Here we go again. Just like last season, the LSU Tigers’ game provided the overreaction of the week to kick off the season.
One week into the 2020 season, the Mississippi State Bulldogs were poised to run through the SEC. The offensive guru Mike Leach had the SEC figured out after he picked apart the LSU secondary. His quarterback KJ Costello set an SEC record and it was all systems go for the Bulldogs, right?
Wrong. After that game, the Bulldogs lost four straight and needed Vanderbilt to end the streak. Then they proceeded to lose three more games. While LSU continued to play .500 football for the rest of the season. It wasn’t that Leach had figured the SEC out; LSU’s defense was just that bad.
As a matter of fact, it was one of the worst defenses in the history of the Tigers. The worst since 1950. We couldn’t go any further back than that. Let’s call it like it is: They took advantage of Bo Pelini’s undisciplined defense.
Shehan Jeyarajah of CBS Sports had the overreaction of the week:
Ed Orgeron led LSU to an undefeated 2019 national championship with one of the greatest teams of all time. But two years into the post-Joe Burrow era, that season is starting to look like an outlier, not the disappointing 5-5 follow-up. UCLA ran all over LSU in a dominant 38-27 win at the Rose Bowl, outgaining LSU 454-378. LSU’s offensive line struggled to protect against a Pac-12 defensive front, mustering just 1.9 yards per carry and constantly allowing pressure. It’s great to know that LSU can be a championship team … if it lucks into a Heisman Trophy quarterback and No. 1 NFL draft pick who gets play calls from a savant offensive mind like Joe Brady.
Jeyarajah brings up a good point, Brady was a brilliant offensive mind. He put the team in a position to be successful, as good coaches do. Before Joe Burrow lit up the SEC, no one was calling him the best quarterback in the conference. He wasn’t in Heisman conversations in the offseason or even early in the year. Under Brady, Burrow developed into that quarterback.
This overreaction overlooks the 2018 season when the team won 10 games including a New Year’s Six showdown with the then-undefeated Central Florida team that was ranked No. 7 in the nation. The season prior to that, LSU was 9-4. Yes, 2019 was magical, but to say it was the fluke totally disregards the prior two seasons as well.
Brady was working as an offensive assistant for both of those seasons in New Orleans. Since it doesn’t fit the narrative, might as well throw that little caveat out.
After first digesting the game, some of those overreactions went through my head. Orgeron should be on the hot seat. Daronte Jones is over his head. But let’s take a step back and digest it. The defense looked out of sorts against UCLA; Chip Kelly’s offenses have a way of doing that to teams. Kelly finally has his guys in place, and they took advantage of a defense implementing a new system.
The team also lost one of its starting linebackers before the game kicked off. By the end of the game, they were worn out. The offensive side of the ball did the defense no favors. It couldn’t control the line of scrimmage or sustain any drives.
It was the first game of the season, let’s call it like it is. That was a bad loss but the Tigers have time to get it corrected before Orgeron vs. Leach, Part 2 arrives in late September.
