Death Valley witnessed LSU celebrate its dominant win over the Southeastern Louisiana Lions, and the Baton Rouge-based Tigers now sit at No. 5 in the AP Top 25 Week 5 edition. The Tigers are going 4-0, and the momentum is strong. Brian Kelly’s words? “No perfection out there, but some progress.” Even the star QB, Garrett Nussmeier, was content: “I think we just did a better job as an offense in general.” But analyst Greg McElroy might differ in that regard.
It’s not that Garrett Nussmeier’s offense buckled or scrambled to gain yardage or reach the endzone. “I’ve been saying this for a while now, I don’t think LSU’s offense is broken,” McElroy said on ESPN College Football. It was something more than a pattern McElroy noticed about Kelly’s defense, which ironically was glaring against an inferior opponent. In the first fifteen minutes, there wasn’t much action on the field. It was in the last five minutes that Nussmeier reached the endzone. At 5:08 on the clock, Nussmeier ran for a 1-yard TD on 1st and Goal, followed by an extra point from Damian Ramos. So, the first quarter barely wrapped up with just one touchdown. For Heisman stock, the Tiger Stadium had been itching to witness more.
But the second quarter? The Tigers got explosive with four touchdowns in fifteen minutes, skyrocketing the scoreboard to 35, and that’s what McElroy is talking about. He continued. “I just don’t think LSU’s offense has been asked to do anything up to this point. Well, they hang 56 on Southeast Louisiana. Is it an indicator? I don’t know. But Nussmeier did do some nice things, and it was 7-0 there for a while. Next thing you know, blink of an eye, it’s 35 zip.”
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Over the four weeks, the Tigers went against Clemson, LA Tech, Florida Gators, and Southern Louisiana. “And maybe this was the game. Maybe this was the one to kind of jump-start the engine as they move forward,” Greg concluded. Before the game, the Tigers’ faithful came to know about Garrett Nussmeier’s hidden injury — an injured torso. However, the star quarterback did not face any issues reaching the end zone. He chipped in 273 passing yards for three touchdowns and ran for another score while completing 25 of 31 of his passes.
Brian Kelly was proud of his key weapon as he dominated the trenches in the wake of a torso injury: “You look at the efficiency with which he threw the football, targeting the football, seeing the field; you could see there was a higher level of comfort in terms of him throwing.” But still, the head coach is cautious, monitoring his quarterback’s health. Moving on, they will face off against Lane Kiffin’s Ole Miss Rebels at an away game in Oxford. And Brian Kelly has one promise: “That’s the version (of Nussmeier) that you’ll get the rest of the year.”
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But it was not just the 23-year-old who was on a roll. Tight end Bauer Sharp led the team in receiving with five catches for 73 yards and one score, while Ju’Juan Johnson finished the night with 43 yards and two TDs on eight carries. On the defensive end, linebacker Dahvon Keys posted another solid outing with three tackles, one PBU, and one QB hurry. The Baton Rouge team held SLU to just 204 total yards and cruised to victory with 56-10.
While this may have been a dominant showdown, it doesn’t mean the coming week will be such a smooth ride, especially as another major injury concern is tugging at Brian Kelly’s sleeves.
Will RB Caden Durham play against Ole Miss?
Both Ole Miss and the Tigers are looking forward to securing their playoff berth, and the stakes will be higher than ever. Even Lane Kiffin is going 4-0, and crushed Tulane, 45-10, over the weekend. But there’s one pressing issue tugging close to the LSU offense. Brian Kelly’s key explosive weapon, running back Caden Durham, faces an uncertain future.
During the second quarter, which saw a major influx of action against Southeastern Louisiana, Durham was seen limping. He is suffering from an ankle sprain. The severity of the sprain will be determined after an MRI. Until then, Durham’s future to play against Ole Miss remains murky. The sophomore RB has been a key weapon in Kelly’s playbook.
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He has a stacked resume with a team-high 213 rushing yards and two touchdowns over 52 carries this season. In addition to that, he also chipped in eight catches for 39 yards. Moreover, guard DJ Chester will be on the sidelines for the first half against Lane Kiffin’s squad as a result of a targeting penalty against the Lions; he was ejected from the game.
So, who do you think will come out on top at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, given that both teams have dominated the first four weeks of their season?