LSU seemed to have turned a corner after dropping its opener to Florida State, winning four-straight games.
That may still be true to a degree, but things came crashing back down to Earth on Saturday as Tennessee cruised to a 40-13 win in a rare morning game at Tiger Stadium. It was the first SEC loss under coach [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] as the Tigers move to 4-2 (2-1 SEC) on the year.
This one started off badly for LSU, with [autotag]Jack Bech[/autotag] muffing the opening kick and giving the Volunteers the ball near the red zone, which they turned into a quick touchdown. The Tigers went three-and-out, and a field goal drive gave Tennessee a two-score lead less than four minutes into the game. Things only got worse from there.
The biggest question entering this game was whether LSU would be able to slow down the high-powered Vols offense. It wasn’t an abysmal performance for the Tigers, at least against the passing attack. Hendon Hooker went 17 of 27 for 239 yards and two touchdowns, but the real killer was UT’s ground game.
Led by Jabari Small, Tennessee ran for 264 yards, inflating its total yardage to 503 for the game.
LSU’s offense wasn’t as bad as the 13 points scored would have you believe, but it went just 2 of 4 in the red zone. It also had several promising drives end after several failed fourth-down calls — some of which were questionable, including a fourth and 10 from midfield near the end of the half.
[autotag]Jayden Daniels[/autotag] was sacked, setting up a Tennessee field goal to extend the lead to 23-7 at the half. That was one of five sacks Daniels took behind a banged-up offensive line that was without [autotag]Will Campbell[/autotag] and lost [autotag]Garrett Dellinger[/autotag] during the game to a knee injury.
He still managed to be productive, throwing for 300 yards and a touchdown to [autotag]Kayshon Boutte[/autotag] (his first of the year) on 71% passing. He did throw his first interception of the year in the final seconds with the game well out of hand.
The ground game was less impressive. Outside of Daniels, who led the group with 38 yards, [autotag]Josh Williams[/autotag] was the top rusher with 10 yards on seven carries, though he did manage to find the end zone. Ultimately, LSU’s defense held its own despite the yardage numbers. But this team just wasn’t able to complete drives, and as a result, this one never felt close.
The Tigers don’t have much time to reflect on this one as they have another challenging game next weekend when they hit the road to take on Florida. The Gators haven’t looked great, but they did beat Missouri on Saturday, and it will be a night game in the Swamp.
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