Curtains have now closed on the 2024 NFL season, and the people of Maryland cannot be more ecstatic. They had high hopes for their new quarterback, fresh out of college with half a dozen awards to his name already.
Yet Jayden Daniels still found a way to exceed those hopes, taking the team to the NFC Championship for the first time in over 30 years. However, his long list of accomplishments has a conspicuous gap: no national championship.
While it’s not terribly uncommon for star college athletes to miss out on a championship, it still bites to watch a team with such a strong offense like LSU in 2023 come up short.
The small four-team playoff structure absolutely bears some of the blame for this failure, but it’s undeniable that it was mostly LSU’s historically bad defensive performance, as demonstrated in a few key games, which led to an utter inability to capitalize on their superstar offense.
The first was the season-opener against Florida State, which I won’t dwell on too much, as this loss is honestly the most excusable of the three. Florida State ultimately dominated the 2023 season, going 13-0 before being controversially snubbed for the playoffs.
LSU’s defense actually performed pretty well in this game, but FSU proved to be exceptionally dynamic, persisting despite their strong run-game being shut down.
The real faults start to become visible in the nailbiter game against Arkansas. LSU’s defense once again disabled the run game, but still left ample opportunities for Arkansas quarterback KJ Jefferson to throw deep, ultimately getting three touchdowns and accumulating 289 passing yards.
Fortunately, Arkansas also had terrible pass defense, allowing LSU to get three touchdowns, which, combined with Arkansas’ terrible clock management and penchant for penalties, allowed the Tigers to seal their close victory with a last second field goal.
Lady Luck wouldn’t save the Tigers when they faced Ole Miss.
It’s about time we introduced the central villain of this tale: Matt House. While LSU’s defense wasn’t expected to be in the top tier of the SEC, it still had a number of solid players who could’ve been successful with proper coaching. However, as is evident during the shootout with Ole Miss, where LSU allowed Ole Miss to get over 700 yards, he wasn’t up to the job.
The game exposed all of the worst aspects of LSU’s 2023 defense. The line frequently looked uncoordinated, with linebackers frequently leaving the line and seeming to wander around the field, applying minimal pressure to quarterback Jaxson Dart and leaving massive openings for any runner to waltz through. The secondary was also of very little help, allowing any wide receiver or running back to look like a Heisman winner.
However, the most infuriating aspect of House’s coaching was an utter inability to improve on the fundamentals. One statistic screams out over every other: 34 missed tackles. If Ole Miss wasn’t simply free to walk down the field, they usually didn’t have any problem shaking off the Tigers.
That loss killed any hopes LSU had of going to the playoffs, and a crushing loss to Alabama a few games later killed any hopes Matt House had of keeping his job.
However, despite their historically bad 2023 defense, LSU only looks to be on an upward trajectory.
One of the most significant improvements made by new defensive coordinator Blake Baker was more effective utilization of linebacker Harold Perkins Jr. House mostly used Perkins as an inside linebacker, which limited his opportunities as a pass rusher, a role he had previously excelled at.
Baker has instead gradually moved Perkins to a unique “star” position, combining aspects of linebacker and defensive back, which more effectively utilizes his athleticism and puts him in a better spot to succeed as a pass rusher.
Furthermore, Baker has brought back a broader atmosphere of toughness and aggression to the defense, a hallmark which faded under House.
Baker stated it best: “If a guy gets beat deep and puts his palms up, that’s a poodle. If we turn down a hit, that’s a poodle. We don’t want poodles.”
And Baker’s strategy has had real results.
While LSU’s defense was of course not perfect in the 2024 season, it was miles ahead of what it was just a year prior. In 2023, it ranked near the bottom of the conference, ahead of only Vanderbilt. Now it’s steadily risen towards the middle of the pack, to 11th.
Furthermore, Brian Kelly has aggressively used the transfer portal to continue bolstering the defense. He notched two massive gains in Florida State defensive end Patrick Payton and NC State safety Tamarcus Cooley, both some of the highest ranked defensive prospects in the transfer portal.
Tamarcus Cooley’s recruitment is a massive win, as a top tier safety will help LSU immensely in their secondary, an area they have consistently struggled to succeed in.
While the Tigers will always be bitter about the season that could have been, the new opportunities afforded by the transfer portal and Blake Baker’s new philosophy have given new life to one of the sorriest defenses in college football, and they only seem to keep getting better.
