Tag: LSU Football

Transfer portal season is about to kick into high gear with the regular season coming to a close. For LSU, it began on Sunday with quarterback Rickie Collins entering the portal.

Collins was a four-star recruit in 2023 but didn’t see much in action in two years behind Jayden Daniels and Garrett Nussmeier. Losing a young blue-chip recruit isn’t ideal, but it’s hard to maintain depth at the QB position.

You can only play one of them and guys that ride the bench will explore options elsewhere.

What does the loss of Collins mean for LSU?

An optimist would say it means current starter Nussmeier is coming back.

If Nussmeier were to declare for the NFL draft, Collins would have a prime opportunity to compete for a starting job. Leaving now wouldn’t make a ton of sense unless he just wanted a change of scenery, which is always possible.

But if Nussmeier does return, it’s another year where LSU’s QB1 is already solidified. Collins wanting to look elsewhere makes sense for a talented player entering his third-year of college.

Last week, Brian Kelly said he was hopeful when it came to Nussmeier’s return. Kelly has also hinted at key players preparing to announce their intention to come back.

Nussmeier said he will play in the bowl game, but has not made any further announcement regarding his future. But if you’re reading the tea leaves, there are good signs.

After back-to-back wins, LSU is still absent from the US LBM Coaches Poll. The Tigers beat Oklahoma 37-17 on Saturday night, but it wasn’t enough.

LSU didn’t even make the receiving votes group.

Elsewhere in the state, Tulane fell from the poll after losing to Memphis on Thanksgiving night. Tulane was in the receiving votes column, earning 37 points. Louisiana is in the same group, earning 11 points.

LSU was ranked for most of the year until it lost at Florida and the final loss of a three-game losing streak pushed LSU to 6-4 before the Tigers bounced back to finish 8-4.

With South Carolina coming in at No. 12 and Ole Miss at No. 15, LSU has two wins over the top 15 teams. However, three of the Tigers’ four losses were to teams finishing unranked — USC, Texas A&M, and Florida. 

The Tigers now await their bowl destination, which will be released next week following the College Football Playoff selection show.

Here’s a look at the complete US LBM Coaches Poll.

Rank	Team	Record	Points
1	Oregon Ducks	12-0	1,325 (53)
2	Texas Longhorns	11-1	1,272
3	Penn State Nittany Lions	11-1	1,192
4	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	11-1	1,165
5	Georgia Bulldogs	10-2	1,104
6	Tennessee Volunteers	10-2	1,025
7	SMU Mustangs	11-1	977
8	Ohio State Buckeyes	10-2	976
9	Indiana Hoosiers	11-1	895
10	Boise State Broncos	11-1	840
11	Alabama Crimson Tide	9-3	733
12	South Carolina Gamecocks	9-3	700
13	Arizona State Sun Devils	10-2	665
14	Miami Hurricanes	10-2	646
15	Ole Miss Rebels	9-3	638
16	Iowa State Cyclones	10-2	565
17	Clemson Tigers	9-3	457
18	BYU Cougars	10-2	419
19	UNLV Rebels	10-2	255
20	Missouri Tigers	9-3	229
21	Illinois Fighting Illini	9-3	225
22	Colorado Buffaloes	9-3	215
23	Army Black Knights	10-1	196
24	Memphis Tigers	10-2	187
25	Syracuse Orange	9-3	108

 

LSU football finished the regular season strong on Saturday night with a 37-17 win over Oklahoma.

Brian Kelly said he was proud of how LSU responded after a mid-season losing streak cut the Tigers’ record to 6-4. After back-to-back wins to close the year, LSU heads into the bowl game at 8-4.

“They put consistent performances together over the last two weeks,” Kelly said.

“We had five freshmen and two sophomores on defense today playing their tails off, so you know, again, we’re taking receipts and, you know, we’ll see you at the national championship. This team’s building,” Kelly said.

But that’s enough talk about intangibles. Now, we’ll take a look at how the game played out on paper. What do the numbers say about LSU’s 20-point win?

LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier played his cleanest game of the year and for the most part, the defense shut down the Sooners’ passing attack. That was the recipe we talked about heading into the game.

Here are three stats that tell the story of LSU’s win.

Oklahoma: -0.73 EPA/dropback

The Sooners averaged -0.73 EPA/dropback, a performance that ranked in the first percentile according to GameOnPaper. 

It doesn’t get better than that for the LSU passing defense. It was a group effort with the front seven making it difficult for Jackson Arnold and the secondary clamping down in the second half.

LSU senior defensive ends Bradyn Swinson and Sai’vion Jones combined for 11 pressures. Whit Weeks added four more and recorded a sack.

It was a strong night for the true freshman too. Dominick McKinley sacked Arnold twice and Gabe Reliford had two pressures. Dahvon Keys got the first sack of his career.

On the backend, Sage Ryan played one of the best games of his career. He made four stops and took advantage of a broken trick play, coming up with an interception.

Cornerback Zy Alexander continued his hot streak, allowing just 10 yards on five targets. He has a strong case to be included on the All-SEC team.

Aaron Anderson: 153 kickoff return yards

Zavion Thomas was out and Aaron Anderson stepped into the kickoff return role.

All Anderson did was run a kick back 100-yards for a touchdown.

It came at the perfect time. Garrett Nussmeier was in the locker room with a shoulder injury and LSU didn’t know if he was coming back. Anderson bought LSU some time and six points.

By the time LSU got the ball back again, Nussmeier was ready to go and had a lead to play with too.

Anderson finished with 153 return yards on the night, including another nice return for 34 yards.

Brian Kelly said the 100-yard score was a big momentum swing.

“It was a momentum boost for us and it really carried us, you know, throughout the game,” Kelly said.

LSU’s 15-yard play rate: 14.3%

LSU’s offense had the big play working on Saturday night. On its first scoring drive, Nussmeier found Caden Durham for a 16-yard catch and run and the drive was capped with an 18-yard touchdown to Kyren Lacy.

Shortly after Nussmeier left the game, Caden Durham broke free for a 50-yard run that set LSU up for a field goal.

Upon returning, Nussmeier found Chris Hilton twice for explosive passing touchdowns.

Hilton finished the night was two catches for 85 yards and two scores. LSU was missing that explosive passing element all year and Brian Kelly said it was key to opening up the entire offense.

After a three-game losing streak, LSU could have quit. LSU was knocked out of the SEC title race and playoff hunt after losing to Florida and the Tigers had to find something else to play for.

With back-to-back home games to finish the year, LSU showed up. Brian Kelly’s team didn’t quit and capped off the regular season with wins over Vanderbilt and Oklahoma.

Following the win over the Sooners, Kelly was adamant about what he was building at LSU.

“I’m proud of my team,” Kelly said, “Last two weeks, they listened to the narratives out there that they weren’t excited to play for anything, that the season was over, and they simply went out and played inspired football the last two weeks.”

Kelly didn’t stop there.

“We’re taking receipts, and, you know, we’ll see you at the national championship. This team’s building,” Kelly said.

Kelly said he knows what the standards are in Baton Rouge.

“Everybody wants to win every game. We wanted to win every game. We’re not happy if we lose a game,” Kelly said.

But despite LSU’s struggles and inconsistencies in 2024, Kelly still believes in the foundation of the program.

“We’re happy about the foundation of this program, playing with young players that are only going to get better and we’re going to supplement those players,” Kelly said.

Kelly saying LSU will supplement the core echoes what we’ve heard the last couple of weeks — LSU will be aggressive in the transfer portal.

On top of what LSU may add from the portal, Kelly said LSU will retain key players and that excites him about the future of this program.