Two truths and a lie: LSU leaves Ole Miss with a loss and plenty of questions
It was always going to be a tough pill to swallow for the team that lost. That’s expected after nine months of buildup that led to four hours of bitter resentment and sweet revenge on Saturday night.
For LSU, the season is far from over, but Saturday night left the Tigers with more questions than they hoped to have at this point.
Here are two truths and a lie about LSU’s 32-24 loss to Ole Miss.
Truth No. 1 – Sam Leavitt is not playing championship level football.
It took Sam Leavitt about a quarter to settle in Saturday night. While he improved as the game went on, LSU’s passing game has set a pretty low bar through the early part of the season.
Against Clemson, he threw an interception on the Tigers first drive. Against Louisiana Tech, he threw three interceptions in the first half. And, against Ole Miss, he went to the locker room at halftime with a stat sheet showing 9-of-13 for 51 yards as the Tigers trailed 24-7.
Leavitt is a dynamic quarterback with elite athleticism, but the slow starts are concerning. What was also concerning on Saturday night was going into halftime with just 3.9 yards per attempt in an offense that’s supposed to be one of the most explosive in the country.
Only three of his nine first half completions went for over five yards, too. The turnovers continue to be an issue, as he now has five through three games.
This isn’t something new with Leavitt. Dating back to his last two years at Arizona State, Leavitt’s now thrown at least one interception in 11 of his last 23 games.
Truth No. 2 – Saturday’s loss was more the opponent and not a blueprint.
That doesn’t make the loss hurt any less, but it doesn’t feel like the loss to Ole Miss was because of a blueprint from Pete Golding and his staff on how to beat LSU.
Now, that doesn’t mean other teams won’t try to replicate it and find success there defensively either. Vaught-Hemingway Stadium was a cauldron of anger on Saturday. And if LSU’s loss exposed, or re-exposed, anything, it was Lane Kiffin’s struggles in big games on the road.
Kiffin is now 1-9 as a head coach in road games against top ten opponents. Even worse, only three of those losses were one score games, and his teams lost by an average of 19.2 ppg.
Is there a track record that’s long enough to suggest this is an issue? Sure. Are we going to pretend that losing three games on the road versus top ten teams while at Florida Atlantic are indicative of the current state of his team in Baton Rouge? Absolutely not.
The good news for Kiffin and the Tigers is that while there are still several big games left on the schedule against top-15 opponents, only one of them is on the road (Tennessee).
The Lie – This isn’t a CFP team anymore.
In his last three years at Ole Miss, Lane Kiffin was 6-0 in games following a loss, and didn’t have back-to-back losses at any point of those three seasons.
This can still be a playoff team. It’s time for the Tigers to get back on the horse, and that starts next Saturday against Texas A&M.
