How confident are we Blake Baker’s defense can contain Chambliss, given his shaky track record of being torched by mobile/athletic QBs?
It’s a long track record over a short time in Baton Rouge. Texas A&M’s Marcel Reed ran for 63 yards and three TDs in a half in 2024. He followed that up in 2025 with 108 more rushing yards and two scores in Brian Kelly’s finale. Chambliss and Diego Pavia of Vanderbilt combined to put up 55 points (with some help from an Aggie punt return score) with extensive damage done on the ground and extending plays.
Chambliss is the difference maker if Ole Miss wins the game, in my opinion. And I do think he’s going to make significant plays on this LSU defense. With my own eyes, I watched him toy with Kirby Smart’s Georgia team in the Superdome in the College Football Playoff, and it wasn’t a fluke because he did the same thing in Athens two months earlier.
LSU’s defense has been nearly perfect for two weeks. I also think Clemson is a disaster and Louisiana Tech is not a fair fight.
How confident am I? I guess that’s the initial question. The answer is “marginally”. I think it takes 27 or 31 points for LSU to win on Saturday. Chambliss is the reason why.
Do you agree with Lane Kiffin that Pete Golding has an edge, based on their time on staff together?
What Kiffin said is that he feels the head coach is more communicative in the interactions with the coordinator. Kiffin felt Nick Saban told him more about what gave him trouble on defense than Kiffin told him what defenses bother his offense. He felt the opposite way when he was the head coach who hired Golding, Kiffin told Golding more about what he didn’t like to see from a defense.
I have no way of knowing how those interactions went, but I would assume that the coordinators in those two scenarios also told their head coaches what they were struggling with.
The bottom line is that there is a ton of familiarity that may favor one side here or there. My guess is that it’s a snap-to-snap thing on a big third down on a red zone scheme that it may pay off on. I don’t think one side has a huge leg up on knowledge of the other.
Have you ever been to Ole Miss’s stadium? Is the crowd even worth mentioning?
I’ve been in the stands in Vaught-Hemingway as a student in 2007 and 2009. I covered the 2011 game and went as a fan in 2015.
LSU won fairly tight in 2007 and lost a thriller in 2009. LSU dominated 2011, and Ole Miss rolled in 2015. That was my (first) bachelor party, and we were out there in the third quarter. It was freezing cold, and I was done watching LSU look like a pack of clowns in “icy white” uniforms getting dragged by Ole Miss.
Is Vaught-Hemingway the most intimidating crowd in the SEC? It is not. Is completely dismissing the environment because Tiger Stadium is 40,000 seats bigger reasonable? It is not. That place will be a factor on Saturday as long as the game allows it to. Trying to run an offense with 65,000 people screaming is tough. And the Rebels will be inspired. It’s a real road game on Saturday even if there aren’t upper decks.
Can I ask about the basketball roster?
Sure! I just can’t answer much about it.
Best I can tell, LSU is waiting on the European players and their eligibility rulings. Those players do have time beyond the add-drop courses date which has already passed. Michael Ruzik, Brice Dessert and Marcio Santos are the bigs in question. With them, LSU is a potentially excellent team. Without them, the frontcourt is a real problem.
And then you have the RJ Luis situation. We know that the football program did not roster Zxavian Harris and Dae’Quan Wright despite the court order ruling them eligible. Does Will Wade handle things the same way? Luis would be a huge piece to LSU’s roster, specifically scoring, but I do think they have the scorers to offset his absence if they move on. If the Euro post players don’t join the team, it’s trouble.
What do you expect to hear from Jay Johnson on Wednesday?
I’m going to try to make it to The Box for the presser Wednesday. I think Johnson likes the look of this team on paper. My biggest question is the weekend rotation.
First, you’ll get an update on Cooper Moore’s health and his plan for the fall. Second, it’s an update on what Casan Evans and William Schmidt have done during the offseason. They did not join a summer team. LSU needs those two to be great, or the team isn’t going to achieve much of any consequence.
