For the most part, LSU’s defensive front was good in 2022.
Despite losing [autotag]Maason Smith[/autotag] in the opener, transfer [autotag]Mekhi Wingo[/autotag] and [autotag]Jaquelin Roy[/autotag] gave LSU’s interior a solid one-two punch. [autotag]BJ Ojulari[/autotag] proved to be one of the league’s better edge defenders, and [autotag]Harold Perkins[/autotag] emerged as an elite pass rusher.
LSU’s front struggled in 2020 and for much of 2021, making last year’s turnaround more impressive.
It wasn’t all perfect, though. LSU ranked 80th in negative play rate, defined here as sacks and tackles for loss divided by total plays. If Matt House’s group wants to make the jump to elite, more disruption is needed.
It’s not the end all, be all. Elite defenses don’t have to rank top 10 in this stat. Georgia and Iowa didn’t last year, but they were still top 30. TCU sat just behind LSU, but it had one of the highest-scoring offenses in a sport.
When it came to takeaways, LSU ranked 90th and 89th in interception rate. When LSU’s defense struggled last year, it often had to do with big plays. It was a group giving up too many big plays and not creating enough of their own.
Again, on the whole, this defense was good. It delivered in big moments and got better as the year went on. I’d expect improvement this year. The return of Smith and Wingo, along with the development of [autotag]Jacobian Guillory[/autotag] and a slew of transfers on the defensive line, bodes well.
There are some questions about how LSU will replace Ojulari. Whether that production is replicated could play a big role in determining how much of a step forward this unit takes.
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