Stephen Lew-Imagn Images
By Hunt Palmer
Garrett Nussmeier’s tone changed on Tuesday.
The senior quarterback rarely deviates from the standard cliches when dealing with the media. He’s cordial and willing to answer questions, but he’s reserved and predictable, too. That comes from growing up in a coach’s household.
On Tuesday, he cracked the door on his early season struggles without overtly stating the cause.
“I think it’s pretty obvious what has gone on,” Nussmeier said, alluding to his health. “I don’t want to get into it directly. I’ll say football you’re never truly healthy. It’s a sport you have to play when you’re banged up. Obviously, it’s been frustrating. But it’s football. You’ve got to play through bangs and bruises. I have no excuses. I’m just looking forward to trying to get better and finish the year off the right way.”
Saturday night was a start to that finish.
LSU moved the ball for a season-high in yards. The running game contributed, and Nussmeier created a little bit of zip on the ball for the first time all year. He aired out a deep ball for Chris Hilton that was dropped and generally looked more like the 4,000-yard Nussmeier of 2024.
“We’re trying to balance this – he plays with a swagger,” said LSU Head Coach Brian Kelly on Monday. “He’s better with a swagger. Don’t know that he had that in previous weeks. I thought he was a little bit robotic.”
Call it robotic, injured, inconsistent. Any of those would work, but Saturday was a step in the right direction after the open date which allowed Nussmeier to take a step back.
It still didn’t allow for any excuses.
“It helped a lot for me to be able to get a quick rest,” Nussmeier said. “But as I said, you’ve got to play banged up. No matter what the situation is, I’ll go out there and give it my all.”
The 20-point total from Saturday night wasn’t necessarily indicative of how LSU played. The Tigers turned the ball over twice inside the 10 yard line and failed to punch in a clinching touchdown with first and goal from the one under three minutes to play.
Turnovers and short yardage failures are certainly crucial mistakes, but LSU did what it took to create those chances.
Lessons were learned.
“It’s just finishing,” Nussmeier said. “One, taking care of the football. And when we have an opportunity to ice a game from the three yard line, we’ve got to do it. That would have been an opportunity for us to make a statement. So, I think it’s a frustrating thing, but it’s also a lesson that we learned.”
This Tiger offense is yet to make a statement on the season. The defense has bottled up Clemson, Florida and South Carolina to secure the three biggest wins of the year. Nussmeier is confident that Saturday’s offensive showing is a sign of more to come.
“I think we completely dominated the game,” Nussmeier said. “We dominated the line of scrimmage. We threw the ball at will. We were running the ball at will, and we messed it up ourselves three times inside the 10…So, we know how good we played. We know what the score should have looked like…At the end of the day, if we would have executed those small things, the score would have looked different, and there would have been a totally different conversation this week from the media, everybody.”
A lot of that conversation in August was about the Heisman Trophy and the NFL Draft. Nussmeier certainly had nothing to do with that, but talkin’ season is for talkin,’ and his prolific junior season created some national narratives.
After six games of pedestrian performances, those discussions are over. Nussmeier ranks 47th in the country in passing yards per game and 51st in touchdown passes. He’s thrown for nine scores and five interceptions.
But his goals haven’t changed.
“I’ve said it many, many times. I didn’t care about awards or anything else or focus on all this individual stuff,” Nussmeier said. “My goal was to be the best I can be for the LSU Tigers and the LSU offense. That’s where my focus is. My focus is with my teammates. My focus is with my coaches and getting better and trying to continue this.”
Saturday provides an opportunity to do that. LSU faces a pesky Vanderbilt club that went toe to toe with Alabama for four quarters in Tuscaloosa. A pair of highly ranked teams await on the other side of the trip to Nashville as No. 4 Texas A&M visits Baton Rouge and No. 6 Alabama hosts the Tigers in Tuscaloosa.
The road will be arduous, but the opportunity is great.
Negativity has permeated Baton Rouge as the offense has scuffled through the first half of the schedule. LSU’s playoff aspirations aren’t attainable making mistakes near the goal line and posting 20 points per contest.
Nussmeier hears it, but he sees it a different way.
“I think there’s a I lot of confidence within the unit,” Nussmeier said. “At the end of the day, people can say whatever they want to say about us, but we’re 5-1, and we’ve got a great opportunity ahead of us. So, that’s my goal, and that’s what I’m looking forward to.”
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