury, and he may allow the Tigers to maintain some schematic continuity.

Still, LSU won’t be able to find someone who can replicate what Perkins does, particularly in terms of his blitzing prowess.

Defensive coordinator Blake Baker may need to dial back his aggressive blitzes knowing he’s lost one of his best in terms of executing them. Several times against UCLA, those blitzes were taken advantage of for huge gains in the flats.

No matter what, replacing Perkins will be a team-wide effort.

“We hope he’s back for us, but we’ll be able to move into other packages that resemble what we’ve been doing,” Kelly said.