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LSU football hasn’t been a loser in a long time. At least, not on the field.
Arkansas has an opportunity to ensure the Tigers are no better than .500 this season with a win in Baton Rouge on Saturday. It won’t be easy, but given LSU’s tumultuous year, about the only people hoping it doesn’t happen prefer yellow and purple.
LSU coach Ed Orgeron was fired last month, but allowed to finish out the season. The removal came less than a week after the Tigers beat then No. 20-Florida to move to 4-3. The two games before the Gators were losses and the two games after have been, too.
Tigers quarterback Max Johnson, the fourth-leading passer in the SEC and the man who has the second most touchdown passes in the league, won’t take all the snap Saturday against the Razorbacks, either. Not because he’s injured or that he’s been completely ineffective (obviously). Instead, 4-star freshman Garrett Nussmeier will split time after the first-year player expressed his frustration about not playing this year. Nussmeier’s father, Dallas Cowboys quarterbacks coach Doug Nussmeier, also called LSU offensive coordinator Jake Peetz and – ahem – strongly suggested Garrett Nussmeier play soon, too.
So he will.
It’s been hard to watch from the outside, frankly. One of the most proud, and most successful, programs in the SEC, in the country, even, over the last 20 years has been relegated to laughingstock. LSU lost to perennial power Alabama last week by only six points, but the Tigers always have talent. Imagine what they could have done had they been functional.
Arkansas should do the college football world some good and end the misery. LSU plays Louisiana-Monroe on November 20 and the Tigers will almost certainly win that game. But with a finish against Texas A&M two days after Thanksgiving, the Razorbacks can get the ball rolling now: send LSU to a third straight loss and let them sort out their business out of the spotlight when the calendar turns to December.