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Does Rickie Collins transfer mean Garrett Nussmeier is returning to LSU?

Rickie Collins hit the transfer portal. What does that mean for the LSU QB room?

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.

LSU quarterback Rickie Collins enters transfer portal

LSU is losing a quarterback to the transfer portal

LSU football took its first transfer portal loss of the season on Sunday with backup quarterback [autotag]Rickie Collins[/autotag] jumping in.

The news was first reported by Hayes Fawcett of On3Sports.

Collins was a four-star prospect in the class of 2023. He has three years of eligibility remaining after redshirting last fall.

Collins entered the year in a battle for QB2 with Vanderbilt transfer AJ Swann. He saw limited action in his time with LSU, attempting just seven passes to go along with seven carries. Collins posted 37 yards through the air and 38 on the ground.

When Garrett Nussmeier went down with a shoulder injury vs. Oklahoma, it was Swann entering in relief, not Collins.

Some LSU fans may take this as a sign that Nussmeier plans to return. If Nussmeier declared for the draft, Collins would be in the thick of a quarterback battle, especially with Bryce Underwood flipping to Michigan.

Collins won’t be the first Tiger to transfer out of Baton Rouge. In the modern era, there’s sure to be a handful every year.

LSU absent from US LBM Coaches Poll despite Oklahoma win

Should LSU football be ranked after beating Oklahoma in week 14?

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

Three stats that tell the story of LSU’s 37-17 win over Oklahoma

See the three stats that tell the story of LSU’s 37-17 win over the Sooners

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.

Garrett Nussmeier and Brian Kelly discuss LSU QB’s “gritty” performance

What did Brian Kelly and Garrett Nussmeier say about the LSU QB’s performance?

LSU quarterback [autotag]Garrett Nussmeier[/autotag] headed to the locker room in the first quarter of Saturday’s game against Oklahoma with an apparent shoulder injury.

It appeared doubtful that he would return to the game but the redshirt junior gunslinger found his way back to the field and finished the game with 277 yards and three touchdowns.

Two of those touchdown passes went to junior wide receiver [autotag]Chris Hilton[/autotag] for big plays with the pair finally establishing a deep-ball connection.

Head coach Brian Kelly praised Nussmeier for his “grit and toughness” against the Sooners.

“That’s an easy tap-out for most people,” Kelly said. “That’s an easy one to say, ‘I’m not coming back’ but that’s the kind of player he is. That’s the kind of competitor he is.”

Following the game, Kelly and Nussmeier acknowledged the noise surrounding the program from LSU’s midseason three-game losing streak to the recruiting trail.

Despite the chaos, the Tigers stayed the course and finished the 2024 regular season with two wins in Death Valley and await their bowl game selection.

“When they’re talked about in a manner that they have been over the past two to three weeks, you want them to buckle down, but on their mouth guard and go out there and play,” Kelly said. “That’s what they did and that’s what he [Nussmeier] did.”

Saturday marked the final home game for several LSU seniors, which made Nussmeier push even harder to return in order to help “send these seniors out on the right note.”

“I wanted to be out here for these guys,” Nussmeier said. “I’m going to miss these seniors. LSU means so much to me, these colors mean so much to me. I couldn’t imagine sitting there and watching some of my teammates play their last game without me.”

Why Brian Kelly still believes LSU is a building a championship foundation

See why Brian Kelly still believes a championship foundation is being built at LSU

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.

Stock Up, Stock Down: Tigers win their final home game of the season

Who saw their stock rise and fall in LSU’s big win over Oklahoma

Coming into tonight’s game against Oklahoma, [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] and the LSU Tigers were coming off of a win over Vanderbilt. On the other hand, Oklahoma was coming off of a big win at home over Alabama. The question entering the game was if Oklahoma would suffer a hangover from that win.

It appeared as though they may have still been hungover from their big win last week as LSU came out with a big 37-17 win over Boomer Sooner. On senior night, the seniors on this team decided to go out with a bang.

A few of the key players in this game were Garrett Nussmeier, Caden Durham, Chris Hilton Jr., and Whit Weeks. Those four guys were a big reason why the Tigers won.

Let’s look at the players who saw their stock rise or fall in this game.

Stock Up: Caden Durham

[autotag]Caden Durham[/autotag] was the leading rusher for the Tigers tonight as he finished the game with 11 carries for 80 yards. His longest rush of the night was a 50-yard scamper.

Stock Down: Penalties

The biggest thing I want to harp on in this game is penalties. LSU had 6 penalties for 46 yards. In the first half, the Offensive Line had a holding penalty and two false start penalties.

Stock Up: Garrett Nussmeier

[autotag]Garrett Nussmeier[/autotag] played well once again, although he left the game with an injury for a short period. He finished the game 22-for-31 throwing for 277 yards and three touchdowns.

Stock Up: Chris Hilton Jr.

[autotag]Chris Hilton Jr.[/autotag] only had two receptions tonight but they were both big ones. He had two receptions for 85 yards against Oklahoma but both of his receptions went for touchdowns.

Stock Up: Whit Weeks

[autotag]Whit Weeks[/autotag] was phenomenal for the Tigers tonight. He finished the game with the most tackles on the team (15) with nine of those being solo tackles.

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Five takeaways from LSU’s commanding win over Oklahoma

Here are five takeaways from LSU’s 37-17 win over the Sooners

LSU football capped off the regular season strong on Saturday night with a commanding win over the Oklahoma Sooners in Tiger Stadium.

Following a three-game losing streak, LSU finishes on a high with back-to-back wins. From a narrative perspective, Brian Kelly and crew needed these wins. There will still be some noise, but the last two weeks should go a long way towards calming nerves at LSU.

LSU finishes the regular season 8-4 and will have a chance to get to nine wins with a win in the bowl game. The win was LSU’s fifth SEC victory of the year, allowing the Tigers to finish over .500 in conference play.

LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier played his best game of the year, completing 22 of 31 passes for 260 yards and four touchdowns. It was a gutsy performance after he went down with a shoulder injury in the first quarter.

Caden Durham led LSU on the ground with 11 carries for 80 yards. He was a weapon in the passing game too, catching four passes for 32 yards.

Here are five takeaways from the win.

Nussmeier plays game of the year.

Given the opponent, this was, by far, QB Garrett Nussmeier’s strongest performance. He was efficient and explosive, attacking all areas of the field and playing with a confidence we hadn’t seen before.

It looked murky at first. Oklahoma got on the board with a strip sack and score before knocking Nussmeier out of the game late in the first quarter.

Nussmeier wasn’t out long and led a scoring drive just before halftime.

The deep ball was working for LSU and Nussmeier connected with Chris Hilton Jr. twice. Once for a 45-yard touchdown and again for a 40-yard score.

Nussmeier took a big step last week after struggling vs. Florida. He took an even bigger step on Saturday. If Nussmeier elects to return, the last two games have LSU feeling good about its quarterback.

LSU was explosive

We noted Nussmeier’s two explosive touchdowns to Chris Hilton, but that wasn’t all. Nussmeier found Pimpton for a big play on a wheel route down the sideline. Running back Caden Durham found space for a 50-yard burst.

The big play element was lacking from LSU’s offense for most of the year, but the Tigers found it in a big way on Saturday night.

After the game, Brian Kelly talked about how critical it was for Hilton to provide that spark. It took time for Nussmeier and Hilton to get on the same page this year, but the two were in sync here.

According to GameOnPaper, LSU’s explosive play rate was 13%, putting the Tigers in the 90th percentile.

Defense plays shutout football in the second half

LSU’s defense had some hiccups in the first half. Jackson Arnold ripped off a few big runs while OU targeted Major Burns for a big play down the seam.

In the second half, LSU shut it down. As the LSU offense built the lead, LSU’s defense got more aggressive. Blake Baker’s unit played to its identity and began to live in the Sooners’ backfield.

On the night, LSU finished with ten tackles for loss and four sacks. Freshman defensive tackle Dominick McKinley came up big with two sacks.

The Sooners finished the night averaging -0.73 EPA/dropback, making it an elite performance for the LSU defense.

Aaron Anderson provides special teams spark

Aaron Anderson had a breakout year on the offensive side of the ball, but on Saturday night, he came up big on special teams.

With Garrett Nussmeier in the locker room, Anderson broke free for a 100-yard kickoff return at the perfect moment. The score put LSU back in front and bought Nussmeier the time he needed.

Senior night Josh Williams ran with Anderson the whole way, throwing a key block as the pair approached the goal line.

LSU wanted Anderson for his speed and playmaking ability. It was on display tonight.

LSU showed what it was made of

After LSU’s loss to Florida, we said we were about to learn a lot about this LSU team. Some threw the “quit” word out there, asking how LSU would respond after a three-game losing streak.

LSU was favored against Vanderbilt and Oklahoma, but both were formidable opponents. Oklahoma just beat Alabama 24-3 a week ago.

Brian Kelly got his team up to play on both occasions. LSU’s veteran leadership pulled LSU together for a strong finish to the year.

What Brian Kelly said about Chris Hilton’s big night in Oklahoma win

What did LSU head coach Brian Kelly say about Chris Hilton’s breakout performance?

LSU needed a boost heading into halftime in its final game of the regular season.

[autotag]Chris Hilton[/autotag] gave LSU that spark when he caught a 40-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Garrett Nussmeier and gave his team a seven-point edge at the break over Oklahoma.

With under seven minutes left in the third frame, the redshirt junior wide receiver hauled in a 45-yard strike to put the game out of reach and accounted for the only points of the third quarter.

Hilton led all receivers with 85 yards on those two touchdown receptions. Saturday marked his fifth game of the 2024 season as he missed the first half with an injury that also held him out of preseason camp.

LSU head coach Brian Kelly said Hilton got the game ball for his performance and praised the Zachary, LA native for his effort in the win.

“He was out for eight weeks and it takes a while to get back into rhythm,” Kelly said. “We either missed him on overthrows or the timing wasn’t quite where it needed to be. It normally takes about four weeks to get that.”

In an offense that performed lackluster in a midseason losing streak, Kelly said finding Hilton with the deep ball created space within the rest of the offense.

“The deep threat has been missing from our offense,” Kelly said. “Teams have sat down on us, teams have made it difficult for us because we haven’t had that vertical threat.”

LSU turned in a balanced offensive performance in Saturday’s victory. Nussmeier threw for 277 yards and three touchdowns and the run game totaled 110 yards, including a game-high 50-yard Ruch by Caden Durham.

Kelly credited the deep ball connections as the reason for the efficient showing, saying it was “needed desperately.”

“When you can push the ball down the field and have the other options within our offensive structure,” Kelly said. “It allows you to run the football, it allows you to have the intermediate passing game and vertical passing game.”

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Instant recap: LSU defeats Oklahoma in regular season finale

LSU finished the regular season strong with a 37-17 win over Oklahoma

In the final game of the 2024 regular season, LSU overcame a slow start and a brief injury to its quarterback to beat Oklahoma 37-17.

Despite leaving the game with a shoulder injury at the end of the first quarter, LSU gunslinger [autotag]Garrett Nussmeier[/autotag] returned near the end of the half and led LSU on a touchdown drive.

The redshirt junior finished with 277 passing yards and three touchdowns.

After connecting with Kyren Lacy for a game-opening touchdown, Nussmeier fumbled the ball and the Sooners returned it to tie the game.

The Tigers reclaimed the lead with just over seven minutes left in the first half when Aaron Anderson took a kickoff to the house, making the score 17-14. LSU never trailed following Anderson’s tally and held Oklahoma scoreless in the second half.

Nussmeier found wide receiver Chris Hilton Jr. for two scores with passes over 40 yards. The first, a 40-yard strike, gave the Tigers a seven-point lead heading into the locker room. The duo picked up where they left off with under seven minutes remaining in the third quarter as Hilton hauled in a 45-yard pass and found the end zone.

Damian Ramos nailed all three of his field goal attempts. He made a 34-yard kick in the second quarter to give LSU a three-point edge along with two in the fourth quarter to seal the win.

LSU’s defense combined for four sacks and 10 tackles for loss. Freshman defensive tackle Dominick McKinley totaled two sacks and two tackles for loss. Sophomore linebacker Whit Weeks led the Tigers with 15 tackles, including nine solo.

The Tigers finish the season with an 8-4 record and await their bowl game selection.