Two Truths and a Lie: LSU vs. Louisiana Tech

By Chris Marler

Week 2 for LSU ended the same way as Week 1, with a win, but the route to victory looked far different than last week’s trip to South Carolina.

Truth No. 1 – LSU’s defense may be the best in the country. 

LSU held Louisiana Tech to 154 yards of offense Saturday night, and held the Bulldogs scoreless for 56 minutes. More impressively, they held Louisiana Tech to under 100 yards passing and rushing, respectively. The run defense has been especially dominant holding its first two opponents to 89 combined rushing yards in two games. 

There are stars everywhere, and all of them fly to the ball unlike any defense this program has fielded since 2019. Whit Weeks has been incredible, Harold Perkins looks like his old self and West Weeks has been one of the most pleasant surprises on the team, leading Blake Baker’s defense in tackles this season. 

More importantly they’re getting off the field. 

That may not sound like a big deal, but compare last year’s defense to this one and the numbers don’t lie. Last season, LSU forced on average of less than four punts per game. Only twice in 13 games were they able to force more than four punts in a game. Louisiana Tech had nine Saturday night. 

Truth No. 2 – There’s still work to do, a lot of work to do. 

The high of the Clemson win has probably worn off. That has nothing to do with the calendar and everything to do with Saturday night’s performance, and what we think we know after two weeks.

Heading into the opener at Clemson, LSU was believed to be facing what might have been the best team in the country. Shutting down a playoff caliber team on their home field doesn’t get forgotten a week later. But after LSU’s showing at home against Louisiana Tech and Clemson’s struggles against Troy (trailing 16-3 at halftime), some fair questions have surfaced.

The main question is whether LSU is as good as we thought they were a week ago.

The answer will come over the next several weeks. A meltdown over Louisiana Tech in a close win would be, to put it bluntly, silly. You could argue LSU should have controlled this game wire to wire. But really, that’s just another way of saying, “We should’ve scored more than 23 points.”

What they’re also not acknowledging is that this game was sandwiched between a massive Week 1 win on the road and before longtime rival Florida comes to town next week. 

The Lie – The offense is elite. At least, as of now. 

Call it hubris. Call it delusion. Call it wanting to believe my own preseason predictions and assertions. But, I still fully believe this offense can be elite. 

However, they are not there right now. The receiving corps are deeper and more talented than any other in the country, but they have to figure out a way to be more explosive.

Through two games, Garrett Nussmeier has averaged 6.1 yards per attempt. That ranks 15th in the SEC through two weeks. LSU sits last in the SEC in passing plays of 20 and 30 yards, with only three completions of 20-plus, all to Aaron Anderson. The run game has improved from last season but still lacks consistent efficiency, leaving plenty of room for growth.

The good news for LSU fans, and this team, is that they haven’t had to solely rely on either of those things to win games this season.