Offensively speaking, LSU may be the best team in the entire country.
Its passing attack is led by fifth-year quarterback [autotag]Jayden Daniels[/autotag], who has 19 touchdown passes already through six games to just two interceptions. He’s aided by two of the nation’s best receivers in [autotag]Malik Nabers[/autotag] and [autotag]Brian Thomas Jr.[/autotag], and the run game with transfer [autotag]Logan Diggs[/autotag] has also improved.
However, that championship caliber group is going to waste due to the team’s defensive issues, CBS Sports’ Will Backus wrote. The Tigers gave up 55 points in a loss to Ole Miss, and they allowed 39 while hanging on to beat Missouri.
Per Backus, that unit is holding the team back from something special.
LSU’s offense is playing well enough to win a national championship, especially given how wide open this season has been so far. Quarterback Jayden Daniels is on a Heisman Trophy pace. He ranks in the top five of almost every major passing category, and his 19 touchdowns through the air in LSU’s first six games are more than he had all of last season.
All of this on top of the fact that he has 422 rushing yards and four touchdowns. LSU’s offense is putting up numbers that would make its historic 2019 squad impressed. And yet it’s all going to waste.
LSU isn’t going to make the College Football Playoff. The Tigers have already made sure of that with a 4-2 record at the midway point of their season after holding off No. 21 Missouri in a 49-39 victory on Saturday. It can almost all be blamed on a shockingly bad defense, which cost LSU a game against Ole Miss despite the fact the Tigers scored 49 points. At least Daniels can hang his hat on a fantastic showing in his final year of eligibility.
As Backus said, LSU’s playoff hopes are already basically over, and while it could still salvage a semi-successful season, it will be hard to not wonder what could have been with this elite offense.
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