By Hunt Palmer
Two weeks ago, LSU got caught flat-footed by a quarterback change.
Saturday night LSU got cold-cocked by a gameplan that may as well have been hand-delivered to the football operations building during the bye week. Head coach Brian Kelly literally said as much in the moments after Texas A&M outscored LSU 31-6 in the second half behind 62 yards and three rushing touchdowns by Marcel Reed.
“Right now, I would run the quarterback against us,” Kelly said.
So would Kalen DeBoer, apparently.
Jalen Milroe’s first carry of the game went for a 39-yard touchdowns. His penultimate carry came two hours and thirty minutes later but produced the same result, a 72-yard scoring sprint to into the same north endzone.
In total, Milroe ran for a career-best 185 yards and four touchdowns. LSU simply never came up with an answer.
What happened in Fayetteville, Ark., when the Tigers held Taylen Green, who is fourth in the SEC in total offense, to minus-10 rushing yards with a long of seven, feels like a complete anomaly.
LaNorris Sellers gashed this group before he exited with an injury at South Carolina. Reed scorched them two weeks ago. And Saturday it boiled over in an embarrassing result.
LSU’s defense is better than last year’s unit which was statistically the worst in program history. It’s still a long way from championship good.
And the offense doesn’t get a pass. With two weeks to prepare for a defense that Vanderbilt and South Carolina moved the ball on consistently, LSU managed one meaningless pity score with less than 20 seconds left in the game.
Kelly came to LSU to win championships. That was the stated mission from Day 1. Saturday night, any chance to compete for one in 2024 was washed away by some South Louisiana showers and the Crimson Tide.
So, when will the next shot come? It’s hard to suggest that will be next year.
LSU will not have Will Campbell or Emery Jones at tackle. Garrett Dellinger and Miles Frazier are out of eligibility. So, 80 percent of the offensive line will be gone.
Say what you will about Garrett Nussmeier’s turnovers the last two games, but a league that drafted guys like Paxton Lynch, Will Levis, Zac Wilson and Trey Lance in the first round might well be willing to take a strong-armed coach’s kid with a bunch of passing yards. Maybe he goes.
Kyren Lacy will be gone. So will Mason Taylor and C.J. Daniels.
Bradyn Swinson and Sai’vion Jones are out of eligibility. So is Zy Alexander, your best cover man.
And the schedule? At Clemson, at Alabama, at Ole Miss and at Oklahoma.
The exodus of the most impactful players on the roster combined with a favorable schedule flipping over doesn’t scream “College Football Playoff”. That makes this the low point in the Kelly era.
Now, Kelly has assembled a staff with exceptional credentials and likely will ink a Top 3 signing class in a month. That class will presumably include the No. 1 player in the nation in Bryce Underwood and a host of other high-end talents.
Help is on the way.
And LSU isn’t alone having been blasted by a good team this year. Georgia couldn’t stand up to Ole Miss. Texas A&M was flattened by South Carolina. Tennessee couldn’t move the ball on Arkansas.
All three of those teams think they’ve got a real shot at the playoff, and LSU beat all three of those opponents.
Alabama lost to Vanderbilt. Ole Miss lost to Kentucky. It happens.
Keep in mind, we’re two weeks removed from an LSU team sitting at 6-1 with a 10-point lead on Texas A&M in Kyle Field.
Then 73-19 happened over six quarters.
There was once a time when winning nine games and then a tenth in a bowl game was considered a solid season. Those days have gone. Now, in a place like Baton Rouge, good seasons mean a playoff berth, and bowl berths mean disappointment.
Saturday cemented disappointment in 2024.
The Kelly-era is nowhere near the brink. LSU’s signing class isn’t going to shatter. There is significant reason for optimism in the future.
How distant that future remains is the question.
