PALMER: Despite win, Tiger offense does have questions to answer

By Hunt Palmer

Moments after his players picked DJ Lagway off five times, Brian Kelly intercepted the first question he was asked postgame.

It was about his offense that mustered just one fruitful scoring drive on Saturday night.

“Stop,” the head coach interjected. “Really? Is that the first question? We won the game 20-10. Try another question…we played the game to win the game.”

Michael Cauble from WBRZ-TV followed up, asking about LSU’s third down shortcomings. The Tigers were 4-for-14 on third down including 2-for-6 under five yards to gain.

Kelly bristled again.

“It’s one game. Last game we were great on third down,” Kelly said. “You’re looking at this from the wrong perspective. LSU won the game. I don’t know what you want from me. What do you want? Do you want us to win 70-0 against Florida. Would that keep you happy?”

Cauble continued, “I think people want to know why you can’t run the ball.”

Prior to Caden Durham’s 51-yard burst with less than two minutes to play, LSU had just 51 rushing yards in the game.

“We can run the ball,” Kelly insisted. “Did you see the last play of the game? That’s all you need. You just need one! These are ridiculous questions, and I’m getting tired of it.”

It may seem counterintuitive, but I don’t generally get much from press conferences. I’m in the press, but coaches and players generally lean on clichés and empty language. They’re trained to deflect. So, when a coach does leave script like Saturday night, it’s noteworthy.

I’m confident that Kelly is thrilled that the defense played well enough to beat Florida by two scores on Saturday night. I’m also confident that Kelly didn’t come to LSU to beat Florida. He came to LSU to win a national title.

His offense isn’t playing at a national championship level.

Excellence breeds expectations, and Kelly’s Hall of Fame-worthy career paired with LSU’s status with the elites of college football over the last 25 years means that anything short of a championship will be looked upon as falling short.

At Cal or Purdue you can celebrate a conference win in front of a sellout crowd. At places like LSU, performances like Saturday and starts like LSU’s first three games are quickly graded on a championship curve.

That’s the standard.

LSU’s running game has been anemic. The passing game has been spotty. Sustained touchdown drives have come few and far between, and Kelly knows that.

LSU’s defense set the offense up for a field goal before the half and scored a touchdown of its own on Saturday night. That’s essentially 10 points, the same amount the Tigers allowed. While that makes life easy on the offense, five interceptions is not a sustainable way to win games. Neither is one scoring drive of over 14 yards.

If LSU’s offense doesn’t improve, losses will follow. That’s the bad news.

LSU’s offense has capable players. That’s the good news.

The offensive line has only allowed three sacks in three games. One, if not two, was clearly on Nussmeier for holding the ball too long. The pass protection has held up against talented fronts.

The quarterback threw for 4,000 yards last year and can make every throw on the field.

One tight end accounted for essentially two touchdowns at Clemson, and the other went for 65 yards on a big catch and run Saturday night.

The running back is a home run hitter with the ability to make defenders miss.

And that group together doesn’t have to morph into the 2019 squad. It just needs to be a little bit better to complement a defense that was on the field for 21 second half minutes Saturday without allowing a single point.

Clemson and Florida have nothing to show for four second half quarters against this defense.

Kelly’s right in one sense, the complete focus doesn’t need to be on the offense after the defense nabs five interceptions and LSU beats Florida to improve to 3-0 for the first time since 2019.

“This team is 17-1 at night,” Kelly said. “Give them some respect. How about that? Give them some respect instead of micro-analyzing every little thing.”

Kelly monitors the players’ sleep habits, caloric intake and the amount of time the squad practices indoors versus outdoors. He’s maniacal about “every little thing”. It’s part of the reason he’s the winningest active head coach in college football.

That elusive national title brought him to Baton Rouge, and this team is in that premature discussion after three weeks. We’re going to talk about the little things.

Next week the Tigers get a chance to breathe with an FCS foe coming to town. After that, high flying offenses like Ole Miss, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Alabama, who has found a pulse the last couple of weeks, remain on the docket.

LSU’s defense can be counted on to do its part in slowing them down. But counting on 17-20 points to win weekly feels like a dicey proposition.

Can the offense find a little bit more rhythm to elevate LSU toward the College Football Playoff?

Despite Kelly’s distain, it’s a question that needs to be asked.